A Werewolfs Tale

The golden-brown-haired lady walked into the office with two large brown envelopes in her hands. She took quick steps to the table of the expecting older man.

She placed the envelopes on the table, and they both began bringing out the files that were inside as they skimmed through each of them.

Her legs felt wobbly from standing too long, so she took her seat on one of the chairs facing the older man. She adjusts her skirt and puts her hair in a ponytail.

After a moment the man asked. “Joan, anything yet?” His eyes were on her, expecting a response.

Joan looked up from the file she was holding and shook her head with a little furrow on her brow. “Nothing yet, Dad,” she answered and went back to looking at the file.

Her dad sighs.

“Let’s keep looking, there could be something that we could find that would get us out of this mess,” he encouraged, and they kept looking through the remaining untouched files.

A knock was heard.

“Come in,” Gary answered, loud enough for the person knocking to hear.

A young man in casual wear, with a troubled look and a small enveloped letter, came inside his office, closed the door, and walked towards Gary and Joan.

“There’s a problem, sir,” the man spoke, and that made both father and daughter stop to take a look at him, worry evident on their faces.

“What will that be, Robbie?” asked Gary when he took the envelope Robbie handed over to him. He looked at the sealed envelope and back at Robbie before opening the envelope to see its content.

He took out the folded paper and read its content, his eyes widened, then met with Robbie’s troubled ones.

“They di—”

“Yes sir, they did.”

Gary stood up and threw the paper on the floor in anger. Joan watched her father’s reaction, then stood to pick up the paper that lay on the floor. She read through it and could feel her heart race faster than usual.

She turned to Robbie. “They have to be joking,” she said. There was a crack in her voice.

Robbie shook his head. “They are not, ma’am.”

Joan shook her head. “They can’t do this. They… they can’t just make such a ridiculous request,” she stated, placing the paper on the table. “Yes, we are struggling since the Kingswell project, which turned out to be a disaster, but we are still holding up,” assurance lacing her tone.

She turns to her dad, who looked sad and defeated.

“We still have some resources to keep us going. W—we are on the verge of bankruptcy, but we can still hold on, right, Dad?” She asked for clarity, a look of hope, but the sadness on her dad’s face told her otherwise.

“Joan dear,” he walked closer to her and touched her hair. “We used up the rest of our resources to try and make an alternative, but it failed too,” he explained, and she gasped in shock.

‘Why wasn’t I aware?’ She wanted to ask but thought it wasn’t the best thing to say now.

She shook her head and paced around the room, trying to think of what could be done to save her dad’s company. She stopped abruptly and walked closer to Gary.

“We still own a bigger share, right? We can use some of our profits to keep up for the time being, then refer some of our employees to other companies on a temporary basis depending on when we’ll be able to get back on our feet.” She turned to Robbie, who shared the same look as her dad.

“I don’t want them to suffer because our company is, they have families to feed,” she continued, trying to evoke a positive reaction from both men.

Robbie bowed his head, unable to say anything. Her eyes went to her dad, and he looked like he would break down in tears.

“Joan, I am sorry, but we have just a little share from the company.” He broke the news to her. “I don’t know how that happened, but the Reliso Company was able to get a majority of our shares.”

“And they want more?” She asked in disbelief, to which Gary confirmed with a nod. “That’s ridiculous.” She threw her hands in the air. “They possibly wouldn’t just want a failing company except there’s something to gain,” she stated.

“What more could they want? Power? If they don’t notice, this company lacks that,” Gary explained.

“No, not that.” She shook her head, and then realization hit her. “It’s something else.” A smile crept on her lips. “And I think I know exactly what they want.” She picked up a document and the letter.