The Agreement of Erasure
ringtone. It was coming from
gh me, momentarily overpowering the p
my own phone. My work phone. S
d it. Le
il. The sender was Sophia. The subject
e. It was a PDF, a legal document. A "S
r. I had to force my eyes to focus, to read the
tual property, concepts, and code related
and all its contents, will become th
ate the premises within
me. They were erasing me. And they n
ike shutters of lead. I fought to stay awake, to hold onto t
d poured my life' s savings into, money for our future, for the company we were
nsult. They were stealing a multi-million dollar idea and
p tool. I drew a thick, red line through the entire clause about the savings accoun
eir goddamn blood money. I wouldn' t let them buy my silence, my compliance. Let
quickly dying out, leaving only
quick note on a separate page. I wish
myself. Maybe it was just a final, formal g
rom the drug, but from the weight of the moment. I slowly, carefully, signed my name
ness washed over me. I knew I was about
ers, clumsy and slow, tappe
York
place so big and loud it could drown out a
morning. I tapped in my details, my credit
rm pu
ve out. But not before I saw the confirmation. My ti