Yes, Boss-Part Three
Yes, Boss
Part 3
A Short Story by Eli A. Susman
When Freddie woke up to go to work, he never imagined he’d end up being chased by an alien-infected version of his boss. Well, after what happened the day prior, he should have assumed something would happen. From the moment he saw his boss passed out on his office floor, Freddie felt off–like nothing was right in the world. Things only compounded when he threw up green bile, and saw his boss communicating with a tall, green, and horrifying looking alien creature.
Now, Freddie runs through the office, the shrill alien laugh echoing through the halls, and his boss’ limp body hurling itself after him. Safe to say, advertising specialist Freddie Gaborno is not a star athlete. His boss is gaining ground, and as Freddie’s lungs begin to ache, he decides to head to the back door, his only way out without going by the alien in the office. Freddie rounds the corner, almost slips, hearing the gurgle of his boss behind him.
“No!” he verbalizes upon turning the corner.
The alien, a hunch-back with big red eyes and slimy green skin stands before him.
“Going somewhere?”
Freddie can’t say a word. His boss rounds the corner and lunges at Freddie. To his great surprise, he is able to shove his boss off. The alien shrieks, and Freddie runs in the other direction back towards the front of the office. He sees the front door, but, but no…it can’t be.
Another alien, identical in every way, stands at the front door.
If it hasn’t already, it hits Freddie now–this situation is seriously fucked.
He stops, takes a moment to think, and looks behind him. His boss is shrieking now too, green spit spewing from his mouth. Freddie never believed in an afterlife, or anything spiritual, but as his boss flails towards him, all of his most important memories shoot through his brain.
Like being hired at LH four years prior right out of college. Or when he graduated with a Bachelor’s in Computer Science from Columbia, ready to take on the world. And how mere months later his grandfather passed and he missed the funeral because of a girlfriend who would eventually break up with him and say he’s “a piece of shit and the worst person ever.” He felt like a piece of shit after the breakup, and he felt even worse when he realized he missed his grandpa’s funeral for no good reason. All of that feels minuscule compared to the problem he faces now.
Freddie stares down his boss, and accepts his fate. There is nothing he can do, nowhere to go. It doesn’t matter how unreal this feels to Freddie. His life is about to feel even further from reality.
His boss tackles Freddie to the floor, his head slams against the floor, and everything goes dark.
***
“Where…where am I? What happened?”
He opens his eyes and sees he is sitting at his boss’ desk. Everything looks in order. The clock says it is morning time, which is strange, because the last thing he remembers was running from his alien demented boss…aliens! He stands up to inspect the rest of the office. Nobody is there, no aliens, no boss, nobody.
“Hmmmm…”
He goes back to the boss’ desk instinctively even though it isn’t his usual desk. Suddenly, the front door to the office clicks and swings open. He gasps when he sees who it is–Freddie.
“Mornin boss,” he says.
He can’t believe his eyes, he himself just entered through the door and referred to himself as boss how can–no, how? He pulls his phone out and opens the camera. Immediately a jolt of shock runs through him. He can’t think, speak, or move.
“I said mornin boss, you in here?” Freddie pokes his head into the office, a smile on his face.
The boss looks up at Freddie.
“M, m, morning, good morning Freddie.”
“You okay?”
“I’m fine,” he says. “Get to work.”
“Will do.” Freddie laughs and goes across the office to his cubicle.
He stares back down at his phone.
“If I’m the boss, how is that Freddie? No, I’m Freddie. But I’m here, the boss. But I know I’m Freddie, I remember…the alien, my boss turned into one, and he got me and then…”
And then he was here, Freddie inside his boss’ body.
“Then who is that?” he thinks, side eyeing the so-called Freddie out in the office.
He doesn’t know what to think, and decides his best option is to leave the office, go out in the sun, have a smoke, and clear his head. He stands up, grabs the pack of cigarettes always on his boss’ desk, and heads for the front door.
“I’ll be back,” he says to Freddie on his way out.
***
One puff in and he feels better already. Still though, nothing makes sense. That’s not the real problem though, often nothing makes sense. The real issue is he doesn’t know what to do. In a material sense, he is the boss. But superficially, he is Freddie. His thoughts, ideas, and memories are Freddie, but his body and person is his boss. And Freddie has no idea how to be a boss. I mean, look at him, smoking a cigarette for the first time in his life and feeling amazing about it. The line between Freddie and his boss blurs with each passing moment. That’s when a hoarse voice seeps out of the bushes next to him. “Hello, Freddie.”
To read part one: https://elisusman.com/blogspubswip/2024/6/14/yes-boss-part-one-eli-a-susman