"Yes, ma'am... I mean... um... I'm sorry, could you tell me the problem again?" Jess asked, rubbing her forehead in frustration. Normally, she loved her job. Tech support. Yeah, strange, but true. She liked the feeling of being able to help people with their problems, the challenge of figuring out what was wrong, how to fix it, and the satisfaction of getting the job done and done well.
Today, though? Today she was completely out of it. Befuddled, confused, and unable to focus. The customer on the other line was displeased, vocally so. Jess winced as the woman shouted into her earpiece, ranting and raving about incompetence, asking if she was from India, demanding to be patched through to anyone else, anyone who had any idea what they were doing. That hurt. Normally, Jess was great. She couldn't fathom what was wrong with her today.
"Um.. yes, ma'am, yes. I'll... I'll patch you through to my supervisor. Sorry for the inconvenience."
She hit the button with the eagerness of someone whose life depended on getting off of that phone call and sat back in her chair with a sigh of relief.
"God, that was a freakin' nightmare," she mumbled, rubbing her eyes.
"Hey, neighbor!" a cheerful, pixie-like voice peeped from above the cubicle wall.
"Hey, Wendy," Jess answered with far less enthusiasm.
"You feeling okay? You don't sound very good," Wendy said with an exaggerated frown.
"Just having a tough time focusing. Maybe I'm coming down with something, I dunno."
"Bummer, dude, bummer," Jess hated how Wendy called everyone 'dude' regardless of gender. "Aaaanyway, Miss M wants to see you in her office. She pinged me when you were on the phone and asked me to pass the message along to go see her once you were done."
"Oh, great. I'm doomed," she mumbled.
"Aww, come on! It's not that bad! Miss M's nice!"
Jess got up out of her seat, pulling her headset off and setting it down on her desktop. "Alright, but if I come back with a cardboard box to fill my crap up in, don't be shocked."
"You're not gonna get fired over ONE bad phone call, Jess," Wendy shook her head. "Everybody's entitled to an off-day."
"Yeah, well... wish me luck," Jess said with a short wave as she walked down the hall towards the regional manager's office. The walk was short and relatively uneventful. The worst that happened was that Jess passed by the break room, and the smell of microwaved Hot Pockets reminded her of how incredibly hungry she was.
Jess knocked on the door, and leaned forward.
"Um... I was told you wanted to see me, ma'am?"
"Ahh, Jessica, yeah, come on in," the voice from inside sounded out.
Jess opened the door cautiously and crept inside. "Miss M" as most called her was one of those women who was so beautiful it was intimidating. Long, dark hair, bright, piercing eyes, immaculately flawless proportions.
"Have a seat," Miss M said, gesturing to the chair in front of her desk. Jess sat down, her heart racing.
"If this is about the call I was just on, I really don't know what's wrong there, I'm usually much better than that, and..."
"Jessica. Stop. This isn't about that. You're not in trouble," Miss M said with a smile.
"I... I'm not?"
"No, not at all. In fact, I wanted to congratulate you."
"Congratulate me? Miss M, I don't..."
"Please, call me Mercedes. And relax. You're fine. You're better than fine."
"I'm sorry, I'm very confused..." Jess was now even more worried. Was her boss hitting on her?
In explanation, Mercedes pulled a copy of today's newspaper out of a drawer in her desk and laid it down in front of Jess. It was folded over to the local section, where the stories that weren't big enough for front page activity were put. Right there, front and center, was a picture of her, Mary, and Rob - in the lobby at the movie theater. Only it didn't look like her in that photo. The woman there was much heavier, and standing on hooflike feet. Above the photo, a headline "Bizarre 'Pig-People' Stunt has Authorities Baffled".
"Oh, God..." Jess muttered.
"I want to congratulate you on changing your species. It's not everyday that someone abandons humanity entirely."