Episode 40 - Settling Back In

Olivia returned to her desk like nothing had changed.

Which, of course, meant everything had.

The chair was a little lower. The lighting a little softer. The monitors all calibrated to center her image slightly more clearly.

Small things. Intentional things.

Miss LaDonna passed by with tea and offered no questions.

Charles nodded once, handed her a slightly newer pen, and said, “Welcome back,” like he meant it and like he’d practiced it once beforehand.

Bernard hovered nearby just a moment longer than usual.

He offered a tentacle.

She didn’t need to take it.

She already had.

Nobody asked her what she’d seen.

Or what she’d heard.

Or who she might have met, in that place behind the wall that forgot to be a wall.

But everyone kept glancing toward the mug.

It had changed.

Subtly.

The words now read: “Receptionist. Projectionist. Anchor.”

She didn’t mention it.

No one else did either.

By late afternoon, she was sorting mail, routing footage, and calming a cursed delivery scanner with gentle muttering.

It sparked once. Then obeyed.

When Bernard passed her a new reel labeled “For Olivia’s Eyes (Pending)” she simply nodded and placed it on the shelf marked Later.

In the breakroom, Charles said, “So. You saw it, right?”

Miss LaDonna sipped her tea. “She saw herself. That’s what matters.”

“She’s steadier,” Bernard added from the ceiling.

“Different?” Charles asked.

“Aligned,” LaDonna said.

Which ended the conversation.

Back at her desk, Olivia opened her drawer.

The envelope was gone.

In its place: a folded note she hadn’t written.

It said:

“You’re doing fine. – Me.”

She smiled.

And got back to work.