Mikey Way- The Trick Is To Keep Breathing - One

On Wednesday, Michael is sitting at his desk, staring blankly at his computer screen, when Brad Scadlock comes walking over. Brad Scadlock is the human resource officer. "Michael Way?"

Michael slowly looks over at Scadlock but makes no attempt to hide that he is obviously slacking off his work. "Hm?"

When Scadlock continues with "Can I see you in my office for a moment?", Michael doesn't answer, simply staring, but follows Scadlock into his office nonetheless.

Michael has never been inside Scadlock's office before but is not surprised to see it is one governed by minimalism. Scadlock murmurs for Michael to sit so he does so opposite the desk Scadlock now occupies. After a few moments of silence, during which Scadlock just stares and Michael holds his own thigh in a vice-like grip to keep from fidgeting, Scadlock clears his throat.

"So ... At the last board meeting, it was decided that the office would start offering Employee Assistant Programs. Uh, do you know what that is?"

Michael loses a mental battle with himself and blurts, "When they force suicidal employees to see a shrink?"

Scadlock sighs and rubs his brow. "It makes the company look good, basically. Saves the company from lost productivity and so-forth ... Anyway, I have to ask everyone to take these surveys," He pulls a large pile of paperwork and drops it onto the desk, "to see which employees will require the counselling. It's pretty much mandatory to fill them out so you'd better do so unless you like the thought of unemployment."

Unimpressed, Michael sneers down at the surveys.

"And no bullshitting your way through the answers either."

Michael sighs loudly but stands up and grabs a survey. At the end of the day, he eats his dinner of micro waved stir-fry leaning against the kitchen counter and filling in the survey. Though snorting derisively at some of the questions, he answers without much thought and honestly. He wishes he'd bullshitted at least a little when he finds himself in Scadlock's office again the next day.

After flipping through the survey and considering the answers, Scadlock looks up at Michael in a way that makes him want to reach across Scadlock's desk and rip the survey to shreds. "Well ... I'm afraid you're going to have to be signed up for some sessions."

Michael grips his thigh so hard he starts to think he'll have left impressions on it and tries his hardest to keep his voice civil. "I don't need therapy."

"Sorry but the EAP seems to think differently." He laughs slightly but Michael doesn't see what's so funny. Scadlock shrugs at this response before continuing, "Don't worry, you don't have to pay for the sessions or anything. Just think of it as an hour off work each week. No biggie."

Michael doesn't respond and leaves Scadlock's office. There is only fifteen minutes before five so Michael spends ten of them doing nothing in the bathroom before returning to his desk, packing up his briefcase and leaving. Instead of catching the bus home, he walks not too far to the library.

After looking around in the bookshelves for a good forty-five minutes, Michael picks one of the empty round tables with the uncomfortable wooden chairs and sits immersed in the books' text. A little while later, a voice sounds over the intercom,
"The library will be closing in ten minutes. Please come to the front desk to check out all books now."

Michael closes the book he'd been reading and stands so that he can return the books to the shelves he'd gotten them from. As he heads towards the aisle, a young brunette woman turns the corner of a nearby aisle, and he looks at her. She is tall, nearly equalling his own height, and beautiful in a way that does not require make-up. A small smile forms on his lips as he looks down at her colourful attire, the singlet and skirt clashing violently. He follows her down the aisle but not to approach her, to return the books.
As he slips the last book in its place, Michael notices the woman still browsing for books. She ducks her head to look at the titles and skims her fingers lightly over the books' spines as she slowly moves closer to him. He turns his head and stares intently at her but she doesn't seem to notice his existence. After a few moments, he turns away and heads to the library's entrance.