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Part 1: Chapter no 1 – NATALIE

The Coworker

DAWN ISNโ€™Tย at her desk this morning when I walk into the office, which means the world is coming to an end.

Iโ€™m joking. Obviously, the world is not coming to an end. But if you knew Dawn, you would get it.

For the last nine months, Dawn Schiff has occupied the cubicle next to mine at Vixed, the nutritional supplement company where we both work. You could set your watch by her routines. 8:45, sheโ€™s at her desk. 10:15, she takes a bathroom break. 11:45, she goes to the break room and has her lunch. 2:30 is another bathroom break. And at five oโ€™clock sharp, she shuts down her computer and leaves for the day. If there were some sort of apocalyptic event in which all timepieces in the world were lost, we could all get back on schedule just by watching when Dawn went to the bathroom. Down to theย second.

I usually arrive at work somewhere in the thirty-minute window between eight-thirty and nine. Well, nine-ish. If all the stars align, I make it by 8:30. But even though I swear I put my keys in the exact same place every day, on the table right by the front door, sometimes during the night they get up and walk away somewhere. And then I have to look for them.

Or else I hit traffic. So much traffic. Dorchester Avenue is a parking lot during rush-hour.

This morning, the lights were not in my favor, but the traffic was sparse, so at ten minutes to nine, I step into the large office space that houses Vixed. I walk through the rows of identical cubicles stuffed into the center of the room, my red heels clicking against the linoleum floor, the fluorescent lights flickering above my head. As I pass by Dawnโ€™s cubicle on the way to my own, my hand already raised in greeting, I stop short.

The cubicle is empty.

As strange as Dawnโ€™s schedule is, itโ€™s even stranger that today she isnโ€™t following it. I canโ€™t help but think that Dawnโ€™s absence must signify something ominous. After all, Dawn is never late.ย Never.

โ€œNatalie! Hey, Nat! Guess what!โ€

I rip my eyes away from Dawnโ€™s cubicle at the sound of Kimโ€™s voice.

Sheโ€™s skipping down the aisle of cubicles, her tanned face glowing.

Kim Healey is my best friend at work, which sadly means that sheโ€™s my best friend in general since work has increasingly become my entire life. She got back from her honeymoon two weeks ago and has the most spectacular tan as well as highlights in her formerly dark brown hairโ€”she even still smells slightly like sand and sunscreen. She looks fantastic and Iโ€™m so happy for her. And Iโ€™m only like ten percent jealous. Reallyโ€”I genuinely wish her all the happiness in the world, as I said in my slightly drunken wedding toast.

I rake my eyes over Kimโ€™s black and white patterned Ann Taylor dress, noting a telltale bulge. โ€œYouโ€™re pregnant!โ€ I gasp.

The smile instantly drops off her face. โ€œNo. Iโ€™mย notย pregnant. Why would you say that?โ€ She tugs at the tie cinched above her waist. โ€œDo you think this dress makes me look fat?โ€

โ€œNo! Oh, Kim, of course not!โ€ In my defense, the way she saidย guess whatย really made it sound like she had a baby announcement. Women my age seem to be announcing pregnancies left and right latelyโ€”it seems like the only exciting news anyone has to shareโ€”and sheย didย recently get back from her honeymoon. โ€œNot atย all. Iโ€™mย soย sorry I said that. I just thoughtโ€ฆโ€

Kim is still tugging at her dress self-consciously. โ€œYou must have said that for a reason.โ€

I mentally smack myself in the head. โ€œI didnโ€™tโ€”I swear. And anyway,

everyoneย puts on a couple of pounds on their honeymoon. It totally suits

you.โ€

But she isnโ€™t even listening. Sheโ€™s too busy craning her neck, trying to look at her own butt.

I clear my throat. โ€œSo, um, what did you want to tell me?โ€

โ€œOh.โ€ She manages a tiny smile, her initial enthusiasm dampened. โ€œThe T-shirts came. I put them in the conference room.โ€

Ooh, thatย isย good news! I follow Kim to the conference room, and sure enough, thereโ€™s a slightly dented brown cardboard box waiting in the corner. I run right over and pry open the flaps. โ€œDid you look?โ€

โ€œI sifted through. Didnโ€™t do a full count.โ€

I rifle through the box stuffed with T-shirts and pull one out. Itโ€™s teal in color, and all the necessary information is there. 5K charity run. Benefiting cerebral palsy research. The shirt in my hand is a medium, and it looks about right. I was nervous about the timingโ€”the T-shirts were supposed to arrive last week, and itโ€™s already Tuesday. The charity run Iโ€™m organizing is on Saturday.

โ€œThey look gorgeous, Nat,โ€ Kim breathes. She has been such an amazing cheerleader in organizing this runโ€”I couldnโ€™t have done it without her. โ€œWe can pass them out later in the morning, when everyone is here.โ€

I nod, relieved this is coming together as planned. โ€œBy the way,โ€ I add, โ€œdo you know if Dawn called out sick?โ€

Kim holds a T-shirt up to her chest, smoothing it out over her abdomen, which still looks a bit like a baby bump to me. โ€œNo. Why?โ€

โ€œWell, sheโ€™s not here.โ€

โ€œSo? Sheโ€™s running late.โ€

โ€œYou donโ€™t understand.โ€ I drop the T-shirts back into the cardboard box. โ€œDawn is never late.ย Never. Not once the whole time sheโ€™s worked here. Sheโ€™s always here at 8:45.โ€

Kim looks down at her watch and then back up at me like Iโ€™ve lost my mind. โ€œSo sheโ€™s twenty minutes late. So what?โ€

Itโ€™s strange behavior for Dawn. On top of that, thereโ€™s something else I havenโ€™t shared with Kim. Yesterday afternoon, Dawn sent me an odd email asking if I could talk to her at the end of the workday about a โ€œmatter of great importance.โ€ But I was out on a sales call most of the afternoon, and when I got back to the office, she was already gone.

A matter of great importance.ย I wonder if that was aboutโ€ฆ No. Probably not.

โ€œI hope sheโ€™s okay.โ€ I shake my head. โ€œMaybe she got into a car accident.โ€

Kim snickers. โ€œOr maybe she was finally committed.โ€ โ€œStop it,โ€ I murmur. โ€œThatโ€™s mean.โ€

โ€œCome on. Sheโ€™s a weirdo and you know it as well as anyone. Youโ€™re the one who has to sit next to her.โ€

โ€œSheโ€™s not so badโ€ฆโ€

โ€œNot so bad!โ€ Kim bursts out. โ€œItโ€™s like sharing the office with a robot. And whatโ€™s with her obsession with turtles? Like, who is that intoย turtles?โ€

Okay, Iโ€™m not going to say Dawn isnโ€™t a little strange. Or evenย veryย strange. There are times when people at the company make fun of her behind her back. And yes, she does like turtles more than any fully grown adult rightfully should. But sheโ€™s a very nice person. If they got to know her a little better, they would be nicer to her.

Not that I know her very well. I always meant to ask her to dinner sometime, but I never got around to it. A couple of weeks ago as we were riding down in the elevator on Friday evening, I casually asked her if she had any plans and she looked shocked by the question.ย Just having dinner at home. Alone.ย I would have asked her to join me for dinner, but I was meeting my boyfriend, and it would have been weird if she tagged along.

Iโ€™m going to invite her out to dinner. For sure. Just as soon as the 5K is over.

โ€œAnyway, I better get back to work.โ€ Kim glances down at her watch. โ€œIโ€™m not Miss Saleswoman of the Month like somebody else hereโ€ฆโ€

My cheeks color slightly. My sales are admittedly better than anyone else at the company, but I work my butt off for it. โ€œYou got married this month. You have an excuse this time for the low sales.โ€

โ€œYeah, yeah.โ€ Kim shrugs because she doesnโ€™t really care that much. Her new husband is loaded. At some point in the near future, sheโ€™ll be pregnant for real, and when that happens, sheโ€™ll quit and never look back. โ€œAnyway, good luck with the T-shirts. Iโ€™ll see you later.โ€

After Kim takes off, possibly in the direction of her cubicle, but more likely in the direction of the break room to get her third or fourth cup of coffee of the morning, I close the flaps of the box of T-shirts and head back to my cubicle. When I get there, I notice something on my desk that I hadnโ€™t seen before.

Itโ€™s a turtle figurine.

Itโ€™s smallโ€”no longer than the length of my index finger. Itโ€™s green and blue in color, the geometric patterns on its shell shining in the overhead fluorescent lights. Its head is lifted, and its beady black eyes stare up at me.

A while back, Dawn excitedly presented me with a turtle figurine for my cubicle. It was so sweet of her, and I felt terrible when the turtle she bought me toppled to the linoleum floor and shattered into a dozen tiny pieces. But that turtle was never replaced. And it was different from this turtle on my desk right now.

I pick up the turtle figurine and roll it between my fingers, feeling the smooth surface. What is this turtle doing here? Who put it here?

Was it Dawn?

But it couldnโ€™t be. When I got back to the office yesterday at the end of the day, she was already gone. And she doesnโ€™t seem to be here yet. So how could she have put this turtle on my desk?

When I rest the turtle back on my desk, thereโ€™s a stain on my fingers. Something dark red rubbed off on my hand when I picked up the turtle. I stare down at my palm, trying to figure out what I just touched. It canโ€™t be paint, since the turtle is green. Ketchup?

No, it couldnโ€™t be. Itโ€™s too dark in color and not sticky with sugar. And it doesnโ€™t have that sweet smell. It smells almostโ€ฆ metallic.

Whatย isย this stuff?

As Iโ€™m examining the dark red material that has caked into the grooves of my fingerprints, I am vaguely aware of a phone ringing nearby. Coming from Dawnโ€™s cubicle.

I return to Dawnโ€™s cubicle, hovering by the entrance. Itโ€™s still empty. Is it possible she came in earlier this morning and is in the bathroom or something? She must be here, and she mustโ€™ve been the one who put this little turtle on my desk, even though her jacket isnโ€™t hanging on the back of her chair. And her computer screen is darkโ€”no screensaver, just black.

The phone on her desk is still ringing. Usually, the callerโ€™s number flashes on the screen, but itโ€™s not this time. Itโ€™s a blocked number.

I snatch the phone off the hook. It isnโ€™t my job to answer her phone, but if she is out sick today, I could at least try to take care of any issues that have come up. Iโ€™m sure Dawn would do the same for me. She always tries to help other people, almost to a fault.

I wonder what it was she wanted to talk to me about yesterday.ย A matter of great importance.ย Coming from Dawn, that could mean just about

anything, from a dirty milk carton in the fridge to a terminal cancer diagnosis. Thereโ€™s no reason to worry.

โ€œDawn Schiffโ€™s desk,โ€ I answer.

There is silence on the other line. It almost sounds like ragged breathing.

โ€œHello?โ€ I say. โ€œIs anyone there?

More silence. Just when Iโ€™m about to hang up, two words are spoken in a tortured female voice that send an icy chill down my spine:

โ€œHelp me.โ€

And then the line goes dead.

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