Paranoia at Work

romanzaiets

Samara Doumnande

“Happy Anniversary, honey!”

There was a sour taste in Tevin’s mouth as he entered the room. Lachelle Scott, his wife of eight years, was standing before him in a purple sun-dress clasping a bottle of sparkling white grape juice and she was all smiles.

He closed the door of their apartment, entered the musty, outdated kitchen, and sighed.

White grape juice? I’m gonna need something stronger. Where’s the gin?

“How was your day, babe?” She approached him and gently kissed him on the cheek. The smell of her cherry-rose perfume intoxicated his soul. But as instantly as Lachelle had leaned in for the peck on his cheek, she pulled away.

The abruptness of the kiss was startling. Tevin’s heart palpitated in his chest. Did she know? Had she found out somehow?

She set the bottle on the counter. Tevin’s gaze followed the glass bottle to a trail of stubborn coffee, tea, and juice stains on the same countertop. The stains had been there for years: Compliments of the previous residents of the place before them. These stains were what Lachelle hated most about the apartment. Initially, when they had moved in, Tevin had promised her they’d only be renters there for a year. Then they’d get their own place.

A lump as thick as cotton formed in his throat as he recalled his promise. A simple year had quickly turned into six.

Feeling his wife’s gaze, he glanced up and their eyes met.

“W-what’s wrong?” He could barely get the words out.

“Nothing, honey. I just have to tell you something.”

He rubbed the back of his neck, his fingers traveling upward through his thick curly black hair. “Uh, okay… I have to tell you something too.”

“Okay, but can I go first?” There was a sudden air of delight in her voice. “I can’t wait. I’m gonna give you the best anniversary gift ever, Tevin. What I have to say is just so exciting!”

He didn’t know what to say. Apparently, whatever she was going to share with him was good news. For Pete’s sake, it was their wedding anniversary! And he didn’t want to put a damper on her good news by sharing his bad. He didn’t want to tell her that the company that he had been working for five years had suddenly cut his hours in half. That they would have

to cut back on their expenses. That he was worried about making rent. That now they would no longer be eligible for medical insurance.

I can’t spoil her good news.

He sighed and decided to let her speak. What he had to tell her would have to wait.

Forcing a smile and with a feigned upbeat voice, he asked, “What is it, Lachelle?”

A brilliant smile glowed across her beautiful face. It was like watching the glorious sun come up after a night of studded stars.

She stroked her abdomen with the delicateness of a butterfly and beamed. “I’m pregnant!”

Welp, that explained the white grape juice.

Tevin spent the rest of his weekend behaving as if nothing was wrong. In fact, instead, he behaved as if everything was right. He celebrated his anniversary in style. He not only took Lachelle to an expensive steak house but afterward, they went out to see the most expensive play in the city. Moreover, he lavished her with gifts: with everything from her favorite perfume, to a new tennis bracelet, to a new purse, to an entirely new wardrobe. And he charged all these things to a credit card. Poor Lachelle never suspected a thing. She didn’t know they couldn’t afford it, for Tevin had told her he had gotten a huge bonus for being such a good employee.

But time was running out. The imaginary world that he had created for himself was beginning to crumble. It was seven o’clock on a Monday morning and Tevin had to be at work in an hour. What was he going to tell his wife when he came home early today, from a shift of only four hours? Was there someplace he could go until the end of the day… until six o’clock when he usually came home?

Tevin pulled back the sheets and glanced across his bedroom. The early streaks of dawn penetrated his bedroom window. From the window, his gaze followed a ray of sunlight dancing across his wife’s face. He watched, mesmerized, as the warmth and gleam from the sun’s rays worked together to pry her round, chestnut eyes open.

He did his best to hide his thoughts. “Good morning, beautiful.”

Her head rose from the pillow and she smiled. “Good morning, honey.”

A few unruly thick, jet-black braids peaked out from her nightcap, framing her soft round face. One had fallen to her lower lip and the plumpness of her lips made Tevin yearn for a kiss. He leaned in and enjoyed the suppleness of them. When the pair pulled away, Tevin watched as Lachelle gently tucked the unruly braids inside of her night cap.

Her gorgeous, almond eyes were shaded by thick black lashes. Her soft brown skin glistened. She was radiant. Beautiful. Inside and out. And he hated lying to her. But he didn’t want to worry her. He would get another job. Fix things somehow. And then tell her about his hours.

He pondered further. Maybe he could go to a friend’s place after work. But no… then word might somehow get back to her.

Maybe he could just drive around. But no, that would spend gas money and he had already spent so much on his wife’s anniversary gifts.

Maybe he could just sit in a coffee house?

That was it. He could bring his laptop and search online for another part-time job while he waited for evening to approach. That way Lachelle would never know.

“I’ve got to get up to go into work. You sleep as long as you can,” he told his wife. “I know you were up late last night with Avril.”

Avril Scott had just turned one a month ago and she was the pride and joy of her parents. Last night, Lachelle had been up with her due to a fever. “I’ll see you later this evening.”

And with those words, Tevin headed to the bathroom to shower and shave. When he finished, he headed to the nursery just across his and Lachelle’s bedroom. There he kissed his daughter’s forehead as she slept soundly in her crib. Moments later, he was in his car and on his way to work.

The next few months progressed much the same. He’d rise in the morning, kiss his wife and child, shower and shave and get in the car to drive to work.

Tevin worked at a web hosting company by the name of Corella Connects as a customer service rep. He’d been working there for five years now and loved his work. It was a vast pleasure to work in a field where he could talk to people from all over the world. He had learned so much about the culture of his customers: everything from what kinds of foods they liked to eat, to the politics of their countries. Knowing these small details about his customers had allowed him to establish a solid rapport with many of them. He was a good employee and although Corella Connects took notice of this fact, they still managed to cut his hours in half.

“A small black coffee, please.”

A petite young woman with curly blond hair nodded and rung up his order. She handed him his coffee and he took a seat at the back of the cafe.

All around him he could hear the murmur of voices. The cash register dinged, and a mobile phone rang at the table beside him. Its owner answered and his gaze trailed to the other tables around him. Several people sipped at cold or hot beverages and a few ate baked goods from the cafe’s small bakery. A family of four gathered around a table to the left of him. The husband and wife were reading from a magazine. Their children—two boys—looked between the ages of five and six. They were reading from a picture book. Tevin smiled at them. It was so nice to see a family reading together and

not glued to a computer screen. Such a sight was a rare gem and lacking in the world today. As he meditated on these thoughts, his mobile phone began to hum.

It was Lachelle. She had been going through the mail and came across a bill from her obstetrician’s office that was sky high. She had contacted the office’s billing department and they had informed her that according to the couple’s insurance company, Lachelle no longer had coverage.

There was a nervous tremor in her throat. “What’s going on, Tevin?”

This was it. His secret was out. Corella Connects had given a two-month grace period before their health insurance ran out. And his two months were over. He sighed and took a deep breath. “Hold on a moment. I’ll be home soon. We need to talk.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I’m a man. I’m supposed to be the protector, the provider. I’m supposed to take care of my family and be the breadwinner. My father taught me no less. It’s my job.”

“And for the last two months you’ve been putting our life on credit cards? What about the debt?”

“We didn’t have a choice.”

“You could have told me. It’s you that didn’t give me a choice.”

“If I had told you what would you have done?”

“I don’t know. We could have spoken to my parents, at least. I’m sure they could have hel—”

“Don’t give me that crap, Lachelle. I’m the man of this household! If I wanted your daddy’s money, then I would have asked him for it a long time ago. I got this. We got this. You hear me? We can do this. We will get through this. We’re two grown adults with one baby and another on the way. We can’t keep running to your pa and Momma Jean every time there is a problem.”

“But—”

“Lachelle, we got this!”

“But what are we going to do? I’m four months pregnant. How are we going to pay for the baby’s health care? For my health care? For yours? And what about Avril’s?

“I’ll find another job soon. Meanwhile, we have good credit. We’ll keep charging it.”

“But—”

He ran his finger along her jawline and cupped her chin. “I need you to just trust me, Lachelle.” He kissed her forehead. “Can you just trust me?”

His heart melted as a slow smile formed on her beautiful mahogany lips.

“Okay,” she breathed.

Within twenty-four hours, Tevin and Lachelle formed a plan. They decided to cut back on their expenses. No more eating out and no more movie nights or plays. They cut their cable service, got rid of the landline phone, and canceled their magazine subscriptions. All of these things they had made a joint decision on. But there was one thing that Tevin did, without consulting his wife first in order to cut down on expenses.

He began to ration his pills.

Diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia eleven years ago, Tevin had struggled cruelly with the illness. But when he met his wife, then a nurse, who worked in the same hospital he was a patient, she gave him the strength he needed to fight the illness.

He had a crush on her from the first day he met her. He’d been watching a football game on television in the community room of the psych ward of Albitra Hospital and the Dallas Cowboys had just scored a touchdown. Although having been in and out of states of psychosis, he was thrilled. The Cowboys were on top. But nothing could delight him more than the young woman who had just walked in the room. She was a nurse and she had come to take his blood pressure. She was dressed in navy blue scrubs and sported black glasses, red lipstick, perfectly arched thick eye-brows, and shoulder-length box braids that framed her soft angelic face. And sick as he was, he flirted hard with her that day. He was delusional and paranoid but not too delusional that he couldn’t recognize a beautiful woman when he saw one.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

She pointed to the name tag clipped to her shirt. It read Lachelle.

“Lachelle,” he started, “I feel compelled to tell you that you put me under a spell. It’s because, quite frankly, honey, I think you’re swell. Will you be mine? Only time will tell. Do you hear that? I think it’s a bell. The bell of my heart rings only for you. Please be mine. Say you feel the same way too! I’m so in love with you. You really have no clue. My poor heart aches. It does not know what to do—”

She smiled at him and handed him a small plastic cup filled with water and two small pills. “Take these. That’s something you can do.”

He swallowed the pills and gulped down the water. Anything for Lachelle.

From that day forward he did everything she asked of him. He took his meds and he listened intently when the doctors and nurses communicated with him about his illness.

Prior to meeting Lachelle, he had been in denial about having schizophrenia and refused to take his meds. As a result, he had been in and out of the hospital several dozen times. But there was something in the way this woman always smiled at him. It was reassuring. It gave him confidence. It told him he could do anything. She believed in him. So, he believed in himself. He could battle schizophrenia. And he told himself, if this woman wants me to take my medication, then I will.

By the time he left the hospital he was convinced and accepted his diagnosis. All because of Lachelle.

After his discharge, the pair remained friends for six months before finally deciding to date. A year later, they were married.

Tevin smiled at the memory of how he had rhymed to his wife that day. Perhaps he came on a little too strong? Just a bit. But it didn’t freak her out. She was used to the rhyming. Something she’d seen a lot of her schizophrenic patients do. It was called clang association. His rhymes just seemed to make a little more sense than most schizophrenic patients, as though they were a little aggressive, they were still logical. And as for the flirting, she was used to that too. Lachelle was a stunning young woman and you’d have to be blind not to admire her beauty. But she handled herself professionally. Never once did she cross the line between patient and nurse. And it wasn’t until six months, following his discharge, that she would even consider dating Tevin. By then, he was healthy and well and she had fallen in love. He was handsome, kind, and treated her like a queen. How could she refuse?

Tevin poured the contents of a small orange bottle on the top of his dresser. Small round pills fell out in a scattered pile. Carefully he slid a single pill from one side of the dresser to the other, counting intently, as he followed the task in the same manner with the remaining pills. Just ten left. I have to ration them smartly. If I take one every three days, this bottle should last me for another month. That’ll buy me enough time to figure something out. Lachelle’ll never know.

After popping one in his mouth, he refilled the bottle with the remaining pills, and left for work.

It didn’t take long for Tevin’s health to decline as a result of his decision. He was slipping on the job and had already sabotaged several customer’s accounts. He had been pulled into his boss’s office on many occasions with warnings that if he didn’t shape up soon, he would be let go.

And then it happened.

A few days later, he found himself on the phone speaking to a customer. The customer, a woman named Barbara Jenkins, had signed up for a free trial at Corrella Connects and wanted to discontinue the service before it ended.

Tevin stared at his monitor and spoke into his microphone. “Just a sec, mam.”

Where was it? How could the discontinue button be there one minute and gone the next?

ALEX IS HAVING FUN WITH YOU. HE’S MANIPULATING YOUR COMPUTER REMOTELY. THAT’S WHY YOU’VE BEEN SLIPPING UP AT WORK. HE WANTS EVERYONE TO THINK YOU’RE A BAD EMPLOYEE. HE’S JEALOUS OF YOU. HE’S AFRAID YOU’LL BE PROMOTED AND THAT YOU’LL TAKE HIS JOB. HE’S THE ONE BEHIND ALL THIS. FIRST, HE CUTS YOUR HOURS, THEN HE PLAYS HEAD GAMES WITH YOU. YOU WANT TO KNOW WHERE THE DISCONTINUE BUTTON IS? ASK ALEX.

Tevin shuddered at the sound of the voices. He had been hearing them for three days now and was starting to grow paranoid.

Could Alex, be the reason behind all of my troubles? He trembled at the thought.

IT’S A SET UP. ALEX HAD A FAKE CUSTOMER CALL IN. YOUR SO-CALLED CUSTOMER DOESN’T NEED HER SERVICE DISCONTINUED. SHE’S A PHONY ACTRESS HIRED BY ALEX TO STRESS YOU OUT BY MAKING BUTTONS DISAPPEAR ON YOUR SCREEN. THEY BOTH WANT TO MAKE YOU LOOK CRAZY.

He heard coughing on the other end of the line. Without hesitation the words fell from his lips—

“Bless y—”

DON’T BOTHER SAYING GOD BLESS YOU. IT WAS A FAKE COUGH. BARBARA’S JUST TRYING TO MUFFLE HER LAUGHTER. SHE HAS ALEX ON THE OTHER LINE. ALEX IS IN HIS OFFICE LISTENING IN. BOTH ARE LAUGHING RIGHT NOW. AT YOU!

Anger pumped through Tevin’s veins. They’re trying to make a fool of me. They think I’m stupid, but I’m not. Glaring at the screen of his monitor he got an idea. I’ll play along with their little game. I’ll show them who’s the smart one. I won’t even put the discontinue request in. I won’t let them make a clown of me.

He swallowed and shifted in his chair. And then he spoke. “You’re all set, mam. I’ve discontinued your plan.” And with an acerbic tone he added, “Is there anything else I can do for you?” Barbara was completely oblivious to Tevin’s agitated mood. “No, sir. Thank you. You’ve been most helpful,” she replied. “Have a wonderful afternoon.”

“Thank you,” responded Tevin, in a bitter tone. “You as well.”

The line disconnected and Tevin would never put in her request.

A month lapsed and Tevin continued to hear voices, but his symptoms went unnoticed by his wife, his boss, and his co-workers. Indeed, they had no idea how sick he had become. The voices were frequent, and they railed at him in his mind causing him to grow more and more paranoid at work. However, miraculously there hadn’t been any additional slip ups at his job.

That is until the same customer contacted Corella Connects.

“A sixty-four-dollar charge? For what? I recognize your voice. You’re the same person I spoke to a month ago about discontinuing. You were supposed to take care of this for me!” Barbara snapped.

Barbara was a new customer that Tevin hadn’t developed a strong rapport with. He had only spoken to her once and that was a month ago. Unlike so many of his other customers, he did not know her favorite foods or anything about her family life. Clearly the woman was vexed at him. How could he make this right?

He stared at the screen. Sure enough, she had received a sixty-four dollar charge. And it was all his fault. All because he’d gotten paranoid and failed to discontinue her service thirty days ago.

“I’m sorry for the problem, mam. Yes, I apologize, I was supposed to take care of that for y—”

DON’T YOU DARE APOLOGIZE. APOLOGIZE FOR WHAT? NOT ALLOWING HER TO PLAY HEAD GAMES WITH YOU? I’M TELLING YOU, SHE AND YOUR BOSS ALEX ARE JUST TRYING TO MAKE YOU LOOK CRAZY. INSTEAD OF APOLOGIZING, YOU SHOULD CURSE HER OUT AND TELL HER ABOUT HERSELF. YOU NEED TO STAND UP FOR YOURSELF!

The hairs on the nape of his neck stood up. His heart raced, but he quickly gathered himself together and with a confident air sat with is back erect in his chair. Lifting his chin in the air, he thought, who does this crazy woman think she is… trying to play head games with me? His nostrils flared. But he spoke calmly. “Look, mam. I know what you and my boss, Alex, are up to. You’re an actress hired by him in order to make me look crazy so that I lose my job.”

“What?” Barbara responded. “I don’t understand. What are you even talking about? Are you crazy?”

At the sound of the word crazy, Tevin pounded his fist on his desk. The sound disturbed several Corella Connect employees who were working in neighboring cubicles. They came rushing at once to Tevin’s desk. But he ignored them, yelling into his mic. “No! You just want me to think I’m crazy. I’m not crazy. You’re crazy. Crazy for what you’re doing to me. But I know you are a hired actress!”

“Tevin, are you alrigh—”

“I’m not an actress! You and your company owe me sixtyfour dollars.”

He rose from his chair and pulled the mic closer to his lips. “I don’t owe you jack! And you and Alex both owe me an apology! You’re lucky I don’t call the cops!”

Scottie Thomas, an older man in his sixties, who sat in the cubicle behind Tevin’s approached him. He extended his hand. “It’s alright. Just give me the mic. Everything will be fine—”

“What’s going on here?”

The voice was both stern and firm. It belonged to Alex whose gaze fell upon the older man’s visage. “Scottie, what’s going on here?”

“I don’t know, boss. Looks like Tevin is having trouble. He’s on the phone with a customer. Screaming at her. I was just trying to get the mic away from him.”

Alex scanned the half dozen faces that had gathered around Tevin’s desk. “Everyone back to your cubicles. I’ll take care of this.” The crowd parted like the Red Sea.

Ten minutes later Tevin found himself sitting across from Alex in an elegantly-furnished corner office.

Alex removed his glasses, rubbed his eyes, and placed his spectacles on his desk. “What’s all of this about Tevin? Why were you yelling at that customer?”

Tevin crossed his legs and gave him a smug look. “I don’t know. You tell me. Why was I yelling at that customer?”

Alex sighed. “I honestly don’t know. I didn’t hear the whole conversation you had with her before you hung up on her. But what I do know is that your behavior was uncalled for and very unprofessional. We can’t have such toxic behavior here at Corella Connects. It affects everyone. Clients, customers, and employees. I’ve given you chance after chance to get your act together, Tevin. But this last… outburst… this thing… well this just takes the cake. I’m going to have to let you go.”

So, he was let go. And Lachelle didn’t take the news easily.

“What are we going to do?” she fumed, never knowing that something was deeply wrong with her husband. She could not know. How could she? When for the past few months his flare-ups of delusional paranoia had only taken place at work. She was a trained nurse but had no idea how serious Tevin’s psychosis was. So, she railed at him and degraded him hard. There were arguments of rage and bitterness. She was beside herself, throwing many fits. And poor Tevin just swallowed it. He inhaled it all. He let her berate him and strip him of being a man. He nodded silently to her insults and never once spoke a mean word about her though she had much to say about him. On the surface he was stoic. But on the inside, he was dying. Her taunts and her tantrums had eaten away at his soul. Delusional thoughts began to fester.

His heart cried out in pain. Dear Lord, why so much suffering?

And instead of the Lord answering him back, fraudulent voices began to chant in his ears:

BEHOLD! THE WORD OF THE LORD IS AS FOLLOWS: THE WORLD IS ABOUT TO END. THERE WILL BE NO MORE AFFLICTION. NO MORE SUFFERING. YOU AND YOU’RE WIFE WILL NO LONGER NEED HEALTH INSURANCE BECAUSE THERE WILL BE NO ILLNESS OR DISEASE. GOD WILL HANDLE THE HEALTH CARE OF YOUR UNBORN CHILD. THE WAY OF LIFE AS YOU KNOW IT WILL ALL FALL AWAY. THERE WILL BE NO DOCTORS FOR THE LORD WILL PROVIDE. HE WILL PROVIDE OPTIMAL HEALTH, WEALTH, HAPPINESS AND PROSPERITY FOR ALL WHO LOVE AND FEAR HIM. HE WILL PROVIDE FOOD, WATER, CLOTHING AND SHELTER. THERE WILL BE NO SUFFERING. DO NOT PUT YOUR FAITH IN MAN, FOR THE LORD IS HERE. MY CHILD. IT IS A NEW DAY! WE ARE GOING TO MAKE A NEW HEAVEN, A NEW EDEN. IN JUST A FEW DAYS. JUST YOU WAIT AND SEE.

Tevin smiled at the comfort he felt from his voices. He wasn’t doing well, and he didn’t know it. In short, his psychosis was escalating.

However, he was still taking his meds. That is, every three days anyway.

A few days later, after Tevin had just taken his meds, Sam and Bernice Armstrong a neighborhood couple, decided to stop by the Scott’s residence. Lachelle had scheduled a play date for Avril with the couple’s daughter Jessica. She was the same age as Avril.

As the two babies sat on the carpet playing with multicolored plastic building blocks, Lachelle entertained her two friends with pleasant conversation and a cheese platter.

Tevin sat beside her on a creme love seat, spaced out, listening to voices. And, unfortunately, no one was aware of it.

MY CHILD, THE TIME HAS COME. DO YOU KNOW WHAT DAY IT IS TODAY? IT’S EDEN DAY. THAT’S RIGHT. YOU ARE IN HEAVEN. I HAVE MADE A NEW WORLD FOR YOU AND HAVE DELIVERED MY PEOPLE FROM THEIR SINS. AT THIS TIME, MY PEOPLE OF THE WORLD ARE ALL INNOCENT. I WANT YOU TO BE THE FIRST TO DECLARE YOUR INNOCENCE. STRIP NUDE, LIKE ADAM AND EVE AND TESTIFY TO SAM AND BERNICE THAT I HAVE CREATED A NEW WORLD. THEY CAN BE APART OF IT TOO. BUT FIRST THEY HAVE TO DECLARE THEIR INNOCENCE BY STRIPPING NUDE! AND SO DO YOU!

A feeling of weightlessness came over Tevin. Pleasure filled his soul. Could this be it? Was heaven really here? No more problems? No more worries? Just peace and prosperity? And all he had to do to claim it was strip nude?

At once, Tevin removed himself from the sofa and stood on his feet. He removed his t-shirt and jeans so swiftly that Lachelle, Sam, and Bernice, hardly knew when it happened. But then there was a gasp.

It came from Bernice.

Lachelle’s gaze went from Bernice’s face to her nearnaked husband standing in his boxers between two babies and their blocks in the middle of the living room floor.

“Tevin! W-what are you doing?”

A certain shock and a moment of realization suddenly came over him. Perhaps the pill that he had taken earlier was beginning to have some effect on him. He pulled up his jeans, sought the wall for support and glided against it until reaching the door. What am I doing?

Tevin willingly agreed to be admitted into Albitra hospital as a psych patient. He remained on the psych ward for three days, then was discharged. As a part of his discharge plan, he was scheduled to meet with his psychiatrist and therapist twice a month in order to discuss the stressors in his life. He was also put in touch with a case-worker who he was told would help on the financial end with a variety of government programs. Additionally, he joined a mental health support group.

He took in all the faces around him. There were a variety of people from different backgrounds. Some black, some Hispanic, some Asian, some white. Some young, some old. Men. Women. Young teens. Mental illness does not discriminate.

As Tevin pondered these thoughts, a heavy-set woman with auburn hair cleared her throat. “May I have your attention, please?”

All heads in the room turned in her direction. “My name is Stephanie Little, and I’ll be your facilitator this afternoon…”

Her voice trailed off. He could not think. Could not make sense of her words. They were like Morse code, a language he could not interpret. All because he had walked in the room.

He had taken away his focus. He had taken away his concentration during the entire meeting. And he was staring right at him.

Tevin looked away. He had so looked forward to this group, but now that Alex was present, he was beside himself. What was he doing here? Did he come here to laugh at him? No that couldn’t be it. Tevin had long since acknowledged he had been delusional about his boss. There was something going on. But what?

As the facilitators voice trailed over the room like background music, Tevin’s gaze settled back on his boss who had taken a seat across from him. At times Alex would return his gaze, then he’d look down at his hands, and glance erratically around the room.

The facilitator droned on and on.

The tension in the air continued to build. Tevin’s heart raced and his palms became sweaty. And then Alex locked eyes with him. This time he did not look away but held his gaze firm and steady with a slight tilt to his head. What did it mean? He could not read his eyes. What did they represent? Anger? Irritation? Pity?

And then the meeting was over. The motley group of people who had gathered in the room rose from their seats and left, but Alex remained in his. And so did Tevin.

“I had no idea.”

Alex rubbed at his brow.

“Forgive me,” he said, rising from his seat and extending an arm. “I just didn’t know. You’d think that I would have figured it out.” He sighed. “Here I thought that you had gone rogue by being rude to customers when in reality you were just dealing with a lot of complications.

“It’s okay. I—”

“I should have known. I’m schizophrenic myself. That’s why I’m here, for Pete’s sake. At this very meeting.” He moved in closer. “Tevin, you were the best employee I’ve ever hired—in the entire twenty-year history of the company. And your customers are missing you. I couldn’t see it before, but it all adds up. It just makes sense now. Never in my mind did I imagine that the reason for your aberrant behavior was due to mental illness. Please forgive me.”

Tevin shook his head in disbelief, uncertain of it what was unfolding in front of him was reality or just a dream. He felt a tightness in his chest. This was the man who had cut his hours. This was the man who had taken away his health care. This man was the reason for him having to ration his pills. For him getting sick and ultimately losing his job. Forgive him? How could he possibly do that? What Alex had put his family through the past few months was unforgivable. He had embarrassed himself before his neighbors because of Alex. Had Alex not have cut his hours in the first place, none of this would have happened. Now he had lost the respect of everyone, including his neighbors. Even Lachelle it seemed had lost respect for him until she found out he had been sick. He could never get those last months back again that he had spent in psychosis. He became breathless, gasping for air. He inhaled. Exhaled. And then letting out a single breath, whispered the words, “I. Forgive. You.”

His heart pounded in his chest. Where had that come from?

A warm smile presented itself on Alex’s lips. “Would you mind grabbing some lunch with me? It’ll be my treat. I have a lot to say.”

Tevin and Alex sat side by side at Trudy’s cafe. His former boss bared his heart and soul on the subject of mental illness, sharing that his own mother, now deceased, was also schizophrenic. He shared stories of what it was like as a young boy to watch her struggle as a mentally ill single parent. How she had fought through her torment and suffering with the voices to provide the best life possible for him.

Tevin took it all in. There was so much compassion and understanding in Alex’s eyes.

After placing their orders, Alex reiterated his apologies to Tevin.

“I want to offer you your job back. That is… if you want it… it’s yours.”

Tevin was breathless. Could this really be happening? Was he really getting his job back? His heart raced, but he smiled warmly at Alex and replied in the affirmative.

“Thank you, sir. You don’t know how much this will mean to my family. We already have a daughter who is one. And we have another little one on the way.”

Alex sighed. “Actually, I’ve been wanting to take you back on full-time for some time now. We recently let a dozen employees go for reasons that I can’t discuss. So there has been an opening for full-time employment for a while. But due to the abnormal behavior we were seeing with you at work, I just couldn’t. But now that I have a better understanding of what you were going through, the offer still stands. I’m not just offering part-time employment, Tevin. But full-time.”

Two years later, Tevin closed the doors of his red SUV and led Lachelle by the hand up a newly tarred driveway.

“No peeking behind that blindfold, now.”

Lachelle responded with a squeal of delight.

They walked a few more paces before Tevin removed the blindfold and the darkness fell away.

Lachelle took in the sight. Directly in front of her was a sign. It read “SOLD.” And just beyond that sign was a lovely Tudor style home, white with black trim and grand bay windows. A cherry tree, rosebushes, and evergreen trees beautified the front yard.

The front door opened. Inside stood gray-haired Momma Jean with a sweet smile on her lips. She was holding Avril’s hand who stood beside her. And pa stood next to Avril, holding Lachelle and Tevin’s one-year old son in his arms.

“He wanted it to be a surprise,” Momma Jean called out from the house and waved. “We didn’t know about it either, until only about an hour ago. “But we are so glad he invited us to share in creating this joyous memory. We are overwhelmed with pleasure and hope you four will be very happy here.”

Tevin turned to his wife. “It’s ours, honey. We did it. Our first home. No more coffee, tea, or juice stains on our countertops.”

Samara Doumnande is an African American fine artist and author who has written and illustrated two children’s books and one general audience book. In addition to writing short stories, she currently has three novels which are works in progress in the psychological fiction genre. To learn more about her current writing projects as well as her advocacy for the mentally ill, please visit her author website at: SamaraDoumnande.com. Samara lives in West Henrietta, NY with her husband and three daughters.