“Why can’t you do anything right?!” The manager’s loud voice boomed in the quiet office room.

Lucien bite his lips in resentment. This is the third time he was humiliated by the manager today. The first time was when he clock in. He hadn’t put down his bag yet but the manager stormed down to his desk and slammed the thick budget report on the table.

And this is the third report the manager threw on the table right in front of Lucien’s face.

“I only asked one simple instruction. Show the numbers through a graph representation. Then the table should show a clear break down of expenses accumulated. But what is this?! Why are the amounts you showed are not adding up?! Can’t you do basic math?!”

I only show you what was given to me. Lucien thought.

He can’t exactly tell the manager that the receipts and invoices of the breakdown of expenses are clearly not matching. The summary of expenses provided by the Sales Department, Food and Beverage Department and the Marketing Department all have thousands of dollars missing on them.

Historical data showed each department have claimed more than 8 digits of expenses but the breakdown he was given only showed 6 digits.

What was he supposed to do with the missing amount? Put the words “money magically disappeared” or something?

Lucien was grumbling inwardly when he and the manager’s eyes met.

“What are you glaring at?!” He screamed.

The manager is a middle aged man with thin almost bald hair and beer belly. His wrinkles, especially on the forehead became permanent. Because of stress and pressure from the higher ups, his face aged more than his actual age.

The manager was aware of the discrepancy. It was the order of someone from the higher up to cover these up so the President will not notice.

But how can the manager cover up this amount that have already reached millions?

Because of stress, his hair is thinning out much faster than before. And the accumulated distress have forced him to vent out to his subordinate.

“You’re not leaving until you fix that! Do you hear me?!”

“Yes,” Lucien sluggishly answered.

The manager stormed out of the office, slamming the door behind him. Lucien sighed heavily before taking his seat.

His coworkers silently watched the whole ordeal with pity and sympathy. Lucien was the only man in this team. The other males of Finance Department have either transferred or resigned.

All because of the pressure Lucien is experiencing now.

Female staffs were not publicly humiliated or forced to work overtime, unlike male staffs like Lucien who were placed in charge of the quarterly budget report. If the huge discrepancy was not cover up in the report, the manager will lashed out.

At 6pm, everyone said goodbye to Lucien. The senior staff offered to help Lucien but he refused.

“It’s okay. This is not the first time. I will be going home shortly. I don’t intend to stay long.” Lucien said with a tired smile.

The woman, who was in her forties, smiled in response and patted his back.

Lucien watched her leave before the silence overtook the whole office.

“Ughh.” He rubbed his two palms on his face and continued editing the budget report.

Outside, the sound of ambulance and patrol cars rang out. A few blocks from Lucien’s office is a local private high school.

And at this moment, a huge incident have occurred.

Three young teenagers have stormed out of their cooking class, carrying knives. They stabbed their teacher, their classmates and whichever student they cross path with.

The school corridors were covered in blood. All students were in chaos. Most of them ran out of the school asking for help from the adults outside.

The teenagers responsible went to the teachers’ office and attacked the teachers. Unlucky, the teachers that remained are only five. One pregnant, three women in their forties and one male in his fifties.

No one could have expected that their own students will attack them. The male teacher could not hold up and was stabbed in his shoulder and in his stomach. The three other women tried to hold up the attacking teenagers, shouting at the pregnant teacher to run and ask for help.

The pregnant teacher, while holding onto her baby which have been growing in her stomach for five months, called the police as she run.

Once reported, she called for her husband. But couldn’t connect so she called her brother instead.

Lucien, who was stressed with the budget report, was startled when his phone rang.

The screen displayed the caller was his older sister, Leila.

“Yes, sis?”

“Lucien! Where is Dan? Hic.”

Leila’s voice was visibly shaken and full of fear. Lucien suddenly sensed something was wrong. He immediately locked his computer and came out.

In this company, Leila’s husband is a manager of the Sales Department. And it was because of him that Lucien was able to get his job. Working in this company for three years have proven to be challenging but otherwise the pay was worth it.

Lucien was sure Dan is still in his office. He usually come home at 7pm. And it’s still 6:30pm.

“I’m coming to get him right now. Sis, what happened?”

“My students are stabbing teachers.”

“WHAT??!!!”

Lucien was not able to hold back his voice. The other employees who are in the hallway all looked at him. He couldn’t care even less and sprinted towards Dan’s office.

“Where are you? !Are you hurt?!”

“I’m running towards the main school gate. I called the police. Can you and Dan come find me, please?”

“Of course! Sis, stay safe. Hide as much as you can. Take care of yourself and the baby.”

Leila did not say anything in return, but Lucien can hear her crying. He can also hear her footsteps and heavy breathing.

Lucien did not ended the call. He slammed the door of Dan’s office opened.

Inside, Dan is sitting in his desk with two other managers from the same department.