Holding On To You Read Free

composes herself, picks up the phone, thinks for a moment, puts it back down, and then leaves her office. Several people watch her, knowing full well what's coming, and hoping that it won't be directed at them. They all think she's absolutely crazy, every single one of them. She's earnt the nick-names 'Cruella De Vil' and 'The Woman in Black', and she hasn't done anything to avoid them.
    She makes her way to the accounts department, a section of five people on the floor below her. Once there, she stands at the edge of their desk and addresses them as a group.
    'The deposits weren't made on Friday', she says calmly, like the first innocuous gust of wind that carries a storm behind it. 'Who is responsible?'
    They all look at each other. Nobody wants to take the blame. Maddy waits impatiently for the answer.
    'Jessie was supposed to do it', Carl says eventually. He'd betray his own mother for a chance at freedom.
    'That's bullshit Carl', Jessie responds, defending herself.
    'It doesn't matter anyway, we can do them today', Ian says, trying to be diplomatic. Maddy eyeballs him. 'I'll take them down there later. This morning. Now if you like.'
    'They are supposed to be done every Friday afternoon before the store closes', Maddy says, on the verge of losing her patience yet again. Seeing this, Javier reaches out for his pencil, and makes sure it's firmly in his grasp, in case Maddy feels like snapping it.
    Of the one hundred and thirty six people that work for the stationery company that Maddy's grandfather began sixty five years ago, and which Maddy, because of her parents insistence, is now in control of, almost half know about her secret drawer with broken pencils. Almost half again actually think she might be a witch. Being the superstitious man he is, Javier doesn't want to risk it.
    Jane isn't so cautious, and despite the responsibility not entirely falling with her, she decides to speak up.
    'It was my fault', Jane begins. She looks down at the desk and then up at Maddy, using the one technique she remembers from her six month, part-time acting course, to make her eyes well up and appear convincing.
    The rest of the accounts team, along with the whole of the rest of the floor now, watch this confession in a state of disbelief. Javier quickly puts his favourite pencil, along with all of the rest of his stationery, into the top drawer of his desk, and locks it. Jane, the newest member of the team, having been there for only three weeks, was, in conjunction with Jessie, meant to deposit the weeks takings at the bank on Friday afternoon. Instead, the two girls got chatting about which men from the office or the shop floor they would either kiss, marry or push of a cliff, and the time got away from them. After that, it was simply too late to deposit the cash, something they were planning to rectify later that morning. Despite Ian's earlier warning to her about avoiding taking responsibility at all costs, Jane has decided not to heed it. With their hearts sinking, and their heads in their hands, as though watching a convicted but innocent woman walk voluntarily to the electric chair, they watch Jane commit career suicide.
    'It was my turn to do it, and I forgot. I'm sorry Maddy, it won't happen again', Jane says.
    'Fuck', someone on the other side of the room shouts, before moving their hands to their mouth too late to stop it.
    'My name is not Maddy', Maddy says through clenched teeth, with a calmness that troubles everyone in the room who has experienced her wrath. She reaches into her pocket for her stress ball, but quickly realises she's left it on her office desk. She makes do with balling her hands into fists in her pockets as she seethes at the girl in front of her who could have been a contemporary of hers, or even a friend, in a completely different world.
    'I'll do it now, don't worry Miss Parker. Jane's only been here for a couple of weeks. Really it's my responsibility', Ian says, hoping to placate her. 'No