Corporate Resurrection

Maya caught her reflection in the office kitchen microwave—dark circles, skin the color of old paper, eyes that had forgotten how to focus beyond spreadsheets. She looked like a fucking zombie, which was fitting, because she'd been one for three years.

'You're taking your vitamin today, right?'

Elena. standing by the coffee machine with her perfect posture and her beige cardigan and her perpetual emotional availability. They'd hired together, fresh out of grad school with bright eyes and bigger dreams. Now Elena was the friend who sent reminder texts about vitamins and hydration and boundary-setting, while Maya was the one who showed up at Elena's apartment at 2 AM with a bottle of wine and a fresh trauma from their boss.

'May,' Elena said softer now. 'The hat again.'

Maya's gray beanie was pulled low, shielding the migraine that had been her constant companion since Q3. She'd started wearing it to the office after she stopped blow-drying her hair, stopped caring, stopped being the person who bothered with appearances. The hat was her uniform now.

'I'm fine,'

'That vitamin D deficiency isn't going to fix itself,'

They'd measured it during her last physical—her levels were so low the doctor had actually blinked, like the equipment might be malfunctioning. 'You're not sick,' he'd said, 'you're just not alive anymore.' She'd started taking the supplements but kept forgetting, because what does it matter if your bones are strong when your soul has atrophied?

Elena crossed the tiny kitchen and placed a palm on Maya's shoulder. The contact made Maya flinch.

'Come to dinner tonight. Actual food. No work talk.' Her friend's voice was gentle, relentless. 'Please.'

Maya looked at Elena's earnest face, at the way she still tried to resuscitate their shared humanity even as corporate America cannibalized them both. At some point, Maya had decided that staying dead was easier than fighting the resurrection every day.

But Elena kept offering the vitamins. kept extending dinner invitations. refused to let Maya stay buried.

'Okay,' Maya said, 'but I'm wearing the hat.'

Elena smiled, and for the first time all week, Maya felt something like warmth behind her ribs.