Drowning Dry

The fluorescent lights hummed their eternal note, matching the static in Elena's skull. Three years at this corporation and she'd become what her younger self would have called a zombie—still walking, still typing quarterly reports, but something vital had curdled inside somewhere around the second merger.

She caught her reflection in the bathroom mirror. Gray hair, premature and cruel, had started threading through her dark waves at thirty-two. Each silver strand felt like a marker of all the time she'd spent alive but not living.

"You look like you've seen a ghost," Chloe said, appearing beside her at the sink. Her former friend—the word tasted bitter now—had been the one to warn her about David. The new senior analyst with the too-perfect smile and curious questions about proprietary algorithms. A corporate spy, feeding intel to their competitor.

"I'm fine," Elena said, turning on the tap. The water rushed out, clear and cold, and she cupped it in her hands, splashing her face. Something about the shock of it, the simple fact of water against skin, made her want to cry. Instead, she met Chloe's eyes in the mirror. "You knew. About David."

Chloe's expression didn't change. "I thought you should know."

"When?"

"Two weeks ago."

Elena laughed, a dry, cracked sound. "Two weeks. And you said nothing because... what? You're angling for his position?"

"I'm trying to survive, Elena. We're all trying to survive."

"You're the one who taught me that word," she said, not looking away. "'Friend.' Remember? Back when we both thought this place was going to be different. When we believed having principles mattered more than having stock options."

"We grew up," Chloe said softly. "Everyone does."

Elena stared at the water still swirling down the drain. She could report David. Could blow the whole operation wide open. Could be the person she used to be—the one who believed in right and wrong, in loyalty, in something beyond survival.

Instead, she dried her hands on her pants. She would do nothing. She would return to her desk and finish the quarterly report. She would become, finally and completely, what she'd been becoming for three years.

"See you at the meeting," Elena said.

Chloe nodded. "See you there."

The water had stopped running, but Elena still felt like she was drowning.