Paradise and the Pyramid Scheme

The corporate retreat was Carmen's idea—Mexico, all expenses paid, a pyramid scheme in reverse where they poured money into us until we felt too guilty to leave. I stood on the balcony of my ocean-view suite, watching palm trees sway against a sky so blue it felt manufactured. My phone buzzed with emails from the pyramid's apex—CEO Marcus wanted to "circle back" on the Q3 projections.

I slipped into the pool at midnight, swimming laps while everyone else slept. The water was warmer than the air, silken around my skin. That's when I found Elena, floating on her back, staring up at constellations I couldn't name.

"Can't sleep either?" she asked, not moving.

"Marcus's emails," I said, treading water beside her. "He wants to pivot. Again."

Elena laughed softly. She was Marcus's executive assistant, the one who actually ran everything. "I gave him a vitamin B complex this morning. He asked if it would improve his 'strategic vision.' I told him it couldn't hurt."

We floated there in silence, the occasional splash from my strokes breaking the stillness. I'd wanted Elena for three years—since she'd organized the holiday party and caught me drinking alone in the supply closet, then proceeded to get drunker than me while quoting Maya Angelou.

"The pyramid doesn't work without people like us," she said suddenly. "But it also doesn't let us climb."

"So what do we do?"

She turned onto her stomach, swimming toward the pool's edge. I followed. At the shallow end, she stood up, water cascading from her hair like mercury. She extended her palm, fingers slightly curled, and I took it. Her grip was firm, confident.

"We drown, or we learn to hold our breath."

The next morning, I deleted Marcus's emails. Elena didn't show up to the strategy session. By noon, we were at a local cantina, drinking tequila that tasted like earth and fire. She traced the lines on my palm with tequila-stained fingers, laughing at my half-life line.

"It says you'll make a choice," she whispered, "but not today."

I ordered another round. The pyramid could wait. For now, I was exactly where I needed to be.