The Bear in the Blue Water

The corporate retreat had been Elena's idea. 'Team building,' she'd called it, as if trust falls and awkward cocktails could repair what three years of layoffs and stagnant wages had broken. Now she stood at the edge of the pool, chlorine and expensive perfume in the air, watching her colleagues float like bloated corpses in the fluorescent blue water.

Marcus waved at her from the deep end. He was the company's golden bear—aggressive, hibernating only when necessary, emerging hungrier each time. 'Join us, Elena! The water's perfect!'

She'd been a zombie for months now, moving through her days on automatic pilot. Answer emails. Attend meetings. Pretend she didn't know her department was next on the chopping block. Pretend she and David weren't sleeping in separate beds.

Her phone buzzed. David. *Can we talk?*

She stared at the screen. Last night he'd said he was done waiting for her to 'wake up.' What did that mean, anyway? She was awake. She made six figures. She had equity. She had everything she was supposed to want.

Elena slipped off her heels. The pool deck burned her bare feet. A cannonball splash drenched her linen dress—Jake from accounting, grinning like an idiot. Everyone laughed. Marcus applauded.

'I'm going back inside,' Elena said to no one.

'You okay?' Marcus asked, suddenly concerned. His eyes held that predatory warmth, the one he used before delivering bad news.

She thought about her mortgage, her mother's medical bills, the promotion Marcus had dangled like salmon before a starved animal. She thought about David's voice this morning, quiet as a closing door.

'Never been better,' Elena said, and walked away from the pool, from the bear, from the zombie life she'd been living. She pressed the phone to her ear. 'I'm coming home.'