The Burden We Carry

Sweat pooled in Elena's palm as she stood outside the glass doors, the morning already oppressive at seventy degrees. Inside, the air conditioning hummed—a reminder of the corporate world she was about to reenter after three months of medical leave. Three months since Marcus had died.

She adjusted her hat, a wide-brimmed thing she'd bought on impulse in New Orleans last spring. Marcus had called it her 'sunny day disguise,' said it made her look like a private detective from a noir film. God, she missed his stupid jokes.

The weight she'd been carrying—this bear of a burden, heavy and hibernating in her chest—felt lighter today. That scared her more than anything.

'You're back,' Janet said from the reception desk, not looking up from her computer. 'HR said to send you straight up. Conference room B.'

Elena's stomach tightened. Conference room B meant restructuring, the polite corporate word for 'someone's losing their job.' Usually it was the person returning from extended leave.

The elevator ride was twenty seconds of silent judgment. When the doors opened, lightning flashed through the floor-to-ceiling windows—an early summer storm rolling in off the lake. The sky darkened, purple and bruised.

Conference room B held three people: David from HR, her supervisor Karen, and—surprisingly—Marcus's brother, Julian.

'Elena,' David began, his practiced sympathy already grating. 'We need to discuss your position.'

But Julian stood up. 'Actually, I bought the company's outstanding shares this morning. As majority shareholder, I'm restructuring the executive team.' He looked at Karen. 'You're fired.'

Elena's palm went damp against her briefcase handle.

'Julian,' she said, 'what are you doing?'

'Marcus left me his shares,' he said. 'His letter said you'd know what to do with them.' He pulled an envelope from his jacket pocket. 'He also left this for you. Said open it when you came back.'

Elena's hands trembled as she unfolded the paper. Marcus's handwriting: 'Don't you dare let them break you. You're the strongest person I know. Also, I always hated that hat—burn it.'

She laughed through tears, ugly and messy and real.

'So,' Julian said, 'about your new role as CEO.'