The Last Ethernet Cable

Marcus stood in the doorway of his cubicle for the last time, the corporate-issued baseball cap in his hands. He'd worn this hat every day for three years—through the merger, through Elena's suicide attempt in the breakroom, through the night they all stayed until 3 AM debugging the payment system that had somehow deleted twelve thousand customer transactions.

The office cat, a scrappy tabby named Database that someone had smuggled in years ago, wound around his ankles, purring like a failing server fan. "You're the only one who'll miss me, aren't you?" Marcus whispered, scratching behind her ears. Elena wouldn't even look at him anymore. Not since the incident.

His desk was already cleared. Security would escort him out in five minutes. But Marcus kept staring at the ethernet cable snaking from the wall port to his empty desk, blinking green with activity even though no computer was connected. It was still pulsing with data—emails, Slack messages, JIRA tickets—all the invisible lifeblood of this company that had consumed his twenties like a slow acid.

He thought about Elena in HR's office yesterday, explaining that his position was being "restructured." How she wouldn't meet his eyes. How she'd twisted her wedding ring, the one he'd given her four years ago before she transferred to Marketing and started dating the new VP of Operations.

The hat went on his head one last time. Database mewed once, then padded away toward the server room. Marcus reached down and yanked the ethernet cable from the wall. The green light died.

"Mr. Caldwell?" Security stood behind him. "It's time."

Marcus dropped the cable on his bare desk. It coiled like a dead snake.

"Yeah," he said. "I'm done."