Chapter 1

Kalista exits the elevator while walking slow and complacent, she has always been the early bird type of employee and has been consistent ever since her first day in the company. She's usually 30 minutes early but this time around it's an hour. She could not wait to step in the office because this is the most special day in her career. 

The release of her fourth month performance review is one of the key requirements to get that manager's position that she's been so thirsty about.

"Good morning," she greeted the guard who's standing at his post in front of the door badge. Her blissful smile made the men in uniform forget to scan her bag, simply because he was caught by her irresistible charm.

The sliding glass door clicked right after it scanned her ID badge and it automatically opened for her. The echoes of her chunky boots blended with the busy call center agents as they exhaust themselves to lower the heavy volume of irate customer calls who had been waiting on the line for an hour now. 

Darene, one of her close friends in her team, seems to be internalizing her newly created personalized opening spiel. She then tapped the green phone icon to answer the ringing hard-phone. "Good day to you sir! This is Darene, thank you for being so patient to wait on the line as we answer heavy volumes of calls today. Lucky you! You've got me on the line and you've got the best girl to help you with your problem!" Darene even smiled in front of her monitor like a fake doll to make it seem like she really meant what she said.

"Fuck your company Darene! Your sweet words won't do anything to make up with my loss because the internet service you provide sucks! I need to talk to your CEO now!" Kalista's a meter away from Darene yet she can still hear the angry customer right through Darene's headset. All the while, Darene quickly and slightly removed her headset as soon as the loud customer started cursing. She then began to rapidly push the minus button beside the volume icon.

"Oh dear," Kalista chuckled. "The night's still young sweetie, you gotta stay composed," she uttered while she continued walking toward the isles.

"A-Hold: 3! People! A-Hold: 3!" Kalista, who's about 6 meters away from the workforce station, cringed. The guy kept shouting A-Hold: 3 on the top of his lungs to warn the agents that the volume of incoming calls are drastically increasing and customers are waiting on the line for more than an hour now. She avoided the gaze of the workforce guy because she knew that this guy will plot a 30 minute pre-shift overtime in her schedule. She swiftly hid behind the pillar.

"Ronalyn Marquez! Invalid Aux! Go back to available..." The workforce guy paused a bit and inhaled deeply as he was about to unleash catastrophe. "NOW!" He shouted like he's about to destroy his vocal chords.

"I'm doing some customer interaction notes! Asshole!" Irate as she seems to have just finished a very long and hard headed customer call.

"Do it fast Rona! Customers are waiting, you bitch!" Eula interfered with a humorous smile. Eula and Rona are both single mom's who have developed a wonderful sisterhood bond. Oftentimes, they call each other 'sizzum'. Rona is a happy go lucky person who doesn’t let anyone get into her nerves, while Eula is a food lover type of person who values her job because she wants to have a stable income so she can eat delicious food. Both moms never let the stress of their work stop them from smiling and making things seem fun and easy.

She grinned like chesire cat upon hearing how Eula roasted her best friend Rona. With about forty-five minutes left before her scheduled shift, she went to the locker area to leave her bag and stuff as part of the PCI compliance of the company. She took one last look at the mirror that is attached behind her locker door. "This is perfect," She uttered in silence.

"She's done it again, just like last month." The lady on the other side of her locker said with an intriguing tone of voice.

"I really hate that bitch. she'd only been here for about 5 months. Like duh? I don't really believe that it's all hard work. Her performance is unbelievably incredible for a newbie like her," said by the other lady while she's munching on her cupcake.

"Rumor has it, she's seen going out with Sheel, the assigned quality analyst in her team," the third lady added.

"Ha! I told you girls! No wonder why she always gets a 100% QA score," the munching lady commented.

"That dirty little bitch. You know what girls? I'm starting to lose my happy mood just by talking about that stats magician girl. Come on. Let's just take some calls, she's not worth the stress." The ladies started walking toward the exit, Kalista on the other hand started losing her grip on reality which she almost thought about punching them in the face. Softhearted, she decided to hide her face behind the locker door while trying so hard to stop herself from snapping. 

"I'll prove 'em all wrong." She growled inwardly like a shackled goblin. Her hands are shaking yet she managed to quickly get her face powder and red matte lipstick to retouch. She wiped the single tear falling off from her right eye and stared at her own reflection intensely as if she’s about to go to war. She began seeing some flashbacks of her horrible past while she stared at her eyes. 

Her hair color, sense of fashion and attitude might have been replaced and she became fiercer. But behind those eyes lies a nightmarish past.

“Consume only one pill when your hands are shaking," the psychiatrist’s voice echoed behind her head.“And take two pills when you feel like you can't breath. Lastly, consume three pills when everything feels heavy like you’re about to lose your balance and fall,” the psychiatrist added right after he gave the prescribed anxiety pills.

She fixed her face like nothing happened. She took four pills and chewed it like candy. She smiled back at her reflection and braced herself for her upcoming manager position. 

She's confident that her fourth month review will show an above average performance than most agents in the office. She knew that once she got that fourth month review, she'll then be able to submit her application confidently.