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51 - Termination
"Lydia, wait, I can't understand you -"
Jia had had to yank the earpiece out so that the woman's high-pitched shrills didn't outright shatter her eardrum. While the woman wasn't quite shouting anymore, it was clear that she was losing the ability to control her volume, and at times she would run out of breath and only squeak out certain words before taking another deep breath to continue babbling.
"Lydia!" she tried again, trying to cut in right as the woman paused to inhale. "Lydia, please. I didn't catch any of that. I need you to speak more slowly so that I can understand you."
Jia's voice was calm and composed, each syllable enunciated with slow clarity. Not that she actually felt that way, though. Her heart was hammering away in her chest so hard that she thought she could hear its dull thumping all the way up to her ears. A disaster, a catastrophe - something was Jia's fault. She had done something wrong -
"It's Ms. Munson," wheezed Lydia,
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