HAZELThud! Thud! Thud!The sound of tiny feet bouncing on the bed woke me up from the deep slumber that I was in. I slowly opened my eyes, only to immediately regret the action. The room was flooded in light, and my eyes took a moment before they adjusted to the harsh glare. I let out a moan as I stretched, loosening all the knots in my body before I turned to look at the culprit who had woken me up.Valerie had stopped jumping and she was now sitting next to me on the bed, smiling at me with those big beautiful eyes. “Yay, you’re up!” She exclaimed, clapping excitedly.I flinched and inwardly groaned at the volume of her voice. A sharp pain sliced through my head like an ax, and I held my head in my hands, internally cursing. I didn’t feel good at all. It felt like someone had tied me up and tucked me into a car tyre, only to roll me around the entire city over and over again, or like I had been run over by a bulldozer. And it wasn’t just that— my throat felt dry and raw at the same

It was 6pm, and I’d spent the entire day with mom and Olivia at the hospital, so I was pretty tired. I had just stepped into the entryway of the house when I heard someone humming a tune from the kitchen. Frowning, I took off my shoes and headed in the direction of the kitchen. Tina was off today, so that couldn’t be her. And the voice sounded way too light and feminine to be Christian or the chef. Besides that, I recognized the song that was being hummed, it was from a horror movie, and it didn’t sound like something anyone in the house would want to sing.There was a woman in the kitchen— a woman I didn’t recognize. She had her hair in a tight bun, a bun so perfect that not a strand of hair was out of place. She had dark red lipstick on and she was dressed in a simple straight long dress. She had her phone in hand and looked like she was flipping through pictures or something. The marble countertops were clean and everything looked to be in order. Valerie was in her high chair in fr

CHRISTIANThe sterile hum of the fluorescent lights above mocked my already churning stomach. I scrolled through the news article on my phone, re-reading the headline for the tenth time: "Medical tech CEO, Christian Walker, Accused of Harassment by Former Employee." My reflection stared back from the phone screen, a pale, haunted version of the man I used to be. The man I was ten minutes ago.The accusation itself felt like a punch to the gut. Grace, my ex-assistant, a woman I barely remembered beyond her constant need for coffee refills. We'd never… no, the thought was ludicrous. Yet, here it was, splashed across every news outlet, a digital scarlet letter branding me a predator. Anger, hot and primal, rose in my chest. This was a smear campaign, a desperate attempt to extort money. Grace had been let go some months ago for incompetence, not some fabricated harassment story. But the seed of doubt, planted by the sheer audacity of the accusation, burrowed deeper. Did I ever say somet

HAZELWhen I first saw the news about Christian, I was in my mother’s hospital room, laughing and reminiscing about old memories. The first emotion I felt was shock–my heart dropped to the pit of my stomach and it felt like there was a gaping hole in my chest. Fear came soon after– what did this mean and what was going to happen? My hands started to shake and my breathing became labored. Soon enough, my entire body was trembling. I dashed out of the hospital to my car and drove home in silence, no music or anything— the noise in my head was loud enough. I found myself wondering if he was okay, if he needed some sort of comfort in that moment and if I would be able to render it to him. I wondered if he was home and if I would give him a hug when I saw him– would it make things awkward? Would it make him feel better? Was he okay?It wasn’t until I pulled up in the winding driveway that I realized that not once since I first saw the news at the hospital did I even consider the possibilit

“Twenty three year old ex Walker employee, Grace Smith, who a little over a week ago, came out with some serious allegations against her ex employer, Christian Walker, has now taken back the accusations. Miss Smith, who had accused Mr Walker of sexual harassment, showed up at the right moment when his wife, Hazel Walker, took a public stand in support of her husband. Miss Smith confessed to being forced, coerced and threatened by an unidentified male to cook up the story against Mr Walker. She claims that she was unable to keep up the lies anymore since she felt guilty as the accused has been nothing but kind to her. Miss Smith has now been taken in for questioning… more to come on this story at 10am tomorrow.”My nails dug into the armrest of the couch as I sat stiffly and watched the video recording of me and Grace Smith at the lounge earlier today okay over and over again. I turned off the TV and tried to breathe more evenly. Everything had worked out, somehow it had all worked out