CHAPTER 70

The trip takes us well over a half an hour and I didn't see the time till we're almost there and it's just now hitting eight in the morning. No breakfast and I'm in a suit. I'm thinking I'd be better off delivering packages as we exit the underground parking structure and make our way into the elevator. We take a quick trip up the elevator and I finally have a grasp of how much gets done as soon as we're out of the elevator about three feet when the barrage begins for Mr. Delauter. There are about four people taking turns asking him about at least a dozen different cases and I watch as Lilly is mentally taking notes as we follow my step father to his office. The man has not one but two secretaries who both start going off the 'dailies' with him as he grabs a cup of coffee from one and they follow him inside, closely trailed by Lilly and I.

"Sir you have three meetings on the docket today two are settlements and one is a challenge for the assault and battery case," the older secretary says as Mr. Delauter sits.

"Get me the briefings on the third and I'll make my minimal attendance to the others, we can have aids see things through on that one but have them meet with me first for a briefing. Maude I need you to take the young man here and find him something to do," Mr. Delauter says as the older woman starts to lead me out of the office.

I follow Maude who is old enough to be called my grandma starts to lead me to another elevator and down we go till I'm in a filing office and see people going through different screens and a few actually printing and copying files for review. I'm told all the little things when I get to the back and am directed to a stairwell.

"Go down one floor and ask for Collin, tell him Maude said you needed something to do. I'll call down for you when Mr. Delauter needs you again," She tells me before leaving me to my new hell.

Another floor down and I realize that I'm in the oldest records room known to man and the only people here are a few clerks organizing and an exceptionally overweight white man almost as older than Mr. Delauter sits with more hair on his face than the top of his head and is wearing what was probably at one time a fitting suit.

"I'm here to see Collin," I say, getting the fat man's attention.

"What do you need, kid," He asks in a concerned tone.

"Maude sent me down, said for you to give me something to do," I say as everyone freezes at my words save for the fat man.

"Well kiddo I'm Collin and I got something just your size," He says finally pulling himself up and out of the chair which groans in relief.

I follow Collin as he waddles past the desks and to a door in the back called 'Archives'. I let him open it and am greeted with a minor apocalypse. The whole room looks like it was hit by an earthquake, there were once rows of filing cabinets but the cabinets are spilled in every direction and sometimes at random. There are some that have been opened and just left where they spilled their contents.

"So we had a party here a few months back and some of the staff got really drunk and decided to see how much of a mess they could make. As you can see they nearly totaled it but I'm just glad we're underground and they had no windows," Collin says chuckling," Get it all picked up and right kiddo."

And with that he closes the door after exiting, the room is big enough to house a decent sized party and I grimace before realizing I'm not dressed for this as I take my coat, shirt and tie off. My dress shoes have no traction so they are next to come off with the socks and I even roll up my dress slacks leaving me in a thin white tank top and I get to putting the cabinets in order first and foremost. I don't check my phone, I don't look at the time I just bust my ass. I don't know how long it has taken me to get to the point where I had all the cabinets upright and even organized where they must have been by tracks on the floor before I set to putting the contents back where they're supposed to go. The filing system is pretty easy to follow and when I'm finally done I sit at one of the few desks and realize I could kill and eat a man and drink an entire lake of water. My limbs are weak and shaky, at one point my bandage on my right arm started bleeding again and I had to tighten it before continuing. I finally muster the strength to get up and check my phone, I freeze for a moment before my rage sets in and the shaky feeling of no food is replaced by pure rage. It's four fucking thirty in the afternoon, they fucking left me here all day long. I get my socks and shoes on before marching out and past the desks, Collin is the only person left and he's shocked to see me.

"Hey kiddo, did you get any progress made on…. the… room," He asks as I freeze him in place with a glare that could kill.

I keep moving past him and up the stairs and into the filing office and apparently my expression and the fact that I'm covered in sweat and bleeding a little out of a bandage on my arm has people concerned as I get to the elevator and wait. I can tell other people are staring and I could not give a fuck. I enter and hit the button for the fifth floor where the debacle started. I get to the top and exit the elevator to be greeted with more stares as I am clutching my upper attire in my right hand so I can punch someone with my left. I can see the secretaries are in full swing working as I march up and Maude's face is horrified as she sees me.

"Son you can't go in there right now he's in a meeting," Maude tells me trying to curb my frontal assault of the office.

"I just spent nine hours rearranging a room that looked like it got hit by an earthquake. I don't care if he's in a meeting with God himself," I say, starting to push past when she puts me back firmly.

"I'm sorry but I cannot allow you to just barge in there and interrupt," She says holding her ground.