Karen

I entered the office block, all the furniture was white reflecting the blindingly painful light into my eyes. My heart raced as I stumbled to the reception desk, the photocopier sounding almost as loud as an aeroplane to me. The receptionist just looked at me, after a few seconds asking my name and who I am here to see almost exasperatedly.

“My name is Sally-Anne Cohen, I am here for an interview with Chris Wheeler at 10 AM” I stuttered.

“you’re over an hour early, are you sure you do not want to come back,” The receptionist said.

“No, I am sure” I said apprehensively twirling my fiery red hair. I sat down and started tapping my feet while shuffling my notes back and forth. Time was ticking by, each minute feeling like a year each second feeling like a month. Soon it was 5 minutes past 10 and the waves of anxiety were turning into an overwhelming tsunami. They already decided, I won’t be a good fit for them. That why they couldn’t even be bothered to make it on time. I started to rock back and forth. At that point a tall well-presented man came out of a side room and called my name. I clumsily stood up walked towards him, He held out his hand. I reached forward and shock his hand limply continuing to tremble. Chris looked at me almost concerned and beckoned me to follow him. The hall way seemed to continue forever, almost curving inwards- I knew this was a distorted vision. Chris opened the door for me and I walked in, said thank you and sat down.

“Usually people wait for the interviewer to sit down first” Chris said. I said nothing but looked down at my feet.

“Tell us about yourself” Chris asked.

“Well” I responded “I’m not quite sure what you would like to know, I am 22, I love tigers- They are less likely to kill you if you look them in the eyes.

Chris interrupted “what was your biggest accomplishment?”

“I taught my cat to high five” I said.

“That’s not quite what I meant….” Chris looked at me inquisitively “Do you even want this job, why are you not even bothering to look at me?”

I could not answer him for I did not know… He stood up and gestured for me to do the same.

“Well thank you for this waste of time Miss Cohen. I will show you out.” Mr Wheeler said sternly.

I walked out, Mr Wheeler and the receptionist was looking at me giving me an evil look as I walked out. Suddenly the tsunami of feelings that I had before drowned me. A steel vine crushing my heart and lungs. I couldn’t breathe. I fell to my knees as the icy cold embrace of the October afternoon enveloped me. The hand of death touched my shoulder, I felt the tingle all down my spine. I tried to stand to run but my legs failed me. I looked up and saw something very different to Death, it was my friend Jake. We had arranged to meet after the interview. We headed to the nearest café, It was my favourite due to the dark lighting and milder aroma of coffee. I told Jake about my interview still holding back the tears.

“ Sally- Anne” Jake said reaching slowly for my hand “you know the Autism awareness course I have been taking lately. Well It all seems to match with what you are saying. I will be there for you every step of the way. Please book a GP appointment”.

“Ok,” I said tentatively “I will book my appointment for the next time.”