Chapter 3
Alicia stood in front of the mirror, and she was proud of her work. She'd slipped out of bed with the utmost care and she was grateful that Zoe was a heavy sleeper. Alicia had kept her up
very
late last night. She smiled at the memory, then decided that she actually did want to make a few more tiny adjustments to her makeup.
I must always look my best at work,
she thought.
She was happy that there wasn't any ambiguity about what to wear today.
Employees must always adhere to the dress code at work
, she thought. That made things so much simpler. The skirt, the blouse, the heels, the garter and stockings, the jacket, it was all laid out for her. Hair must be blonde, and eyes must be blue, even if that meant wearing contacts. She wouldn't need those, at least.
Panties were not permitted, and she'd needed to remove several piercings. She wasn't thrilled about that, but what was she going to do, violate the
dress code
? Not likely. If they weren't packing so lightly when they moved each time she wouldn't have needed to buy a whole new ensemble, but she couldn't deny, it
had
been a fun shopping trip.
Alicia walked past the bed, and she stopped for a moment to drink in the sight of her one more time before she set off. She felt another pang of guilt about what was about to happen. She was going to go off and
be at work during office hours
. Zoe was going to find out pretty soon that she'd gone missing, and eventually where she'd gone missing to. Maybe another good lie could buy her a day, but she didn't want to put it off any longer. It was just delaying the pain.
Zoe was going to be furious that she was going to work for this sex pest boss who tried to chase her down leaving the building. Alicia
was not bothered by any of this
, but for whatever reason Zoe had been. Still, she hated disappointing her. It was eating her up inside. She decided to move on before she started getting all emotional. She couldn't afford to be much later, or she might not make it before the start of
office hours
.
She did make it on time, but it wasn't long before she realised that something very, very wrong. There was something
off
with everybody. Was it the unnatural smiles? That was part of it, maybe. But there was something bigger. Something far more unsettling.
"Good morning! You must be the new girl," said a friendly, upbeat voice. She turned to look.
"Oh hi, yes, I'm Alicia," she replied. The woman was quite imposing, probably a head taller than Alicia, but was doing her best to look disarming with her expression.
"Sofia," said the lady. "Pleased to meet you Alicia. I'm Master's lawyer. I handle the conveyancing and whatnot mostly."
"Master?"
"Oh sorry, I didn't realise you hadn't completed your induction yet. Mister Bateman."
"Oh," she said, but she was starting to get worried.
What kind of fucked up place is this? s
he thought. But then it hit her. The thing that had been bothering her since she walked in.
Sofia was an
employee
, but she was not
adhering to the dress code
. She recoiled in surprise when it hit her. Alicia immediately felt a deep second-hand shame. The kind you felt when somebody was making a massive fool of themselves in public and you couldn't bear to watch. Her hair was a deep, dark red, and her eyes were a rich brown. She wore a tight, red v-neck sweater, and there was a lace choker on her neck. Her legs were covered by a set of black leggings, and she wore a pair of open toed low heels. As the initial shock faded, she started to think a bit more clearly.
Isn't that basically what Zoe was wearing on Friday?
"Um, Sofia, I have a- a question for you in private if that's ok" Alicia continued. Sofia looked weirdly relieved when she asked.
"That's a great idea sweety, let's just pop into one of the meeting rooms," she replied.
Alicia followed her through the sliding glass door into one of the small rooms off the hallway. It was filled with videoconferencing equipment. She took a deep breath.
"Why aren't you
adhering to the dress code
?" she said. She tried to hide the disgust in her voice, but it didn't work.
"Me? I am, silly. I was about to ask you the same question!
Employees must always adhere to the dress code
." she replied.
They were both looking at each other, confused.
"Oh gosh, I just realised! You probably aren't on the internal mailing list yet. Jan would have sent you all the employment details manually. You didn't get the update!" Sofia pulled out her phone and started doing something.
"The... update?" Alicia replied, fear creeping into her voice.
"Yeah. The
dress code
changed over the weekend. I'm so sorry, I thought someone would have let you know. Here, take a look," she said, holding up the E-mail on her phone for her to read.
It was from Alexander Bateman. It was real. It was all listed right there on the page, plain as day.
Alicia's world was suddenly flipped upside down. The disgust and confusion she felt moments earlier retreated and gave way to abject humiliation. She couldn't believe it was her first day and she'd already fucked up so colossally. She had to fix it... but she couldn't leave. She was starting to panic. All the colour drained out of her face.
"Are you alright?" said Sofia.
"
Employees must always adhere to the dress code
, but e
mployees must always be at work during
office hours
," she said.
Oh god, oh god, oh god, how can I fix this?