“I think there’s been a mistake,” HR said, not looking at me. I smiled, because I already knew. From my car across the street, I watched them walk into my office—my intern, my mentee, my boss—carrying black folders like weapons. That’s when I whispered to myself, They didn’t fire me. They erased me. And I was about to show them what happens when you delete the wrong person.
The day everything cracked open began like every other workday Elizabeth Mason had survived for seven years. Burnt coffee. A gray sky that looked like wet concrete. The same café near the office, the same five-dollar tip slid across the counter to Joe, the elderly waiter with shaking hands and tired eyes. He nodded, grateful…