"Prosperaux and Despair" | Horror/Suspense

Clark tried to calm his anxiousness on his way to CEO Marcus Prosperaux’s office for the very first time. There was always an air of mystique about the new boss throughout the office, evident to everyone.

            Mr. Prosperaux was a hot-shot executive who caused quite a stir after being hired on. A strapping young man who exuded a powerful, enigmatic presence.

Clark to come in early for an intake meeting. He’d done so one-by-one with each of the employees. Making his introductions and getting acquainted, most figured.

Clark knocked on the black door.

“Come in!” the voice on the other side beckoned.

The door groaned as Clark slowly swung it open to enter Prosperaux’s office. It felt massive from inside. Black painted walls and tall, eloquent pieces of Victorian era artwork on opposite sides of the room saw to that. The furniture was lavish with maroon velvet and brown leather upholstery. The lighting was dim, coming only from several lamps in the office. Heavy curtains blocked the windows.

“Welcome, Mr. Wiggins!” Prosperaux said. “Please, close the door. Come! Sit with me!”

Clark felt the tension in his body melt into the cushion of the chair.

The tall, slender, dapper gentleman glided round his desk and into the chair beside him. “Let me begin by saying, this is rather a chance for us to get to know one another. Tell me about yourself! What do you do here? How do you like your job?”

Clark found the man very easy to talk to. Welcoming and approachable, yet authoritative.

“Splendid! What about your family, Clark?

…I’m terribly sorry to hear that, how long have you been on your own?

…My, a self-made man! But no other relatives? Not a girlfriend, or a dog even?”

Clark was growing confused about what such personal questioning would have to do with his work. He even asked Prosperaux as much.

“Why, nothing. Nothing, at all,” his boss said.

Prosperaux hissed through his fanged grin before lunging at his prey, piercing its flesh and draining its blood.

Clark couldn’t even scream. It all happened so fast. By the time the panic set in, he’d already begun to fade. Out of consciousness. Out of time. Out of life.

--

I hadn’t noticed until after my morning trip to the coffee machine that the guy at the desk next to mine hadn’t shown up yet. He was a rather odd sort of fellow, wasn’t close with anybody at the office, really. But it felt odd, his absence. Not like something was missing, but rather, something was… off. I couldn’t shake this feeling on my way to my new boss’ office.

That was when I saw it. I don’t care how insane the others think I am, I know what I saw. I don’t think I could ever forget Clark’s sheet-white body collapsed in a heap on the carpet, or the blood smeared on Mr. Prosperaux’s face. And the fangs! He had freaking fangs!

At first, I was paralyzed. Fear, shock, trying to make sense of what I was looking at, I don’t know. The only thing I could think of doing was to book it the hell out of there! I sprinted down the hall, but somehow, at the bottom of the stairs, there he was! I couldn’t even hide the terror that consumed me.

“Jerry! Just the fella I’ve been waiting to see! Why don’t you come with me to my office, we’ll go over those quarterlies,” he said with his cheshire smile.

I couldn’t even look him in the eyes; I was too busy staring at his teeth. Just like that, the fangs were gone. Was I just imagining things? No, but Clark! Wait, was he just going to show me the body? Maybe he’s going to blackmail me, threaten to pin the murder on me. Or he’ll threaten to make me his thrall, convert me into his fledgling to do his lustful, sanguine bidding! These horrors and more bombarded my mind as I hesitantly entered his office. Only to find… his office. His clean, neat, orderly office, without an employee’s dead body in sight. I turned around as I heard the door close, but no one was there.

“So, you figured it out already, eh, Jerry?”

My heart jumped at Prosperaux’s voice as I whipped my head around, finding him reclining at his desk with his feet up.

“Figured out what?” I asked, trying my hardest to remove the tremble from my voice.

“I’m not going to try to hide it from you, Jerry,” he said. “And I won’t insult your intelligence by lying. You saw me and Clark. Didn’t you?”

Since he wasn’t lying, it seemed sensible not to lie as well. “That’s right,” I said after a hard swallow. “You’re a-a vampire! A-and if you so much as try to sniff my blood, I’ll tell everyone!”

His chuckle sent a shiver crawling up my spine. “No, you won’t, Jerry. No one will believe you. Even if they did, I could just kill them, too. Also—” With a gust of air, he whispered in my ear.

“I can already smell you.”

I lurched away from the bloodsucker leaning over my shoulder. In my fit of convulsion, I tripped over the furniture, falling on my back.

Prosperaux stood towering over me as my blood ran cold.

I huddled my quivering body together, feeling as helpless as a child in a blizzard.

“I’m not going to kill you, Jerry,” he whispered. “Not unless I need to.”

“W-Why?” I muttered from behind my jacket.

“Because I can.”

True to his word, every time I tried, even the subtlest hint of exposing my boss, and that coworker wouldn’t be at their desk the next day.

My boss, the vampire, and his foul deeds haunted my every passing moment. Day or night, asleep or awake. Guilt, fear and shame wracked my very soul. Until such time had passed that all of them faded away.

I had fallen beyond any hope. Taken by Prosperaux and despair.