the wrapper...

He was crumpling the piece of wrapper in his hand… these days he always kept on thinking to himself, most of the times standing at that very place... he had kept the news under wraps for the whole week…but now the results were out on the office notice board. He had been demoted. What could he do now?

How happy he was when he heard that there will be three promotions this year, one more than the last year. After missing out on the previous one, he was hopeful of getting it this time. He had been working hard. He had even gone on to the verge of challenging the Boss in one of those “Behind the doors” meeting.

“How can you finalize the deal with Axle’s, Sir…their reputation is on a decline…Ryder’s offer best suits our needs…”

He knew it, he was right… But every one in the room frowned at him as he had done the unthinkable… Challenge the boss…that would be the last thing they would do after getting a job somewhere else…but he had been an achiever throughout his life. He joined this relatively new firm, rejecting an offer from a MNC in a hope that he will grow much faster in a smaller company…but he had never fit into the “cabin attitude” of this new firm. You were not supposed to think outside your cabin…coz that was the job of the boss…last year he was tolerated coz he was seen as a newcomer…but this year he couldn’t avoid the axe…and now there he was…with every crumpling sound a new thought was coming to his mind…was it a mistake to decline the offer from that MNC…was he a misfit into this org…was it a blunder to suggest the boss with a much better alternative…was this his biggest failure…he didn’t want to enter that office again where every face would have an “we told you so” expression…

And then the mobile rang…it was Mahesh, his only friend in the office...as he kept the phone back in his pocket he threw the wrapper in his hand…and two minutes later he too jumped from the place he was standing… the twenty-fourth floor of his building…he was dead…

The boss had finalized the deal with the Ryder’s…