Page 1 of Loathing My Boss

---

Prologue

?

The day the hate began.

Crisis

10 years ago

Dear WritingThroughChaos,

After reviewing your critique submission, I’ve come to the conclusion that your work isn’t ready for professional analysis. Without a cohesive plot, memorable characters, or established writing skills, I’m afraid you’re unlikely to draw the attention of an agent, and if you give up on efforts to obtain representation in favor of publishing independently, you’re unlikely to find an audience at this point in your development.

My best advice is this: start over.

Learn craft. Nurture a style. Try again. And again. And again.

No one is interested in reading your first draft.

Sincerely,

Viktor Bachelor

Dear Viktor,

[redacted] U.

With utmost sincerity,

[middle finger emoji]

Chapter 1

?

Living in spite is totally normal, probably.

Crisis

Here I lie.

A being made up of equal parts atoms and equal parts bad decisions. Dread weighs heavily upon my soul, sinking through my bloodstream like arsenic. Would that I only had mystical powers, I’d swiftly remove so many from this plane of existence, starting withViktor Bachelor.

Myboss.

My nemesis.

The bane of my existence.

Hefting a sigh, I close my eyes, draw my hands up to my face, and open my mouth to free the most silent of screams.

The air hissing through my throat as it leaves me is therapeutic, somehow, and once my lungs burn, I rock myself upright, drop my arms into the sheets on either side of my thighs, and refill the ol’ chest cavity with one hefty inhale.

Here I sit.

Granted another day.

What a terrible, terrible decision on the part of the powers that be.

---