Page 27 of Light My Fire Three Times
I answer before I can stop myself.
“Olivia!” His voice blares through the speaker, sharp and demanding. “Where the hell are you? We need you back at the office. I don’t care what you think you’re doing, you’re coming back early. Now.”
I close my eyes, a wave of heat flooding my chest. “I’m on vacation, Richard. Vacation days I’ve earned…”
“No. Not at the moment,” he growls. “I have projects onlyyoucan handle.”
I feel my shoulders tense, my decision pressing down on me again.
“I don’t have time for you to be playing around, Olivia. Get your priorities straight.”
The words sting. I’ve spent years being his go-to person. Doing everything for him and taking on responsibility after responsibility, barely breathing for myself. And now, after I finally decided to take a step back, I finally gave myself a moment to breathe. He’s demanding I drop everything to fix his mess.
I take a deep breath, but it doesn’t help. The pressure I’ve been living under for years piles back on top of me, heavier than ever.
“I told you I needed a break, Richard. A break from all this,” I say, shaky but trying to hold firm. “I’m not coming back until my vacation is over.”
“You think this is acceptable?” he scoffs. “Do you have any idea how much we’re paying you just to play around while things fall apart here?”
I feel the sharp sting in my chest, my mind racing.Play around?It’s always been like that. To him, I’ve never been more than a cog in his machine. Always there to put out his fires, fix his mistakes, and make his life easier.
“You don’t get it,” I snap, frustration taking over. “I’m not your puppet. I’m not going to drop everything and rush back to clean up your messes. You can figure it out for once.”
“Don’t you dare?—”
“I dare!” I cut him off, my pulse pounding in my ears. “You’ve made me feel like I owe you everything for years, Richard. Like I’m nothing without this job, without your approval. Well, I’m done. You’re not the only one with a life to live.”
“Olivia—” His voice cracks, but I’m not done.
“You think I can just keep running on empty for you?” I say, each word dripping with the anger I’ve buried for too long.“Well, I can’t. I can’t keep pretending like this is normal. You don’t care about me. You only care about what I can do for you.”
I can hear his ragged breathing through the line.
“You’re making a huge mistake,” he spits, but there’s something else now. Desperation, maybe? Or fear?
And maybe I’m terrified too. Maybe this is the scariest thing I’ve ever done. But I’m done being afraid of him.
“I don’t care anymore,” I say, stronger than I’ve ever heard myself. “I quit, Richard. I’m done.”
There’s a long pause, the kind of silence that makes my heartbeat louder in my ears.
“Olivia… you don’t want to do this. You’ll regret it. You won’t find another job like this?—”
“I don’t care,” I say again, more firmly this time. “I quit. You can figure it out without me.”
The line goes silent. Not even a breath. I hear nothing. Just static.
I stare at the phone in my hand, my heart hammering against my rib cage. It doesn’t feel real. It feels like I’m still in shock, as if I just blacked out and this… this big, scary, final decision isn’t mine.
But it is.
And I feel everything shift inside me.
The enormity of what I just did sinks in. The relief, the rush of freedom… it feels like I’ve just cut all the strings holding me hostage.
But it doesn’t feel all good.
What now?
