BENJAMIN felt such an agonizing disdain for the work that was laid out before him. Mind you, it was only in the quiet moments in which Mara would emerge from her hidden spaces, to gnaw at his hands, his feet, so that he would simply have to get away from his desk. She would claw at his eyes, get in the way of his screen, move his mouse into the search bar, and then type any number of things that popped into her mind, “How to build a beehive,” or, “Flights from PIT to KEF.” When BEN was with his boss, then Mara would seem to behave, and things would…

An hour went by in short order as the five all worked in their own little worlds. Benjamin was drawing up the exterior elevations of a new home when Lydia eventually packed her things and left. An hour or two later, when he had moved on to a set of floor plans for a two story addition, Maria and her intern packed their belongings and drawing pads and moved towards the door. Stopping at Ben’s desk, Maria asked, “Are you bailing out early, too?” loud enough for Marci to hear. A belligerent “hmph” could be heard from the adjoining room. “No,” Ben looked up at her, “I’ll be here till…

Ben happily chewed his second bite of egg roll, himself now slowly rotating in his swivel chair. The office was silent, empty, and the egg roll was delicious. The clouds had parted late in the morning, and now the one o’clock sun was flooding in through the windows. Before sitting to eat, he’d turned off the fluorescent lights and cracked open one of the windows for a bit of fresh air. The honks and sirens of the roadway were soothing. He gazed out the window, at the sunny distant hills of trees, and the sunny buildings next door, as he took another bite. He glanced up at the duct above…

He always enjoyed creating interior elevations. He liked laying out the cabinets, choosing what sizes looked nice together, and sketching them into one coherent vision that would then be presented to the client. He enjoyed the detail work, and he enjoyed seeing the intricate, completed space come together. Ben could tell that Mara was still perched on the back of his chair by the momentum created when he rotated even slightly in his chair. He could feel her eyes staring at him. He even had the feeling that, judging by her silence, she was smiling her menacing, toothy grin, though of this he could not be certain. Regardless, he set…

She looked up at Benjamin as he closed out of the web pages she’d opened, and then glanced down at the papers that lay disheveled in front of her. It was a solid minute before Benjamin had noticed the quiet scribbling of the pen in her hand, on the sheet of paper which contained the details for the project that he was working on. In a blank portion of the page, she had drawn a rudimentary floor plan of what looked to be some sort of stone house or castle. Thick, shaded-in walls formed the outer-perimeter, with a thick, black column – likely a fireplace – in the center of…

The caffeine helped Ben focus, and the warm drink helped him to relax. Mara, who now sat sulking atop a filing cabinet next to the window, stared down at Ben with wide, motionless eyes. She was angry, though had clearly abdicated. And Benjamin, content, took pleasure in this moment of tranquility, as he continued about his work. Again, he noted that Mara, while still certainly being her usual self, was much more well behaved than she often was. He made particular effort to avoid looking in her direction, or to give her occasional growls and hisses any attention. At one point, he could sense her becoming agitated again, and anticipated…