Deep Inside
It was the kind of steady that came from pushing all the fear down, locking it tight, because if I let it show, I’d lose before I even stepped inside.
The elevator chimed, and the doors opened to a wide hallway lined with dark wood and low lighting. The air here smelled different, warmer, touched with faint leather and whiskey. At the end of the hall, the double doors to his office were open.
Gratis sat behind a desk that could have been carved from the heart of some ancient tree, a glass of amber liquid resting in his hand. The glow from the window framed him in the kind of light you only ever saw in expensive paintings, shadow swallowing one side of his face, the other caught in gold.