A Mountain to Climb

Slowly walking towards the office, I was trying to remember my lines. My hands become sweaty and my face showed trauma, unlike ever before. I forced my hands to knock, and luckily, the door was opened for me, because I wouldn’t have managed that. Shaking with fear, I sat uncomfortably on the chair, hoping it’d end soon. He took a seat, and looking at me, I returned a nervous smile. “This won’t take long” he said, looking towards the clock. It was 1pm, every meeting was limited to 40mins. This cleared out a bit of the stress, and feeling more relaxed, the stressor came rushing back, slamming me in the face.
 
Turns out, I’d forgotten to turn down my phone. Loudly, Angus Young’s taped-up guitar thundered up the room with Brian Johnson’s sandpaper voice, it seemed to foretell a razors edge. My face went white. “Sorry, it was just in case I didn’t wake up.” The interviewer was clearly intrigued. Why did that happen? How did I forget to off it? My hands began to tremble violently…I quickly switched it off. Embarrassed, I looked up at him, regretting every second of it. It was a very uncomfortable interview. For him, he was wasting his time, and for me, the mortifying moments just kept rolling, like a spool of awkwardness. I tried to prep my mind while he spoke, and so, I didn’t hear any of his questions. He began the interview. “So, tell…..” Alright John, don’t worry about it. He must have forgotten it. Just get on with it. Then, I realized that I missed the question. By his expression, he looked angry. He cut the meeting down to 25 minutes…I knew I blew it. Frustrated, I quickly nicked his pens…throwing them in my pockets. Atleast I got something from it.
 

© Jessica Ann George