Confessions of a Mailgirl Ch. 07

At work my relationship with Kelly continued to be strained. I knew I should forgive her and move on since I needed all the friends I could get right now, but I guess I just couldn't get past the feeling of betrayal. It wasn't necessarily that she had conspired with Barbara to help bring me into the Mailgirls program that pissed me off so much, since we hadn't really known each other well at the time. It was more the fact that after we'd become friends she continued to hide it from me. I couldn't get past thinking about all those Friday evening bitch sessions when we'd get together for drinks. Kelly had griped endlessly about Barbara but had remained silent about the fact that she'd already been working with her prior to that first meeting in her office and had known about Barbara's intentions to lure me into becoming a mailgirl.

As for Barbara, I rarely saw her over the next few weeks. After being whipped and bound that day in her office I'd been nervously anticipating being called back in for another round, but so far it hadn't happened. In fact none of the three of us saw her much for awhile, not that it was really necessary. By now most of the initial startup problems had been ironed out and the Mailgirls program was running smoothly. The initial shock and titillation of having naked delivery girls running around the workplace had worn off and most tower employees had now accepted it as part of their work environment. That's not to say that a nude mailgirl didn't still draw attention when she showed up on a floor, but it had become part of the everyday bustle of the work day rather than a showstopper. It had also proven to be an efficient method of delivering materials throughout the building so even those who had contempt for the whole Mailgirls concept had reluctantly begun using us as a necessary requirement of their job.

The firing of Hector Flores had also sent a message throughout the building. Although the reason for his dismissal was never officially disclosed, the rumor spread that it was for violating the "look but don't touch" policy regarding mailgirls. To my knowledge Flores had never grabbed or groped one of us - although I'm sure he eventually would have - so I guessed that Barbara was probably the one behind the rumor. It was her way of providing the protection for us that she'd promised me in exchange for my obedience, and I did notice an immediate change. While we were still treated like lowly servant girls there were no longer any snide hints or suggestions that we should also be sexual play toys, not even among the top brass on the upper floors. Some people in the tower even began treating us like we were radioactive, giving us a wide berth whenever we were around.

As for Anna's mom, she had disappeared from the scene, at least for the time being. After her arrest at my apartment she'd bellowed loudly to the media about police brutality and how I had assaulted her. Soon afterwards, though, an investigative report appeared in an online men's magazine highlighting her history of alcoholism along with Anna's side of the story detailing years of physical and psychological abuse. Different parts of the piece were widely excerpted in the mainstream media and whatever sympathy had remained for Anna's mother completely evaporated now. Even anti-Mailgirls activists began distancing themselves from her and some of the steam began going out of their protests.

Although it was a factually accurate article nowhere in it did the reporter disclose that she had been a college friend of Barbara Edwards. It had been written by the very same reporter Barbara had used to investigate my life. It was a masterful piece of media manipulation by Barbara who had turned what could have been a crippling controversy for DDE into a story about how a frightened teenage girl was using their Mailgirls program as a safe harbor from an abusive mother. Not long after that Anna's mom, at the advice of her court-appointed attorney, agreed to a plea agreement to enter a rehab facility in order to avoid jail time and hadn't been heard from since.

So time marched on, as it inevitably does, and my life developed into something of a routine. Well, as routine as the life of someone who lives her life as a nude corporate slave can get anyway. I remained fairly content with my circumstances and would've been happy to continue indefinitely that way, but each passing day grew another day closer to the end of the ninety day trial for the Mailgirls program. I had a growing sense that things were going to change after that, one way or another.

Despite Barbara's confident assurance to me that Mailgirls would continue for as long as she wanted it to, there were rampant rumors going around the tower that the board was going to pull the plug on the program at the end of the ninety days. I normally wouldn't have doubted Barbara but she was scarcely seen for most of those last few weeks prior to the deadline so I started wondering whether there might be some credence to the rumors. Had Barbara somehow lost control of the fate of Mailgirls at DDE? That possibility gained more prominence with each passing day.

I have to admit that I had mixed emotions about the possible end of Mailgirls. The past few months had been the most bizarre and exciting chapter of my life and I wasn't sure I wanted it to end. And then came the questions about what would happen if it did. Would I simply be transferred back to my previous job in marketing as part of DDE's management program? Did I even want that? And if it did happen would I ever be accepted by my former friends and colleagues after having been a mailgirl? In some ways I was more nervous about the uncertainty of that future than I was about the certainty of the life that Barbara had mapped out for me.

When day ninety came with still no contact with Barbara or word from the company about the future of the program, Kelly, Anna, and I showed up for what we thought might be our final day as mailgirls. As we entered the showers to prepare for our shift Kelly chattered excitedly about the prospect of getting out of the rest of her contract without owing any money to the company. Anna, on the other hand, was nervous and quiet. She loved being a mailgirl and was frightened about what her future might hold if the program ended. As for me, I remained uncertain of what I wanted.

Since none of us knew what was going to happen there was nothing to do but start our shift as we normally did. After a busy morning I'd just finished my midmorning break on the fourth floor Mailgirls mat when I got an alert over my watch. I glanced at it, then glanced again. This has to be a mistake, I thought. I was being summoned to Auditorium A in the south wing. It was an auditorium frequently used for large meetings or media press conferences. The reason I was stunned by it was that it was outside of the tower in an area of the DDE complex that had been off limits to mailgirls up until now. I checked my watch again but the location hadn't changed and there was no way for me to verify if it was a mistake. I'd been given just five minutes to get there and the clock was ticking.

I leapt off of my mat and took off at a fast pace.