One day when I got to work, the wall had an extensive list of names stamped across the floor. The coffee line had not formed today, instead, they filled the results area.


    I had heard about the employee of the month, but on the walls there was not only the best, no, it was a list of the best to the worst employee on the floor.


    My head was unable to process the oppressive number of names from the 20th floor, so I decided to focus on the top 100, next to their names was the person''s photo for each employee.


    In doing so, I realized that the closer to the first place, the less "normal" the employee seemed.


    They were thin in a sick way, with their suits hanging loosely on their fragile figure, it looked like a progression of pictures cataloging the condition of a person with a terminal illness. A woman in the top five had her head completely devoid of any strand of hair, no eyebrows or eyelashes, the skin seemed too tight for her skull, looking like she was seconds from kickin it.


    And the first place ... The first place didn''t even seem human anymore. It was impossible to know if it was a woman or a man, the name was blurred in my vision, like an oil stain spreading with the contact of my gaze. The creature looked... fundamentally broken, its eye sockets completely empty with tumor growths all over the exposed area of his skin. The veins were completely black, with the cracked surface of his body looking like a layer of paint on a grotesquely deformed skeleton.


    His vision made me nauseous, how could they let it— That person reach that state??


    But at the same time, I couldn''t contain the purest form of admiration I have ever felt for anyone else.


    Wow.


    -----


    It took me a long time to find my name. I hated having to squirm to get through their heavy bodies, but it was the only way to move around the crowded place. I felt my body being pulled to my name near the bottom of the list.


    I knew that it would not be possible to have a very high position as a newcomer, I was still learning my place in that job and was taking it easy compared to all my co-workers.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    But I couldn''t help but imagine what it would be like to be first place, with management calling me to say that I deserved a raise and that I would gain a superior position with all the benefits involved.


    It would be great to work anywhere less cramped than that miserable cubicle.


    But those reflections of mine are interrupted when I feel a hand on my shoulder. That Guy greets me with a radiant smile when I turn my head to him, he must have come looking for his result too.


    “Man, this month gave me nightmares, seriously, I can''t even look at a computer without feeling like it wants to chew me. Have you seen your position? ” he asks me, holding a heavy stack of papers in his arms.


    "Yes, I''m at the bottom of the list, ###### or so, and you?" I ask for the sake of being polite, there''s no way he could have scored much higher than me.


    “Ah, ####, but I''m already regretting it. I was called by the manager and he gave me more work to do, he said something that at this rate I could get my own office. And I just want to lie down and cry a little, you know?"


    ... Uh?


    "I just wanted to get free faster from those docs, but now they dumped even more on top of that, how dumb is that?" He said with a melancholic smile.


    The Manager...


    "the manager called you" I must have heard it wrong.


    "Yes," he said sheepishly.


    "This is… great, good for you, man" He… how?


    It can''t be… can it?


    I tell him that I need to go to the bathroom, I can''t bear it right now, not here, at this moment.


    He doesn''t notice anything out of the ordinary, why would he?


    He must be overjoyed on the inside, that fucking viper, he dares pretend to be humble?


    As soon as I entered the room, I felt my body give in in front of the sink, my mouth spewing bile and gastric juice without me being able to control it, I haven''t had food in my stomach since the day before, it was not in the least pleasant.


    I could see blood mixing with the mixture of my inwards through my mouth, even though I tried to stabilize myself, I felt another wave of content spill out of my control, coating the bathroom sink with my interior.


    I kept throwing up acid and blood until my insides screamed in agony and my body couldn''t take it anymore.


    I collapsed on the floor.


    He was in the ####th position…


    It was the last thought I had before everything got dark.


    The next day, I started working overtime.