Walk Of Shame

Walk Of Shame
Lucy’s POV

My desk looked like a crime scene.

Red smeared across every inch of it, sticky, wet, and thick. The words were scrawled in angry, violent strokes, carved across the surface in crude letters that dripped toward the floor.

HOME WRECKER

My breath caught. My heart stopped.

My chair, my keyboard, my files…everything was coated in that dark red paint. And sitting right in the middle of my ruined desk was a wicker basket filled with… trash and filth.

Used tissues. Rotten meat. Razors. A blood-stained sanitary pad. A knife covered in red paint. A dead rat. The stench hit me like a brick wall. Flies buzzed over it.

A note on top read in red marker, the handwriting shaky and unhinged.

STAY AWAY FROM MARRIED MEN, SLUT. NEXT TIME IT WON’T BE PAINT.

I knew immediately who did this.

Michael’s wife.

Of course it was her. Who else would go this far to humiliate me?

Whispers spread across the office like a virus.

“That’s her…”

“Did you see her desk?”

“She deserves it…”

“Home wrecker…”

“Trash…”

Some people pretended to look away. Most didn’t. A few even laughed.

My hands shook as I grabbed paper towels and began wiping the desk. The paint smeared worse. My breathing grew tight. I tried to stay quiet, to be invisible, to hold myself together before I broke.

But then…

“Lucy Mercer.”

The director’s voice cut through the noise.

“To my office. Now,” he commanded sharply.

And I felt my knees almost giving out. 

He stood outside his office door, face hard, eyes cold. No greeting. No warning. Just my name, like a sentence.

I wiped my hands on a napkin and forced my legs to move. 

The whispers began again as I started making my way to his office. They stared so hard I nearly tripped over the flat surface.

The walk to his office felt longer than any walk I had taken in my life and it was just a few steps away from my desk.

When I walked inside, Mr. Adam closed the door behind me.

His tone was stiff. “Have a seat.”

I didn’t. My chest was already collapsing.

He cleared his throat. “Lucy, we received a series of complaints early this morning regarding…” he hesitated, “your personal conduct.”

“Sir, I swear, it’s not what it looks like,” I rushed out, my voice shaking. “I didn’t know he was married. Mr Michael never told me. I would never…I’m not that kind of person… It’s clearly a misunderstanding…”

He lifted a hand to stop me. “There are company policies against such misconduct. We have a reputation to uphold and a behavior as…peculiar as yours is very concerning.”

“We weren’t even dating!” I cried. “It wasn’t like that. I didn’t even know! That was just the first time we ever met in real life!”

“…and misconduct that harms the company’s reputation,” he continued as if I hadn’t spoken at all. “The board met this morning. They’ve decided to let you go.”

My heart slammed inside me.

“No,” I whispered. Then louder, desperate, “No…please, you can’t fire me over this. I didn’t know he had a wife. I didn’t even pursue him. He lied to me. Please…I need this job. I’ll explain to her, I’ll apologize right now, I swear. I didn’t do anything wrong…”

“Miss Mercer,” he said, stern, final, “this isn’t just about that.”

He turned his screen toward me.

Then he clicked something.

And hell opened beneath my feet.

My own face stared back at me first…on a phone screen. Then more. Screenshots. Messages. Pictures.

Nude pictures.
Mine. Exposed. Passed around. Distributed.

Dirty messages I sent to Michael. My body. My face. Everything.

My knees weakened.

My stomach hollowed out and I almost threw up.

No air entered my lungs as a wave of shame washed over me. I felt hot and cold all at once, my body trembling slightly.

Did Ethan see the pictures and messages too? Is that why he came to my place so early in the morning…to keep me from going to work, or to make sure I hadn’t done something stupid after the internet tore me apart?

“How…” the word barely escaped my lips. “How did you get these?”

“They’re online,” he said quietly. “All over the internet. And the comments are crazy. People are beginning to attack the company as well.”

I staggered back from the screen as if I had been stabbed. Heat flushed my face. Shame crawled up my spine like fire ants. I could barely see. My ears rang loudly.

How many people have seen these? How many coworkers? Customers? Strangers?

The reality slammed harder into me. You mean to tell me that everyone has seen those pictures? Seen me like that?

But why? Why would Michael…

His wife. It had to be her. She must have hacked his phone…or maybe he sent them to her himself to paint me as the villain. Maybe this was his own way of wriggling out of the mess he pulled me into.

I wanted to rip my own skin off.

“I’m so sorry, Miss Mercer,” Mr. Adam went on, but I could tell he wasn’t. “This is very damaging to the company's image. We cannot be associated with this level of scandal…”

“This isn’t my fault!” I snapped, voice breaking. “He lied to me! He used me! I didn’t know he was married. I didn’t ask for this! Why am I suffering for what he did? Why does he get to walk free while I…”

Tears blurred my vision. My throat burned.

“I need this job,” I begged. “Please. I’m begging you. I moved here to start over. I don’t even have anyone. I’ve done nothing but work…please…I’ll do anything…”

He looked away, burying his face into files on his desk. “The only thing you can do is leave quietly without causing a scene.”

“Please, sir…just give me a chance and I’ll make this right…please,” I begged.

“I’ll pay you for the rest of the month,” he said quietly, ignoring my pleas. “But I’m afraid my hands are tied. The decision isn’t mine alone.”

I fell to my knees.

I didn’t care how pathetic I looked.

I didn’t care if he judged me.

I cried. I begged. I pleaded again and again. I reached for the last piece of dignity I had…only to watch it crumble in my shaking hands.

“Please,” I whispered through tears. “Don’t do this to me.”

He stood and moved toward the door.

“I’m sorry, Lucy,” he said simply. “You need to leave… today.”

Tears streamed down my face as I walked out of his office. I didn’t lift my head. I didn’t speak. The whole floor was watching…leaning close together, whispering, smirking, enjoying the show.

I packed my things into a cardboard box. Alone.

No one helped.

They just watched as I began my walk of shame out of the office.