The entire situation started off wrong. One of those conversations that goes, "either this or that, but not this," but, "well, we've got this, and it's not that or this, but it is." Off to build something from nothing for a political candidate whom had won without it, but now needed it for survival. Always a problem bringing people to the light when they have tasted success doing things wrong, by the way.
This "thing" was surprised by my coming on board, as in, was not told about it until the day I was supposed to arrive. Luckily, her response to it was to give me a traffic update for the street around the office - even though I was a few hundred miles away.
As the weeks went by, sitting next to her, hearing her mumblings, her fingers pounding out angry text messages, I just began to feel more burnt out, earlier, than I ever have from working on a campaign. This went on and on, to the point where I thought maybe I needed to leave to stay mentally healthy.
Her ideas where beyond useless, her compliments so fake, they made one nauseous. She'd step into a room and start trying to tear people who weren't there apart, becoming their drooling fan as soon as they arrived. It only became worse.
At a point, I tried to put a stop to "it," and I did, to some extent, but that only seemed to make "it" more devious. I can remember a day when the noises coming from "it" were just incredibly, well, inhuman, amplified within my head much more than they should have ever been. I mentioned this to others in the office and they couldn't hear anything.
The moment that brought me to this thought, though, was a very specific day in the office. I turned and looked at it, and was stunned by the mask of make-up on "it". Again, I turned to others after she left, and asked, "What's up with that?" No one saw anything different. Then, I thought back to a statement the candidate had made to me early on, "I asked her and her sisters what their age difference was once, and they all sort of just stared at me."
Maybe this is just a joke, but if you ever spend any time with "it", and pay attention, it does not seem far fetched.
