“When the founder and former CEO Martin Porter died at ninety-four years of age. The newspaper immediately decided to promote Mackenzie Billings as CEO and editor-in-chief. No one argued with the decision, as she was a popular employee. I became her proud and eager right-hand woman, to the envy of the other interns.

“With her newfound power, Miss Billings vows to make proper changes to the company. She starts focusing more on investigative journalism instead of what she calls “distractions.” Which include reports on minor local events, advice columns, and comic strip sections. She focuses on the world’s conspiracies and intrigues, like cover-ups and illegal deals. Miss Billings was convinced there was insufficient focus on the back alley deals and shady deeds behind locked doors. She felt we needed to do more to stop these things from happening. Miss Billings insisted that we ‘don’t stop at one scoop, or two, we scoop deep enough to get to the bottom of the story.’

“So, she worked her employees and me harder than ever. We worked more hours than ever before going over stories, possible leads, rumors, etc., sometimes staying at work through the weekend straight. The new working hours took a toll on us, as we could only afford one hour of sleep, which was the best-case scenario.

“Miss Billings, on the other hand, seemed fine. She seemed happier than she had ever been as a journalist. Her drive for truth and uncovering schemes and conspiracies made her more determined yet single-minded. She rewarded the ones who stuck to their guns despite what their bodies told them—frowned upon those who recognized the craziness of it all and resigned. All the while, they were becoming more and more convinced that conspiracies abounded.

“Her work style changed, too. She implements invasive interrogating and investigation techniques. One of the employees who quit says that she overheard Miss Billings threaten someone she was interviewing with waterboarding. Suspicions grew once we discovered the interviewee’s body was found below a boardwalk pier. Still, we didn’t have any evidence to convince anybody of her involvement.

“As for me, I became a shell of my former self.  Miss Billings bullied me for raising any concerns and shot down my self-esteem any time she wanted. I was her puppet who was desperate to cut her strings. Still, I didn’t want to leave my career behind. I committed myself never to quit, no matter how hard it gets. That commitment should’ve never been made.