When the company announced a new round of layoffs, Roma wasn’t worried. It was true, her last few quarters had been a bit rough, but she’d been with the company forever, and expected that her seniority would carry her through, just like it had before.
But when she was called into a meeting with the Transition team, she started to get nervous. She sat in front of the pair, with their pale makeup and black dresses, as they talked about workforce reductions and belt tightening, and knew the axe was falling.
But Roma never expected to be sacked by goths.

“After Layoff – Empty” by texas_mustang is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

My very short story collection, The Mountain’s Shadow is available now from Amazon and Smashwords!

Everyday Drabbles © 2025 by Hugh J. O’Donnell is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0