"You're fired."

"You can't fire me!" a woman exclaims. Her lips form a frown and her green eyes lighten with anger.

The man - her boss - pinches his nose. His brown eyes closed in pain behind his hand. "I can and I am."

Marie clutches her skirt in her hands. "I'm the star of this place! Without me, you, and your company are worthless!"

Her boss sighs. "Marie. Get out. We're done here. You are a horrible person to work with, no one likes you because you're bossy and think you're better than everyone else."

Marie closes her eyes and counts to five before standing up. "Fine. But you'll regret this." She doesn't look back at her ex-boss as she storms out of his office. She slams the door behind her. She pauses and takes a deep breath as she runs her hands over her face.

Fired? How could they fire her? She starts down the steps outside her ex-bosses office. She's their best employee. She's the one who kept all the money coming in. She's the one who sold out the most concerts and albums. So why was she the one getting fired?

She reaches up and takes her auburn hair out of the bun she pinned it into this morning as she reaches the last few steps. She flicks her hair off her shoulders as it falls around her.

"Marie? Are you okay?"

She scoffs as she reaches the desk at the bottom of the stairs. Her ex-bosses assistant stares up at her.

"I'm great." She forces a smile. "Why wouldn't I be just great?"

The assistant raises an eyebrow. "You don't seem great."

Marie chuckles and turns away from him "You're really great at stopping lies, aren't you?" she asks. "Of course I'm not fine!" She spins around and snaps at him. "I just got fired!"

The assistant chuckles.There's a gleam in his eyes that make it seem like he knew this was coming. "That sucks for you. Our best star." He smirks.

Marie glowers at him. She wants to swear at him. To let all her anger out on him. But she knows she's better than that. So she flips her hair and storms away from him.

She doesn't leave the building right away. Instead she heads to the locker room first. The place where all the employees stash their stuff. Marie doesn't like to use it and would normally throw her stuff into one of the offices. But today when she arrived all the offices were locked, even the rooms where she produces her music. So she was forced to stuff her stuff in one of the tiny lockers. Then she was called to her ex-bosses office. She still can't believe he fired her. Her of all people. Couldn't they have fired his assistant? The guy was useless and never did anything. At least Marie kept the money rolling in.

Marie sniffles. No, she can't cry yet. Or at all. This isn't her loss. It's theirs. The company will fail without her. She's positive of it.

She searches the lockers until she finds her stuff. She pulls her fleece jacket on and then throws her bag over her shoulder. After that she walks out of her place of work. She doesn't pass any of her co-workers on her way out. And for that, she's thankful. As much as she pretends to be strong she really isn't. She wants to go home and curl into a ball and cry.

She pulls out her phone as she walks down the dark and empty streets. She wants to call for an Uber but she also wants to just enjoy the fresh air and let it calm her.

She goes to text her roommate to let her know she's on her way home when her phone shuts off. Her eyes widen as she stops in the middle of the sidewalk. "No! No no no no no!" She taps the screen, then the on/off button but the screen stays black. "Of course this would happen to me!" She groans and rolls her head back. She half expects it to start pouring rain on her.

Marie shoves her phone into her pocket. There's no point in wasting energy on something that has none. She looks around her. Maybe there's a place that'll let her use their phone and she can call her roommate to come get her.

Her gaze lands on a sign that shines as bright as the sun. It's outlined by lightbulbs which illuminate the words in the middle of the sign. The Rabbit Hole. The building that the sign is attached to is a simple brown brick building with a bright red door that has a picture of a rabbit on it. She looks around at the other buildings in the area. But they all look closed from the way the blinds are drawn and no lights shine out of them. Which means that the only place she can try is The Rabbit Hole.

She looks both ways before crossing the street and making her way to it. She walks up the simple brown steps and grabs the handle to the door. She opens it and slips in without looking back.

The inside of the building is a lot less bright and exciting then the outside. She's greeted by a set of stairs that curve around a corner. Marie grabs for the rail as she makes her way down them. What kind of place is this?

As she continues down the steps the sound of singing starts to grow and become louder. It isn't until she's at the bottom that she can make out the words of the song.

"Come with me,

To the bottom of the sea

Where we can swim and dance

All day and night."

Marie stops. Stunted by the singing voice.

She thought she was a good singer. But this voice, this person... They were better than she had ever hoped to be.

Her gaze snaps to the stage that stands across from the stairs. Stage is an exaggeration. It's more like a platform that's been built to sit a little higher than the rest of the room. On it stands a microphone, a piano and two stools. Plus a man. The man who sang the lyrics that greeted Marie. He looks up, his green eyes meeting Maries. He winks and with that, he's gone. No smoke, no walking off stage. He's just gone.

Marie blinks. Snapped out of her daze.

A woman steps up to take the empty stage.

Marie shakes her head. What just happened? She looks around the room. Around the stage are tables, most are filled with people even though it's only about noon. Each one has a drink of some sort in their hands. Along the wall is a bar. Marie makes her way over to it.

She taps her fingers on the counter of the bar while waiting for some help. While waiting she watches the lady as she plays the piano. A quiet but inspirational melody comes from it.

"Can I help you?"

Marie jumps. Her head snaps back to the bar where a man now stands behind it. He's bald with only the shadow of a greying beard on his chin. His eyes are dark in the dim light. And he wears a simple grey shirt with black pants. Marie crosses her arms and leans against the bar. "I was wondering if you had a phone I could use."

The man points to a red phone that hangs attached to the wall.

Marie nods grimly. "Thank you."

She walks over and picks the phone up before dialling her roommate's number. It rings three times. Anyone else would have given up hope but Marie knows that her roommate won't pick up until the fourth ring. Something about superstitions. She's not really sure, nor does she care.

"Hello?"

"Evie, it's Marie."

"Marie? Why are you calling from an unknown number?"

Marie cups her mouth and tries to keep her voice low, but even as she tells Evie that she got fired she can't help but sense that eyes and ears are watching her. "And I need you to pick me up."

Her roommate groans. "Can't you just walk?"

Marie rolls her eyes. "I'm sure that if I do I'll get robbed."

Evie sighs. "Fine. Where are you?"

"A place called The Rabbit Hole."

Evie hums. "Never heard of it. But I shouldn't be too long."

Marie sighs in relief and slumps against the wall. "Thank you."

"Yeah yeah. You owe me."

"I know." And with that they hang up. Marie stays slumped against the wall for a moment to collect herself. She just has to act strong for a little while longer. She can do this. They'll regret firing her.

She straightens and heads back to the bar. "Can I get a water?" she asks.

"You don't want anything else?" the plump man asks. "Nothing stronger? You look like you could use it."

Marie shakes her head.

The man strokes his beard before nodding and grabbing her a water. "I heard you got fired."

Marie sighs. She had a feeling someone was eavesdropping. "I did." She turns to go sit down but the man stops her.

"We are hiring."

She rolls her eyes before turning back to him with her best smile. "And what job would that be?" She wasn't going to go from being the best singer at her production studio to making drinks for people.

"Well," The man leans against the bar and points to the stage. "If you hadn't noticed this bar is about showcasing talent."

Marie eyes the stage as if she's uninterested. She had in fact noticed. But performing for free on a random stage in some bar was below her.

"I have someone looking for a partner. You might have seen the end of his performance."

She nods. "So you're looking for someone to sing with him?"

He nods.

"How do you even know I can sing?"

"I know you can." His eyes go from a brown to an unsettling gold hue. Marie blinks and his eyes go back to brown.

She hums. "What do I get out of this job?"

"You get to sing and show your talent to people who really care. Plus, you'd have a job that pays well. It seems pretty better than your current position."

Marie hums. "I'll have to think about it."

The man reaches into the pockets of his jeans and produces a red card. He holds it out to Marie. "Here's my contact information if you decide this is the place for you."

She reaches out and plucks the card from his fingers. She scans over the card. The words are written in gold that shine against the red of the rest of it.

Mike Glosca

The Rabbit Hole

She flips to the other side where his email and phone number are listed. "Thank you," she says.

Mike nods and straightens. He flips his towel over his shoulder. "Looking forward to working with you," he says before walking into a doorway that Marie knows wasn't there before.

"Wait. I haven't agreed yet." But he either wasn't close enough to hear her or didn't care what she said.

Marie chews her lip. Takes a drink from her cup and walks out of the bar. She has a decision to make.

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