Under the Whispering Door

Content Warning: This section features discussions of death and suicide.

Wallace Price is a partner at the Moore, Price, Hernandez & Worthington Law Firm. His primary concern is making sure his company is efficient at all costs, which leads his employees to view him as cold and calculating. Wallace demonstrates how little he cares for his employees when he fires his paralegal, Patricia, for sending in a document two hours late. Patricia initially believes Wallace is simply concerned for her, and she tells him about the hardships she is facing with her family, including her husband’s recent job loss. She describes how coming to work is her only escape; as she talks, Wallace impatiently wonders why she is confiding in him and waits for her to stop talking so he can formally dismiss her. Patricia has never submitted a late document before and claims she submitted it on time, but despite her pleas, Wallace has security escort her out. Wallace dismisses Patricia from his thoughts after he gets an email from Human Resources confirming that the company had rescinded a scholarship given to Patricia’s daughter: He intends to keep the company moving like a machine. Two days after this, Wallace dies.