Interview

It all happened on that dark, gloomy Friday night. After studying for years and years, Allen still had no confidence in himself. Even though the lowest GCSE grade he received was an A*.He opened his eyes in the cloudy morning with fear running through his veins as pressure piled on him like his heart had a permanent weight dragging it down. He drank two cups of coffee, took his chocolate like brown jacket and headed out to complete the life changing day. He desperately wanted the day to finish in a second.

Nervously, Allen marched towards the enormous university building. As Allen opened the colossal door which scowled down upon him, the smells of repugnant sweat radiated out of his body. I have made it this far so there is no going back, he thought to himself.

 “My name is Katherine, how may I help you?” a blonde and tall woman at the reception cheerfully asked.

“I have an appointment at six o’clock.” At that moment doubt washed over him as the woman’s passive, vacant expression failed to register what he said.

“Your name please,” Katherine asked with a gargantuan smile on her face.

“Allen Fowler,” he answered with a sigh of relief.

 “Can you just wait five minutes please?” she beamed.

 “OK,” Allen answered.

He sat down on the olive chair and started counting the time. This is going to be the longest five minutes of my life, he thought.

“Interview room five!” the blonde woman suddenly bellowed. Allen tried to stand up and overcome his fear, but his legs refused move. He somehow gathered all his courage and stood up. He squinted and squirmed as he tried to read the room names; he had forgotten his glasses at home. He hovered outside of the final door in the corridor and squinted to gain focus. Interview room five glared back at him. He took a deep breath and eagerly knocked on the door.

“Come in!” a man's voice shouted. The crash of thunder outside seeped in to the room, making Allen even more terrified Allen than he already was.

 “Have a seat. My name is Mr Jones,” said the soaring, bulky man as Allen went in.

“Good afternoon Mr Jones,” Allen with a quiet voice.

 “Good afternoon Allen,” he replied. “So why don’t you tell me about yourself Allen?” he continued.

 Not expecting the question, Allen has made the worst mistake of his life. Allen Bit his lip, his eyes danced to every corner. It soon became too much; he started pacing rapidly, his breathing and heartbeat beginning to speed and fill his ears with white noise. He found himself chewing his nails, but forced himself to keep his hand down from his mouth. It didn't quite work, as he found himself chewing again a bare minute later, and a cold sweat had broken out between his shoulder blades.

“Err” started Allen, at that moment Allen’s hesitant start made the interviewer instantly lose interest in him. For twenty minutes Allen was almost talking to himself. Having a hesitant and a doubtful start to most of the questions the long sixty minute interview seemed very short for Allen.

“It was nice to meet you Allen” said Mr Jones concluding the interview.

 “Nice to meet you too Mr Jones” said Allen.

"We'll be in touch in due course," Mr Jones consoled. The two men shook hands and Allen dejectedly made his way back down the corridor. At that moment Allen’s conflicted brain couldn’t process what was happening

“I must say Allen this was one of the best interviews I have done in my whole career.” said Mr Jones reassuring Allen before had left.

“Thank you” Allen answered

Allen called a taxi and went back home. Having the thought that the interview went well for him; Allen went to sleep hoping that when he wakes up he will get a letter home saying that his application has been accepted

The very next morning, Allen woke up hoping for a letter with the results of his selection for the position he was interviewed. Allen passed that day with his usual practices but the door was not knocked nor was the bell rung with his expected letter.

It was almost a week later to it, when he had lost all his hopes for the acceptance of his application; Allen was checking his mailbox earlier in the morning. He found a letter sealed in an envelope with simple interface. He was amazed that the letter was posted four days ago and it was there in his mailbox from a couple of days. Allen felt really bad for himself that he spent his whole week waiting for the letter, and the letter was there in his mailbox.

He broke the seal of the envelope in a hurry, just because of the reason he was really curious about the results of his interview. He took out the letter from the cover and closed his eyes before opening it. He started thinking about his interview and the last comment of Mr Jones which was as, “I must say Allen this was one of the best interviews I have done in my whole career.”

Allen was damn sure about his interview that it was not best of his effort but he was sure about one thing that he had tried his best to speak there in front of Mr Jones. All the thoughts about the interview day were hitting his mind one by one and he reminded every single thing in just some seconds. The whole interview was moving in his mind like a slideshow and he realized that he is afraid of opening the letter.

Allen tried to open his eyes and overcome his fear, but his eyes refused open. He somehow gathered all his courage and opened up. He tried hard and hard as he tried to read if there was something written on the outer side of the letter but nothing found. Allen managed to open the letter page to read its content but was unable to read even a single word. Allen thrashed his head here and there, pinched his arm with two fingers, pressed both of his eyes roughly to read just a single word either of selection or rejection.

A thing flashed in his mind in microseconds and that was of the problem with his eyes. Allen was not with his glasses and hence was unable to read the small sized words of the letter. A wave of serious anger travelled from his head and got out from his toe and that was just upon himself. He moved to his bedroom in search of glasses and found it on side table.

Allen took his glasses on his eyes and opened the letter with the curiosity. The words in the letter shocked him for a while and as a result, he was on the ground in the next moment, losing his senses. Allen never expected about the thing that the letter was not from his interviewing company but it was just an insurance company instalment reminder.