Wouldnt be much point to the story if it did

The following day was a friday which meant a shorter day at the office, the one perk that the dull environment provided.

Alan was doing his best to wipe out everything that happened after work yesterday from his mind and just go about his normal routine. Coffee, grab a quick meal from the nearby convenience store and right to the office.

As he was brewing his coffee he noticed a post-it on the coffee maker. The message read “Hey took care of Garbage, Hope you’re feeling better.”

Alan couldn’t help but smile as he crumpled the note and tossed it. He and Selena had started living together after her former roommate needed a larger space for her etsy business. While he and his sister had been cordial they really hadn’t been close until they started living together.

Alan had always been more of a recluse than his sister, so in high school she would be out with her friends from track while he read books or would hang out at the local coffee shop. Still, they had a lot of overlap in the movies they liked and Alan was willing to watch Gilmore Girls if she was willing to give His Dark Materials a shot. All in all, a good relationship.

The coffee maker dinged and Alan poured the contents into his travel mug before double-checking his work bag and heading out.

At the Office, things were dull as ever, a few early morning questions but Alan could feel his brain turning to mush and counting the minutes until 7 came and he could leave and enjoy his Friday night. He was thinking of hitting up Karaoke night at the bar Diesel Only, a bi weekly ritual that always let Alan blow off some steam.

His ruminations were interrupted when he heard a familiar tapping on the cubicle wall, and sure enough he looked over and saw Alex looking bashfully over at him

“The printer? Again?” He guessed hoping that for once Alex had something different or novel instead of the mundane mysteries of how to use the office copier

“Um well, yeah…But-” She tried to interject as Alan sighed Heavily “It’s just weird and it always works after you take a look at it so…”

“Alex…you really need to learn to handle these things yourself.” Alan said, and as this comment left his lips, its when he noticed it.

It was hard to describe, like a sound without hearing or sight without seeing, but however it worked Alan could feel Alex’s unwillingness to listen, like a door shut off from him. Without even thinking, it all happened in the span of a second, he felt himself push open that door.

Alex blinked, “Oh yeah. I guess you’re right. Sorry, Ill go see if I can fix it on my own.” And with that the girl turned and left.

As soon as she was out of sight Alan put his head in his hands. That had been it, hadn’t it? That power he had swore he wasn’t going to use and he went and fucked it up the moment he had the opportunity.

Though…had it been so bad? He hadn’t made her do anything bad or even…really made her DO anything. Just opened her mind a little bit and stopped her being so stubborn against trying. He had to admit, if he thought of it like that there really wasn’t anything objectionable about that. Right?

Throughout the rest of the day, Alan was more aware of those moments and found he could see them just by looking for them. They weren’t always like the moment with Alex either. It wasn’t just in response to offering things. He noticed if he wanted he could implant little feelings or thoughts about what people were doing.

He passed his coworker Isaac, who he knew had been going through a messy divorce. He was slouched in his chair, looking like he hadn’t properly slept in days. More than anything though it was the utter air of despair surrounding him that had made Alan just focus. He saw the moment and just placed a little seed of confidence and was happy to see Isaac’s back straighten up.

“Maybe this isn’t so bad,” Alan thought, “Surely if I just use it like this, that’s nothing more nefarious than a pep talk anyway without the awkwardness arising from it”

More than that, Alan felt good, those two moments made him feel more productive and more like he made a difference at work than the last two years had. So it was with a positive outlook that he left the office and headed to Karaoke.