“Does this dress match the socks good enough?” Lizzy asked Beatrice, stepping out of her room and twirling around.

“Hm… do you have any lighter shades of black?” Bea asked.

“Wouldn’t a lighter shade of black be gray?” she asked in confusion.

“Hun, who's been in this business longer?”

“Fine.” Lizzy said, rolling her eyes. They had been doing this for half an hour. “I’ll see what else I have.”

Lizzy stepped back into her room and closed the door while Beatrice slouched back in her chair and casually browsed her phone. Behind her, Lisha nervously crept up and cleared her throat. Beatrice paused and looked up.

“Babe, why do you look guilty?” Bea asked.

“Guilty?” Lisha said anxiously, looking around. “Who’s guilty? Not me, that’s who!”

“Why’re you messing with your tail then?” she asked. Lisha instantly dropped her tail that she didn’t even realize she had grabbed.

“I- Well…”

“You didn’t forget to pay the mortgage again, right?”

“No, it’s fine.”

“Then what’s up?” she asked again, returning to her phone.

“I, uh, need you to take Lizzy to work at the office today.” Beatrice paused then put her phone away.

“No.”

“Babe please!” Lisha begged. “I need it just for today. More than anything.”

“Why do you need the little rodent out of the house any-” Lizzy stepped out of her room in a slightly less dark dress.

“Is this light enough?” she asked.

“Eh, a bit darker actually.” Beatrice said, waving dismissively. Lizzy went back to her room, not amused by this game. Beatrice turned back to Lisha. “Why do you need her gone?”

“It’s for uh, a surprise.” Lisha said quietly.

“A surprise?” Bea asked, raising an eyebrow. “What for?”

“It’s for… Lizzy…”

“Babe you’re scaring me a bit. What aren’t you telling me?”

“I…” Lisha suddenly grabbed Bea’s hand, surprising her. “I’ll explain everything tonight, but I need you to do this for me. Please, just for today…”

“Lisha… fine.” Beatrice sighed. She felt helpless when Lisha was begging like this. “But tonight you’re going to explain everything to me.”

“I promise, babe.”

Lisha held out her pinky and Beatrice did the same. As they wrapped their pinkies around each other, Beatrice’s wedding ring slithered its metallic body alive and intertwined around the two fingers. After that, it slithered its way back to her ring finger and became inanimate again. Lizzy stepped out of her bedroom.

“I like this one.” she said, twirling around.

“It’s passable.” Beatrice commented, grabbing her purse. “Come on, mommy’s taking you to work.”

“I get to be a model with mommy?” Lizzy gasped.

“No, the other work.”

“The secret work that mama wouldn’t tell me about?”

“Yeah, that one.”

“Yaaaay!” Lizzy cheered. “Secret work! Secret work!”

“You can’t go shouting around, got it?”

“Yes!”

Beatrice grabbed Lizzy’s hand, gave Lisha a kiss goodbye, and teleported away. Lisha only got to let out a tiny sigh of relief before a loud knocking came from the door. Lisha took a deep breath before opening the door and seeing an angry Iris with folded arms.

“I think I’ll invite myself in, Lisha.”

“This is where you work?” Lizzy asked, curious by the simple building.

“Yeah it is.” Beatrice said, putting her sunglasses on. Why she needed them to go inside was a mystery. “Don’t touch anything or anyone, don’t talk to anybody, and don’t be a nuisance without my permission.”

“What do you do here though?” Lizzy questioned.

“I’m the Devil.”

Guiding her, Beatrice strutted in with Lizzy in hand. There were people bustling about, and lots of them stopped to stare at Lizzy. While children working in the office weren't unheard of, nobody had ever seen her before.

“Mommy, they’re all staring.” Lizzy whispered, scared. 

There were people in the office that looked even more different and even scarier than Lisha and Beatrice combined. One boy in particular was staring; the one with a skull covering one eye and a dark blue hoodie. He suddenly turned around and walked away.

“Let them stare then.” she said, unwavering. “Own their stares. Let them beg for your presence. Make their eyes starve without you.”

“What do you mean, mommy?”

“Life’s a modeling career, hun.” Bea said. “Dress to kill.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s the only way they respect you.” she said with contempt. “Don’t give them the chance to think less of you.”

Quickly, Beatrice dragged Lizzy to her office and closed the door. She reclined back in her chair while Lizzy sat around, restless. She hadn’t brought anything with her to occupy the time. Her stomach started to growl from the idle nothingness.

“Mommy, I’m hungry.” Lizzy said, pulling in Beatrice’s shirt. “When can we get lunch?”

“Here,” she said, pulling out a dollar bill. “Go find something nice from the vending machine.” She handed Lizzy the dollar and reclined her chair even further back.

Lizzy ventured out into the office with her money and looked for a vending machine. Luckily, there was one just around the corner. There was one woman about to order something, but Lizza ran as fast as she could and put her dollar in first, giggling at her faster hands.

Lizzy looked at the snacks inside and saw a chocolate bar that had Beatrice in a surprisingly low amount of clothing on the front. Excited to see something with her mother in it, Lizzy ordered the last one without a second thought.

“Aw.” the woman said when Lizzy retrieved her treat. She apparently wanted it too; Lizzy started to feel bad about rushing to take this woman’s food now.

“Hey, it’s ok.” Lizzy said, opening the chocolate but being careful to not damage the picture on the front. She took out the bar and handed half of it to her.

“Oh, thank you.” the woman said, greatly appreciating the kind gesture. “Who are you? I haven’t seen you around.”

“I’m Lizzy!” she said, giving the woman a surprising hug. “Who are you?”

“Me? Oh, um… My name is Aven.”

“Aven!” cheered Lizzy. “That’s a pretty name.”

“Oh, thanks.” she said, not quite sure what this kid was all about. “Hey, where are you supposed to be?”

“Oh, back to mommy!” she said, realizing that Beatrice was probably waiting for her. “Bye, Aven!” she said, departing with a cute little wave before turning the corner.

She rushed back to Beatrice’s office, in a hurry to see her mother again. Her heart nearly stopped when she got back to the room and nobody was there. Lizzy frantically searched around before giving up on finding her in the immediate area. She decided that she’d have to go out to get her mother back.

Beatrice hoped that nobody saw her run to that vending machine in the dark corner of the office. She hid the bag of chips in her purse and looked back into her office. No Lizzy. She walked around the corner and saw Aven by herself, shaking the vending machine for eating her dollar and not giving her a snack.

“Well shit.” Beatrice whispered. She started panicking and running down the halls, wanting to find Lizzy before any coworkers found her first.

“Lizzy!” Beatrice shouted, darting around every corner to try and find her. “Lizzy, this isn’t funny! Come out!”

“Hey,” Max said, opening her door and poking her head out. “Shut up. Some of us actually work here.”

“Screw off.” Beatrice spat. “It’s one of the few things everyone knows you’re good at.”

Beatrice ran away before Max could respond and continued her search for Lizzy. She yanked open a door and finally found her little girl. The room had various bean bags and stuffed animals, and had soft-painted walls.

Bailey was sitting down in a pile of pillows, blankets, and bean bags. Beside her was Lizzy, snoring away with her head on Bailey’s lap, who was petting her hair. She was singing to the girl and looked quite happy until Beatrice slammed the door open.

“What is this?” she asked angrily.

“She wanted to hear my singing, and-”

“Don’t sing to me or my daughter ever again!” 

Beatrice marched over and grabbed Lizzy’s arm, but when pulling her up didn’t work she was forced to carry the little girl in her arms. Looking after the one little girl for less than a day was more work than what she’d done a hundred years at the office.

Calming down from her panic attack, Beatrice walked back to her office, laid Lizzy on a chair, and reclined back in her own office chair. She was having second thoughts about letting Lisha make her take the girl to work. 

“Mommy?” Lizzy yawned, waking up.

“Hun, just wait in here the next time you can’t find me.” Beatrice groaned, rubbing her temples. “Mommy can’t take another heart attack.”

“I’m sorry…” Lizzy whispered, holding her head down. Beatrice looked up and saw her ashamed face.

“Hey, stop moping.” Bea said, standing back up. “Come on, you wanna have some fun with me while we’re here?”

“Fun?” she asked, her face lighting up.