I had just gotten my dream job as a graphic artist, with a large company, when things started to go wrong. I was the only female under thirty to work for my division, since the other women had all been working here for many, many years.

I started to get the best projects to work on. I loved the work, but I was confused as to why a green employee was getting it, and concerned about jealousy from my coworkers. I loved the people I worked with, and I didn’t want my projects to cause a rift between us.

I finally asked my boss about it, a man in his late forties, and he told me to “not worry my pretty little head over it.” This infuriated me. I hadn’t gone to college for four years to have it implied that my cognitive function was impaired by my looks.

After telling him that my pretty little head was just as capable as anyone else’s head, he started to get angry.

That’s when the threats started.

Apparently, he had planned on me showing my “appreciation” for his giving me the choice projects. When I told him my opinion of that, he told me that he could ensure that I never got work again.

I was honestly terrified. I wasn’t sure if he could follow through on his threats, but what if he could? I didn’t know what to do.

I went home, and slept on it. Well, I tried to sleep. Tossing and turning all night, I had terrible nightmares.

I woke up the next morning, no better for the nights sleep.

Walking into the building, he was the first person I saw. As he greeted me, as if he hadn’t been threatening me the day before, I saw what I had known all along.

A sexual harassment claim is not easy to file. My boss was well liked, outside of the department. Add to that his claims that I had been sleeping with him all along, and you have a full-fledged nightmare on your hands.

But I will never regret it.

Please review! I will be eternally grateful to you, and so will my muse! If you want, in a review, you can submit a one-word writing prompt, and I might write something out of it for you!

This was written from my friend’s prompt, Special Treatment.