8

JAKE OPENED his eyes to see a room, the room he knew so well: four plain white walls, except for a crooked painting of one of the Boss' old colleagues, on his left. Small wooden doors were situated regularly around the room. A huge circular rug covered all of the floor, except the corners. A table sat in one of them, and a glass coffee table rested in the center of the mat, with someone pacing around it. Someone...Boss! He watched the Boss came round in a circle, then realized Jake was up.
          "Aha, you're awake... Jake." Jake coughed a smile. His Boss looked at him with narrowed eyes. He was not the sort of person that you smile at.
          Just then, Jake realised he was sitting on a wooden chair, in the corner opposite the one with the table in it.
          Boss paused, then stared at him. "So, you have it?"
          "What?" Jake said, even though he knew, of course. He would leave it until the last moment to tell him.
"You mean..." he said softly, "...YOU HAVEN'T GOT IT?" The Boss said, his face twisting with rage. He was now rushing at Jake, his huge, hairy hands outstretched, ready to break the neck of Jake. Jake wrenched the green crystal out of his pocket and held it up, squeaking, "alright, I have."
          Mr Sweetman screeched to a halt when he saw the crystal. "Aha. Right, there's the money I promised you, on that table. Jake now saw the table had a wad of cash on top of it. Now, off you go. Jake slowly got up, grabbed the cash, and walked out of one of the wooden doors. Sweetman checked that Jake had gone, then walked over to another wooden door, and opened it - his office. Scrunched up papers lied everywhere, and plans were pinned everywhere on the walls of the small, messy, cluttered room.
          "I must clean this place up," Mr Sweetman mumbled, but he knew he never would any time soon. He heaved himself into his office chair and plonked the crystal down on his messy desk, next to his computer. He pressed the 'power' button on it, then stared at the crystal intently. Finally, he got up, rubbed his hands together, and said, "Now, let's try and figure out... the crystal's secret."