This Friday’s Writing Prompt Challenge
For this week’s challenge, write your twisted version of this prompt. Let your imagination run wild.
A boss is secretly drugging and brainwashing underperforming employees to fix their work behavior. Write the moment the HR manager realizes she is the next target for “correction.”
Thursday, June 25, 2026 – 1:00 PM
Marvelle Sterling Manufacturing
500 Brandar Street
Marvelle, New Jersey
Isabella Terrian returned to her office and sat down. She was wiped. The visit to the police station took longer than expected. She was a little late getting back for lunch. She hated being late, but life was unpredictable.
Too many employees were missing for days to a week. A few months earlier, she had mentioned to her boss, Mr. Sterling, that employees had been disappearing and then returning to work. When they returned to work, their managers said they weren’t the same. At first, she didn’t realize it was a pattern until now. This was not normal behavior. Something frightening was happening in her workplace.
The police said they’d continued to look into it but said it could be nothing. It was definitely something to be worried about. She got the feeling they weren’t telling her everything. Isabella had looked at the employees’ files. Every employee who went missing had excessive lateness and performance issues. She shook the thoughts from her mind, hoping that the employees would stop going missing. If not, she would definitely start looking for another job.
She grabbed her water bottle and drank a few sips. She logged into her computer. A task reminder from her calendar popped up on her taskbar, reminding her she needed to add the new hire’s photo to the security portal before Monday. Isabella took another sip from her water bottle, clicked the icon, and brought up the portal.
Isabella’s eyes started to droop. She tried to shake the tiredness away. She leaned forward and stopped short before smacking into the computer screen. Her eyes became heavier. She leaned back in the chair, trying to get herself together. Her vision started to blur. No, this wasn’t exhaustion. Someone had drugged her.
No, this couldn’t be happening. She was a good employee. She didn’t have any performance issues and no excessive tardiness. She needed to get help. She slowly rose, gripping the desk for support. She managed to get to the edge of the desk. She was fighting the effects, but she felt herself slowly slipping away.
Her boss appeared in the doorway.
“Help me,” she reached out a hand to him.
“Looks like you need correction too.”
The world grew dark; his face was the last thing she saw before she collapsed.
***
Isabella slowly woke. She blinked a few times to clear her vision. She tried to move, but her movement was restricted. She was bound to the chair. She looked around the dimly lit room. There was a desk with a laptop and a chair. Two chairs against the wall. An artificial plant sat in the corner. A printer stood behind the desk. The setup was like an office, but something was off about it. Why was she tied to a chair in someone’s office?
She turned to the left, and there was a staircase. She continued to look around. No large windows, but there were two rectangular windows high up above the wall. It was an office in the basement.
Isabella heard the creak of the door, then footsteps on the stairs. Footsteps moved quickly. Her boss walked over to her.
“Good, you’re awake.”
“You’re the one drugging, kidnapping employees, and then returning them to work.”
“My employees needed correcting. There’s no sense in firing and having to rehire someone else. Too much paperwork and time. I can spend the time it takes to search for new talent and just correct the problem. That is a much shorter time window.”
“You’re nuts.”
“No, I’m allowing people to keep their jobs. Firing them could put them on the street. Would you rather I fire them and then they have to collect unemployment? That is more work for the company. Let’s face it, unemployment benefits are not enough to live off. I am doing my employees a service by correcting their behavior and making them better.”
“There’s a better way.”
“Their managers will disagree. They are no longer late; their performance has increased. I’ve done my job well.”
“I am not like those employees. I’m not excessively late and don’t have performance issues.”
“You have been late three times this month.”
“That’s not excessive, Mr. Sterling. This is the first time I’ve ever been late. I was stuck in traffic two of those times.”
“And today?”
Isabella’s eyes widened. He knew she’d been communicating with the police about the missing employees. Damn, he was going to kill or correct her. Neither one of them was good.
“Someone’s been investigating when they shouldn’t.”
“I was doing my job.”
“Too well.”
“You’re going to kill me?” Her chest tightened. This was not how she wanted to die, hopeless and tied to a chair.
“No, no, you’re much too valuable to kill. I’m going to correct you like all the others.” He retrieved a syringe from his back pocket. “Let’s begin, shall we?” he smiled, moving closer to her.
“The hell you are.” She mustered all the strength she had and steadied her legs. She stood with the chair still attached and started running. She rammed him and knocked him to the floor. She landed on her side on the plush carpet.
He scrambled to catch his breath. When he got himself together, he stood and found the syringe. He then raised it, ready to plunge it into her.
“If you do, there’s a bullet with your name on it?”
“Detective Randy Dusk?”
“I told you we’d take care of it. We’ve been investigating him for months. It wasn’t until the last employee went missing that all the pieces fell together and his confession, of course. We bugged you, Isabella.” His gun was trained on Sterling.
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