I noticed that it takes me around a week to fully recover from my experiences here at the Company. Generally, for physical injuries, they can send me down to Dr. Robert. He can patch me up so that I will recover in 4-5 days. The emotional stress… that would take a bit longer to recover. As you probably guessed, there is no mental health facility here. I just have to come to terms with each traumatic event. The most they can do I hand me drugs to numb my mind. So, I guess you will only expect to hear from me once a week. All in all, don’t worry! I am not dead… yet.
So, what happened this week? Well, I did something that I haven’t done in a while! I went back to the last place I’d rather be.
The day started relatively normally, Mr. Green (Calling him anything father-like… I’m not comfortable with that) told me that there were some more routine tests to be done to ensure that I was a valuable asset to the Company now that I agreed to work with them. He handed me a slip of paper and told me to look for Mr. Red. Reluctantly, I walked around the facility to look for Red. He was always an enigma as I knew very little about him. I didn’t know where he frequented.
Because of this, I decided to approach a man wearing a similar uniform to what I was wearing. On his jumpsuit were the numbers 097. He had dark skin and a shaved head. He was pretty muscular for his height, being shorter than me. He didn’t look threatening and he was loitering around. That’s why I decided it was safe enough to talk to him.
When I approached him with a gentle wave, he gave me a toothy smile and gave me a bear hug. I was shocked as I felt as if my ribcage was being crushed! I shouted, “Let me go!”
He immediately dropped me to the ground in a thud. He extended his hand to pull me up. His hand was coarse and rough like rock. He said, “I am so sorry, my brother. I get very excited when I meet a new friend. Especially a subject like me!”
“How did you know I was a subject?”
He pointed to the numbers on my jumpsuit. “038, that means that you are a subject to an entity. Like me, you are kept here to protect the outside world from you!”
From his wide-eyed look, I could tell that he was likely not aware that he was more of a prisoner here. I guessed that he wasn’t told about the true purpose of the Company. He was probably told what he needed to hear. I guessed with how sweet he seemed, he wouldn’t be the sort to fight a war if told to. For his sake, I decided to play along.
“So, you are kept here to keep the outside world safe?”
“Yes, brother. When I sleep, an ancient spirit awakens and he wreaks havoc. It is dangerous for outside world. I turn into stone man. Very dangerous. What about you? What is your spirit?”
“Mine is less destructive. Honestly, I have no clue what he wants.”
“Maybe you can try talking to him!”
“T-talking to him? I don’t think he talks.”
“If you are willing to listen, I am sure he will have something to say!”
“Well, have you tried talking to your Entity?”
“Uh no. I can’t talk to him. He only comes out when I sleep.”
It was at that point when I noticed that his eyes were slightly sunken and despite his dark skin I could see his very prominent dark eye bags. He clearly hasn’t slept for a bit. Since I didn’t want to risk him falling asleep while I was in the vicinity, I decided to cut to the chase.
“Uh, have you seen Mr. Red anywhere?”
He smiled again and pointed down the corridor, “Brother Red, Ah. I saw him go down that way. I hope you find him!”
I smiled and waved before quickly running off. That man was a ticking time bomb. Based on how tired he looked, it was a matter of time before his energetic façade wore off. And I wasn’t keen on meeting whatever ancient spirit he claims to transform into.
Eventually, I heard the long strides of Mr. Red in front of me. His footsteps were very weird. There are long pauses between each step. It was as if he stretched as far as he could between each step. Aside from that, the footsteps were unnaturally quiet. The only thing that gave it away was the soft click of his joints. It felt like I was listening to the footsteps of a predator stalking its prey.
I followed the sounds and, out of the blue, I heard a whisper.
“Are you looking for me?”
I turned around and saw him towering over me. I didn’t even notice that he was there until I saw him. I realized that either he teleported behind me or he played me by projecting his footsteps elsewhere. Trying to hide my shock, I mumbled. “G-G-Green told me to hand this to you…” as I handed him the slip of paper.
He looked at it, dangling it in front of his face. Then, he ate it in a quick chomp.
“You didn’t look at what was in this paper, did you?”
I frantically shook my head.
“Good, good. Well, it looks like Mr. Green thought that you were due for a Rolling Stones test. For this, we will need…”
He pulled out a full-body mirror from his suit jacket. I didn’t know how he managed to fit that thing on his person but he somehow did. Sometimes, I really wonder what his ability was.
“Now, would you kindly step in.”
I stepped back slightly. “Uh, no. Nope! I am not going back in there!”
He smirked, “I am sure you are aware that I could simply make you go in there. Don’t worry. The Man in the Mirror cannot hurt you while you are in there.”
Reluctantly, I stepped into the mirror. It was strange stepping through the weird membrane of the mirror world. It was at that point when I wondered to myself. How the hell was Red supposed to come in with me if he still had his reflection? At least that was what I assumed when I first discovered this phenomenon.
I guess that having no reflection was not a prerequisite for entering the mirror world as when I looked to my right he was already halfway through the mirror.
I saw the Man in the Mirror right in front of me. I was definitely trying my best not to shit myself with how afraid I was. Every time I see him, it evokes a feeling of fear from the very pit of my stomach. I felt like fainting or throwing up. I couldn’t tell at the time.
He lurched towards me with his head slightly stuttering like a tick. He reached out his skinny hands. Then, the long slender arms of Mr. Red rammed into the Man’s face throwing him onto the ground. The Man in the Mirror just laid immobile like a rag doll.
Red continued to advance into the mirrorverse.
“Pretty nice place. Depressing and full of rot. Reminds me of home sweet home.”
For the sake of my sanity, I chose not to pry any further. Mr. Red pointed to the ground, suggesting that I should sit. So, I did. He dragged the Man’s unconscious body closer as we sat in a triangle of sorts. After that, Red bent over and whispered something into the Man’s ear socket. He instantly shot up from his lying down position in a terrifying creak. He turns to look at me. Red snapped his fingers to regain Man in the Mirror’s attention.
Then, Mr. Red places a pair of tiny black spheres at the centre of this triangle formation we were sat in.
“These… are Rolling Stones. They are to test your cognitive abilities to determine how well you’d fare against psionic attacks.”
The stones began to spin. It spun slowly at first. It spun in a circle over and over again. As it continued to spin, I started hearing a soft hum. It was like if you left your computer on for too long and your cooling fans are going nuts trying to keep your graphics card from setting on fire.
After a few cycles, the hum started to become a soft whine. It was like a mosquito buzzing around my ear. Boy, did I wish for it to have it end there.
The whine slowly turned into a screech reminiscent of the dialup tones of crappy internet back in the day. Then, it began to escalate to the sound you’d hear when you call a fax line. After a while, I felt something drip down my upper lip.
I wiped it away. When I looked down at my finger, it was blood. I was bleeding. I felt soft trickles on my face from my eyes and ears. I looked to my left to see the Man. He was bleeding profusely out of all orifices. His eyes completely bloodshot as he held his hands to his head, quivering in pain. Mr. Red however seemed unfazed. It was as he couldn’t here this loud screeching. In fact, he was sipping on a cup of something while we were going through this ordeal. I guess he truly is a monster… to be able to remain so calm as this was happening.
I felt as if my brain was melting away. It felt as if there were insects crawling under my skin. I felt so much. It was as if my feelings were eroding all rational thoughts. My emotions were bubbling over. It was consuming me.
The ground around me began to shake. Rocks around us began to float. Then, everything cut to black.
“Oh, you are awake.” A familiar voice woke me up. It was Mr. Red, sitting by my bed. I was in my living quarters again.
“On a scale of ten, I would say your psionic protection level would be around… 8. I’ve got to say. I am rather impressed. I guess you can keep your mind protected... Which makes me wonder, have you solved the puzzle I gave you? Honestly, I thought a vigenere cipher would have been easy enough for you! Ah well. I guess you weren’t as smart as I thought you were.”
He seemed to be disappointed but I was too out of it to really retort. I hope the puzzle wasn’t too important. If it is… Well, hopefully someone can help me solve it.
I think Inside the Company will now be officially be considered a weekly series. In order to incentivize this series, I have decided to give out prizes to the first person to solve the puzzles in the series. I will be giving out 0.5 SBD to the first person to can solve the cipher that Mr. Red gave Michael.
You, the reader, are a character in this story. In what I call "Interactive Writing", you are encouraged to participate in the story. How? You may ask. Well, like I said earlier, you are a character in this story. You may not be directly referenced individually in the story but the main character will respond to your comments (or rather me, as the writer, will be responding as the main character). Your comments WILL influence the outcome of the story in one way or another. Be careful, you may accidentally kill the main character, in which case, the season ends and after that... Well, we'll keep that a surprise for now.
Image Source: Illustration from De Magnete, etc. by William Gilbert (1600, translated 1900), showing the magnetick virtue passed on
Previous Chapters:
Chapter 1 - Man In the Mirror
Chapter 2 - Mr Green
Chapter 3 - Time After Time
Chapter 4 - The Study and Zeppelin
Chapter 5 - Blank Space
Chapter 6 - Mr. Blue
Chapter 7 - Eurhythmics
