A pile of paper. All crumbled into the trash bin. Pens lying around the wooden desk with no regard to their arrangement. A cigarette butt was stuffed somewhere in the corner while the faint smoke wavered in the hollowness of it all.
His hands were shaking with disappointment. How could it be? He stared blankly at the trash bin that held all the proud moments of his life. His education, his passion, his hobbies. But no one cared for them. Just no one. He sank down to the wooden chair—the whiskey in his hand almost slipping off.
It had been a year since he started applying for a job. In the last job he held, he was laid off for an unknown reason and had to survive off ride-sharing for the time being. He applied consistently, even passionately in the early days. But everything seemed futile when no one—not even one company—wanted to take a chance on him.
“It’s all just a cruel little joke,” he muttered to himself. The man took a sip from the glass and stared at the ceiling. “Happy new year to me.” It had been exactly a year. And December was especially torture given all the holidays. He rolled back and forth in his chair, hoping something would happen but knowing that the world did not center around him and it will continue to be like that if he stayed idle. He sighed and opened his laptop.
“New job posting. Requires immediately.”
He clicked on the link without a single thought. Another link. Another paper that will go into the trash bin.
“Hiring great individuals to aid the company’s growth in the global market. We believe in giving chances. Tell us about your life, your successes, and your downfalls in a video format. The video will act as your resume as well as interviews. Successful candidates will be contacted immediately after.
We provide great benefits and pay handsomely. CLJN corporation is proud to have earned the top achievement award in our industry.
Note that information about the company and our industry is classified. Due to the nature of our work, we are not able to discuss any of the details until after the job offer is given.”
“Secret huh? Maybe this is some FBI shit.” He put the whiskey on the table and wiped the webcam on his laptop with his thumb. “Then, maybe the government will listen to me and all this bullshit.”
He began to record a video of him ranting. Just pure ranting. At first, it was about his life and how everything was working out so well, then the recession hit and he could barely support himself. He began finger-pointing at people in the industry and in the public sector. He was screaming, “he did this, she did that.” Swear words came soon after and the spilled whiskey from all the tantrums could be seen in the corner of the video footage. When he ran out of breath, he slammed the laptop down, ending his resume and the interview.
He fell asleep on the floor. Snoring and grinding his teeth excessively, the night flew by, and came the morning.
He woke up and screamed. He was inside a dark grey room. Looking around his surrounding, he could see a mattress, a set of clothing, a toilet, some wipes, and a bag of an apple and a croissant. Once his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he could see that in the middle of the room was a piece of paper. It read:
“Welcome to CLJN corporation. Congratulations on your offer.
We have decided to give you an offer based on your emotional prowess and ability to discern facts from fantasy. Due to the secrecy of our organization, we had to bring you here while you were asleep. We want to remind you that you had signed your waiver before applying and everything had been done with your written permission. You are currently on your trial period. Once you are ready, please exit the room and go into your office. Your office number is TA159. Once you are in, there will be additional instructions on your role as an associate. Thank you for joining CLJN corporation. Have a wonderful day.”
His hands shook with fury at first. The thought of being dragged unconsciously to an unknown location bewildered him. I was essentially kidnapped here, didn’t I? But the other side of his mind continued to spread light to his thought process.
“This is only a protocol,” he muttered to himself. “Just a protocol. Look, they even gave me a croissant. No way a shady kidnapper would be so benevolent.” He kept mumbling as he took a bite of the pastry.
“Ability to discern facts from fantasy. Sounds like me.” He grinned weakly and attempting to feel a little upbeat, he changed into the suit and ties and exited out of the insufferable grey room.
In front of him was a long, narrow hallway that felt so narrow that he felt nauseous trying to maneuver to the other end. On each side of the hallway was a row of portraits. The portraits showed nothing but silhouettes of some men and women. No facial expression. Nothing. Just blank, black portraits on grey walls. He felt goosebumps on his skin but continued walking forward. He did not want to hold any thoughts other than finding out about his employment status and what was going to happen to him. What was happening to him at the moment would pass through. And so he continued.
On the other end of the hallway was a wooden door. It was all hard to see because the lighting in the hallway was very dim. Eventually, he made out the words on the brown surface: “401 402 403”. He shrugged and swung the door wide open.
What appeared in front of him was uneventful, but rather unexpected. The grimy hallway seemed to indicate that the building was old and may allude to a victorian atmosphere. Instead, what lay in front of him was a typical office workspace. Cubicles. Corridors. Whiteboards.
Everything seemed perfectly normal.
Except it was completely still. And it was dark. Very dark. Not pitch dark, but the light was very dim and there was no window in sight. He could not even see the bright green exit sign that is common in all office workplaces. He took a breath. He held his arm, which was shaking beyond his control. Just a hand tremor. Nothing more. He paused for a moment but as each second passed, the darkness seemed to slowly devour him. Emptiness. Dullness. Frozen. He felt frozen. The office seemed like a land of uncanniness. He unwrapped the paper. Read out loud. “TA159.” He just had to find the office. Simple step. Easy.
He took a step. Echo. His footstep combined with the sound of a creaking mechanical clock felt like they were stabbing his anxiety-ridden heart. He paced faster, hoping to rid of the sound tormenting his chest, but to no avail; the clock seemed to just tick faster. He tried at first to make a logical sense of his surroundings. There were countless doors in the seemingly tight space. Each door seemed to lead to a private office room, all of which were covered in blinds. There were so many office units that it was so hard to keep track of which ones he had passed through already. OB132. OB133. He felt like he could understand the pattern. It was just alphabetical after all. But then, the letters began to not make sense. OB134. AB199. XY595. Sweat dripped from his forehead. His hands began to shake again. Panic ensued. Frailing around his arm, he began to scream for help. While kicking doors to his left and right, he crawled forward. A spider running away from a human hand. Calm in the distance. Mania within.
“I don’t know anymore,” he mumbled to himself. “Maybe this is all just a joke. But why? Why?” He looked up. TA157. He turned his head to the right. TA158. TA159. He shook his head. He knocked once out of habit and opened the door.
Inside was an ordinary office room. A chair, a computer, a drawer. A desk. There was a piece of paper. He closed the door behind him. Same as the rest of the floor, there was no light switch in the sign. Under the darkness, he read the note.
Welcome to your office Mr. TA159. Your task is to monitor the video that will be streamed on your computer.
Please lock the door as you work.
Good luck.
He turned on the computer. Immediately, a video popped up. There was no user interface or anything. Just the video. It was from a CCTV. In fact, there were five separate videos on the screen. They all seemed to be of the office. Too empty. Stillness. He was not sure if they were from different levels of the office but they all looked very much identical. A shiver ran down his spine. He blanked out. His eyes watched the offices in the clue of a movement. But was also deathly afraid of it. He was not sure what the good outcome would be. What if the lights were turned on? That was it. That would make everything better.
But it continued to be dark.
Then suddenly—
“CODE RED. CODE RED. AN INTRUDER HAS BROKEN INTO THE FACILITY. PLEASE ARM YOURSELF. THERE IS A PISTOL INSIDE OF YOUR DRAWER. ARM YOURSELF. THE INTRUDER IS VERY DANGEROUS. WHATEVER HE SAYS DO NOT LISTEN. ARM YOURSELF. ARM YOURSELF.”
And then total silence. The echo from the alarm and the noise were still so clear in his ears. His eyes widened. Hands began to shake again. He opened the drawer and found a pistol. He wasn’t sure what kind it was. The only apparent fact was that he was arming himself with a murder weapon against potential danger. The thought did not sink into him at first, but it slowly crept into him. Then, the thought gripped his heart when he looked back at the monitor.
There was a figure on the screen. It was hard to see because everything was so dark but he could tell that the figure was running around the office. It was kicking the office doors and maneuvering around without clear aim. What was it doing? A pause. It stopped moving. He held his breath. Then, the figure began to sprint forward. Fast. And gone. It was outside of the video screen.
He looked at the other four screens but his heart sank. The screens all fizzled and then blacked out. One, two, three. Four, five. Disappeared. All black. Silence ensued.
Sweat began to drip down his chin. He felt like he was fighting off hyperventilation. He gripped the pistol. He had gone to gun ranges before and knew the basic maneuvers around the gun. He never thought a day would come when he would need to defend himself. But what was he defending himself against? So many questions. So many thoughts. But they all jumbled together into one coherent message: he needed to survive. He had to survive.
He heard footsteps in the distance. His body froze. The footsteps had gotten closer and closer until suddenly they stopped. Suddenly, he remembered the message.
Please lock the door as you work.
He had forgotten to lock the door. The doorknob turned. He aimed forward—his hands shaking as he gripped the pistol.
***
I found myself in a dark office space. My heart began to beat so fast. It was a simple task. Just find an unlocked door and go into the office. Then, that office becomes my office. How easy is it? I started turning each of the doorknobs but to no avail. They were all locked. Why were they all locked? I could not hear anything. Total silence. I was under the impression that I would be working alongside other coworkers. Where was everybody?
The darkness and the silence began to creep into my nerves. At first, I tried to organize my thoughts. There must be a reason I was brought to this place. There are secretive organizations everywhere. This must be a common protocol. But as time passed, I panicked. None of the doors could be opened. I began to run around the office. Screaming, asking if anybody was there. I paused. I stopped. I could not go insane in this situation. That would be the end of me. I had to think of something. I decided to sprint forward. I will go to the far edge and start from there. Maybe I can find an exit gate along the way. That was it.
In the far corner, there was an office door. This would be the start. I was indifferent when I twisted the door knob. But to my surprise, it was unlocked. I paused for a second, unable to contain my excitement. Then, I swung the door open.
And then I heard a bang.