My name is Stanley, and after the day I’ve had… well, I need to tell you all about it.
I recently interviewed (and was accepted!) for a custodial position at this small company based in London. I was told that the role would essentially be a hall monitor and include a lot of walking up and down, anything out of the ordinary I would have to make a note of on my pad, and if it was really serious there would always be someone available on the other end of a walkie talkie. Simple enough, I guess.
So anyway, I had trouble finding the building as it was off the main street and the interview had been held across the city in a rented office. There was no company logo on the front, just a flat grey cement exterior with a metal door and a buzzer with a single button and a speaker. I thumbed the button and the speaker crackled into life.
‘Hello?’ I asked.
No reply, just the same soft crackling of a live microphone.
‘Umm.. It’s Stanley McAlester, it’s my first day today and I-‘
I was cut off by a sudden buzzing from the device and the door opened slightly with a jolt.
‘Thanks!’ I said dimly, despite the speaker having stopped crackling.
I pushed the door open and was met by a well lit reception area with a group of middle aged men standing around. As I entered they all turned to look at me and I couldn’t help but notice they all looked very much alike… that is to say, they all looked like me. Similar hair cuts, similar frames, similar clothes.
‘Alright mate?’ One of them nodded, sticking out his hand for me to shake. ‘I’m Rodney.’
I stepped forward and shook his hand, looking between the men idley scuffing their feet.
“Oh, I’m Stanley. Are you here for the custodial position too?’ I asked, still looking from face to face.
‘Sure am. This here is Jeff, Harold, and Patrick.’ Rodney said, pointing to each in turn. They held their hands up in greeting and continued to shuffle about awkwardly. ‘We’re all going to be custodians, apparently.’ Rodney shrugged.
‘Right, yeah. You been waiting long?’ I looked around for anyone official, but save for my doppelgängers, the room was empty. A long beech wood desk lined the left wall, and an unoccupied office chair was placed behind it. A wide metal elevator door was the only other thing to note in the room, and that was situated directly in front of us.
‘About ten minutes.’ He shrugged again.
Already tired of asking too many questions I nodded my understanding to Rodney and joined the awkward shuffling. It was about five minutes of that before a pleasant ping filled the room and the elevator doors slid open. A woman stepped out, her eyes framed by dark glasses, her head tilted down consulting a tablet in her hands. A lab coat bristled around her as she marched forwards, only looking up after she had stepped amongst us.
‘Right. Well, yes.’ She said, her eyes scanning the group. ‘You must be the custodians then.’ She said, a hint of impatience in her voice. ‘I’ll make this quick. We have six floors, you’ll each be assigned a floor and a mentor will give you a tour around your assigned floor. At the end of each week your floor will be rotated. You won’t have access to any floor you are not currently assigned to, and you will never have access to the sixth floor.’ She said, hurrying through her prearranged script. She flicked through some papers behind her tablet and drew one to the top. ‘Stanley?’ She sighed.
‘Uh, yeah that’s me!’ I said, stepping forward with a smile.
‘Take this, it’s your ID to take you to your floor.’ She brandished a lanyard with a badge attached to it. ‘Don’t lose it.’ She motioned to the elevator, ‘scan your badge on the inside and you’ll be taken up.’
‘Right, thanks.’ I said, taking the badge. ‘Now?’ I asked.
‘Yes, now.’ She said, never looking at my face.
I looked around our group, Rodney raised his eyebrows at me and whispered good luck as I moved past him. I entered the elevator and looked around. The woman was already handing out the next ID to Harold as I found the scanning machine. It pinged softly and the number three appeared on a digital display. The doors slid shut and I felt the elevator begin its ascent. I swallowed back my nerves and set my shoulders. I hoped my mentor wasn’t going to be as rude as she had been. Before I had any more time to steel myself, the doors were sliding open to reveal a long white corridor. I stepped out of the elevator and the doors quietly wooshed shut behind me. I considered the corridor for a moment, the plain white walls and shiny floor reminded me all too much of a hospital. The lights at the end of the corridor were off, giving it an eery sense of never ending. I began my walk forward, and sensors picked up my movement, sending a domino effect of lights coming on ahead of me. A door not too far from me opened and a head poked out.
‘Stanley?’ The man called, giving me a wave. I waved back and hurried over to him. ‘Ah good you’re here! Give me just a moment, will you?’ He smiled.
‘Sure thing.’ I said, but his head had already disappeared behind the door. I stepped back and looked back down towards the elevator. A similar digital display above the doors showed the number two, I figured Harold was going there for the week. The door opened wider and the man came back out. He was wearing similar glasses to the woman, and also wore a long lab coat, the only difference was his friendly demeanour.
‘Right. Stanley!’ He said, holding his arms out wide and considering me. ‘Welcome to the third floor, follow me.’ He hurried by me and led the way further down the corridor. ‘My name’s Gideon and I’ll be mentoring you, okay?’ He said.
‘Great!’ I replied, keeping pace with him. ‘So, what will I be doing then?’
‘You see these windows we’re about to pass?’ He gestured ahead with tablet in hand.
‘Yeah.’
‘What I want you to do is patrol these corridors and check in on these windows frequently. Take a look in for yourself here.’ He smiled, stopping in front of a random window. I looked in through the glass, but there was a hazy mesh, as if the glass was frosted, obscuring anything from my eyes.
‘I… well, I can’t see anything…’ I said, twisting my head back and forth, testing my perspective.
‘Perfect, that means everything is okay!’ He exclaimed, moving to another window and showing me the same sight. ‘That’s as it should be.’ He said, consulting his tablet with a frown. He stepped closer to the window and gave it a tap with his finger. ‘Hmm..’ He looked back at his tablet and slid his finger in an energetic motion, and then looked back up at the window before breaking into a look of satisfaction. Finally, he looked back at me, ‘Do you think you can handle that?’ He smiled.
‘I don’t see why not.’ I confirmed, feeling rather confused about why I was needed.
‘Perfect!’ He cried in a somewhat gameshow host manner. He looked me up and down again and furrowed his brow. ‘Do you have your walkie talkie?’
‘No, I assumed I’d be given it here?’ I said apologetically.
‘For goodness sake. No it’s not your fault, you should have been given one already.’ Gideon sighed, turning on his heels. ‘Well wait here I’m sure I can find you one easily enough.’ And with that he marched down the corridor and disappeared behind the door once more.
The corridor was silent, save for the high pitched ringing in my ears. I moved up the corridor slightly to try and look into another window, but the same haze was set across the glass. I cleared my throat and crouched down, seeing if I could get a viewing angle from underneath. A faint tink tink tink sounded from the other side of the window and I fell back in surprise. I looked back down the corridor but there was no sign of Gideon. I slowly moved closer until my face was almost against the glass. I couldn’t see- wait, I could see… something. I pressed my forehead against the glass and… there was movement. The haze shifted slightly, like a slow steam had been disturbed in a still air. A darker shade slithered through the haze, like a black worm. Tink tink tink. The lights in the corridor went out in a reverse domino effect, plunging the corridor into darkness. Tink tink tink. I turned back to the window to see a face at the same level as mine, black as tar with lidless white eyes staring right back at me. I fell backwards with a scream, sending the lights back on. I was flat on my back looking up at a scowling Gideon.
‘I.. Uh… there was a face!” I said trying to find my words as I pushed myself to my feet, pointing to the corner of the window where the face had been, but was now just the same grey haze as before. Gideon followed my pointing finger and adjusted his glasses.
‘Indeed, a face…’ He said bemused, running his finger along his tablet again. ‘Are you feeling okay?’ He said, holding out a walkie talkie for me to take. I looked between him and the window before answering.
‘…Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry. I just got curious.’ I said, taking the walkie talkie with embarrassment.
‘Mhm,’ Gideon said, watching me carefully. ‘I have a busy schedule, the corridors are self explanatory and they all lead back to the elevator in one way or another. There’s a clock for timekeeping most everywhere, your staffroom is a little ways down there with a stocked vending machine. Keep out of trouble and make any notes on this pad.’ He handed me a small notepad and began to turn to leave. ‘Leave the pad in the box at the end of your shift, collect a new one from the same place at the start of your next. Remember, the walkie talkie is for emergencies only.’ With that, Gideon went back the way he came and left me by myself. I looked nervously back where the face had been, but the grey haze persisted.
I didn’t look too closely in any more windows for the rest of my shift, and I didn’t listen too closely either. For another eight hours I marched up and down the blank hallways, and clocked out without incident. I didn’t see any of my doppelgängers on my way out, perhaps they finished at different times.
I don’t know what’s behind those windows, or what’s on the other floors, but I sure want to document what else I see. What was that face and the noise coming from the other side? Why is this place so quiet and what are the people in the coats doing? This job is more interesting than I thought it would be. I’ll be back soon to tell you more.