I woke up in a fog this morning, eyes heavy and dreary from the little sleep I got. I look over at the clock and sigh, realizing it is 8 AM and I need to go to work. I push the covers off my body, and slowly rise out of bed. I stretch before heading down my hall toward the bathroom.
I never liked mornings much, and this one was no exception. I dreaded the monotony of daily tasks, and found myself often bored by how mundane life can be.
I head into the bathroom and flip the switch, bright white light illuminating the dark circles on my face. I brush my teeth and wrangle my messy hair into a bun before I go back into my bedroom and find some clothing for work.
I trudge to my car, starting it before going back into my house, shivering. I blow hot air into my hands and wait for my car to warm up. January mornings just never seem to let up, the snow flurried down onto my yard, and I find myself wishing I could call off today.
My job is about as mundane as a job could be. I sit at a desk, feathering through useless documents all day. The office always feels stuffy and barren. Nobody, including myself, looks remotely thrilled to spend hours of our day locked in an abismal and depressing space. I had never liked my job, but it paid the bills, and I did minimal work, so I just dealt with it.
I walked in today, and sat at my desk like usual. I take a sip of my coffee before opening the file sitting on my desk. I had no idea who provided the files, they were just here when I came in, and my job was to sort the documents. The documents were sorted by the color on the cover page.
I was told during training there would be four document colors. Orange, Yellow, Brown, and Green. I was to sort the documents into a corresponding folder and drop them into the mailbox when I completed a file. It was an easy enough job to do, and I would often listen to podcasts while I sorted through the documents.
I spent the first few hours sorting through like normal, I was not to read the documents underneath the the colored paper that sat on top of them, and because I don’t ask questions, I never did.
That is, until I noticed the color of the next document: red. I’ve never had a red document before, and I wasn’t sure what to do with it. I looked around the office but all of my coworkers were focused on their own tasks, so I look back to the red document.
The documents we sorted had numbers printed on the cover pages, and I looked down to read the document title on the deep red page: Document #ST637
I looked around the office one more time to make sure nobody was watching me before I crouched into my cubicle and opened the file.
HAZARD DEVELOPMENT FOR SPECIMEN ST637
ST637 is highly dangerous and must be interacted with using extreme caution. ST637 will remain unaware if a set of rules are followed. You will know you remain safe if you hear the faint ringing of a bell. If you can no longer hear the bell, ST637 can and has been made aware. If ST637 becomes aware, the result will be permanent termination.
Rules for Interaction of Specimen ST637
FAILING TO FOLLOW ANY OF THESE RULES WILL RESULT IN PERMANENT TERMINATION.
I felt uneasy as I read the rest of the document. I wondered what the document was for and why it was written. I looked around the office again and my coworkers still hadn’t noticed what I was doing. I decided to finish sorting and place the red file alone in the mailbox.
I kept sorting through documents until I felt a lump in my throat. I decided to get up and head to the break room for a glass of water. I looked up at the clock in the break room while I filled a plastic cup with water. It was 3:30, which meant I was almost done for the day. I couldn’t shake the feeling I had done something very wrong. I thought back to the document.
FAILING TO FOLLOW ANY OF THESE RULES WILL RESULT IN PERMANENT TERMINATION.
For the rest of the day, I had eyed the red document on my desk. I wondered who those rules were for. I wondered what my company was actually doing. The longer I sat at my desk, the more restless I became. I started sweating and frantically looking around the office to see if anyone noticed my panicked mood. They haven’t. I have decided that I needed to go home and think about what I read today before someone asks why I am so anxious. I looked up at the clock and realized it was 5:05.
I sighed and stood from my desk, gathering my things before walking towards the door. Just as I grabbed the handle, I heard the sound of a bell.
It made me shutter, and I turned my head to see the entire office staring at me.