I never grew out of my cartoon phase. From an early age I was drawn into the colorful characters, and upbeat voices. This is what led me to deep dive into the creative process behind them in my teenage years, and pursue it as a career as an adult.
When I landed my first animation job, it was a dream come true. I knew the hours were long. The time was thankless compared to the more public names that do the voices and direction. But this was what I wanted to do. But as my time went on with the fresh start up, I started to notice something strange about my coworkers.
For some info, the team was small. You would think this would be a bottleneck for output, but the team was efficient. They’d work late into the night and be there days they weren’t scheduled. I never knew how early they showed up, all I knew was it was always before me, no matter when I started.
This is often seen as a negative in the space. Overworked, and underpaid. However this wasn’t some strong arm move by management. It was completely voluntary.
Whenever I asked any of them what they were working on, they’d be vague and quickly change the subject.
This was from the whole team. But the strangest one of all was the company’s founder. A man named Mr. Joe.
He was always in his exclusive office. Door permanently closed besides his movements. Working on some exclusive project no one was allowed to see. And it seemed it was only me that was curious.
He was a cold and calculating man. Dead eyes, but he held himself in a strong manner. No matter how much I tried to justify this as him just carrying himself the way a leader should, I always got a strange feeling about him.
-
As I continued to work with the other members, I quickly picked up how talented they were. It was how we got away with such a small team, despite the heavy amount of projects we took on. They were multi-specialists too. Artists doing shading, the sound team picking up for the animation. There was never a dropped beat in the workflow. Which made me feel pale in comparison having only specialized in animation.
Despite their chemistry, everyone seemed distant. Almost robotic. The start up was advertised as new, but they acted like they’d been working together for a lifetime. Was I the only new one there?
-
The moment things began to unravel was when I had a meeting with Mr. Jones. I was summoned to his office to discuss a project I was working on. As I entered, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of unease.
This was the first time I’d seen anyone besides Mr. Jones enter what was deemed his space. And it was me that had the *honor* of crossing the threshold.
Mr. Jones sat behind his desk, his eyes cold and calculating as he looked me up and down. He didn’t say a word for several moments, and the silent beats were almost suffocating. If this was some kind of CEO scare tactic, it was working.
Finally, he spoke. “I’ve been watching your progress on your project, and I must say that I’m impressed,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. “Your work is truly exceptional, and I think that you have the potential to be one of our top animators.”
I couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride at his words. All the extra time the others put in, yet I was the one that stood out. It was a boost to my ego to say the least. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was hiding something from me.
“Thank you, Mr. Jones,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. “I’m glad that you’re pleased with my work.”
“Oh, I’m more than pleased,” he replied, his eyes narrowing. “In fact, I think that you’re ready to take on a special project for me. A project that will take your skills to the next level and truly showcase your talent.”
I was about to ask him more about the project, but before I could speak, he stood up from his desk and walked over to me. He placed his hand on my shoulder, and I could feel his cold, clammy fingers gripping me tightly.
“You will work on this project, and you will not speak of it to anyone else outside this company” he said, his voice low and menacing. “Do you understand?”
I nodded, feeling a sense of fear coursing through my veins. I didn’t know what he was planning, and he gave no hints to what was about to come.
-
As I continued to work on the special project for Mr. Jones, I couldn’t help but notice that there was something strange about the entire situation. For one, I was never allowed to see any of the final cartoons that were created by my new personal team. Whenever I asked about them, I was met with yet more vague answers and quickly redirected to another task.
I tried to brush it off as just the way things were done at the company. But as time went on, I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something more sinister at play. I started to notice that the other members outside my team were acting strange as well. They were even more secretive than usual, and they always seemed to be on edge around me.
I tried to talk to some of my coworkers about it, but they all shut me down. They told me that I was just imagining things and that I needed to focus on my work. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.
I knew that I needed to find out what was really going on, but I didn’t know how. I was already making myself a target with my questions. I was stuck working on this special project for Mr. Jones, and I was afraid of what would happen if I tried to dig too deep.
-
Something I picked up after a few projects was that I never knew who the clients were that was commissioning the cartoons. Or where they were going once they were finished. Whenever I asked, I was met with more avoidance.
I tried to brush it off, and add it to yet more things I’ll never get to know, but I couldn’t shake the growing curiosity behind this company. The question that drew to the forefront of my thoughts was- what were these cartoons being used for?
-
One day, while working on the project, I stumbled across a stack of papers on Mr. Jones’s desk. It was a rare time I was permitted to enter since there were some machines in there that had niche uses, and was tasked to get one. The papers were all invoices and receipts, and they were addressed to various government agencies from around the world.
I was stunned. I knew the clients must have been high profile for the boss to make us churn them out with such urgency, but I didn’t know it went this deep. With this snippet of an answer, a flood of more questions rushed at me. And it got torrential when I looked closer.
The specific agencies listed were from branches I’d never heard of. Acronyms that weren’t the obvious culprits. Names that sounded like something from a sci-fi movie.
I quickly left with the equipment I needed and hushed up about it, having learned to stop asking questions at the workplace.
When I got home, I searched online all the names I could remember, but nothing showed. I tried pairing it with their respective countries and it still came up blank. I knew they must be real because the cartoons had to be going somewhere.
So I tried the most direct answer I could think of.
I made sure to remember a specific branch. One based in my own country. I called the public government number and asked to be put through to the specific branch.
I dialed the number, my heart pounding in my chest. I was nervous.
As the phone rang, I waited anxiously for someone to answer. When someone picked up, I nervously asked to be put through. I was met with a strange clicking sound and a high-pitched tone.
I was terrified. in a panic I hung up the phone immediately. I didn’t know what was going on, but I knew that I needed to be careful. I didn’t want to put myself in real danger.
I tried thinking of more ideas and left it for the night.
-
The next day, as soon as I showed up, Mr Jones called me into this office. He let me know what I was fired. He gave some vague reasons about my performance not being up to par, which I felt couldn’t be true. I’d been praised not too long before about my outstanding performance, and my workflow hadn’t declined since working the new position. In fact, it might have improved. Immediately I knew it was connected to the phone call I’d made.
I was angry and upset at having lost my first animation job. But I knew there was nothing I could do. I packed up my things and left the office, feeling a sense of dread. As I left, I was watched by the others in a cold silence, their emotionless stares piercing through me.
-
After being let go, I continued to look for a new job, but I struggled. I tried using the old company as a reference, but quickly learned that it was impossible. When I called the company, the calls never went through. I went back to the office, but it was vacated. Not even a drop of ink was left. I searched online for more information, but the sites were now blank.
It was as if the team never existed.
I didn’t know what was going on, so I tried to dig deeper, and look for the clients that I remembered. but it was impossible. I tried to research more about my old animation company, trying to uncover what was really going on. But the more I looked, the more frustrated i became. They covered their tracks well.
If I couldn’t find anything out while working there, being this distant made everything much worse.
-
Meanwhile, I was still on the hunt for a new job. I struggled to explain the gap in my work history between then and my education. Whenever I mentioned the company, potential employers would look at me with confusion. I started to feel like I was going crazy.
However one day, while I was being interviewed for another fresh animation team, I mentioned them again. The interviewer looked at me with skepticism and told me he hadn’t heard of them before. I was getting frustrated and was about to explain further, when a worker who was passing by overheard our conversation, and nodded his head. I went on to bomb the interview as usual and left.
When outside, the worker quickly rushed over to me and handed me a slip of paper with his contact information. “Please, you have to reach me,” the worker said urgently. “I used to work there.” was all they said as they rushed back inside, leaving me standing there with the slip of paper in my hand.
-
When I got home I stared at the slip of paper that was given to me. It was obvious he did it all in a rush as the paper was hastily ripped from some work documents, and the penmanship had holes from how it was written, most likely on the palm of his hand.
I didn’t know if I could trust him, but if I wanted to investigate further, I knew I had to take the plunge. So, I decided to take the risk and contact him. I sent an email and waited anxiously for a response.
A few hours later, I got an answer. All it contained was a link to a small website that documented one of the cartoons I had briefly worked on.
The website was some small conspiratorial site that looked like it was made with the most basic templates, but what I read was wild. It tried to correlate the cartoon’s release to a major political event. A one off is a coincidence, but each example given was so specific to the country and event.
I now knew more, but I had no idea where to go from here. My curiosity was always thirsty. And this did nothing to quench it. I was craving more.
-
After this though my attempts to contact the worker failed. I started to get worried so I decided to try to call the company where the worker was from, hoping to find some new contact information. But when I dialed the number, I was met with a strange clicking sound and a high-pitched tone. I looked them up, and they too disappeared.
After my attempts to contact the worker failed, things started getting weirder. My friends and family seemed to be avoiding me. Whenever I ran into them in town, they would walk away from me as if they didn’t want to be seen with me. It was as if I had somehow become a pariah, and the thought made me feel isolated and alone.
Even when I went to the store to buy groceries, the cashiers would barely acknowledge me. They would wordlessly serve me and take my money, but they wouldn’t make eye contact or engage in conversation. It was as if I was poisonous air, breath held until I was safely away, and the thought made me feel like I was losing my mind.
And after everything, I was still unable to find any solid information on my own. Until one night.
However recently, I was flipping through the channels while watching TV, and I came across an advertisement for a worldwide premier of a new cartoon. The cartoon was going to be translated into multiple languages and broadcast around the world, and as I watched the advertisement, I recognized some of the countries listed. They were the same countries that were listed on the papers I had found on Mr. Jones’s desk.
My eyes widened. I didn’t know what was going to happen, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something terrible was about to happen. The worldwide premier of the new cartoon is fast approaching
I don’t know what kind of affect this cartoon is going to have on its viewers, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something big is going to happen on a grander scale than anything we had done before.
I can’t help but worry about the future.