I collapsed on the floor, camera a few centimeters from my head. It takes me a second to regain my conscious, after which I examine my environment. The off-yellow crème colored walls and moldy carpet fill my eyes. I check if the camera is still recording. After confirming this, I take a small breath, taking in the old smelling, moist carpet that lies centimeters from my nose. I get on my butt, reangling the camera in the process. My jeans feel soaked from the unknown liquid that comes off of the carpet. I stood up briskly, making sure that I wasn’t dreaming and just got sent into an alternate dimension. “How did I get here” was my first thought. The last thing I remember was making the second to final shot for a film, stumbling back, and ending up here.
“What is this place, why am I here, what’s with the wallpaper?” A million questions stung my mind as I tried to take in my surroundings. My first thought was to find an exit and try to get answers to this place. I didn’t have much, and I knew that there was probably something in this place that could harm me and potentially kill me. I want to keep walking for a while and find the exit.
***
I walked for around an hour before a I heard a human-like sound coming up ahead. I found it odd that another human could be trapped in here with me. I started towards the sound. The sound grew louder the closer I went to it. Once I was within a few meters of the sound, it seemed to just fade away into nothing. It seemed to come from around a corridor. I stumbled toward the corridor turn, and I instantly regretted it.
A tall, lanky figure with a tripod-like shape, turned towards me and ran in my direction. I started to bolt down the hall I just came down, and kept running while to creature gave chase to me, occasionally letting a raspy voice emit from it’s mouth.
I kept running until I saw a small slope going down. I bolted to it and slid down it until I heard my shirt snag on something. I turned around and saw the creature grabbing my shirt. I struggled with it to get my shirt back. It let go of the shirt, dropping me down the funnel, making me collapse on a hard floor, falling unconscious
***
When I woke up, I was on a small stretcher, two guards dressed in yellow PPE were guiding the stretcher. They both saw me wake up, they told me the following:
“It seems your awake. You have stumbled into a lab experiment. Please do not try to wander back into it.” The taller guard stated.
“How did I get here? What is this place? What experiment is this? Please tell me what this place is.” I pleaded with them, but it was no use.
“We cannot tell you about this place, for that is only information for us to know. However, if you comply and, well, help us, you might get some answers to what this place is.” The shorter one told me in a way that made me think about helping them.
“As long as you give me answers, I’ll help you guys.” I told them bluntly.
“Great, we still have a bit of a way to go to the Main Centre. It won’t take too long though.” The taller one said.
***
We arrived at the Main Centre shortly after and I went into a small room with little decoration. There was a small, yet tall floor plant in the right corner, a desk with a man who looked important in the center. There was a small, off-white metal chair in front of the desk, to which I sat in.
“Hello, you must be the new recruit that just arrived.”
“Uh, yes. The yellow men told me that I should help you if I want answers.”
“You will receive answers. Just now, is not the time. I think it’s more important to discuss the work you’ll be carrying out for us. You’ll be going through 9 different areas, each being increasingly more hostile than the last.”
That part made me tense up slightly. I felt sweat starting to leak from my skin. He could see me tense up slightly.
“Don’t worry, you’ll have two guards with you at all times. You’ll simply be documenting what happens in here.”
I instantly felt more relaxed and intrigued that I could document this weird place. He asked me if I wanted to do this. I told him I would be happy to help document this place. I signed some NDA’s and other consensual paperwork, and I became a worker at Async, the company behind this place.
“Your first day of working will be next week. There is still an operation right now that is being conducted in Level 8.”
“Is there anyway I can find the documentation so far on it. I find this place pretty interesting.”
“There’s a library in this building that has all of the documentation on the past operations. It’s located on the third floor. Your room is 437.”
“Thank you so much, I’m excited to start working here. And by the way, does this job pay.”
“It does pay, not in the way you’d think though.”
I thought about that sentence all throughout my time looking around the library of past operations. I found one VHS tape on a small shelf that was labeled “Operation Demo - 1995”.
“That’s not right.” I thought. “It’s only 1994.” I took the tape off of the shelf and held it in my hand like a brick phone.
I brought it back up to my room, barely avoiding detection by the security guards. I found a VHS player and TV set in the far corner of the room. I put the VHS tape in the slot and pressed play on the box. The screen lit up with a blue screen with the Async logo stamped in the center of the screen. This is what I remember from the tape:
“We are currently in Level 6, the Lights Out level. We found a weird creature that has a glowing white smile and started to chase us around. Hopefully an image with project on the screen of this tape.”
An image of a short, yet creepy figure that has a giant head with a neon white, smile that went from ear to ear. I paused the tape to look at the figure and made a small drawing of it in my head to prepare myself if I’m assigned to Level 6. I pressed play again.
“We have to find the entrance to Level 7, or else we might die here. This is Operation Demo, out.”
The VHS tape slid out and flopped to the ground, bouncing off the carpet. I scooped the tape up, and quickly stored it in the back of a cabinet. I thought about the voice of it. It sounded somewhat similar to my friend, Mathew’s voice. I hoped he didn’t also find his way into this area as well.
***
I sat on the couch and thought about what I saw. If that was him, I had to prevent him from going on that mission. I can’t leak the tape or tell anyone about it, though. My brain started to hurt from thinking so much. I went down to the cafeteria to get my head cleared from what I saw. I saw the courtyard for employee’s to play basketball, soccer, and field hockey. The amount of variety was cool to see in a work environment.
The dinner they served was pretty mediocre. It had some sushi, wasabi, and green tea. I saw a board with breakfast, lunch, and dinner schedules with what they would serve tomorrow. I noticed for Lunch the next day, it was pizza. American Lunch Day, as the other employee’s called it.
I went back up to my room, exhausted after a crazy day. I laid on my bed and waited for sleep to come to me. Eventually, I drifted into a deep sleep, not waking for a long time.