It’s so wild to me that no matter what happens, you still have to go to work. Your life can be falling apart around you, you could see your coworker in the process of decapitating a man, but you’re still expected to clock in the next day as if nothing is wrong.
I keep thinking back to when I saw the IT guy in the woods. I’m trying to figure out what could’ve happened. Maybe he’d been defending himself? He was bloody, but I don’t remember seeing any wounds. I don’t think any of it was his blood. And the way his eyes lit up like an animal’s just… it’s not right. Nothing about that was right.
But one thought keeps sticking in my head: I drove away. I saw something horrible, and I just ran off.
And what does that say about who I am?
I guess I am a terrible person. Or a coward. Or I’m driving myself crazy. It doesn’t help that I didn’t sleep last night. Every time I would close my eyes, I’d see either my coworker or the bearded man’s barely attached head. I was also checking my phone obsessively to see if the police tried to get ahold of me, but there was nothing.
And I still had to go to work.
It took a lot of convincing myself to get into my car. A lot. The handprint was still there this morning. It took ten minutes of scrubbing with Dawn and paper towels to get it off while being sick to my stomach. During the drive, my thoughts were a spiraling, panicked mess. What if he’s there? What if he’s not there? And how in the hell am I going to be able to face him if he is? What if he was also hurt? What if he’d been the real victim and I’d just left him there?
Suffice to say, I was not feeling fly like a G6.
When I got there, I made a beeline for my lab. The problem is that I had to pass by the IT office to get there. As I passed, I spared a quick glance inside to see if he was there.
I still can’t decide if I was alarmed or relieved to see him sitting at his computer, showing his coworker something on the monitor, as if it was like any other night.
Despite this reassurance that I didn’t leave an injured man for dead, I didn’t feel much better. I still had no idea how to handle any of this. Should I pretend like nothing is wrong? Should I confront him?
No, confrontation seemed like a terrible idea. If he was dangerous, I didn’t want to put myself at risk (he says on an internet post that said IT guy could potentially find). After allowing my last two braincells to argue with each other for way too long, I figured that the best thing to do was to play it by ear. See what he does before I make any stupid decisions.
So I went to work.
After my usual of checking cultures and filling out reports, I began to feel the familiar feeling of caffeine leaving my body as it came close to the typical time that I take my break. The nervous part of me wondered if I should try to wait until longer, maybe see if I can avoid the IT guy. Eventually, I talked myself into going to break on the grounds that I didn’t want to seem like I was avoiding him. I think it would be best if I didn’t draw attention to myself.
Also, on a more depressing note, I hadn’t spoken a single word to another person that entire day. The fact that I felt so isolated that I was willing to entertain the idea of talking to a potential monster makes me wonder if I should try to get out more.
When I got to the break room, he was already there, thermos in hand, sunglasses covering his eyes. He smiled and made a comment about me being late.
I was so busy staring at him, looking for any sort of wounds that I almost forgot to say something back.
“Maybe you’re just early because you don’t want to work?” I stammered.
He considered, then smirked, “Two things can be true at once, Lab Rat.”
Naturally, he didn’t call me Lab Rat, he used my real name. I just feel like a bunch of rats in a trench coat masquerading as a person, so it seems like a good pseudonym for me. And while we’re on that subject, I think it might be easier to give IT guy a fake name from here on out. He mentioned once that he is Iraqi. After bouncing around some middle eastern baby name sites, I think Ramy should work.
As for my observation of him, I didn’t see a single mark on him. I really, really don’t think it was his blood, now.
Ramy didn’t seem to notice or care that I was acting like some twitchy prey animal. I guess it helps that I act like it’s my first time ever encountering another human being on a regular basis, so his standards for me must be low. Maybe my social ineptitude will work in my favor, for once.
“Just out of curiosity, which way do you take to get home?” He asked casually.
Heart racing, I slowly poured mediocre coffee into a Styrofoam cup. Why would that come up?
“Uh, why do you ask?” I stalled.
Ramy shrugged, “I just saw a tree that fell down on Shilling Road last night, figured I’d give you a heads up in case you go that way.”
I lied, “No. I haven’t been that way in a while.”
“Huh. I could’ve sworn I saw your car on the way home last night. Green PT Cruiser, right? It’s kinda hard to miss.”
Not good.
“Uh, no, it wasn’t me.” I insisted. Then I started to ramble, “I usually take 534, since my poor car is kind of begging for death and I’m worried it’ll break down at any moment.”
He nodded. “Shilling sure is a piece of shit road, isn’t it? Potholes everywhere. It’s like driving on the moon.”
Maybe he was just making conversation. Maybe nothing was wrong. Maybe if I could just keep him talking, everything would be alright.
I tried to reassure myself that no matter what, he couldn’t do anything to me while we are at work. There were other people here. Yeah, there are less people here on night shift, but we’re not entirely alone. Someone would notice if something happened, right?
I tripped over my words, but eventually I got a sentence out, “That road hasn’t been paved since I was in middle school. I used to stick rubber ducks in the potholes so that they’d float when it rained.”
“Oh, you grew up around here?”
Why was he so curious about me? Was I just being paranoid? No. I know what I saw last night. I needed to be careful.
“Yup!” I let out a nervous laugh. “I’m a bit farther out now, though.” That was also a lie. I live close to work, I’m not going to say how far exactly in case Ramy also has a Reddit account, but I figured the less he knew about me, the better.
I couldn’t tell anything from Ramy’s expression, especially since it’s hard to read someone whose eyes are obscured. He just had this half smile on his face, like something about our conversation was funny to him.
He suddenly asked if I minded if we dimmed some of the lights in the break room. He claimed that his sunglasses were getting uncomfortable. Not knowing what to do, I said I wouldn’t mind, even though he was already on his way to the switch. Note that he said ‘dim the lights;’ what actually happened was that he turned them completely off, leaving only the faint blue light from the coffee maker to keep us from plunging into complete darkness.
Ramy took off his sunglasses and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. I was frozen, stupidly holding my coffee cup, as I saw once again that his eyes were shining. I hadn’t been imagining it last night.
“That’s better.” He said with a sigh. “These lights just kill me.”
Here I was, scared out of my mind, yet he was being so casual about everything. Like this was a regular conversation.
Was he fucking with me?
Ramy set his sunglasses down and smiled, his strange eyes shimmering. “You alright? You keep looking at me like you expect me to grow fangs or something.”
He can’t do anything, there’s other people in the building. It’s fine. This is fine.
I tried to say something, but kept tripping over a bunch of words until I was able to get out, “I’m… I’m not staring. It’s all- ah, yeah. I just- I’ve never seen your eyes before. I was starting to think you didn’t have any.”
God, why am I like this?
Ramy chuckled and no, he didn’t have fangs. Just normal, white human teeth.
“Lab Rat, can I trust you? You seem like a trustworthy type of guy.”
Oh God. Mouth still dry, I weakly said he could.
“I’m like anyone else, you know? I’m just trying to get by. Pay my overpriced rent, go to my soulless corporate job, listen to people make the same joke about Ohio weather that gets funnier and funnier each time I hear it.”
Against my will, an obnoxious voice in the back of my head said, ‘Ohio! If you hate the weather, just wait 5 minutes!’
He continued, “I moved around a lot before getting here and it would be nice to settle down. With the woods around here, and the lake nearby, it’s pretty peaceful. It’s nice not having to worry about where to leave my 200 pound problems anymore.”
I had been about to take a sip of coffee when he said that last part and I froze with it right in front of my mouth. I stared at the dark liquid, afraid even to breathe.
He either didn’t notice or care as he folded his arms across his chest and spoke again, “Life has been quiet here for me. Do you think it could stay that way?”
I took a shaky breath in, eyes not daring to leave my coffee. “I’m…”
I swallowed and finally got the courage to look at Ramy again. He still looked completely nonchalant, with his polite smile and relaxed posture.
Somehow, that unnerved me more than anything else. This was nothing to him.
I finally got the ability to speak again, “I think I should get back to work.”
By the way he glanced down, I don’t think that was the answer he wanted. But he shrugged and said, “Alrighty. Enjoy your cancer cells, Lab Rat.”
I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. When I got back to the lab, I locked myself in, even though I was pretty sure that he wasn’t going to follow me.
After that encounter, it was hard to focus on work. I kept looking over my shoulder and jumping at the smallest noises. I had no clue what to do. One thing I knew for sure was that I had to avoid Shilling Road, until I remembered that I’d told him that I also take 534. They both led through to the same township.
It occured to me then just how badly I fucked up.
I quickly looked through Google maps, hoping there would be some mysterious way home that I’d never known about in my time of living here. No luck.
Minutes felt like hours as I watched the clock. All I wanted to do was run home, lock myself in, and hope that I didn’t encounter Ramy on my way out. I ended up walking out five minutes early, hoping that my lab coordinator wouldn’t care too much.
But whoever I had prayed to apparently didn’t feel like answering: I rounded the hallway leading towards the elevator to see that Ramy was waiting for it.
I didn’t think he saw me. I quietly hurried to the stairwell. It was only three flights of stairs. It wouldn’t be that bad, especially since being alone with him again terrified me.
I descended quickly, looking over my shoulder and getting freaked out by the echo of my own footsteps. He didn’t see me. It was going to be fine. I just had to get to my car and everything would be fine.
Wait, did the door just open? I paused, listening intently.
Something crawled on my shoulder. It might’ve been a spider, but it felt like fingers. I made some embarrassing noise and whirled around. Nobody was there. Was I losing it?
I turned back around and didn’t get a chance to react as someone’s lips pressed to mine and I was shoved against the wall. Reflexively, I let out a yelp of surprise, which my assailant used as an opportunity to stick their tongue in my mouth. It was cold. Their body felt cold. It took a second to recognize the blue collared shirt that Ramy had been wearing earlier.
A metallic taste flooded my tongue. Wait. Blood. There was blood in my mouth. Panicked, I tried to push at him, trying not to swallow it. Ramy is a tall, lanky guy. While he’s lean, he doesn’t look that strong, but he didn’t seem to notice as I meekly attempted to fight back. I might as well have been shoving at a brick wall.
Eventually, I had to swallow. The blood burned my throat.
As I started to choke, he abruptly let me go, leaving me to slide down the floor, gasping for air. My throat, tongue, and stomach felt like I had swallowed something that was far too hot.
Bewildered, I looked up, but I was alone once again. I never heard a door open.
I sprinted out the nearest door and found the bathroom, throwing open the door to the first stall. I shoved my finger down my throat. It took a few tries before I was finally able to vomit something up. The burning was still there, only intensified by the bile. The toilet flushed automatically.
Someone gently squeezed my shoulder. “Good thinking, Lab Rat. But it’s a bit too late for that.”
Ramy. Fuck. My eyes, still watering from throwing up, stayed on the floor.
“What did you do to me?” I spat out.
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
As expected, I was alone when I eventually turned around. By the time I finally got home, I ached all over and was shaking from nerves. The burning has subsided somewhat. I’ve been monitoring myself for changes. The only thing I’ve noticed is that somehow… I just know where Ramy is and I think he knows where I am, too.
I think he made me swallow his blood so that he can find me easier. I don’t know what else is going to happen to me.