On a small road surrounded by a thick forest, a man could be seen walking at a relaxed pase, this scene could be considered normal if you ignored certain factors, like for example, if you look up you could see a cloudy dark sky, from time to time you could spot flashes followed by sounds of thunder, the hour was long past dusk, not exactly the time to go for a walk, not the weather either, you may be thinking that just those two point are not enough to be considered outside the normal range, but what if we add the the wooden signs that are nailed on some of trees along the way, with messages like "Go back" and "Stay away", maybe purposely ignoring such a messages or not being able to read them thanks to the darkness, does not make him "normal". Such a man or rather, young man upon closer inspection, it's walking aimless on this road which is filled with layers of leaves and over grown weeds, clear signs of abandonment or just lack of regular pruning.
"This path is endless, knowing that it would take this long to find the place, I would have departed earlier"
Even though the young man was complaining in his speech, he did not walk faster, it was not until the weather worsened that he started to hurry up. Of course, such a time hardly helped, the clouds could not hold the water any longer and finally, it started to rain, the young man, without an umbrella got drenched in a couple of minutes.
"This weather does not make this easier, I don't think I am lost, I followed this road and there are not forked paths, or maybe I had to turn at some point and the path is is hidden or the wooden sign fell?"
Even knowing all that, he continued going the same way, until he spotted some light far away, finally coming across some sign of civilization he hoped that at least there was a place to cover from the rain.
*********************************************
It was usually a team of two that guarded this section, but due a lack of manpower, today he had to work the night shift on his own, he was called Anthony, and he started a couple of days ago, so he lacked what you would call experience on this field of work, thanks to that, he got the short stick working alone, but he could not complain since he needed the job, they pay was good enough and there was not much to do, this post was facing the middle of nowhere, so there were little chances to do anything at all. Like any other normal night, he sat reading a book, it started to rain, but such a thing hardly affected him since he was immersed into the story, and that may be the reason he did not notice someone getting close to the window until he came knocking.
"Hello there, Mister Guard, do not panic, I am not a suspicious person"
As expected, he was startled, and he was in panic, after all, under normal circumstances you would get startled if someone breaks your focus, now it happened under this situation, and the guy even had the gals to say he was not suspicious, you would not expect something like that.
"Waahh!, Who-o are you-u?"
After expectaculary falling of his chair, he did his best to stand up as fast as possible and get his breathing under control, then he tried to ask the guy his indentity, but his voice still failed him a little.
(I should probably act like I saw nothing, I feel bad for the guy, it was kind of my fault after all)
"I am sorry for coming here without notice, I was looking for a place, but I got lost during my walk and it started to rain, I saw a light and I thought I could take cover here"
To say that Anthony was not feeling this guy was suspicious would be a lie, but he thought that what the guy said made sense, so he used his radio to let the other guards know before answering the guy.
"This place is private property, although I understand your point Sir, this is not a place you can enter as you please, you could get arrested."
Anthony started to recall a few facts now that his mind started to call down, this place was located ina forest in the middle of nowhere, so the owner of this land had a wire fence around the terrain of property, this helped to keep certain wild animals at bay, this is something that you usually would not cross, so... the guy had to cross that fence to get here, but it did not look like he had a hard time, there are different kinds of wired fences, but the one they had here was rather talk, and barely had space for a hand to pass through it, much less a person, this made him more suspicious.
"Sir, I have a few questions to ask if you don't mind. Would you please state your name, your reason for being here, and lastly how did you exactly get here?"
"I don't mind, but... Could you let me in?, It's rather cold out here..."
*********************************************
The guardroom consisted of a room with a wide window facing the west where I came walking from, in that room you could see a long table with a radio and a small tv, the guardroom also had a small bedroom with one bed, a bathroom, and a kitchen that had a table and two chairs, one on which I was currently taking a seat while I drink a cup of coffee.
"I let you in for two reasons, one is that I can not let you wander around here on your own, the second is that I wish to hear the answer of my previous questions"
"Oh, yes... thank you for the coffee by the way, it helps to keep me warm, sorry for the wet floor"
"It would be troublesome if you were to claim to have gotten sick during my care so I am just doing my job, and stop trying to avoid the questions"
This security guard tries to act tougher than he is, he let a stranger in quite easily and even offered me some coffee, even when he maintains a strict face a voice he seems to still be concerned for my well-being, although he continues to question me , well, he is trying to do his job, may as well answer, since I also have some questions.
"I got here by walking, my reason... well, I have to get to a certain place, but you could call bad luck, I got lost, I recall following the directions just as they told me, but as you can see, I could not find the place"
"There are no many "places" you could go around here, many of these properties are from the same owner, and they do get that many visits, if what you say is true, we could just make a call to ask about it and this incident could past as a simple accident, but that is if it's true though..."
I could only wryly smile at that, I had no signal here so I could not call anyone, and I am still not sure if they would come for me, I took a certain job, and technically I am not the person they "expect", I was just hired to take their place this one time.
"That still leaves to un-answered questions, your name and how you got into this property, this place is surrounded by fences, getting here is not an easy task for a simple and plain lost guy... judging by your clothing I doubt you are hiding the necessary tools, of course you could've just abandoned them"
"About that... the fence had a hole with enough for and adult to pass through, I was just lucky"
"I would not call someone who got lost "lucky" though"
"I guess not"
I could only emit a wry laugh at that, now.. name, I guess I should take over my role starting now, I cannot be certain if this person is related or not to my job.
"Now, as for my name, it is Sid, Sid Grayworth"
"I see, Mr. Grayworth then, I have called for reinforcements a minute ago, they will get here soon enough, while we await for them, I would like to hear about the rough location of your so called "entry" through the fence, we still need to check that"
"Well, If you go..."
**********************************************
About ten minutes was what it took for the other guard to get here. Since I have not a good grasp of the location of their base location, I can not say if they took a while or not, my clothing is wet so I would like if they hurried, but I don't think I am in position to ask for such a thing. Two guards came on a vehicle I could not distinguish thanks to the rain, one of the guards could be described as an old guy, easy to spot due his white hair, he appears to be their superior, although I can not be certain without knowing how their ranking system works, the other guy, or not, the guard was a woman, with short hair, she also seems like the type of person who stays a lot in the gym, I can see that she got quite the muscle, I feel slightly bad for confusing her with a guy just because she stays fit, while I was thinking that it seems the guard that was working into this post, I think he got called "Anthony" by the white haired old man, was filling them with the details, and they were almost done. As they turn to face me, the woman spoke.
"You..."
"I am sorry"
"Why do you apologize?"
That was careless of me, since I was thinking about my previous rides thoughts, the first thing that came to me was to apologize the woman. Now they are are looking with a confused gaze. The lack of dinner and the long walk made my mind somewhat sluggish.
"I mean, I am causing you troubles, so I thought I should express my apologies"
"Enough, We would like that you cooperated and came with us, if what you told us is true, this situation should be solved with just a call, please come this way, you can hardly get any signal this far in the woods, so e
we will take to a place with working phones"
There is no other choice, I am currently lost, so I will have to go with them, I just hope that the process won't take too long, otherwise I would fail to get in time.
"I don't mind, but I would appreciate a bit haste, my clothing is wet and I may catch a cold if I remain like this for too long"
"Then please come this way"
"Wait a moment please"
As I turn, I face the guard name Anthony.
"Let me apologize once more for the trouble I caused, I also wish to thank you for the coffee, now I have to leave, if you will excuse me"
After that, I finally follow the two guard outside. I noticed a quite odd thing, the white haired has not spoken to me even once, I wonder if he is just cautious or maybe he does not like to talk more than what he needs to. Anyways, I need to get a change of clothes if possible, I would rather not get sick. While I was taken to the vehicle, I could finally notice in what kind of ride they came, it was a Jeep Wrangler, I guess they use this kind of vehicle taking in count the terrain. Hopelly there won't be that many gaps and bumps on the road. As I walk, I can help but mutter.
"I am hungry..."
*********************************************
As I watch my superiors take the guy with them, I can finally sigh of relief.
"So much for a peaceful night..."
I did not expect any kind of people to suddenly appear out of nowhere today, from what I've heard from my coworkers, this hardly happens, I just had bad luck, I got quite the scare, although it might have not been bad luck, that Sid guy did not try to harm me even when I had not taken notice of his presence, he did not take advantage of it.
"Hopefully, I won't find another person intruding here again"
********************************************
As soon as I got in the vehicle, the other two took their seats, I was on the back, while they were on the front, the guard woman took the passenger seat and put her seatbealt skillfully quick, I wonder why. At that time, I really should've followed suit.
********************************************
After getting of the vehicle, I can only say I felt relief, I did not expect that the old guard would like to speed up that much even though it was raining, I really thought we were going to crash along the way, not to mention the countless bumps, we did jump quite a bit too, my head can still feel a slightly pain from me hitting with the Jeep roof. Anyways, I finally arrived the place they were talking about, it's a four story building, with the shape of a huge cube, although I could pay more attention since the Jeep parked in an adjacent to the building garage, we got out, and they lead the way inside, after I got in, I barely saw other people, considering the time, they shift ended, or they lacking people, not that it will change anything, I took the opportunity to ask for a change of clothes, the old guard when upstairs as soon as he got to the building, while I stayed with another young woman and young man, probably receptionists, as for the the guard woman, she went to pick a change of clothes for me, I wonder if it's alright that they left me here alone with these two, the other guards seemed to be armed, but I am not sure if these two carry any weapons, security seems quite lax around here, there are not that many cameras. As I was having iddle thoughts, I got called by the guard who came back.
"We only have this kind of clothes, over there is the males changing room, get changed so we could go to my superiors office to talk, take this bag, put your wet clothing in here, and do not leave any valuable behind"
I could only do as she said, the so called changing room was at the end of the hall. As I changed I was taking a new look at the only things I brought with me; a key chain with my car keys, that reminds me that I left my poor car in the middle of nowhere, a cigarette box, it seems my client smokes, since I have to act as him, I need to carry these, there is also a lighter, the same reason as before for this one, a small lantern, I'm always carrying one of this, there is a small notepad, the same as before with this one, my phone, although it had no signal until recently, I can notice that it is no longer like that, there is finally some signal, and lastly, an envelope, luckily I kept the envelope dry, it could complicate my job if it were to be damaged, the invitation my client received is inside.
********************************************
I am currently wearing a guards spare uniform, it's a size bigger, but at least I am warming up, after I finished getting change they took me to an office on the second floor, the white haired guard was there, and for the looks of things, it's his office. He was sitting behind his desk, I took the seat in front and as I did, for the first time since we met he spoke to me.
"I heard the story, we have not verified about the hole in the fence, but that would have to wait, you had mentioned you got lost by looking for a place, Could you describe the place, or tell us the name?"
Finally, I have been waiting for a chance to ask about this.
"I received an invitation from, Mr. Raymond Kingwood, from the invitation letter I looked for the address, the place should be nearby, asking people they told me to follow an old road, but as you can see, it lead to me getting lost"
When he heard about the letter, or maybe the name of the person, he reacted by raising his left eyebrow, the biggest change of expression I saw since I met the guy. As I thought of that he asked.
"Could I perhaps see that letter?"
"Yes, I have it right here"
I took the letter and gave it to him. While he read the letter I could read that he almost seemed to smile, but as soon as it appeared it was gone. When he finish reading he put down the letter on his desk and told me this.
"You certainly had quite adventure, as I read the address for the place you are looking for, I seem to recall, an abandoned road that was located west of this property, it looks like you took the long route, young man"
For the way he talks, I really seem to have taken the long road, but at least I...
"For the look on your face, you arrived at the answer, you came to the right place, this is the property of Mr. Raymond Kingwood, as one of his workers, I, welcome you, Mr. Sid Grayworth.
As he said that I could see a small smirk on his face, I am not sure why, but I feel like it appeared when he said my "name", it's been only an hour since I got here but I already feel tired, really, this job seems like it will be a lot tougher.