"How d-did you do that Emily?" Simon's voice shook slightly as he gingerly sat down, shaking his arms as he felt another strange jittery sensation, so faint as to be ghost-like.
"I told you! I didn't do anything! It was all Orange!"
"You ARE Orange! And Blue! And Green too! You're just crazy Emily! You're crazy and you're scary as hell!" Simon shouted, fear and terror fueled by the dark and sound-proofed room finding an outlet finally.
Simon gasped, breathing hard after his outburst, but no response came.
He waited, his breathing finally getting more even as his heart slowed down bit by bit.
Silence ensued as Simon sat there, the dark and the memories of what just happened taking away all comfort he could have given himself.
"E-Emily?"
"Do I scare you, SIMON?!" The cold and quiet voice suddenly screamed, rage and sorrow in its insanity.
"I can't help it Si!" The gentleness was back, a flip of a switch. "There's so much! So much in everything, and the voices are stuck so quiet and they're trying so hard to be heard, I just need to hear them and then-" she broke off into sobs.
"I swear Si, if I just hear what they're trying to tell me, they'll stop and I'll finally be okay, I promise, just please turn the lights on, let me see them! Let me see the colors, hear what they're trying to say!"
Simon stayed silent.
"Please..." her ragged sobbing felt like a knife carving out his heart, somehow even worse than the burning from the earlier hallucination.
Simon tightly screwed his eyes shut, breathing in, and out, trying to brace himself.
"You know I don't make that choice."
"No... no! Simon! You can't leave me here in the dark! YOU CAN'T! SIMON! LET ME OIT OF HERE YOU BUG-BRAINED SPLATTER! ORANGE! STOP HIM!"
Simon jumped out of his seat as she began to scream hysterically, backing up to the door as he waited for something to happen.
"No! Orange! Please! Blue, why won't he do it? Why is everyone leaving me alone?! I just want to get out! To find it I need to get out! Please help me!"
Simon stayed still, and the sobs continued, with no words anymore.
And then, the crying suddenly stopped, yet another flip of Emily's switch.
Simon tensed up as he waited for what new mood and side of Emily had suddenly risen to the forefront, but he wasn't expected the voice that came out, creeping up his spine like a spider ready to kill him with its venom!
"Black for those who died and rise once more. White for the mother's and guardians, givers of life before. Black takes from white, and only color is left as the others are taken, and the colors are born. White is taken by black, black is the aggressor and the evil, yet the father and the natural absence and peace of the void."
It was like a prayer, with such devout belief and faith in it's own words that it seemed to whisper of the insanity of the black, it's chaos yet peace in the void, in its consumption of all light.
Simon stepped closer to the door.
"Simon?"
He froze, every muscle tense.
"Be careful. The earth lies."
And with that strange line from someone lost to insanity, Simon hit the button next to the door after finding it.
A slight click let him know the intercom was turned off, and he then went to find the door scanner.
As the door opened he screwed his eyes shut, blinded by the sudden light.
He stepped out of the dark hell, and instantly felt relieved. It felt like the Hive and that jailcell were two completely different worlds with how tense and oppressive that atmosphere was.
Simon took a few turns before entering a room with a keypad and a screen, sitting down at the terminal to write his recollection of what occurred as faithfully as he could, even putting in some abstract words in to try and capture how strange he felt at certain times.
~ ~ ~
"This here is where you'll write your reports Simon."
Simon blinked, his hair shorter than it would be on the day of his brother's marriage selection. "But... wouldn't you be recording all of it?"
"Yes, but the Changed... they've been observed to cause strange events, and sometimes digital surveillance doesn't seem to actually catch everything that is going on. So it is important we get your view on it, no matter how strange it may be."
Simon nodded slightly, before looking up for a brief moment at the old man with his long beard, before looking away quickly.
"What is it boy? I can feel your curiosity burning at me."
Simon scratched the back of his head. "Well... why me? I get that I knew Emily, before I mean, but others knew her better, and it's not like she liked me or something. Why am I the one being given such high clearance and such strange employ out of nowhere?"
The old man laughed. "I don't know."
Simon blinked, prompting another laugh from the man. "What? Surprised to see a board member willing to admit they don't know something? We aren't perfect you know. You manage to be good enough to match some of our criteria for future employ options this duty will open up for you in the future promotions you could get. The biggest reason... Emily asked for you, and we need her to talk as much as possible."
Simon frowned. "Me? But we weren't that close? Just like I said, it's not like she liked me even!"
"I'm not here to give you answers boy." The man became serious. "I'm here to tell you your duty in employ, and how to do it. If you wish to know something, ask the person involved."
"Ask... Emily?"
The old man nodded. "Exactly. Make it one of the many things to find out from her."
~ ~ ~
Simon leaned back from the keyboard, looking over his report.
'It's hard to describe that strange hallucination, a waking-nightmare... but I tried my best at least.'
Simon leaned back, breathing out as he massaged his temples. "Haaaah..."
He began to look through his past reports.
Snippets flew by. "How did you change?"
"The colors of the surface spoke to me and chose me."
"Chose?"
"Yep!"
"I... see."
More flew by.
"Before you saw them, what did you like to do Emily?"
"I hung out by sector 06 of level 93 sometimes. There's a hidden grate that leads to some disconnected rooms, was GREAT for getting some me time! Recommend you visit!"
Simon sighed.
He asked the same questions, again and again, and but by bit she seemed to answer certain ones as if she felt it were time.
'What question did she answer first?' Simon tilted his head a bit in thought as he considered.
He started going through, copy/pasting every question and answer in chronological order, though the words were not perfectly replicated as he HAD written it from memory.
First question had been, "How did you get to the surface?"
"I used the powers of the colors to get to the surface."
Simon blinked. 'It's been a while since that conversation but... I feel like somethings off with her answer?'