We walked into the cafeteria. It was surprisingly large and quite clean. In the room was a long table lined with ten chairs on each side. There was also what looked to be a half wall separating the kitchen from the main room, by the opening stood a glass case lined with shelves, on the shelves looked like rows of brown paper bags, some were missing.
I glanced back over to the table to find three people; there sat a girl with short ginger hair pushed back with a pair of large goggles wearing some sort of jumpsuit. She was sitting alongside a man dressed in distressed denim and various pieces of jewelry. Across from them sat a girl who barely looked to be high school-aged, hell she was even wearing a uniform.
As we walked to the table the group of strangers began sitting down as the man in denim looked me dead in the eyes and said "You're Ingrid…Right?"
/How does he know???/
"How do you know that?" I questioned back.
These people were so strange, how did they know me, why do they know me, and what had I gotten myself into?
He looked at me, it was a shockingly warm gaze and the complete opposite of my earlier impression of him. As we made eye contact he finally spoke.
"Your name was on the register upstairs, didn't you notice it?"
/What???/
"What register?" I said, trying to keep my calm.
"Did you not see it when you came down with them? It shouldn't have been hard to miss." He said in a light tone.
Was this funny to them? I racked my brain trying to think of what this man was referring to, trying to find out what I had missed that had been so apparent to the rest of this strange group. I tried to recall the events leading up to this conversation, where I went, what I looked at, and what I said.
/Was it at the desk???/
I hadn't checked the desk, or even the lounge in that case. Had my alertness dropped that much without me knowing, how had I found myself slipping like this again? But why was there a register, if that was how he knew my name did that mean he didn't know me previously? Was his name also on it? Was I missing information? Are these people not my kidnappers? No. If I were to believe the insane theory that these people were in the same boat as me, then how were they so calm, what had they experienced to make them so okay with this situation? Did they not have lives, families, friends, and lovers, how were they so ready to accept the idea of being uprooted into a strange place without any reason as to why. I just couldn't understand. I have a life, I have a husband, I have a family and friends. I don't have the ability to be complacent and just sit around calmly, knowing I've been taken to a strange place without my consent. To let myself fall into the same mindset as these strangers would be nothing less than insulting to who I am as a person.
I looked down at the sitting man,
/what was his name? As a matter of fact, did he ever tell me his name?/
"Sorry, I don't think I caught your name. What was it?" I asked.
"Ah!"
For some reason, his face reminded me of the kid's face earlier.
" I assumed you would've figured it out by now. You know, you seem like the observant type, but the name's Axel. It's a real pleasure to meet you!"
Ah. So this is Axel. His voice when I paid attention had a calming effect of sorts without losing whatever power it had, even with the growing noise from the group in the cafeteria he somehow was able to make his presence stand out among them. As odd as it felt it was intriguing.
/Stay focused./
I hadn't noticed the girl with the uniform get up and leave but when she came back she raised one of the brown paper bags to my face, it was really surprising.
"You're Ms. Ingrid right?" She asked cautiously.
/Miss, again? God, am I really that old?/
"Yes, I am."
"Okay… Cool, I'm Florian," She seemed nervous. "Here."
She basically shoved the bag into my arms before going back to sit next to the woman with the red hair. As I looked down at the bag I noticed a small tag with my name on it.
/Was that how they knew???/
As I opened the bag to see a plastic container filled with what looked to be braised pork, a container of cookies, and a small bottle of water. I decided to take a seat at the table next to Axel as I pulled out the contents cautiously. The food seemed to check the right boxes from a quick visual inspection but it still wasn't anything less than suspicious.
/It doesn't look bad but why does it have my name on it???/
I felt a stare from across the table and I looked up at the red-haired woman who was staring at the food in front of me.
"Is this not okay to eat?" I asked.
She seemed to pause before meeting my gaze.
"No, I'm just not the biggest meat lover, and your food has a strong smell."
I looked down at the container, the possibility of something bad happening was too strong to ignore and this food was nothing but another suspicious obstacle in my path for concrete answers. Just then I felt a startling tap on my shoulder as I whipped my head to Axel who had what looked to be a clean fork in hand.
"Need one?"
No. /Where did he even get that, when did he get that?? Was it always there???/
"Ah, it's not a problem, I just didn't need to use this today," he said as he pointed to an empty container in front of him.
He sat the fork down next to my paper bag and put his focus back onto the large group. Did he think he was doing me a favor? This wasn't a meal with friends, but these people continued to treat it as such. I looked around the table; Arlo seemed to be in the middle of telling a story to Priya and Axel who seemed to respond with their full attention. The red-headed woman was eating her food, also listening to the story but also imputing her thoughts at random moments, while the young girl seemed to be distracted from everything and focused on the doors. The older woman, Shawna, was fast asleep at the end of the table and the older man, Ace, was no longer in the room.
The casual environment continued to leave me unsettled, they all seemed so familiar with each other and so used to the environment. My stomach churned, but against my better judgment, I reached for the fork anyway. My hands got clammy at the idea of eating the food in front of me, but as I began opening the container I could hear a growing commotion coming from outside the double doors of the cafeteria. As the sound grew louder it proved to be a good source of distraction. I sat the fork down and looked at the other people at the table. I decided to take the initiative to speak up for the first time since meeting them.
"I'm going to see what's going on out there."
The group at the table looked at me with various amounts of exasperation.
My steps felt heavy as I walked towards the doors, stopping to take a deep breath as I grasped the handles, preparing for what could be on the other side. I could feel their eyes on me while I braced myself to open the doors. As I pushed the doors open I was met with quite a large altercation. Three tall men were just about screaming at each other while another man who looked like he could physically stop the altercation was trying to passively calm them down. As they yelled over each other I could only make out bits and pieces of their argument.
" Are you an idiot! —---- doesn't work like that,-------- revolves around you?!"
"----What!----- a prick like you,----- of course I—---- is your brain that small?"
"Argh!!------how would you expe—--- wha—- fucking idiot—----obviously!!"
As the three argued, the fourth man seemed to be growing irritated with the three. It likely started well before I had entered the scene although it was beginning to show on his face. The three continued to speak over each other, and it was a stark contrast to the easygoing personalities that had already introduced themselves. They seemed more hostile than the others but not quite in a way that felt threatening. Though, as they continued shouting the fourth man seemed to finally reach his breaking point.
/I wonder what they were arguing about?/
"If you three don't shut the fu—- .. be quiet then you will all regret it." he calmed himself down midway into his sentence and made a quick glance around him before noticing me. I'm surprised it really took him that long. He let out a long sigh before turning back to the loud trio.
"You imbeciles should be lucky Sol isn't down here to hear you argue like this. And… you…," he looked at me. "You're the one from the end of the hallway correct?"
That was such an awkward way to phrase it, I almost felt embarrassed at the question itself.
/Was that all I was to these people?/
"... Yes, yes I am."
He nodded. "Hello, my name is Gale. Hopefully, it'll have been nice to meet you."
The man had a strange way of speaking but the tense way he spoke put me at more of an ease than the relaxed environment could have ever done. He seemed apprehensive about the idea of my existence, it was finally a normal reaction. I put my hand out to shake his but he stiffened slightly and denied me as politely as I believe he could've. Even after the terrible exchange and awkward air, he continued to talk.
"I'd like to apologize for their blatant incompetence. Their names are Luther, Malachi, and Tadashi. I would hope you don't find yourself in trouble with them."
/… Weird./
"... Okay. It's… nice to meet you too."
The three who were previously unaware of my presence seemed completely stunned at the situation, likely switching in the mood before glancing back at each other, regaining the fighting energy over whatever prior emotions that were stirred within them previously.
One of the men, Luther, tall, with blond hair, blue eyes, and a clean style of dress decided to back down as he walked into the cafeteria. I couldn't tell if that was his original destination, but he entered confidently. Another of the three, who I believe had the name, Malachi, looked me up and down before walking down the hallway off to god knows where. Malachi didn't seem sloppily dressed but he wasn't particularly put together, his black hair and worn-down clothes made the way he carried himself to be a particularly interesting sight. The third was dressed as a typical office worker. He walked up to me and pulled a business card from his pocket. He was Tadashi, an accounting department head.
I watched Tadashi take quick steps toward the elevator, muttering about a lack of urgency only to be stopped by its sudden opening.
"AH!" He exclaimed in surprise
Immediately my attention was directed to the elevator as I watched another small group of people exit the elevator.
/How many people were in this building??/
Out walked a lanky man with a shaved head and a tan woman with dyed blonde hair holding what looked like a little girl.
/Wait... That's a child!? How did a child end up here???/
The girl didn't look to be older than a fourth grader nor was she very tall. As I watched the blonde woman carry the child in her arms the sinking feeling in my heart continued to fall further.
/Just what is going on here???/