"Yo, Henry!"
Before I could turn to address the man who called my name, he quickly wrapped his arm around my shoulder.
"Hey." It was Anthony. I waved slightly.
"How was sick leave? Hopefully Theo wasn't too harsh on you, yeah?
"It was just the typical nagging. Was I meant to enjoy sick leave like some sort of vacation? You know that isn't what those things are for right…?"
"Well, of course of course. I'm just saying, it wouldn't kill you to have some fun~"
I glared at him. 'Have some fun'? Really? Just how oblivious is everyone here? Honestly, I don't get it.
"That isn't what sick leave is for."
"Urgh, you're so by the book you know that?"
We continued walking, and eventually arrived at the office. I worked as a postal service person, it was a rather boring job but it paid enough. I spent my day in a mindless trance, I look at mail, I sort mail, I look at mail again, I sort it. Set it into piles, I give it to Anthony who then delivers it. It's a small little thing we have going on, but it works. There are days I'm by the counter, I wouldn't say I dislike those days, but I certainly don't enjoy them. There's this one lady, she always comes in and complains about her mail missing. It's exhausting really.
"Solomon! Can you take the counter shift for 10-15?"
Just my luck.
"Yeah, give me a sec."
I finished sorting through my papers, with a sigh I reluctantly made my way out to the counter. What was strange, was no one was there. I'm not sure where the boss went, maybe I took too long and he already left to do whatever it was he was going to do. I leaned on the counter, bored, as the cat clock on the wall ticked away. I always found those things creepy.
│
I must have dozed off for a while, as when I woke the sun had long set. How I managed to sleep so perfectly still while standing, was beyond me. I supposed the boss already went home, which was a little unusual. But who am I to question anything? Asking questions never gave me answers anyhow.
With a sigh, I went to the back to lock everything up. I walked out of the office and locked the glass doors behind me, I swear there was something beyond rotten hanging around. The scent in the air was foul, I haven't smelt something like that before. It smelt like some sort of rotten meat… but there was some sort of undertone that gave me the idea of fruit. I chose not to investigate, afterall Sherry was most likely waiting for dinner for me.
Now that I thought about it, did I even want to go home? Good grief.
Whether or not I wanted to or didn't, I went home anyway. As expected, Sherry was waiting.
"How was work?"
"Same as it is everyday. Nothing changes."
She stood there silent for several seconds.
"...About earlier—"
"Can we talk about this later? Let's just eat dinner. I'm exhausted."
I walked into the house, without letting her argue back. I was indeed exhausted, but that wasn't the reason I didn't want to talk about what happened.
This night was rather a quiet one. I ate, I tucked in my daughter, then I went to bed. What did it matter if I did anything different? The day will just repeat tomorrow. The sun rose, and as expected, in the same spot, same amount of time, and I woke up the same way, after having the same dream.
Although, I can't say everything was the same. That made me nervous. The only difference was I woke up just a few minutes before 6:00 am. Weird. I also heard a hushed voice from down the hallway stairs, there weren't many and the house walls were rather thin. Perfect for listening in on. I once again adjusted my prosthetic, and made my way across the carpeted floors. Thankfully, the carpet made being heard less likely.
"I'm rather worried about him. Lately he's been acting strange, and he says these strange things in his sleep… I'm scared, doctor."
The moment I heard those words, "Doctor", I knew immediately. I walked in, making my presence known.
"Hon? Who're you talking to..?"
She immediately dropped the phone. She was… scared?
"You're up…"
"Yeah, I'm up, what's going on?"
She quickly regained her composure, I heard briefly on the other line someone call out 'Mrs. Solomon? Mrs. Solomon, are you there?' and I knew exactly who it was.
"...Nothing, I was just talking with Dr. Theodore about the check up. H-He wants to come by later today to see your leg… If that's alright."
As expected. Of course it was Isaac. Who else would it possibly be other than him? That didn't concern me though, what concerned me was… the fact she lied to me.
"I-I'll make breakfast for us, can you wake Trixy up?"
I gave a nod, and walked towards my daughter's room. With a creak, the door slid open. She was sleeping peacefully, although when we slept, it always felt odd to me. As if… she was still, frozen in time. It was a weird sensation I felt creeping along the back of my neck, as if something was terribly wrong. Must have been my imagination.
For some reason, I had a hard time saying her name. So instead, I gently took the covers off her and put a hand on her shoulder. She was sleeping facing the wall.
"Hey sweetie, it's time to get up."
There was no response. It was as if she wasn't even breathing. After taking a closer look, her face seemed off.
I looked towards the clock, it was now 6:15 am. I decided, maybe she just needed some extra minutes to sleep; it wouldn't hurt. She usually didn't wake until 6:30 am anyway. I decided to go and get ready for the day and come to check back later.
After brushing my teeth and such, I went back to my daughter's room.
"Sweetie, common, it's time to get up."
Again, no response. I felt this knot tie up in my stomach, a growing ache. Her body was still, and stiff. For some reason… my memory turned to the night before, the smell of rotten meat with a scent of fruit filling my brain. The clock turned to 6:30, and just like that she woke up. I assumed I would feel relief but… For some reason, I found myself feeling dread.
"Morning papa!"
"Morning."
I waved slightly, the uneasiness slowly fading. Maybe I… No, No there's no need to think like that. That's what they want.
We made our way downstairs, my wife had set the tables and I sat down here. It felt familiar, it reminded me of that dream I have every night. My daughter was going to turn nine years old tomorrow, I could hardly believe it. I've been so stressed with everything, that I forgot all about her birthday. How foolish of me.
│
After we finished our breakfast, there was a knock at the door. As I was about to go get it, my wife had stopped me.
"I-I'll go get it, you stay with Trix."
I didn't have the energy to be skeptical or argue, so I sat there watching my daughter draw in her sketchbook. Her favorite crayon was the red and pink one.
"What are you drawing?" I asked.
"I'm drawing the doctor!"
I glanced at the drawing, although… this wasn't any doctor I've ever seen.
"The doctor…? Which one are you drawing?"
"Doctor Theo of course!"
That was strange. Maybe she had an imagination.
"And where is the rest of his face…?"
She giggled at me in response, for some reason this made me feel uneasy.
"Who's that next to the doctor…?"
She giggled again.
"It's the postal man!"
I felt a pit in my stomach drop. My heart most certainly skipped a beat as I finally understood the drawing. It was a depiction of someone who looked… similar to Dr. Theodore, but much different; standing over a corpse. Suddenly, that rotten meat smell returned to me with the subtle scent of fruit. My head felt like it was spinning.
"The… postal man..?"
She couldn't have possibly been talking about my Boss, or Anthony… but what other postal men were there? Before she could speak up, my wife had returned to the room with a much taller man next to her, it was Dr. Theodore. He had longer hair, it was black and wrapped in a low ponytail. He wore glasses, and had a good portion of hair covering the left side of his face. He wore a lab coat, and what appeared to be a sweater vest underneath. Perhaps it was just a normal sweater, I couldn't tell. Now that I think about it, my daughter's drawing really did look like him.
"Mr. Solomon?"
I felt sick, that same scent that haunted me… I started jumping to conclusions based on coincidences, as I began overthinking. What did my daughter know that I didn't…?
"Mr. Solomon…?"
I was so caught up in my own thoughts, I didn't hear him calling my name.
"S-sorry… what were you saying?"
He looked at me, there was some concern in his eye though I can't quite tell you if it was genuine. "I was asking you if everything was going smoothly after the procedure… Although I'm getting the feeling you're feeling under the weather. Is everything alright, Mr. Solomon?"
He was lying. I don't know why, or how, I can't tell you really, I just know he was lying. I'm not sure what about.
There was a brief silence between the two of us, before he spoke again… "Have you… been taking your medication, Henry?"
Of course I wasn't. Do they really expect me to? I'm not so blind to follow such aimless orders.
He walked over towards the counter, looking at the prescription bottles with a sigh. "You know, these are for your own benefit don't you? What are you so afraid of?"
He had a point. What was I afraid of? Perhaps this instinctive gut feeling… Did it really mean anything? That didn't matter though.
"They don't work, why even take them? Besides, what are they even for? None of you doctors seem to tell us a damn thing. Are we really all meant to just sit blindly to the side while taking these drugs with no further information?"
My wife wrapped her arm around mine, gesturing for me to stop. I ignored her efforts.
Dr. Theodore took a deep breath, clearly annoyed. "Perhaps we need to re-evaluate you. If your dosage isn't working, we can adjust it."
"Just tell me what the purpose behind this is already! What are we? Some sort of social experiment for you freaks to test on!? Damnit David was right about you lot."
"I'm afraid I don't know a David, Mr. Solomon. Have you honestly forgotten the purpose of all of this…? Perhaps your… situation was worse than expected."
That didn't sound right. He didn't know David? Everyone knew David, afterall Dr. Theodore was the one who evaluated him… He's the one who brought him to the Red room.
"So now you're telling me you don't know who David is? Seriously, do you think I'm that stupid?" I scoffed.
Just then, my wife turned to me with a concerned look. She looked at me as if I had multiple heads or limbs.
"Hon, we never knew a David…"
…We never knew a David? No, that wasn't right. She just shortly a day before, was talking about him… Now she's saying he never existed? Just what was going on??
"Seriously? Are you serious right now Sherry? Just yesterday you were talking to me about how much of a nutcase he was! Now you're trying to gaslight me? Unfuckingbelieveable."
"Hon you're feeling unwell-"
She reached to grab me, and I yanked my arm away.
"Just- Just stop. I need to go to work."
Dr. Theodore advised against it, but I didn't want to listen. I rushed out of the door. There was just one thing that stood out to me on my way out,
"Ma'am, if you don't mind I would like to evaluate you and your daughter."
Dr. Theodore said some other things, but I didn't care; I tuned it out. My only goal was to get away from them.
│
When I arrived at the post office, there were several officers outside. As well as two over a body bag.
"What's going on…?" I asked, cautiously.
"Ah… Mr. Solomon… Do you mind if we ask you a few questions?"
"Of course, what happened?"
"We found Ryder dead this morning—"
As he began to explain, I felt that pit in my stomach again.
"—Can you tell us anything about last night? When he left, or where you were?"
Anxiety began to creep up my spine as I thought back to that scent I smelt before, that rotten scent.
"He left me on counter duty to go do an errand, but he didn't come back— I assumed he just went home early… A-Are you sure he's dead? What if it's another civilian?"
The officer sighed, as he unzipped the bag below him. It most certainly was Ryder's face. There was a clean cut, perfectly made by something to what I can only assume to be a scalpel across his neck. I felt sick, nauseous, that scent of rotten meat with fruit mixed in came out at full force. Was this what I was smelling the whole time…? His rotting corpse?
"This scent.." I muttered.
"Scent? What about it?"
"I-I smelt this exact scent on my way home, in the back alley to the postal office- W-Where did you find him?"
"...Exactly where you say, Ms. Cathay found him… Do you know who the last person was with him?"
"...I-I most likely was,"
The officer seemed to be thinking about the situation. He sighed.
"You know how this sounds don't you…?"
"W-Wait you can't possibly think that I did something, can you?"
"No… I don't. Despite the coincidences, we already have a suspect."
"Y-You do?"
The officer nodded.
"Do you know the whereabouts of Anthony Marshall?"
Anthony… Anthony did this…? How could he…
"A-Anthony…? He lives on west street…"
"Thank you, I recommend you head home; I have a feeling the post office will be closed for a bit."
Reluctantly, I nodded. I really didn't want to go home at the moment.
I decided against going home, only 40 minutes had passed so I had time to kill, I didn't want to run into the doctor again. I made my way to a local cafe, bought myself some lunch and coffee. For that time being, I was attempting to read, but my mind was wandering elsewhere towards the events that had spiraled.
│
Eventually, I made my way home after a few hours of hanging around. I entered my home to find a dark and dimly lit place, which was unusual. I slowly closed the door. Immediately, I felt as if something was wrong.
"Sherry?"
No response.
I investigated a little, as I noticed a figure on a couch in the living room, it was too dark to really see anything though. Near my foot next to the light switch, I noticed some blood. I felt a pit in my stomach drop as anxiety crept through my back, I didn't want to turn on the lights. I felt scared. I turned them on, to see my wife on the couch.
She was sitting perfectly still. There was an awful lot of blood, and then I noticed something move in her mouth. I walked closer; before I saw a centipede like animal jolt out of the mouth, crawling along the face hissing. Its body was that of a centipede, with several legs, but its head was similar to a flower with many teeth. It looked more like a worm than anything. Suddenly, the mouth.. Or what can be assumed as a mouth, lit up a light blue light and flashed me, when I adjusted it was gone.
"W-What the hell was that..? S-Sherry? Sherry!?"
There were many thoughts in my mind, I was in some shock and couldn't express them all too much. I knew she was dead, but I didn't want to believe it. I rushed through the house to find my daughter.
I opened the door to her room to notice the familiar scarlet red on the carpet. Her eyes were long dead, with a look of desperation to them; that of prey to a predator. She was cuddling with her favorite stuffed toy, which was a dog from her favorite cartoon. I collapsed to the ground, noticing how much blood there was, and I held her in my arms.
"T-Trix? Trixy?"
There was no response of course. I realized there was a clean slit along her neck, similar to the one Ryder had. My mind jumped to what the officer said, Anthony was the main suspect… But there's no way Anthony would have done this; is there? Something didn't feel right.
Before long, I realized I was crying. I can't tell you what I was saying, it was all incomprehensible gibberish. Then I heard a familiar voice, as I turned my head to see a figure in the doorway.
He stood there, the dim light from the hall illuminating behind him; "Mr. Solomon, I wasn't expecting your arrival so soon." I recognized that voice, as I looked him in the eye. It was, of course, Dr. Isaac Theodore. The skin around his face was deteriorating as his real nature was showing; that same singular eye stared at me with its red iris. His skin contorted as the most visible note, was that glowing iris. There was blood over his once pure lab coat, as I noticed a familiar object he was holding. It was a scalpel. The same type of weapon used to kill Ryder. He took his lab coat off, and gently folded it and sat it on the chair near the desk. He crouched down in front of me with a tilt of his head, "Quite a mess isn't this all? To think, it could've been avoided. Henry, I do believe you should accompany me in your [Evaluation], Don't you?"