Haunting of Superior

Chapter 7

Antonio was incensed. No, it was more than incensed. He was so furious that he could probably cause the most giant earthquake ever. The news of the fire in the storeroom reached him two hours after it had happened. He had been making preparations to study the effects of the oscuro on Claudia (that had happened not long before Jack had been brought over to Superior) when the phone rang. Irked, he picked up and demanded why whoever was stupid enough to interrupt him did. Everyone in the basement floor could have heard Antonio's shout of rage.

"Who. Did. It," he demanded into the phone angrily. He was barely able to keep the phone steady.

The person on the other side stammered fearfully, "We-we don't know! We- we ha-haven't had enough t-time-"

"I DON'T CARE!" Antonio yelled. "FIND WHO DID IT!"

The person let out a squeak of fear and hung up. Antonio slammed the phone on the desk, his face red from fury. A scrapping sound came from behind him, and he glared at Claudia, who was trying to get out of the container she was in. He was annoyed, so annoyed. He grabbed a glass container and threw it on the ground. The glass broke with a sharp shatter sound, and satisfaction soothed the anger in Antonio's mind. He kicked the shards out of his path as he went to the door. Whoever had set the storeroom on fire would die for it. He'd make sure of that.

A soft whimper from behind made Antonio pause. That wasn't Claudia. He looked over his shoulder and noticed Jack huddled in a corner. The kid was shaking terribly, and he looked at Claudia with an expression full of horror and terror. Antonio was disgusted by the child's fear. Could he not see and understand what Antonio was trying to do? Antonio decided to take the key card to Claudia's cage in case Jack tried to free her.

He strode down the halls to the elevator, unable to stop thinking about the disaster. The few he had brought to the Superior location scattered out of his way when he passed. He paused suddenly, looking back at them. They froze like deer in headlights. Fear flashed in their eyes, and Antonio enjoyed that his presence caused that emotion.

"Guard the experiment and the boy," he ordered his employees. The six of them nodded and scrambled away in a hurry to obey.

Satisfied that no more disasters would happen, Antonio went to the elevator and pressed the button to go up. The cold temperature in the metal box did not sooth the burning anger still flaming inside of Antonio. He stared grimly at the elevator doors, ways to hardly punish someone spinning through his mind. Oh, he knew just the thing he would do. No one would ever dare cross him again.

The first floor of the building was empty, and it smelled like cleaning products. The only people around was a janitor. Antonio ignored the curious look he received and opened the door.

"What's got you so mad?" a voice suddenly asked.

Antonio halted and spun around to see Isaac Hoffman leaning on the side of the building. He was wearing a dark blue baseball cap as well as sunglasses and was chewing gum loudly. Very loudly. It ticked off Antonio more. He hated people who chewed loudly.

"Not anything you are required to know," Antonio retorted.

Isaac raised an eyebrow; the motion could barely be seen as it was hidden by the cap. "I just thought it would be something serious," he said in an innocent voice. "There aren't many things that would make you red in the face. It's not like you have the shortest temper in the world." He gave a small chuckle at his sarcasm.

Antonio was not impressed. "Cut the childish attitude, Isaac," he snapped. "Or you'll find yourself without a job soon. You wouldn't want to lose the job you need to support your son, do you?"

Isaac's humor died away instantly, and a frown crossed his face. "Y-you wouldn't," he stuttered, anger and fear running through his eyes. "You can't!"

"I'm your boss," Antonio countered. "I can do anything to you." He thought that would be the end of it and turned to leave.

But Isaac was not finished. "You're nervous," he said quietly. "I can hear it in your voice. Whatever happened it's scaring you to pieces." A note of triumph was in his voice as he prodded at Antonio's nerves.

More fury sparked the flame inside of Antonio. Still, he did not dare lose his temper in front of this weak-minded fool. He left Isaac standing in front of the doors as he headed to his car. Isaac watched him go and pulled out his phone. Quickly he pulled up a contact labelled "CT". A single message appeared.

It worked.

Smirking, Isaac walked away, whistling a cheery tune with his hands in his pockets. William's plan had been successful.

***

Jack stared at the creature in the glass cage. He felt like his breath had stopped, but he was still alive and breathing. His mind had slowed, any thoughts crumbling to dust as they were consumed by the horrors Jack had seen.

A small girl, younger than him, brought unconscious into this very room and placed into the cage. Jack shuddered as he remembered when she had opened her eyes and looked at him. They had been cloudy, and black swirly stuff had stained them. Then she had started screaming, as everyone victim to Antonio's solutions did, except it was more violent and painful this time. It had been muffled by the glass, but Jack knew that it was louder than anything he had heard before. But then the transformation started. Jack closed his eyes, nausea hitting him like a tidal wave. Whatever Antonio had put in this girl had worked, and Jack had had to watch her body warp and change into something never seen before.

Now she was lying down, having given up on trying to get out. She shuddered from pain time to time, and Jack felt a pang of pity. What a terrible thing to happen to someone. Tiredness weighed down on Jack. His heart felt heavy, so heavy he thought it would drop out of him. Maybe everything would be better if it did. He dug his fingers into his leg, the pain bringing sharp relief to his mind. He knew that once Antonio studied what had been done to the girl, he would be tested on next. It could work or it could kill him. Jack moved closer to the cage. This girl had a family she would never see again. Just like him.

Did he want to stay? He and Jamie were suffering. Everyday the world became darker and darker. What was the point of this world if Jack was just going to be a tool for a monster?

Jack shook his head fiercely. He couldn't think like that now. He needed to find a way out. There wasn't time for him to sit on the floor and mope.

The creature made a squeaky noise beside him. Jack tapped the glass reassuringly, wondering if she wanted to slip away into the darkness. After all, she couldn't go back to how she used to be. Did she feel desire that Jack felt? Was it just him who struggled with the fog pressing down on his mind, trying to crush out his conscience?

"What do you think happened?"

Jack looked over his shoulder at his guards, who were standing in front of the door. They were whispering to each other with scared and worried looks on their faces.

"I don't know," a second one said. "I've never seen Antonio that mad, though." He shuddered. "I never want to see that again."

"I pity the person who made him that mad," another one said mournfully. "They're dead meat."

The door was blocked. There was no way out. Jack leaned against the cage, listlessly rubbing the cold plates with his fingertips. It was so cold. So cold. Was the creature cold?

He sat there for hours, listening to people chatter endlessly and wishing there could be another way to escape reality that wasn't the one he was thinking of.

***

Fans whirred loudly. A computer's screen flashed between many bright colorful images. The wide desk stood out among many things in the small room. Plushes of video game characters sat on every piece of furniture. The walls were painted to look like the night sky; the person who had painted it had even put in the constellations. At the moment, a girl sat at the desk, watching something on the screen while sipping a can of soda. A round stuffed dog sat in between her legs.

On the screen were people lingering around a door. They looked scared. As the girl watched, a man marched on screen. She couldn't see his face, but she could tell who he was based on how the others reacted to him. He seemed angry. A satisfied smirk crossed the girl's face. William's plan had worked. She leaned back in her chair, stretching her arms above her head. She flipped through the cameras to look into the kids' room and saw the girl sitting on her bed, looking very distressed. Where on earth was her brother? She flipped through the cameras, trying to find him, but he wasn't in any room that had cameras. Maybe he was hiding in a blind spot?

Suddenly, a knock sounded on the door. Quickly, the girl put her computers back on the home screen and hopped off her chair to answer the door. It opened to reveal a man with shaggy black hair and a goatee. He looked very satisfied. The girl beamed up at him, happy that he was pleased.

"What's up, Dad?" the girl asked, stepping back to let him inside.

"Good stuff, Cathy." William was still smiling as he sat down on his adopted daughter's bed. "Very good stuff."

Cathy knew exactly what he was referring to, but he didn't know that she was the secret contact who hacked into the cameras for him. She knew her dad would be confused and slightly concerned as to how she had acquired those skills. She sat down next to her dad and kicked her feet against the bed frame.

"Are we going to celebrate this good stuff?" She looked eagerly at her dad.

William pondered silently for a moment. "I guess it's worth celebrating," he said at last. "It's not like I have anything urgent anyway."

Cathy grinned widely and ushered her dad out of the room. "If we're celebrating, I need to wear something special," she told him as he headed out the door.

"What do you want to eat for dinner, though?" William asked.

"Surprise me." With that, Cathy shut the door. She was about to open her closet when her phone rang.

There was no caller name. There was only an unfamiliar number. Probably spam mail. Cathy dismissed the call, thinking nothing of it. But then it rang again. She sighed in annoyance, not wanting to be bothered when she was still joyful about their victory. She picked up the phone and saw that it was the same person calling. Who the heck was this person? Curiosity overtook her annoyance, and she answered the phone.

"Hello?" she asked.

Instead of a voice, garbled white noise answered her. Cathy gulped nervously, wondering if this was a horrible mistake. She was about to hang up when a voice spoke. It was deep and glitchy, and she couldn't tell what was speaking.

"I'm...im...by...ou...it...be...ni...to...eet...you."

Then the phone hung up. Cathy felt her face going pale. Numbly she sat down on the floor, letting her phone drop out of her fingers. Panic took over her. She grabbed a plush and squeezed it to her chest, breathing heavily. What on earth was that? Who was that? What did it want? Cathy tried to calm down, trued to focus on the plush in her arms, but she couldn't stop thinking about it. Not when it's intentions were very clear.

It wanted something from her.

She had to tell her dad. They had to leave. Her eyes darted around the room, taking in everything she would need to take. Did she have time to get everything before that stranger came to her?

Oh, calm down, Cathy, she scolded herself. You're thinking too crazily. You're not in any danger. You're not in any danger. You can't be.

And in the silent air of the house, the doorbell rang. Cathy's heart stopped, and she ceased to breathe. The plush almost fell out of her limp arms. She heard the door open, heard her dad's shout of surprise. A thud sounded. Cathy couldn't move. Her body shook. Her eyes were clouding from her fear.

She could hear someone walking through the house like they didn't care if anyone heard. She should do something. She had to do something. She had to get herself moving! The footsteps grew closer. Cathy tried to get on one foot, but her fear was paralyzing. She fell back down. The footsteps stopped outside her door. Cathy could see the shadow of the person on the other side through the door. They shifted a little; their shoe squeaked on the wooden floor. Cathy didn't know what they were doing. She was relieved she had locked the door; it meant she could try to get her senses back to her in time.

The doorknob clicked. The person on the other side was doing something. The sound was enough to jolt Cathy into movement. Alarm had overtaken her fear. All she could think about now was to get out. The lock mechanism shifted; the person was using something to unlock the door. Cathy bolted to the window just as the lock made a final clicking sound. The door slammed open, making Cathy flinch. Her fingers fumbled around the edges of the window, trying to find a way to open it. Then fingers wrapped around her throat. Cathy choked, a scream rising in her. She kicked and squirmed helplessly, but it was useless. Her vision wavered and then went dark as her lungs were deprived of oxygen. In her last moments of consciousness, Cathy felt herself being dropped to the floor. The stranger stood over her, watching emotionlessly as she passed out.