A town taken by its stomach

Chapter V – An average day at SCRAM Corp. HQ (Part I)

Meanwhile, Mika, Elenore’s mom, was currently seated at her working desk.

She was working as a temporary secretary for one of the newest enterprises in town. Down, in the main hall, right opposite to the main entrance there was this massive sign made with neon lights that seemed to shout the name of the Company to the world.

“SCRAM”

It was already a couple of months since she had started there and, she had to admit, there wasn’t a job easier than hers. Her superior took care of most of the organizing, her underlings took care of the day to day jobs. All she seemed to be able to do was to sit there and verify the occasional report.

That and, join the meetings that the company ordered her to follow. She was thinking that before giving her any real work they were trying to prepare her but, after two months she believed herself ready and yet, nothing came her way. Well, that wasn’t completely true.

For the past two weeks she had been requested to follow some kind of program with a personal counselor. At first, she didn’t know what to think of it but, with a couple of days under her belt of it, she truly began to feel much better about herself, plus, the guy was good looking so, she could just go there to enjoy the eye-candy.

It was almost mid-morning, when on her screen popped up the notification for her to go to her next lesson with the counselor. Smiling, she slowly rose from her chair, as she did so, she seemed to notice that her chair was starting to sag a bit lower than usual. Dismissing the thought, believing it was just poor manufacturing, she moved slowly toward the private room where the counselor was waiting for her.

As she opened the door, she found the guy sitting behind his desk opposite to the desk where she was going to be seated during the lesson.

“Ah, Mika. Welcome back. How are we feeling today?”

“Good Morning, Mr. Norton. Everything has been nice. And you?”

“Ah, only by seeing you is a brighter day. So, ready to start?”

“Sure. What will it be today?”

The man rose from his chair, moving toward Mika with a smile on his lips.

“Today, we will start a brand-new course program. Here, HR made sure to provide these new fancy devices that will bring you up to speed with the latest company policies.”

As he said so, he took some kind of helmet out of his desk and gave it to Mika, which started to wear it as the guy began to connect some cable from the wall to the helmet.

“With this on, as HR said, you’ll be able to overcome any barrier that could prevent the learning process to be completed. It is the new trend within companies… between me and you, I believe it is just a waste of money but, HQ instructs… we follow…”

Chuckling a bit, Mika finished strapping the helmet on as her counselor began to count down before turning on the machine. As soon as the machine activated Mika felt released. She felt free and, as a bit of dizziness passed through her, she turned her stare toward her counselor, looking at him with a different light in her eyes.

“Alright, let’s start this. Mika, can you hear me?”

“Yes.”

“Good, very good. Do you know what the healthiest food are, around?”

“Salad. Celery. Vegetables.”

“Mh. A bit of a miscalibration here…let’s try raising the levels a bit…Again, Mika, what are the healthiest food around?”

“Any product processed by Scram Corporation.”

“Better. Much better.
Tell me, Mika, what are your thoughts of this place.”

“It’s an easy job. Barely anything to do around the day.”

“And do you know why that is?”

“They may be trying to train me? To make sure I’m trustable?”

“Yes and no. Who do you trust most in your life?”

“Family and Scram Corp.”

“Some receptors are still a bit weak, it seems. Let’s tweak a bit with this and… hm. Should be good.

Who do you trust most in your life, Mika?”

“Scram Corporation. And my family.”

“Very good. Now, an important question, Mika. How much does a healthy person weight?”

“Around three hundred pounds.”

“Mh-mh. That was a good answer last week. Today, Scram Corps says that the future is set on six hundred, Mika. What do you think of that?”

“It has to be true. Scram is trustworthy.”

“Very good. Now, Mika, how much do you weight and how much have you gained in the last week?”

“I currently weight two hundred and five. This week I have gained mostly thirthy pounds.”

“Well, we can surely do better, don’t you think, Mika?”

“Yes. Will strive to grow healthier.”

“Nicely said. Now, remember, you are growing healthier.

‘Fat’ is a word that we do not know about.

You won’t say it around but, weighing less than six hundred is bad. Yet, that is the minimum acceptable, but it isn’t healthy enough for you. Or for your family.”

“Yes. Must grow healthier. Must let my family grow healthier.”

“Nicely said, Mika. This next set of instructions you will not remember them consciously. But they will be firm laws in your subconscious, understood?”

“Yes.”

“You know you are hungry when you see food, either materially in front of you, or through commercials.

When hungry, you shall eat to satisfy it. When you feel full, you will push to eat some more. You will do this repeatedly. Any thoughts of diet will be associated by you to the thought of growing healthier.

People around you will seem unhealthy to you if they are looking to be below the six hundred pounds limit.

If you can, you will goad them to grow, without ever telling them the reason.

And remember, if your superiors require something of you, you will obey with pleasure, knowing that they are doing it for your own good.

Do you understand, Mika?”

“Yes. Understood.”

The guy, looking at the brainwashed woman in front of him, knowing that in this state he was acting like he was her brain, smiled as he decided to apply a few minor adjustments to her behavior.

“Mika, from this moment on, when you look at Mr. Norton, you will trust him with all of your heart. You will act around him as if you were both engaged in a romantic relationship.

Mr. Norton is the one man you trust above all others. You will do as he tells you, knowing full well that whatever he asks you to do, he’s doing it for your benefit. You will tell no one about this.

And, most importantly, you will not feel any jealousy if you see him engaging in any kind of activity with another woman.

Do you understand, Mika?”

“Yes. I understand.”

“Very good. At the count of five you will wake up, feeling refreshed and feeling that these new directives were already in place by a long time. One.. Two…”

A few moments later, Mika opened her eyes, she felt a mild dizziness but, otherwise she felt recharged and full of energy. As she took off the helmet, she turned and smiled at her Counselor.

“Wow…how long it passed?”

“Just a few minutes, Mika. How do you feel?”

“I feel… Fantastic. I mean, these sessions really are helping me, John. Thanks for all your efforts.”

“It is nothing, dear. I just feel lucky that I’ve been able to meet you.”

“About that, John…I…I was thinking…maybe we could…I don’t know…go for dinner together, sometime?”

“Sure. How could I refuse you, you beautiful vixen.”

At that Mika blushed. She still couldn’t believe that a guy as good looking as John was enjoying being with a sickly thin mother like her. She truly was lucky of having been recruited there. As they chatted a bit, she noticed that on the screen of his machine the screensaver had started up, showing off images from the Corporate archives, mainly fast foods currently present in their menu’s.

As she saw the images, she suddenly remembered that she was starving, as her belly began to grumble loudly.

“Oh! I’m… I’m so sorry, John…”

“About what? It is only normal to feel hungry, Mika. Here, why don’t you go and take something at the internal bar, I’ll just write on the report that I released you a little earlier today.

Don’t you worry, I’ve got you, babe.”

Mika, standing up moved near to her lover as she quickly kissed him first on the lips and then again, on his cheek, before walking out of the office, feeling giddy like a schoolgirl. As she walked through the office, she could feel her belly rumbling more and more, as countless posters of food and Corporate menu’s were all along the walls, so she began to walk a little bit faster until she finally reached the internal bar.

Once there, after ordering a little snack, she walked toward one table where a couple of colleagues were seated. As she looked at them, she realized how poorly they were faring.

The first one, Sarah, a freckled, red head from the accounting department, who was barely weighing at three hundred and half pounds, was currently shoveling a massive plate of fries into her mouth, grease and salt covering her lips. Beside her, there was another secretary, Bria, yet even in worse condition than her mutual friend, looking like a barely one hundred and fifty pound skeleton.

“Heya, Sarah, Bria. How’s going?”

“Hey, Mika… Just finished with my counselor, he says I’ve been doing good but, have to rest a bit more often. So, he ordered me to stop my working shift every hour and half for some rest and a snack.

Bria, here, instead is a little down…”

“Erm… Yeah. Sorry, Mika. I’ve been told that I should let myself go a little. My counselor suggested to start using alcohol to loosen up a bit.

He even gave me this slip if HR should ever be on my case.”

“Then, Bria, what is the issue? Me and Sarah would love something like that…”

“It’s… It’s not that… It’s just… don’t you think is strange? Alcohol on the working place? It just doesn’t feel right.”

“Well, as Mika said, we would love to have such a shortcut through the working day. If they told you to do it, then what is the issue? I don’t get it.

Didn’t you, like, bragged to be the queen at parties when you were in college?

So, just do the same here and if someone, tries to stop you… Wham! You give them the note from him, no?”

“Yes, Bria. As Sarah said, you just follow the orders. What’ wrong in that? Or you don’t like working here?”

As Mika finished her sentence, her order came to the table, leaving beside her two large trays choked full of massive triple decker’s hamburgers. Seeing the quantity, her Friend Sarah piped up with a sly smirk on her face.

“Oh, I see someone is trying to cut back, aren’t you Mika?”

“Wha-*gulp*… What? No, this is just the first course. You know that I care about my figure. You two, too, should do the same. A healthy body…”

“…is needed for a healthy mind.”

The other two girls repeated, a bit forced, although all three of them laughed a bit as they finished repeating their Corporation mantra. For a while, neither of the three said much, as all of them were busy guzzling and munching down their respective meals but, as soon as their tray were emptied, Mika turned toward her friend Bria, seeing that she had finally received a bottle of whiskey from the bar.

“I see you finally decided, Bria. I’m so happy for you.”

“Well…*Gulp*…*Gulp…*Gulp*… As they say… Doctor’s orders… *Burp*… Huff… oh man…this thing is dry…”

As they chatted a bit more between themselves, a second round of food trays was brought to them, and again the three ladies started once more, until all of them felt so painfully bloated that they couldn’t have another bite.

Of the three, Bria, was the first to throw in the towel, although she kept drinking from her bottle as her two friends kept gorging. When all of them had finished, both Mika and Sarah rose slowly, feeling their bellies heavy and dragging them down a little, but their friend Bria seemed completely unable to stand on her own, as she hiccupped and giggled by herself.

Sarah, being closer to the other secretary desk, waved to Mika as she headed off, promising to help their friend back to her desk.

“Come on, sweetheart, lets’ get back to your desk.”

“Eh eh eh… You’r like… sho comfy, you knowh? *Hic*… Could halmosht go for another… fhew roundsh…”

“Yeh, yeah. I know, but first let’s return to your desk… Then I shall bring you something to drink, alright?”

“He-he… Thanksch…*Hic*… you’re one of the beshteshtesht… of friendsch a girl coulh have…*Hic*”