...go for it. I was pretty sure I could make it across. Up close, the traffic definitely had gaps in it large enough to run through as long as I timed them right. Aaron's behavior had been bugging me all week. I glanced up and down the flyway, shifting back and forth and getting in position to dash across. A gap was coming up soon. I pushed forward on one foot, and almost put my other foot in front - I saw the cars whiz by in my peripheral vision, and choked myself back. The wind rushed by over my scalp as the cars barreled past. I eyed the elevator across the road, and steeled myself again. I could see another gap in the traffic, bigger than the last one, and I wasn't going to miss it. Three... two...
"One!" I shouted as I lunged forward and squeezed my eyes shut - If I was going to die, I didn't want to see it.
I could taste the polluted air filling my lungs as I ran across, feel the scrunch of the hard flyway tarmac, until I could feel the ground was plain concrete again. I let myself collapse on the smooth ground, and I started to laugh a little at the crazy thing I had just done. That was not normal, and that was not something I should have done, but I felt exhilarated. It must be Aaron's behavior getting to me... something about Aaron lately had been different. Even though he wouldn't talk to me, he just seemed more... alive. Well, now, I though to myself as I looked purposefully at the elevator, I was going to find out. I got up and walked purposefully to the standard sliding glass door to the elevator. Strange... especially in an industrial zone like this, I would have expected it to have some form of biological identifier to keep unwanted visitors out. But, hey - If I wasn't unwanted, I was wanted! As I got closer, the door slid open for me, and I stepped inside. There was nothing unusual about the elevator so far; standard single light, blank gunmetal walls. The button panel, though, had only one button, with a symbol I didn't recognize.
☕
A... bowl? No, an... antique cup. One from the old days: a curved cup, with a round handle on the side - imagine - and three squiggly line coming from out from the top. Snakes?
I shrugged and pushed my finger firmly on the button, and the elevator began to move down. I watched quietly through the glass panel as the ground moved up, taking everything I knew with it. I was starting to think this wasn't a good idea. Who knew what was down here? The sidewalk ground was quickly replaced with the layer of radiation shields under the walk - metal, probably 20 feet thick this far into the ground. It would need to be, to protect everyone up top, at least from what I knew from history class. I shivered a bit. I hope the shields cover this underground structure, as well.
Suddenly, the elevator stopped, and the metal in front of the glass slid open. My first look at Aaron's place of work: brick walls? A wooden counter top for a front desk? I unconsciously let my mouth drop a little. I had only seen these things in the school datacentre's digital encyclopaedia. And behind the counter... My jaw finally dropped all the way open. There was a woman standing there with shoulder length hair - that is, much longer than the standard shaved heads I had seen all my life. It was dark, blackish, almost dark enough to be blue, with a gloss reflecting the warm light from the antique filament lightbulb. Then the glass separating me from this strange apparition slid open.
"Hello, Eric." She spoke with a voice that was easily comfortable and commanding at once.
I snapped my mouth shut. She gave a little sigh and shake of the head.
"Aaron said to look out for someone of your description, in case he was followed..." She narrowed her eyes by only a centimeter, and it was still terrifying. "You are Eric, aren't you?"
I nodded my head, maybe too quickly: "Yes - Vandervale. Eric... Vandervale."
"Good." She nodded her head slowly, relaxedly, and I watched as the steely menace smoothed out of her face in an instant, replaced with a calm, slight smile. She walked around the counter, and right up to the elevator, which made me very conscious of the fact that I hadn't moved an inch since I saw her.
"I'm Ann, by the way." She held out her hand with the fingers outstretched in a friendly manner.
I reached out and wrapped my hand around mine - and she unexpectedly pulled me closer, leaning in to speak in a low voice into my ear:
"You're going to have to decide, right now. If you go right back up that elevator, and never, ever come back, that'll be it. But if you decide to come see what we sell in here, you are..." She chuckled a bit to herself, and I couldn't tell whether to feel excited or afraid. "You are going to find yourself doing something here that you spend a large amount of your time doing. And when you're not here, you will be thinking about being here."
She leaned back, and stood with her piercing, strangely comforting eyes looking straight at mine. That small smile was back on her face, but her dress shoe was tapping slowly on the floor.
"So? What'll it be?"
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
