3 Cards Pulled
King of Hearts, 8 of Spades, 10 of Clubs
Something was wrong with my reflection this morning. My first clue was the distinct feeling that, as I met my own eyes in the bathroom mirror, they winked at me. It wasn’t so much that I saw it, it was more of a feeling at first. That was until my reflection outright smirked at me. I had to put my hands to my face just to check, and I was definitely NOT smirking. But my reflection disagreed. There was something sinister in their – my – eyes, and I felt a shudder going through my body at the sight. I really wish that I could have just closed my eyes and walked away, but I was frozen in place. I couldn’t move. All I could do was meet those eyes, looking so much like mine, but so badly wrong, and wonder what was going to happen next.
I am not sure how long I stood there, but when I was finally able to rip myself away from the mirror, I was left with a feeling of impending danger. In retrospect I am wondering if my reflection was trying to warn me, to prepare me for what was to come later in the day.
I was back at work today, but things are still weird. People are still under the impression that Joanna and Aiden are off on vacation, and I even heard Dita and Hadley discussing and speculating! I am not really sure why they would do that. Aiden is one thing, but they were both there when Joanna died. Why would they feed into the idea that she was just off somewhere? I tried to approach them to ask, but Aleks stopped me before I could. He looked over at them before telling me to leave it be. He suggested that this was their way of grieving, that they were convincing themselves that the escape room was just a bad dream. I can see his point, but I am not sure that I think it is a healthy thing to do. But I suppose that I will leave it be. For now.
A few of the people in the studio decided to go to a pub for dinner and drinks after work, completely disregarding that we still have to get in tomorrow. They invited me along. I agreed. I mean, after the week I’ve had, I feel like I have earned the right to a drink. I would end up regretting my decision.
It started off pleasant enough. We had dinner, and stayed on for a few drinks. But as time went on I started to get antsy. There was a feeling in the air, like I was being watched, and I just couldn’t shake it. I might have drunk a bit more than I was planning to, and ended up having to use the bathroom, and when I got back everything had changed. There was no sign of my co-workers anywhere. In fact, there was no one in the pub at all, not even the bartender, and the lights were turned off. I could feel a chill start to settle in my bones as I moved through the room like a ghost. How long was I in the bathroom? No more than five minutes surely? I had just decided that I would just go home when the front door opened. That was when things really went off the rails.
Remember those guys in black suits, the ones that took away that poor guy from the street? That is who was coming through the doors. My entire body was screaming at me to run, but I was frozen in place. I couldn’t move, only watch as the group of four closed the door behind them and approached me. They didn’t surround me exactly, just stood in a loose formation in front of me, staring me down, but I felt like the air was suffocating me.
The conversation – or interrogation, let’s be honest here – that followed was disturbing and unsettling, but not inherently dangerous. They wanted to know what I had done with the briefcase with the portal. Somehow they knew that I hadn’t used it, and wanted to take it back for it. They claimed that they could tell that it was no longer in my apartment, and I am not sure if they just saw me take it out, or if they have a tracker on it or something, but they couldn’t tell where I had taken it. They said that their systems couldn’t find it anymore, but could tell that it hasn’t been used.
I told them that I had thrown it out because I decided not to use it. Said that I had brought it to a landfill and tossed it in. I don’t think that they believed me, and for a moment I was afraid that they were going to take the interrogation a step further. But they never touched me. I am not sure why, I am sure that they could have beat the answer out of me without batting an eye. But in the end they just… gave up… Or at least for now. They gave me one last long look, and turned towards the door without another word, leaving me standing alone in the middle of the pub, trembling with reaction, and wondering if it was really over.
I don’t know how long I stood there before I was able to force my body to move and walk out of the pub and onto the street. I went immediately home, and now I am sitting here trying to make sense of the meeting.
How did they know that I haven’t used the portal, and why did that matter to them?
Why couldn’t they track it after I moved it into the trunk in the shed? Was there something there that was interfering with their tracking? That is something that I need to look further into, because that might mean that I am also invisible to tracking while I am there. That would be useful indeed.
And last but not least; where did all of the people go? Did my co-workers not notice that I was not back? Or did those people just make all of the people go away while I was in the bathroom? Will my co-workers be under the impression that I had already gone home when they left? Or will it be something else? I will need to see what they way when I get to work tomorrow, but I have no real hope of getting an answer.
I am still a little shaky, but my breath is under control again, and I think that I might actually be able to get some sleep tonight.
11 9 20, signing off.
[[End Roll: 6; Tokens Left: 9]]