The Five Souls - The Beginning

chapter 8 - a peculiar meeting

when Hanna walked out I locked the door behind her. as I turned away from the door I stopped. I was actually here. in the danax building. not taking a tour or not sneaking in. I was here legally. I was at the very place a man was cut in half with a glowing sword.

 Oh, that reminds me. I'm not crazy. I know it was glowing. i analyzed the video after trying to get that glare away but it didn't no matter how much I messed with the video and setting it remained the same. I knew it was real just like the alien. the days of doubting myself were over. I was not crazy and I was going to figure out why I was one of the only ones to see it glowing. which means it's special. 

as i walked back into the hallway where the glass windows were, I noticed something. all the workers looked nervous. some were doing the job as though they themselves were robots. and some looked just outright crazy and had too many Redbull eyes twitching and almost bulging. but as weird as that was that wasn't what got my attention the most. in the distance, there was a figure. just looking at the workers from a catwalk above the factory floor. the people on the floor would periodically look up and seem fearful of his presence. 

as though he felt me looking at him he looked up and I swear he was staring right at me. the face I saw was monstrous. there was unnatural scaring that made his face looks like a sunken skull with an upside-down cross stitch work over what looked to be a red glowing eye. he had a cigar in his mouth that hung loosely to his lips. after what felt like some sort of unnatural scanning of my soul he spit the cigar out of his mouth and stepped on it. then slowly walked back into the shadows revealing nothing but his glowing red eyes.

With that, I started to walk away from the window only to trip over my own untied shoelaces right into a mop bucket filled with black water that smelt like it was sitting there for weeks.

"id watch where I'm stepping next time." with that I jumped from the bucket knocking it over and slinging backward only to find a tall muscular African American guy standing in the doorway with a goofy expression on his face. his nametag red "big d"

"you look like you've seen a ghost or maybe it's doctor shade?" said the strange janitor 

"Who?" 

 "doctor shade or Adrian Guzman. he's worked here for many years. rumor says that he died here and isnt quite human." he stopped as though waiting for a response but before I could respond he started up again 

"but you know, rumors are rumors. the truth is he's just quiet and keeps to himself mostly. has a few battle scars. But other than that is a great person to talk to if you want snarky, dry answers or no answers at all."

"Good to know mister ...." I say hesitating to say d

"oh my word, where are my manners? I'm devonta but you can call me 'big d'.  been working here for a couple of years now and never once run across your face. you must be one of the new replacements since the  'incident'?" said big d

"nothing slips past you." I say sarcastically.

he was looking away, but as soon as I said that he slowly turned his head and gave me the biggest "wtf you say" expression on the planet. Then with a sudden gesture of slamming his clenched fist in the air angrily. "watch what you say boy or il beat your ass to the ground. I'm a chill dude until you disrespect me. il let that comment slide since it's our first time meeting but after this meeting don't be smart with me again"

 " I'm truly sorry didn't mean anything by it," I say only to have him start laughing in my face

"I'm just messing with you. I'm not a violent guy. I couldn't hurt a flower. life is too precious to be so sensitive like that. now doctor shade on the other hand he's someone you never want to meet. he's only bad news. the best thing is just to stay away from him or you might just be gutted. I heard he knows what you did last summer." with the last sentence he winked at me clearly making a movie reference. 

"funny," I say with clear annoyance at falling into a bucket of mope water.

"come with me. I believe I saw another security outfit in the storage locker. so i gave you my name what's yours?" he asked 

"Jack, jack barens" I responded 

"well into the looking glass, my friend let's get you dried up" and with that, we went into a room marked storage lockup.