Behind his fangs

First steps into madness

13th of March 1888

The clock blared on the nightstand next to my bed. I quickly turned it off, reading 7:15am off of it while doing so. "Christ, where the hell am I-" questioning the pitch black room I was in, but suddenly remembering that I was in A 210. A room located at my new job at the Tarragon Historics and Withholders catacombs. I sit up with a groan, my lower back aching from the stiff mattress that I could of mistaken for the concrete floor. 

I wave my hands around, trying to find the light switch for the tabletop nightlight. Fumbling for a bit, I tug on a piece of string and the small room lit up. The room was 12x14, cozy and cramped. The walls were aligned with dark wood planks while the floor was covered with an old, musty beige carpet that hasn't been hoovered in decades. I'm surprised the previous employee only complained about the noises. Me myself didn't hear anything the whole night. I check the time again, 7:18am.

I drag myself to the other side of the room to the 'kitchen',  which was just a few countertops, a minifridge, sink and a microwave. All a man could ever dream for. I make a concoction of bread, jam and cheese for breakfast. All the ingredients were gifted to me by Mr. Crawfold. I lean againts the countertop, eating my sandwich and pondering how today was going to be like. Dharia had given me my uniform - a light blue button up with some black dress pants. Luckily I also got a hat, I hadn't had the time to shower yesterday so I looked like a mess. The clothes didn't seem uncomfortable at all, probably the best things I'll be wearing after 5 years. But the job itself - no one even asked how I heard about it or gave me any information about it - hell, I don't even know how much I'll be getting paid. Though, I'm only on the trial. Dharia will probably explain everything to me. Hopefully.

I finish my abomination of a sandwich and get dressed, tucking in the shirt due it being a little too big for me. I'm not surprised that it was so loose around me. I'm a 167cm male, weighing 67 kg who was trying to wear a L sized shirt, quite a funny view. I'm not very muscular though, living on the streets and a church hadn't really given me a chance to build any muscle. Now that I'm thinking about it, I really am surprised that I got the job. If I had to actually confront a drunk guy, he would knock me out faster than his alcohol would. But maybe I'm underestimating myself? I sure as hell hope so.

7:44am was on the clock when I left my room. Walking down the dark, green hallways and up some old and dented stairs. I wonder how many people have gone up these same stairs. I try and remember the path that was shown to me yesterday, using little landmarks to remind myself. For example, there's a specific old dragon statue in front of the stairs that points the opposite way of where I'm supposed to go. I resist the urge to pet the little golden statue every time, not wanting to ruin the artifact. The place all together had a specific smell to it that if you smelt it, you'd be immediately reminded of this place. It's like a mix of a fresh new book straight from the manufacturer and an old cabins basement. A warm woody yet stuffy smell filled the air constantly. Finally getting to the main lobby, I greet the embodiment of a sunflower, Dharia, at the booth. She looked just as happy and bright as yesterday. She wore a bright green sweater over a white turtleneck, a silver necklace hanging around her neck with matching earrings dotting her ears. She had circular glasses on this time, the gentle golden rim really brought out her eyes. 

"Good morning, Orthos! Having a good morning?" She greeted me while looking up at me, seems like she was reading the newspaper before I had arrived. I couldn't help but notice a slight difference in how she pronounced my name. The r sounded strange. I give her a warm smile and reply with a slight nervous tone "I'm having an alright morning, thank you." Dharia had stood up and cleaned up her desk a little, I could read from her clock that it had just hit 8 o'clock. "How has your morning been?" I ask back, gaining a slight chuckle from her before she replied "Oh my morning has been interesting. I had to change a few exhibits placements that I had noticed were misplaces yesterday from our tour." she started, rolling her eyes, showing that she was still bothered that the figures and models had been moved in the first place. She handed me the newspaper that she had been reading, I took it and immediately saw the headlines. "Something that also caught my eye was that there have been more people going missing around Tarragon and the neighboring town, Colghin." I listened to her and nodded along while reading the articles, the exhibits were self explanatory - someone had moved a few of the models off center which had really turned Dharias cogs. Though the missing peoples reports had also struck me. Skimming through the headlines, I couldn't help but notice the amount of missing peoples reports and descriptions.