The Black Envelope

Chapter 4: Reemerging

Chapter 4: Reemerging

"Wow. That's unusual."

Gage scoffed at his friend's reaction. "No, really?"

Gage had just finished telling Thaddeus about the night's previous events and was currently sitting at his desk chair, staring at the slip of paper with Fay's name on it. Throughout the night he had ran through his conversation with Jackie multiple times, trying to decide if it was worth it to carry out her final wish. But each time when he remembered Jackie's expression as she made her request, he realized he just couldn't ignore it.

And then there was Fay. He couldn't get her face out of his head, no matter what he thought about. There was just something about her, the way he had never seen any features like hers before. He was almost intoxicated by the thought of seeing her again. And he didn't know why.

"Hey, Gage, you going to do it?" Gage jumped as Thaddeus addressed him again. Thaddeus was looking at him in interest, and a little bit of excitement. Something like this hadn't happened before, and as Thaddeus gossiped like an old woman, he was looking pretty enthusiastic about a new event.

"I think I will. But you can't tell anyone about this, Thad. Do you know how much trouble I would get in if the main office found I was singling out one person to save?"

"Yeah man, I understand, totally. I won't breathe a word." Gage looked at Thaddeus apprehensively but finally shrugged and was about to log on to the office's main database when an announcement came over the speaker imbedded in the office's wall.

"All Messengers report to the auditorium for a routine debriefing." The speaker turned off to the sound of doors opening up and down the hallway.

"Great," Gage muttered.

Both him and Thaddeus got up and went through the doorway like the rest of the Messengers. There were about a hundred of them moving through the hallway. Every big city branch of the M.U.S.P. had about a hundred Messengers working for that city, and then another hundred stationed in the smaller cities surrounding the big one. Apparently only the big city Messengers had been called for this debriefing.

"Man I hate these, nothing's ever new. 'Oh, we met our quota by the end of the month! We're so special.'" Thaddeus shook his head and laughed with Gage.

"Yeah I know what you mean. 'Hey look! The populations gone down another .5%, isn't that great.'" Gage pulled a face.

They both chuckled again as they made their way into the auditorium and took seats near the back. It was big and spacious, pretty much like any high school auditorium would look. The plush, deep purple theater seats formed into their body shape as they sat down facing the stage in front of them. There were many different conversations going on around them about various things. Who they had sentenced previously, what their girlfriend did recently, what they had for dinner last night. All meaningless things that could belong to any number of people around here. Nothing that was special or unique.

Unlike Fay, his mind couldn't help but think.

He quickly brushed the thought away as the room quieted down. The head of the main branch, Marvin Loughman, had walked onto the stage and was taking a spot in front of the microphone.

He cleared his throat, "Good morning Messengers. We hate to call you here as we know that some of you hate these meetings." He seemed to be looking straight at Gage and Thaddeus as he spoke. They shifted guiltily in their seats as Marvin continued. "Now, we have many things to go over today, the first of which is a reminder from our counselor Dr. Levens. She wants me to remind you all not to be afraid to come and talk to her if you are feeling concerned with your job. She's there to help you, not to criticize you, which I trust she would never do." Gage felt his blood boil and set his lips to keep from shouting out.