Behind the door [Incomplete]

Chapter One

"Welcome to SITEP incorporated™, where efficiency is our primary directive. Here's a friendly reminder of your tasks for the day."

An almost robotic sounding voice spoke over the PA system. Axel sat at the rectangular desk with a blank expression as he tuned out the voice, staring at the wall ahead of him. The only other things in this room were a locked door, and his small work desk. Sitting atop the desk was a red button that's hooked up to a little white light. His task was simple: when the white light shone, he was to push the button.

Some might consider his job to be boring. But to Axel, it paid well and helped put food on the table. And as a bonus, there wasn't a whole lot of labor included. So could he complain?

"...Your task as a fellow employee is to wait until the light on your desk to light up. Once it does, you must push the red button that is juxtaposition to the light. Should the task not be completed after a certain amount of tries, we will not hesitate to fire you."

No wonder this place didn't get many people applying for the position. That was ominous as hell. But being the twenty-three year old college drop out that he was, Axel didn't have a lot of options for jobs. And he wouldn't hear the end of it if his mother found out he was without a job. At least he could pay rent.

Axel huffed, running a hand through his curly brown hair and brushing some away from his eyes. He's had this job for about a year now and hasn't had any major complaints. He was allowed to bring in food and things to do so long as he pressed the button when the light shone. Sometimes he would call his childhood friend Celine. They would talk for hours about whatever came up. It was fun to think up scenarios for what could be happening every time he hit the button.

Sometimes he couldn't help but wonder what actually did happen when he hit the button. There were days when the white light hardly blinked on at all, and others where it would go off at a constant rate. But it was nothing he couldn't handle.

"What if every time you pushed the button, a hero is assigned a quest to slay a dragon or something cool like that?!" Celine would inquire. This would usually get a chuckle out of Axel.

"That would be cool," he would reply, "but if this job were that important, they'd hire someone more qualified."

Then again, he was only pushing a button. They could've gotten a monkey to do that for free. But he got paid for this, so he wasn't complaining.

But one day, a phone conversation he had with Celine made Axel succumb to his curiosity. It was another ordinary day at his job, nothing thrilling to be had. Axel had tuned out the voice over the PA as per usual, awaiting the light to blink on. There had been a few instances when the light flicks on in the middle of the voice's spiel, so he could never be too sure. He could swear on his life that this entire thing was random.

"-come on, Axel! You've worked here for how long?" Celine complained. Axel slumped down in his chair, resting his chin in one of his hands.

"Going on two years." He admitted. Of course he wanted to know, but something told him that whatever was going on was too complicated for him to understand. "Celine, will whatever crazy plan you're creating in your head interfere with my paycheck?"

"Only if you go through with it." she retorted through the phone. A soft laugh escaped from his lips. "Well i'm not going to, I need the money for rent. I'm not risking anything."

Axel heard an over dramatic sigh from his childhood friend. Celine was more interested in the mystery behind this job than he was.

"Come on!" She groaned. "You're no fun! What if it's something super cool, and you're missing it!" This kind of behavior never bothered Axel. Celine's curiosity is what makes her special. Sometimes she'd get fussy if he refused to do something like this. But it was amusing. "If I go test the doorknob will you shut up?" mused Axel.

There was a brief pause on Celine's end of the call before she replied. "Yes, yes it would."

Letting out a small sigh, Axel pushed himself out of his chair and trudged across the room to the iron door. "My superior already said that this door is locked." He jiggled the doorknob a bit, holding his phone near it so Celine could hear. "See? Nothing-" his voice caught in his throat when he thought he heard a soft voice, talking in almost a whisper. He spun around to look at his desk as his brain tried to process this.

Axel had almost forgotten about his phone call with Celine until he heard her voice speak up again. "Axel? Hello?? Did my call drop again?" She asked.

"Did you hear that?" He whispered, his eyes scanning the room in case there were other people in this place after all.

Celine paused before responding to her friend. "..hear what?"

"....Celine, I'm gonna have to call you back."