One day, things felt off.. everything just didn't feel right.
I walked down the San Francisco sidewalk on my way to work and something just felt... broken. I felt sick, like I was on auto pilot.
I got to my office job and sat down.
I brainstormed for hours trying to figure out if I forgot something at home or if I did something different.
"Mr. Boward? Mr. Jentskies and Mr. Smith are here for their 11 o'clock meeting." My secretary said, peeking through my office door.
"Oh yes, okay send them in right away!" I happily said, as I took a big sip of water and looked out my office window over the
San Francisco Bay.
They two men walked in.
"Mr. Smith! Mr. Jentskies! What a pleasure to finally sit down with you two."
"Mr. Howard. How are you today?" Asked Jentskies
"It's Boward sir, and I'm doing dandy today!"
Deep down I felt like absolute shit but I needed to seal this deal with these guys. I shook their hands and we sat down.
"Water for either of you?" I asked, being polite.
"Ah, no, I'm fine." Said Smith
"You have anything stronger than water?" Asked Jentskies
"Well sure, you seem like a scotch type of person Mr. Jentskies."
"Yes, I sure am." He said with a smile
"Hey Clair, can you do me a favor and grab the good scotch for me?" I asked my secretary through the phone
"Which one, Mr. Boward?"
"Hmmm, bring in the Balblair 83 for our guests."
"How many glasses?" She asked me
Without hesitation I said "the whole bottle, three glasses, ice, and some mineral water, please and thank you, Clair." I needed this deal
"Mr. Boward I am impressed, such quality for an 11 AM meeting." Smith said
"Mr. Smith, are you thirsty now?" I asked him
He smirked and said "If it's Balblair, certainly!"
Once we were all cozy with our glasses of scotch, and laughing with one another I looked at the clock and saw it was 11:30.
"Alright gentlemen. We have business to get to now. I have another meeting later today at 1 and I must prepare myself." I said, knowing I didn't have any other meetings, I just needed to busy.
"Alright Mr. Boward, inform us of your product." Jentskies said
"Alright, we have created a device that can detect a human heart beat from nearly 20 yards away. This can be useful to search for survivors of natural disaster. It can be used by the military, it can be used by your kids playing hide and seek. We developed it over the passed.." I paused, I felt horrible all of the sudden. I looked out the window for a moment and it was too bright out.
"Mr. Boward?. Are you alright?" Asked Smith
"Uhh, yeah yeah, sorry. I just had quite the long morning. Lots on my mind today and it's a very busy day for us."
"Well, Jerry and I here talked about what we heard about your idea. We wanted to buy your idea and prototype from you. For 50k right now." Said Jentskies
"Hmmm. Mr. Jentskies. I don't think you under stand, Stanley Co. already offered me 75k and I turned them down. They said they were going to reconsider a different price."
I made up Stanley Co. right off the top of my head. Mr. Jentskies looked at Mr. Smith and nodded
"Okay, we'll do 100k for the idea and prototype." Said Smith
"You see, that's just not going to cut it for me boys. I worked my ass off for the passed year designing and creating. 100k for a device that is with millions?" I said, trying to bullshit a good deal.
"Okay Mr. Boward. Let us step out for a minute and chat." Said Jentskies
"No no no" I said as I stood up. My head spun but I ignored it. I topped off their glasses of scotch and said "let me step out, so you two can have your privacy." I walked about and leaned against Clair's desk.
"You get the deal?" She asked
"No, they offered 50k, then they pushed it to 100k. Now they're chatting cause they think other companies are trying to buy the prototype." I informed her
"Well done Mr. Boward. Well done." She said with a smile
Smith opened my office door and told me they have a offer I could resist. I thought to myself, "That sounds like something from The Godfather but let's see if I can resist."
I sat down and they both looked at me, Smith sipped his scotch and Jentskies said
"Okay Mr. Boward. We want to offer you 75k, and 15% of over all profits. And if the product takes off, we will hire you for a position as a regional manager."
"Huh. Regional? Of what region? Because I know your HQ is on the west coast so I wouldn't manage HQ."
"You would be our Easter Regional Manager. Our current RM is resigning next month."
Smith informed me.
"Huh, you see, my home is here." Before I could finish they cut me off
"You'll be making over 300k a year."
Smith said in a mellow tone
"Well, that really is hard to resist. But like I said, my home is here. The best I can do is at least 150k and at least 15% of profits... and I need credit for my invention. Not you guys"
The two looked at eachother once again
I felt sick again.
"Okay Mr. Boward, you may have yourself a deal." I shook their hands.
They wrote out the check and left after one more glass of scotch. I sat back in my chair and gave myself a pat on the back. "Wow." I said to myself. "What a play."
I looked out the window again. Something was wrong though.
"The hell..?" I said to myself. The Golden Gate Bridge was... gone.. traffic jammed up for miles.
I turned on the news and it seemed so glitchy, it was so off. Nothing was right. I don't know why but I felt panicked. My coffee mug all of the sudden turned like a transparent blue, covered in ones and zeros. Then, poof, it disappeared and spilt my coffee everywhere.
"The fuck..?" I said. I looked down and saw my left are was the same color with ones and zeros. Now I felt panicked. Everything slowed down, everything started to turn to ones and zeros till everything was blue and fading away.
"Warning. System Failure." Spanned across my eyes flashing red.
I couldn't scream, I could move, I couldn't do anything but stand there, frozen in place. Alone with my thoughts. There is no god. There's no heaven or hell. No after life. We're all just a bunch of ones and zeros I thought.
"System Reboot." Was in red in place of 'Warning. System Failure.'
"10.. 9.. 8.. 7.. 6.. 5.. 4.. 3.. 2.."
YOU ARE READING
Scary Short Stories
Short StoryThis is a bunch of short scary stories that I have either created myself or have been inspired to write by other authors
