Short Stories

The Strange Interview

     It was a sunny afternoon of June when William arrived in front of the Institute of Human Anomalies. His boss had sent him to do an interview about the purpose of the place. Nothing new under the sun. William does these regularly. In fact, last week he interviewed a tennis player and was even taught how to position and move on the court.

William noticed the cameras at the entrance and proceeded to knock at the door. In less than a second, a woman opened it for him. "Welcome, Mr. Wordsworth. We've been expecting you," she said.

William remembered calling yesterday to schedule the interview. There was one thing bothering him, though. Why didn't he come in the morning? He recalls setting his alarm for seven o'clock and getting out of bed. Everything after that is a blur. His memory just isn't what it used to be.

The woman walked William across the Institute's halls. They turned right twice, then left. The reported noticed various doors by his sides, all with sheets of paper. He managed to read "Description" on one of them. He also saw cameras placed every so often. He couldn't help but ask the woman about the security of the place. The latter only smiled and nodded her head. "Here we are, Mr. Wordsworth. I'll see you when you finish." The woman left.

William was standing in front of a big, brown door. Over it, a sign read: J. MORELLO. He knocked at the door and waited for a response. "Come in," he heard. It was a baritone voice. It reminded him of his boss' low and deep voice. Are all people in charge selected after their voice?

William opened the door and entered inside the room. He saw a man sitting at his desk. This desk had a stack of notebooks on the right, books on the left, stamps, pens and a phone close to the man's arm.

"Good afternoon, William. Can I call you William?"

"Good afternoon. Of course. I apologize for coming at this hour. In truth, I intended to be here first thing in the morning and-"

"No problem. Please do sit. It's uncomfortable to discuss when one is seated and another is not."

"Thank you." William sat on the chair pointed by the man and got out his pen and notebook. "Shall we start?"

"Be my guest."

"Ok. What's your name?"

"Morello. Joseph Morello."

"What do you do for a living?"

"I deal with the management of the Institute of Human Anomalies alongside three of my colleagues. Together we form a commission and discuss about the wellbeing of our subjects and employees, among other topics."

"What exactly are these subjects? What do they do?"

"They are the Human Anomalies in the Institute of Human Anomalies. You might have noticed their chambers near the entrance."

"What exactly makes them anomalies? Can you give an example?"

"Let's take Subject 19. She's a little 8 year old girl that has the ability to do whatever she expresses her will to do. The good thing is that she can only affect herself and her surroundings. One of our employees discovered her 4 years ago next to a trashcan while leaving from work. She was abandoned. According to his statement, he saw the girl move the objects in the trashcan without the use of her hands. The next day, we started testing her and before we knew it, we took her under our protection."

"Isn't it dangerous?"

"No, we made sure to control her ability. It's easy to talk to children. We made her believe she's a witch. We also prepared for her a book of harmless "spells" to cast. The situation is under control... well, until she hits puberty. But that's a discussion for another time."