Who needs sleep anyways?

Beastly Zoo

"So what's the real story behind the closed building over there?" I ask my co-worker who had been working here for far longer than I.

"Second week on the job and already want to learn the zoo secrets, huh Calix?"

"I'm just curious like everybody else. I mean, as far as I remember, that building has been closed since the first time I came to Beastly Zoo when I was five years old. That was thirteen years ago and nothing has changed!" I say as I lean by a wall.

"Why don't you just focus on working instead of worrying about what's inside of there?"

"This concession stand is empty right now. What do you want me to do?" I say as I point out the concession window.

"You got a point there," he says as he looks outside.

"Yeah! So tell me, what's really in there Max?"

"Well- I don't know actually."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, not even we zoo employees are allowed in there. Well, at least not us with 'smaller' jobs, I've seen a few people who work with the animals walk in there, but even they rarely go in there. We also don't get any more info than the public does about it."

"You at least have to have heard better rumors since you've been working here for a fairly long time."

"I have heard several rumors, but I'll have to tell you later because here come some customers," he says as he walks up to the cash register ready to help the zoo visitors.

"Fine," I say and watch as people make their way towards our concession stand and others enter the aquarium attached to where we work.

The rest of the day is pretty busy and Max isn't able to tell me anything until the end of the day. As we clean the stand and put everything away I bring up the question again.

"So, what have you heard of the building during the time you've worked here?"

"Still thinking about that Calix?" He asks as he locks up the cash registers.

"Yes! I'm dying to know."

"Well, alright I'll tell you."

"Yes!" I say, pull down the metal gate to close the concession window, and sit on the table protruding from the wall under the window.

"I've heard various rumors during my time working here. One that you may have heard is that they had a plan for a new section with new animals, but in the end it didn't work and they just weren't able to destroy it because of financial problems."

"Yeah, I've heard that rumor, but money problems? Seriously? This zoo has tons of visitors every day- I fail to believe that rumor is true."

"Yeah, it's not that believable, but it's the most realistic."

"Yeah, now tell me other rumors you've heard that I haven't."

"Okay," Max says and looks around as if checking that no one was listening in.

"I've heard this rumor from a janitor who has been working here for years. He said that strange experiments were held in that building."

"What do you mean?" I asked, my curiosity hungry.

"Well, according to this janitor, the zoo was experimenting on animals to mutate them or something like that."

"..."

"After that the rumor has two possibilities. He said that either the experiments failed and they don't knock down the building because the building's insides are dangerous to human health. Or-"