Silence were to never roam the halls of this ghastly hell, rather the screams of the innocents hummed into your ears, drilling into your mind, forcing the state of your sanity to becoming nothing more than a simulation of memories that were never seen before. Instead, the only thing to roam these halls, besides the death-screeching screams, a silent humming roamed behind all the misery. It was deep but not pleasant to hear, but enough to keep the weakest of minds silent. A tune whether to be classed as a melody or not, was still sung. Sung by someone who once knew what love was, what living a happy life was, but decided to push it all away for one dream. His dream.
Now, there was never anything wrong with chasing after your dreams, it was one of the most plausible reasons in life to achieving maximum happiness. But what were happiness to be, when the one person it would make happy was you? While leaving those around you miserable and forced to live a life being pulled by your puppet strings. Being forced to make their life meet your expectations, just to be certain that no obstacles were to get in the way of your dream.
Some would call this pure cruelty; others would call it greed. Nelson called it happiness. His happiness, and if he was happy, then his life was complete. However, with every rose came thorns, and with every rainbow, came rain. No matter what you were to do, no matter how much progress you were to make, something, or someone, would always get in your way. For Nelson, something getting in his way were to be those who assumed that they knew what was best for his happiness, what was best for the world around him, what was best for his dreams. Continuously bringing their dishonest views in his way, reminding him of their deceitful ideas, that they only assumed would bring his dreams to a much ‘better’ way. Yet, it never fooled Nelson, he knew their plans, the amount of plotting and planning those ignorant lunatics put into executing him was pathetic.
They all thought their plans would get the better of him, they all assumed they knew Nelson like the back of their hands, but they did not. And if there was a slight personality on Nelson, you thought you would understand, it was only the mask of manipulation he wore upon his face, just to get what he wanted. Despite their being those out there who would even dare to try and get rid of him, there were also people who admired his weird and crooked ways. People who would always obey by his rules, do every single deed he were to set upon them, even if it were to risk their lives.
There was one person who would always obey by Nelsons rules, his little assistant would do anything he said, for her obsession over him was more than a fantasy. Regardless of her admiration for Nelson, he did not admire her. Love was just a waste of time for him, another distraction trying to take his mind of his work. Another impractical desire, that simply only fooled the minds of the avaricious.
Autumn was her name, and it was practically imbedded in all the minds of those worked there. She made sure everyone knew her name, she made sure everyone knew who she was. A day could not go by, without her name being brought up at least once, whether needed or not, she was always there. Despite her name being brought up by either those who admired her, or those who despised her, not once had her distinguished reputation been cut of short by those insolent talkers.
She, like Nelson, had found a way to over mask the lies many had tried to talk about her. She could not possibly lose her job, she needed to be here, she needed to be with him. It was the first time in her life Autumn had ever felt in love, all those other men she had been with were nothing more than some unavailing human beings. Nelson was so much more.
He was the most audacious man she had ever met, the power he wielded in his hands was formidable, something she had never seen before. Nelson knew this too, despite the amount of times Autumn had snuck it into a conversation about how prominent he was, he already knew it. Just like how he knew about Autumns love towards him, and it was easy for him to use it to his advantage.
Nelson knew that Autumn was capable to do whatever he said whether she was courageous or not, she would do anything for him. It was perfect too, Nelson despised getting his hands dirty and would seize the opportunity to allow someone else to do it instead. However, there had not been any emergencies that called for Autumn to eliminate, not yet anyway. The only exceedingly important thing Autumn ever needed to even set her eyes upon, were to be tasks that if Nelson were caught taking care of them, his business could have the potential to being shut down.
He was already fortunate enough to have kept this business open, despite the number of experiments that had been going on there. He was able to make sure that they had someone from the higher end in his business. Even if this anonymous being had decided to work along side Nelson, there was a deal between them that kept things even. A deal that made sure Nelson were able to keep this business running, while this stranger got a sample of the serum he was working on.
It was not needed for anything spectacular, at least from what Nelson knew anyway. However, what grew much stranger over time, was that this unacknowledged man had been repeatedly asking for some blueprints of a very secretive project. Which he was not supposed to know about, nor had anyone been instructed to tell him about it.
It was a project like no other, one that Nelsons full attention was always focused towards, one that was not only going to allow Nelson to achieve this dream of his, but to change the world to a much ‘better’ place. No, it was not another serum cased inside a small glass bottle, nor a phantom held captive behind a mask, it was something much more exceptional.
Something both him and his cofounder, Wesley Nathaniel, had been working on in secret for a while. No-one else knew of it, well no-one Nelson did not want to know about it anyway. Anything to do with it, even the smallest of details, had to be kept locked away in his office. He did not trust Wesley enough with any important files from it, well Nelson mostly did not trust him due to how much of a connection Wesley and his partner had. If one knew something, the other one always told them. If she found out about his project, her and her little antidote would ruin Nelsons plan.
Everything about this project was kept hidden, and this rusticated man had never been told about it, so you can imagine how upset Nelson was when he got a call from them asking to see some blueprints.
“I would like to look at some blueprints regarding the project both you and Mr Nathaniel are working towards, project S.P.I.R.E.”
Nelson was stunned at first, shocked but annoyed at the same time, no smile were pulled from his face, only his anger grew bigger by the minute. At that moment in time, names of those who had been working on this project seemed to fill his head, allowing him to calculate it down to who would even dare to tell Mr G.R this information.
Yet, despite the workers whose names are not of importance, it always seemed to turn around to his worst enemy. Deborah. Someone who always turned their heel up against Nelson, someone who would forever hold a grievance against him, someone who would do anything to massacre him. Unlike Nelson, Deborah held some sort of sanity in her mind, she knew what Nelsons plan led to, and she needed to stop it.
Deborah and Nelson were like the sun and moon, Deborah being bright and always optimistic, with hope and happiness always gleaming from her eyes. While Nelson was the shadow to darken your days, burning out all the light until they become nothing more than a forgotten memory, swallowed into a deep void of insubstantial dreams. It was impossible to have both in the same room at once, it would not last 10 minutes without their being some sort of an eclipse of chaos.
Neither of them got along, and they had not since they both turned paths to changing the future. Despite Nelson being the CEO of the company, that did not stop Deborah from wanting to stop him. If he was gone, for good, then everything could go back to the way it used to be. All those patients that were laying hollow could finally be saved, all those horrific tests could finally be stopped, Nelson’s plan could be prevented. Everyone could finally be saved.
Yet, Deborah knew getting rid of someone like Nelson, would be as challenging as walking through lava, but not impossible. You see, Nelson, like everyone, had a weakness. He was afraid of those who had the upper hand, afraid of those who were more clearheaded than he were to ever be. People such as this, were known to be her subjects, people from a different timeline. Specific handpicked people chosen to stop Nelson Syphus, who Deborah knew were capable of doing so much more than any life-taking serum could ever do.
However, it was never as easy as she had hoped for, simply because Nelson knew every single one of these subjects. He knew their desires, the desires she had given them, the desire to finally set the world free from his grasping chains. Yet, he would not allow it, he would do whatever it were to take, to stop those infernal subjects, no matter how many times he had to follow her down the rabbit hole, no matter how many times he had to eradicate her.
Although everything was pointing towards Deborah, Nelson still knew immediately jumping to conclusions would only lead to a much higher possibility of her eradicating his business. He knew Deborah was smart, she was able to create outstanding serums, the number of breakthroughs they had made thanks to her input was unimaginable. Yet, she was always hiding something. Overtime as she worked more hours at this daunting place, the more distant she had become towards Nelson.
Soon Nelson noticed she started to suddenly disappear during work hours, and then after 30 minutes, she would have been found randomly in another room, getting back to her work. Eventually after watching her go by weeks of doing this, Nelson demanded Autumn to place hidden recorders throughout the areas of where Deborah was seen last.
‘Autumn, you have been required to place these audio recorders around the studio. I will have them sent to your office by tomorrow morning, you will need to place them around the studio by 9:30am so be a little bit earlier to the studio than normal.’
‘Of course, sir. I will arrive to the studio at 6:30. However, is there any specific places I need to place them, sir?’
‘The rooms required for these recorders are rooms B02, H79. 5G2, 101, HSO, HCO.’
‘Understood sir.’
Autumn eventually had caught onto who Nelson was trying to spy on, Deborah. If a task such as this were to happen to fall into her hands, either it were to be targeted towards a misbehaved worker who failed to follow Nelson’s rules, or Deborah.
Autumn had always noticed detestation between Deborah and Nelson, not a day could by without something chaotic happening between the two, and most of the time, ended by being more than one occasion a day. Whether it were to be completely chaotic or a simple foul glare towards one another, something would always be going on between the two.
It was no secret in this dishonourable place, everyone knew those two did not get along, they were never shy to share such information. However, sometimes it could get out of hand. Autumn had tried to avoid such situations, getting on Nelsons bad side was fundamentally asking to be executed. Deborah had been fortuitous to avoid such a threat from him, but everyone knew he was unquestionably thinking about it. Autumn more than anyone here in this crooked place, knew this. Not that Nelson had made it upfront of how much he wanted her gone, but Autumn felt like this was not the first time she had heard of this.
Wherever this strange feeling had come from, she knew wondering about such small insignificant things would only distract her from what were important. Such important things as hiding those recorders, which she assumed was going to go so easy, I mean, it was not like anyone knew, right?
You would be crazy for thinking that; crazy to think no-one would know your every move, crazy enough to think she would not know. Ridiculous enough to think this in such a place, where the impossible seemed like and everyday chore. A place full nothing more than the unexpected excruciation of the ones who were fooled by this mad man. Anything could happen here, from patients rising back from the dead, after being pronounced dead for 2 hours, to mind controlled people under a phantom mask.
Everything and everyone held a secret behind them, something whether worth telling or not, still dragged them down with each passing day they worked there. For some, they would be holding dark secrets, secrets that if they were to be told, you may never be seen again. While others would hold secrets to which would only cause a high state of embarrassment if one were to spill the milk. And then, you would have those who shared a fair set of both embarrassing secrets and secretive secrets.
Then, down the far end of the line, a very small amount of those few people had no secrets at all, none to share, none to hide. Either everyone knew of their secrets already, or those secrets were to have never existed in the first place.
Whoever you were to be, secrets or no secrets, there would always be something weighing you down. Just like how Deborah had many things holding her shoulders down, keeping her feet weighted to the ground. Mistakes she could never erase, but simply go back and try again. Not everyone got the chance to try and go back and change their mistakes but seeing as though she needed to keep going back, she took it as an opportunity to try and change her mistakes. To try and save him…
Yet, tell me reader, if you were to go back in time and change your mistakes, would things still be the same now? Would you end up in the same life that you live now? Or would you only make things worse for the future?
Playing with the storyline, changing things along the way, it would only cause more disruption to things ahead. If you were not careful, things could end up much worse than they were before. However, making mistakes is a part of life, right? But would it be a mistake if you knew how the fate would play?
Well, Deborah did at least, she knew everything that were to play out in this timeline. It was her job, one of her many rules, if she were to keep things going until it was time to… Then everything would be alright, Nelson could finally be stopped.
Deborah had spent years hidden underneath those thin stairs, listening, and learning to the voices around her. Plotting and planning, on her small old computer. An ancient but trustworthy device, one of the few things she trusted to keep all of documents on. Apple 2’s, despite their age, were one of the many devices Deborah knew how to work like the back of her hand.
Of course, Nelson knew how to work Apple 2’s too, but even if the two of them were to have the same IQ level, one of them could still know more of something than the other. Just like how Deborah knew more about Apple 2’s than Nelson did, however Nelson knew more about the machines here in this deafening studio.
One knew more than the other, but they both knew exactly what they were doing. Just like how Deborah knew exactly what she was doing on the Apple 2. The many hours she spent under the stairs planning, was the same number of files and systems she had made. While she had been making all these systems and files, however, she had been hidden doing so. It was one of the only places anyway, that could keep her safe from his eyes. Deborah knew Nelson too well; she knew about the amount of hate he held towards her and how he would take up any opportunity to get rid of her. Ever since that day…
Yet, she was not scared of him, and overtime she had taught herself how to not be, besides if she were ever to fear him, she learned how to mask it. Even if Nelson could see behind her mask, she still wore it. If it did not fool him all the time, there was always others who she needed to mask around. She knew Nelson was one of the many who wanted her gone, and despite the grudge someone held around you, that angry could easily be distracted.
However, not everyone fell for her masks, such people as her partner, Wesley Nathaniel. He always knew she could be just as manipulative as Nelson could be, whether for the good or wrong reason. He often warned her it was not a good way to handle situations, but in her eyes, it seemed like the only option. Of course, she knew it were not every option to deal with unruly situations, just the most effective and reasonable one.
Not only did Wesley know about her masks she wore, but he also knew about her personal projects. They both talked about it, even if it were not to be often, Wesley knew Deborah’s full attention was always pointed towards it. And as many times as she had told him why she needed these projects, he never felt like it was the solution to everything. Yes, he knew getting rid of Nelson would be good for everyone, but was it the right thing to do?
Despite the two being rather close, they still held their differences and felt like it was trying to tear their relationship apart.
Deborah, however, tried to hide it too. Even though they both knew it, she did not want to believe it. She felt like Wesley was the only one she could trust right now, the only one she could turn too, the only one who had seen how much madness she had seen here. Well, she trusted him enough to go speak to Nelson for her anyway.
She had asked him to try and get Nelson to stop the trials, to convince him how bad these tests were, to see if he would change his mind. Wesley had agreed to this, he promised her he would go to the studio earlier and speak with Nelson the next day. Yet, Deborah knew nothing was going to come from this, instead Wesley would realise just how ignorant Nelson was. She needed him to see it, someone else to see it.
However, that specific morning, when Wesley arrived at the studio at 6:30am, Deborah had decided to arrive earlier too. She was not going to stalk him, she instead decided to get some more of her own personal work done. Not that she was desperate too, she would just take up any chance to get more of it done. Still, as she sat underneath those stairs that morning, pondering and plotting, she got a bad feeling from something. She was not sure if it were the fact that Wesley and Nelson were currently speaking to each other, or whether it were that fact that Autumn was earlier than usual.
Now, Autumn wasn’t going to hide herself from everyone that morning, even if it were to make her suspicious for arriving 30 minutes earlier than she usually would, she did not care. She was doing this all for Nelson, and if someone caught her doing it, she knew how to keep them silent.
Each room Autumn was looking for were rather close to each other, but some of those rooms, often held a lot of people in them. Yet, she would not let that stop her, as she made her way to one of the closer rooms, 101 – Storage supplies. This room was located on the outside of the building, and held many flammable liquids, which some had never seen before. There were also computer parts resting on the opposite shelves, many Apple 2 parts, which Deborah was often seen taking.
Autumn had parked her car right in front of this closet, as the numbers 101, rested above the door. Once she saw the coast was clear, she got out of her car, scanned her key fob on the doors and placed the recorder amongst some Apple 2 parts. She did not think much of its placement, as she left the room and rushed to the other ones.
The next room Autumn had on her list was H79 – Highly toxic testing. The room was located on the inside of the building, and had a small cabinet of facemasks, next to it. Yet, Autumn was not planning to enter the room, she instead was going to place the recorder inside the air vents, so that if someone were to find it. They would not think much of the muffled audio on it, unless of course they knew how to fix it like Nelson did.
As she made her way to the air vent, she could hear the breathing of the patients coming from the test rooms. It did not sound like normal breathing; it was heavy and distorted. It disturbed her greatly but she tried her best to ignore it, as she grabbed some clear tape from the reception desk. Then, she turned left on her heel and right in front of her was the air vent.
This air vent was below the other ones, with much wider gaps on the sheet. Autumn kneeled, and looked at the sheet, the bars were much thinner and there were less of them, allowing her to be able to squeeze the recorder through the gaps. She huffed once it was through, and then looked down at the tape in her hand, maybe it would come in handy later?
The next two rooms she had to go to were connected, they were rooms 5G2 and B02, Level 1 patient testing and Biology testing. These tests were usually on-going 24/7 but were never too busy. And seeing as though the rooms were connected, Autumn decided to place one recorder in the vent system, and the other in a small gap under the stairs.
As she was doing this, Autumn took in the environment around her, and realised how much she had not noticed had been there. Whether she was too focused on certain tasks at the time, or spent too much time in Nelson’s office, she did not know. Nor did she care.
The second air vent Autumn place the next recorder in was different and required her to grab a screwdriver from one of the test rooms, room 30S – Low levelled testing. It was rather easy to find one, whether it was covered in blood or not, but she did run into another worker in there. His name was Scott Clarick and the moment he saw Autumn, he gave her a small smile.
“I did not expect to see you out of your office, Autumn. What are you doing with that screwdriver?”
Autumn simply walked away, while keeping the screwdriver in her hand, saying, “Nelson needs it.”
Once she made her way out the room, she went to the air vent, opened it up and taped the recorder to the vent wall. Once doing so, she rushed to the next room, seeing the time was now 8:15am. She made her way through the metal door, which opened due to her key fob. Then, she opened one of the loose stairs steps, and placed the recorder in the small gap.
She then rushed to the far end of the studio, to HSO – Head scientist office, only to stop outside and see the door slightly open. She peaked through the office window, before smirking, both Deborah and Wesley were talking. She looked down at her hand, flicked on the voice recorder and waited.
“You wanted to speak with me?” Wesley questioned, as he sat down on a small stool.
Deborah sighed, “Really? After not seeing me for a week, that’s how you’re going to address me? What’s Wrong?”
“It didn’t work.” Wesley muttered, as he drifted his eyes away from her.
“What didn’t work?” Deborah questioned with concern.
Wesley gave a deep sigh, “Nelson, I talked to him for hours… It didn’t seem to make a difference…”
“Well, of course it didn’t.” Deborah replied, in a softer but not surprised tone.
Wesley looked to her with shock, “What?!”
Deborah slowly nodded her head, “Talking to him, was never going to be the solution to this problem.”
“W-what, excuse me? Then why didn’t you tell me?!” Wesley stuttered.
“You needed to hear it for yourself…” Deborah explained, “You needed to see how unreasonable he is, with your own eyes. I-I know you have known him for a long time, you care about him and the dream you two created… It blinded you.”
Wesley huffed, “Why are you saying it like that? I thought you were through with manipulating me in that way.”
“I am not manipulating anything.” Deborah answered, turning her tone down.
“Yes, you are,” Wesley argued back, “It’s how you are because of what you do.”
“You still don’t get it, this whole company is rotting from the inside out, all under his stewardship.” Deborah told him, “It needs to stop now, before he hurts more people.”
Wesley shook his head in disbelief, “How am I supposed to believe that, if you refuse to show me what’s really going on?”
“Because” Deborah claimed, “I must protect you somehow! If he’s gone, you can finally take the place you need. My projects will be seen in a positive light! We won’t have to hide in his shadow anymore.”
“That isn’t the real reason…” Wesley said, with slight spite in his tone.
“Yes, it is.” Deborah stated.
“Maybe it’s part of it,” Wesley spoke, “But there’s something underlying there. You’re trying to save yourself too. You’re doing this for you, and your own work.”
“Of course, I am, but-“
“What else can I believe at this point?” Wesley interrupted, “Nelson won’t listen to me about the trials but he also keeps telling me that, you’re only in it or your own glory. That you have been manipulating me, that you could stop the trials at any point and make them more humane. How am I supposed to tell him otherwise when you keep hiding things from me?”
“You know what is going to happen, you know what he’ll do to you.” Deborah firmly said, keeping her eyes on Wes.
“But you haven’t proven that; I have known Nelson for years; I can’t imagine him-“
“Listen to me,” She interrupted, “If we don’t get rid of him, he is going to get rid of us. I am just trying to stay one step ahead of him.”
“By sabotaging him. You don’t realise that it’s not just him you will hurt.” Wesley disagreed.
“It’s necessary.” Deborah stated.
“To get rid of him?” Wesley Questioned.
“You know it’s the right thing to do.” Deborah reminded him.
Wesley shook his head, “I have never seen you like this, D.”
“Like what?” She asked.
“So angry, so hateful…” Wesley sighed.
“I’m just doing what needs to be done. And right now? Syphus needs to go, no matter the cost.” Deborah clarified.
“I can’t agree to that…” Wesley opposed.
“Then you’re being foolish,” Deborah hissed, “If he doesn’t disappear, then everything will crumble and it will crumble on you! I’m not taking the fall for you, nor picking up the pieces. At this point, it’s your trust in him or your faith in me. And you must make your choice quickly.”
“We can discuss this later; I think you need time to cool down.” And as Wesley said that he walked out the room, down the hallway, to his office.
Autumn by then, had rushed off to Nelson’s office, to show him the tape. She knew it might take a while before they can hear what was on the tape, seeing as though Deborah’s office was right by some very noisy experiments. Yet, she knew it would be worth it.
*
Autumn rushed into his office, with gleaming eyes. Before she placed the recorder on his table. Her smile was big, big enough for Nelson to realise what she had found.
“So, did she admit to it?” Nelson questioned, not taking in any of Autumns joy.
Autumn quickly shook her head, “Not quite, but I think I have the information you’re looking for.”
“Good.” Nelson said plainly, before a smirk appeared behind his mask. He knew exactly what needed to be done.
Chloe Rose Wadman Jervis
