Final Collection

by Jesse Goodrich

CHAPTER 15

  Adam had hardly slept on the way to this destination, but his arms enjoyed the luxury of feeling rested. He was allowed to exit and witness exactly what the place he was kept in looked like; it had been a home not unlike the one he was to enter now. The house before him was a ranch style home with a basement on a decent amount of land that was kept somewhat apart from neighboring views. They had easily driven about three hours without taking any major highways Adam had recognized by the somewhat slow and uneasy pace of the driving as he drifted in and out of consciousness. At one point he must have slept at least a few minutes because he remembered dreaming of trying to ask Eva and Allen what he should do now but Eva had placed a finger over his lips and smiled while Allen walked away from him into nothingness, wiping him away from the picture of the dream entirely. Adam woke up imagining the smile was some sort of signal that everything is still okay. The door was opened and Adam was led back to the master bedroom. The house was filled with furniture but no decorations or personality of any kind; Adam had many questions but kept them reserved, observing as much about the routine of how he was being treated, which was fairly kind, as his surroundings. The walls at least had color suggesting it had been lived in before but how long ago could not be determined, there was no dust on any mantles or ledges and the lack of objects limited a weapon selection, not that Adam had more than a glimpse of thought about such things. The uniquely small woman sat down on a chair which was oddly directed to face out the front window while the large man led him into the bedroom and directly opened the closet exposing a limited selection of men’s clothing which hardly covered the hanging rack that ran the length of the closet; a pair of brown leather shoes rested beneath the pants. Adam finally brought up the strength to say anything since his interaction with the woman in the basement, “So big guy, will you be around longer than Mark?” The large man shifted and made his way out of the room, “Derek” his voice bellowed slightly echoing off the walls around ensuring Adam knew exactly who he was. Adam could have sworn he saw some paint dust falling from the ceiling but shook it off and brought the clothes into the bathroom connected to the master bedroom where a towel and some miniature sized cleaning supplies awaited him.

  The shower felt good even though Adam had wished to lie down to enjoy a bath, knowing that doing so would be a waste of important time, something apparently Mark hadn’t understood. Adam ran his current situation once over trying to decide if he should bother making any requests which would slightly set off time tables enough that he could manage getting a message out, somehow, as he ran a washcloth along the sides of his body and across his stomach to the other side. Clearly an attempt at conditioning him was over and he’d be moving on to meeting people, but it didn’t settle right, the clothes were plain but somewhat formal, and they couldn’t think he was just going to give himself over to them. Adam placed a very small amount of shampoo in his hands and began to lather while his thoughts moved. If he were to be ended, it would have happened already and Eva had said that he was to be protected at least for the time being, whether or not that was still relevant was somewhat in question but Adam finally let it go. There were two soft thuds on the bathroom door and Adam hurried to rinse the rest of his body before shutting off the water.

  Time warp

  The directors sat waiting for Adam to join the table in a building they rarely came to. The table was round with seating for eight, it was quartered and the center was removed to allow access from each direction; in reality there were four tables facing each other designed to look as one that had been sectioned. Two seats remained vacant somewhat opposite of each other, and at the tables containing an empty seat the pair of individuals sat watching each other while the other four were quite a bit above the volume of a serious discussion, bickering over the idea of having Adam join them today. The man staring across the room with almost a vacant expression had thick silver hair and for his age remained in quite healthy shape though he was not the man he used to be. He listened closely yet looked ready to sleep at any moment. The woman staring back looked incredibly tall although seated, she was slender with long thick hair shimmering white and her beauty had yet to fall from her almost as if she hadn’t thought to allow it. The waited, listening to the trivial discussion about it being too soon or too late or whether Adam was an appropriate choice and how he would be the perfect candidate to set in. It didn’t matter the constant gaze sent to one another said and the older man and the older woman smiled so slightly it would take someone watching them as intently as they were each other to notice the change of expression. The tables changed from sleek black to a soft glow of grayish blue with a notice on each one that someone approached with a video of Adam and the tiny woman coming down the corridor to the security door. The room fell silent and those who had been half standing or leaning came back to their seats.

  Time warp

  Adam stopped at a red and yellow strip of tape that ran along the floor in front of him and up the walls, suggesting that one shouldn’t cross until asked. She didn’t turn back or slow only made her way to the door several feet ahead arriving at a card reader with numeric entry. She stood about a head taller than the lock, swiped her card then pressed seven numbers Adam had heard the clicking while deliberately keeping his head turned so that he would not obtain information that would get him released from this life. The door unlocked and she pulled it open not bothering to hold it or turn back, Adam decided he was to follow and grabbed the door, inspecting the locking mechanism in the frame, four bolts and looking at the door itself he could see light passing the length of the door from one of the holes. Adam listened to the bolts, now determined to be rods slide through the door after it had closed. Ahead of him was a very small reception area with lighting he didn’t recognize but apparently made him think back to the alley he had nearly forgotten. At the desk, Adam first saw Derek then realizing the impossibility noticed the subtle differences between the large men; most noticeably that this man was larger than Derek. His expression of boredom, the same as Derek’s remained unchanged as he stood recognizing the importance of the tiny woman who passed by the desk to the double doors which once again required proper identification to gain entry. There were no other chairs in the room aside from the one the man stood from. As Adam came closer he noticed the man had a holster with some type of handgun though he wasn’t sure exactly which. He was not particularly interested in finding out at this moment either so he brought his gaze forward as a light in the door itself faded away bringing the door back to glossy white which was somewhat masked by the lighting from the surrounding walls. Adam passed through the doorways noticing from the corner of his vision that the man remained standing and couldn’t be sure he had sat down until the door closed behind them, but imagined he had. Adams attention focused back forward letting the sheer size of the man wash away; ahead were five pair of eyes gazing on him, making a sixth when the smallish woman strode to her seat and faced him. There remained one empty chair at a table for two with a man sitting beside the empty seat; he had not bothered to turn his attention to Adam. Adam approached the chair noticing the tables to be of the same gloss as the doors he had just come through, only it was black rather than white, the lighting in this room was quite blue giving Adam the impression this was a safe and calm environment. He sat down not bothering to look at the man beside him but noticed from periphery that the man was peering at him in much the same way, a very subtle smile of approval or satisfaction hinting on his face.

  Adam remained quiet, curious of two things, the table before him and the people who were simply watching him. The room was too cool to sweat, but knowing he would had it been any warmer, and that’s when his mind went from a waiting state to action, he pressed his hand on the table and it responded with a connection to his hand. Adam remembered playing with fish during feeding time and how they would suction and release. Adam’s hand moved freely but with the constant connection that felt more right
than disturbing or dangerous. He didn’t recognize any of the information or organization of it on the table top, everything looked like lines and partial numbers with periods, no squiggled letters, just straight lines organized in different patterns, irregular spacing; he brought his second hand up and felt a greater connection in both hands that seemed to run up above the wrists. He stopped focusing on the picture and brought his eyes up, feeling the information translate in him before looking back down; a burst of streamed information flashed in front of him just slow enough for him to process anything that came to his mind, it kept changing and following different channels of thought always following him but only slightly behind. Adam recognized the smile from the man sitting next to him, it was one of extreme satisfaction; he removed his hands, not entirely sure if he had everything he wanted yet, but unwilling to let his curiosity roam too freely felt it necessary. His mind fell almost immediately back to Eva, and he started to feel tired, wishing he could lie down and be comforted. Adam’s skin was cold and he was sweating; he shivered, let his head fall forward and everything faded away imagining life were a pillow and he was being comfortably suffocated.