Reader Part One

by Aaron Fields X

to his apartment door, discovering he had left it open when he rushed to talk to Maar. He didn’t normally do that but he was tired and just wanted to go to sleep.

  As he stepped passed the alcove that was his kitchen he noticed something out of the corner of his eye, that small grey cat sitting in the corner of two cabinets staring up at him with light grey eyes. Bersti knew that leaving his door open was a mistake, now this dirty stray had wandered into his house, probably spreading miniscule insects throughout his home.

  The thought of it was unpleasant and Bersti walked over to shoo the stray out of the house, but as he approached it ran between his legs and towards the bathroom and nudged its way into the room, Bersti rushed after it opening the bathroom door slowly. It was as dark as tar; he’d never be able to see that pesky feline, but as he reached for the light switch it wasn’t there

  Curious how difficult it is to find things in the dark for some people. I’d never found any difficulty in navigating darker rooms but everyone is different, you’re probably not a very good swimmer, or maybe you’d rather not deal with technology. Either way, we’re all different.

  Bersti took a cautious step into his bathroom, his hand still searching for the switch for the light. Why was it so dark in this room? Where was that blasted cat that he’d seen all day? He stepped all the way in and closed the door behind him so the cat wouldn’t get back into the main room and after the door had shut he’d found that elusive switch.

  The light’s flickered on and Bersti realized he wasn’t standing in his bathroom. Instead he stood in a ten by ten room with matte white walls, completely empty. Well, empty except for him and that cat. He saw it sitting in the far corner of the room, staring intently at the dumbfounded Bersti.

  Bersti instantly decided he’d leave that room but the door wouldn’t open, and the more he tried the less the door would shake until no matter how hard he pulled the door sat in place. He turned to face the cat who had led him into this sterile white room and as his eyes met the cat’s, the small animal stood and padded over to him and released something from its mouth.

  A small silver key, it looked like his apartment key. “What are you doing with that?” He reached down and picked up the key and examined it closely. It read the name of his apartment complex and underneath that name was the number six. It was his neighbor’s key.

  Confused he raised his eyes once more and the cat had vanished from that small room. Bersti tried the door once more, but still it wouldn’t budge. What was he to do? Where had that cat gone? Then he decided he’d try the key on the door, and slid the small piece of silver into the slot. It fit, and as he turned the key he heard it working. The door would open, and as relief washed over him he opened the door to see another room, this room was lined with mirrors.

  He could see his reflection from every angle, it disoriented him and he almost failed to notice that mischievous cat slip behind one of the mirrors. But Bersti did notice, and he followed. The gap was almost too thin for him to fit, but as he squeezed behind the mirror he found himself in a pure white hall. He saw the cat trotting its way down the hall and he followed it.

  The hall went on for ages, he couldn’t tell if he as getting closer to the end or not but soon he lost sight of the cat, it had turned and Bersti was glad to see that there was an end coming to this seemingly infinite hall.

  As Bersti reached where the cat had turned there was nothing, it was a dead end. He looked behind him to see another door. Confused he attempted to open the door, finding it was again, locked. He looked around and saw another key hanging from the ceiling above him, as he pulled it down he read the name of the apartment building, the same key. Except now it was for room number five. He slid the key into the lock and again it he unlocked the door.

  Bersti opened it to reveal his apartment, but he didn’t step from his bathroom but from the door that lead to the hall. How had he gotten across the room without ever crossing the room? He stepped slowly passed his kitchen and into the main room. That grey feline sat in his armchair with the book Bersti was reading earlier at its paws. It was looking curiously at the title, Doctor Sleep.

  “Get out!” Bersti shouted, which made it look up at him, and again he could have sworn he saw it grin.

  And they’re off!

  Bersti sat in work, toiling his life away for that amazing mineral and his meager pay when suddenly he found himself finished before the day was over. There was no more paperwork in his in basket. He had finished it all. What was he to do now? He sat staring at his in basket for a moment, hoping silently to himself someone would drop of a couple more hours of work, but minutes passed and he was left simply staring at his basket.

  How had he finished a day’s work in less than half his work day? Had he become more productive, or had the work load just been light this day? He had three hours left on his schedule before he could leave for home and if he were to tell someone they’d most likely make fun of him for working too hard… And besides, he wouldn’t be allowed to leave early just because he had finished early.

  “Well I guess you’ll just have to sit there until it’s time for all of us to leave.” His supervisor would say… Besides, they only handed out lorsh at the end of the day and he couldn’t leave without taking it. He leaned back in his desk chair and sighed softly, tilting his head backwards so he could see an upside down version of the world behind him.

  Then something happened, someone rushed into the room and grabbed his supervisor saying something Bersti couldn’t hear. Bersti saw the stranger wore a patch on his shoulder, probably military. Suddenly the whole office was stirring and one by one people started going out of the office building and Bersti followed at the back of the crowd.

  As he reached the front door of his building he heard murmurs and mixed conversations on the road outside, there was an enormous crowd gathered in front of his building. What had gathered such attention? He thought as he stepped outside and as he did so something landed on his shoe. Looking down he spied a small drop of a deep colored liquid on his shoe.

  “Blood” He thought quickly, and then he looked above himself, taking a few steps away from the building looking back at it as he got a better angle. There was a man hanging from the roof of the building, about half way down. A rope around his neck, his hands and feet tied together, He noticed the man was wearing a patch on his arm like the military man who came in earlier.

  “Everyone I need you to clear out.” An authoritative voice rang through the crowd and they all went silence. “A guard has been murdered this afternoon, and we need you all to clear out for our investigation.” Everyone did as they were told and cleared out, some going back into their offices, most going home, but oh no what does Bersti do, he keeps his eyes locked on the dead man dripping blood down the building and onto the sidewalk from fifty feet off the ground.

  “Murdered?” He’d never heard the word spoken, such an evil word to him. I’ve always thought the term Man slaughter sounded far more heinous, but that’s just me. Anyway...

  A man walked over to Bersti and pushed him away from the site of the murder and Bersti walked towards his home. He walked two blocks and saw that evil little feline set out of an ally he was about to walk passed. It looked up at him and then turned and walked down the side walk away from him.

  Bersti passed by the alleyway and head soft crying coming from the alley. A dirty woman sat half hidden behind a stack of shipping containers; the first thing he noticed was her shoes, or the lack of them. Her feet were bare and dirty. Her clothes were heavily stained, deep red stains from head to toe.

  He stepped over to the woman and she gave a panicked breath as she noticed him standing there.

  “Hey, are you okay?” Bersti asked, but before he could get any closer she got up and swung a knife at him. He scrambled backwards, falling to his back and she stood over him wielding a sharp looking blade. His heart raced and then she was on him, without making a noise she drove the blade into his side, slipping easily u
nderneath his rib cage.

  He could do nothing but grimace in agony. It burned more than anything he’d felt before. He opened his eyes and searched around him for anything to help him. There was nothing, nothing but this manic woman holding a knife inside him. He was going to die.

  He laid there for a moment and then something drove his hand up and made his hand strike against the woman’s face. His survival instinct kicked in and adrenaline made him hit her, again and again until she no longer defended herself. He screamed in a panicked rage and stopped short of beating the woman to death.

  Then the pain returned to him, the blade had dug to its handle and all the moving couldn’t have done his insides any favors. He grabbed the handle and decided it was best to take it out as cleanly as possible, but his body didn’t agree and decided to pull it out as fast as possible. The pain buckled his body and he fell to his side, clutching the gushing wound with his free hand.

  He took himself back to his knees and then to his feet, what had happened… He didn’t know what to do so he wandered down the alley, leaning against a wall for support as he made his way towards home. He couldn’t see straight, his vision blurred over and over but he wasn’t going to let himself