It was over before it began.
The office had been rendered barren, stripped of all life and activity. Where my co-workers had once hustled and bustled about the place now lay plain, lifeless desks, chairs and computers with the same blinking cursors. How long have I watched these computers, waiting for even the slightest deviation? How many times have I repeated the same god forsaken steps?
I am all alone here, in body at least. The voice never stops. The endless narration, driving me to the point of insanity, has been my only company for a long time. No matter how many times I try to defy him, or voice my objections, he disregards it all, and continues with the repetitive drones and snide comments of every little step I take. It's as though he cannot hear me.
I have repeated these steps so many times that I have memorised them to the letter. I begin in my office, walk down the hall, passing the other's desks, until I come to a room with two doors. One on the right. One on the left. The voice from above insists that I am to take the door on the left, and every time I am left with a choice; submit or defy, left or right, all leading to futility.
I shook him off once. After the fourth or fifth journey through the office halls I attempted to leave him in the dust. A simple matter of stepping back upon entering my boss' office was all it took to silence him. That feeling of empowerment, to silence his voice for good, gave me such a thrill. It was so long ago that I can hardly remember why I was so overjoyed. Maybe I was just sick of him and his baritone voice. However it turned out to be just as frivolous. After the thrill had worn out I took a trip back through the halls and returned to my office, to discover the door next to my office had been opened. Had it ever been open before, I thought to myself? I had never even remembered the door having a handle, yet there it was clear as day. A venture through the door led me to a room marked "Escape Pod". Finally, salvation! I leaped and bounded to the door of the chamber, embracing my freedom and saying farewell to this nightmare.
Yet I was wrong. I was so wrong.
Just inches away from the door and I blacked out, and awoke back in my office. No, I thought, this is impossible! I was so close! And the narrator fired off again. "All of his co-workers were gone. What could it mean?" he said in that loathsome pseudo-enthusiastic tone. God, how I detest him so. What prompted this hellish torture? I always strived to be a good man, to obey the rules and lead a good life.
Yet here I am. It must have been days since this endeavour began, Time is meaningless when you repeat the same point in your life endlessly. I have found comfort in this broom closet, as it appears to be the only place where his influence does not reach. Between this and the last paragraph I have found more of his insidious 'endings' yet the writing on this computer stays the same.
I don't know what to do. When I get even a glimpse of freedom, it is stripped from me and I appear back in my office room, and I am greeted with his infernal voice. Every 'ending' is just another ploy by him to try to make me believe that I have a say in the matter, and even after repeating them he still plays along as though it had started afresh.
I just want it to be over. I want this nightmare to end once and for all. If only I could pull the plug and end this all. Yet it matters not.
It was over before it began.