Chapter 3

Christie's second day on the job was a bit more enjoyable for her. She wasn't as nervous and was excited to put the information that she had learned to good use. When she got in that night, she was shown where her new cubicle would be, she set up her few belongings. She turned on her computer but when she reached for her headset, she couldn't find it. She asked Meg if she knew where to get a replacement.

"Ms. Gary usually keeps a few in her office." She answered. Christie went to Ms. Gary's office and asked for a new headset, but her supply had apparently run out.

"You will have to go get one, down in the Tech department. Take the elevator to the basement and go all the way back to the end of the hallway. Ask someone there for a new one and they will help you." Ms. Gary told her. Christie nodded and headed towards the elevator; she pushed the lowest button to get to the basement. The elevator doors opened with a ping that seemed to echo along the empty hallway. It was colder down here, and not as well lit, she noticed as she stepped out and walked towards the door at the end of the hall.

There were many doors on either side of her and she could hear machinery whirring or the odd clanging sound emanating from within them. She finally reached the door at the end and knocked quietly as she pushed open the door. Her eyes adjusted slowly to the dimness and she entered a dark room filled with metal shelves and computer parts. It smelled like dust and metal. She saw a pale glow, dimly shining from deep within the room. She made her way towards it and as she neared, she saw a bank of computer screens. There were 3 on a large desk. A man was sitting at the desk with his back towards her.

He had thick dark hair and surprisingly well-muscled shoulders for someone who worked with computers all day. "Umm… excuse me?" Christie said to the man. He jerked upright and startled her. She jumped and knocked something off of the shelf next to her. She tried to catch it and failed. She bent to pick it up; it was some kind of computer part. "I'm so sorry! I hope it's not broken!" she said, looking back up at the man.

He was standing next to the computers, but he was now wearing a black baseball cap and huge pair of black sunglasses. She looked at him in confusion.

"Why are you wearing sunglasses?"

The man cleared his throat. "I have a sensitivity to light." He said shortly. "Let me see that." He held out his hand for the part she was holding. She gave it to him. "It's not broken." He said after a quick examination and put it back on the shelf. "What are you doing down here?" he asked. He seemed almost nervous.

"I was told to come down here, to get a new headset, it's my first day and I need a new one." He looked at her. At least, his face was pointed at her, but she couldn't see his eyes through the dark glasses.

"This way." He said and strode off down the rows, not waiting for her. He was so tall that she had to hurry to keep up. He stopped suddenly and pulled a headset down off of a top shelf. It was still in its box. He handed it to her and their hands brushed. His felt smooth and firm. Her hands trembled as she took it. "Thank you." She whispered, suddenly feeling shy. He looked down and almost smiled. She turned to go, but she couldn't see the door from where she stood.

"Which way is out?" She asked him. He grabbed her shoulders and twisted her around. "That way." he said. His hands stayed on her shoulders for a few seconds too long and she had to start walking before he let go. She got to the end of the row and saw the exit. She looked back, but the strange man was gone.

"Hey Meg. Have you ever met that weird guy down in Tech?" Christie asked her over lunch.

Meg looked up at her in interest. "You actually saw him?!"

Christie nodded. "He gave me my headset when I went down there."

"Wow, people rarely ever see him. He mostly communicates through email and only works on the computers when we are all off the sales floor or sometimes even when we're here at lunch. He always wears a hat and glasses… We call him 'the Phantom' as a joke, but we think he found out about it, because his work email has the word phantom in it, maybe he likes it. "

Christie listened to all this incredulously. "That's strange..." Was all she could say.

"You guys talking about the phantom?"

Christie and Meg turned around and looked at the other table. The man who had spoken was the large, red-faced man with long hair. Meg had said his name was Joe.

"Yeah." Said Meg.

"Did she tell you why he wears the hat and glasses?" he asked Christie suggestively.

"No, do you know why?" She asked Joe.

"Well, years and years ago, there was this big fire that took out half the building, took years to rebuild. It's said that down in the basement, the fire alarms got drowned out by all the machinery and none of the people down there heard them go off in time to get out. Almost everyone made it out of the building in time… all except for the tech team. None of them got out alive, except for one guy, who got all burned and disfigured from the fire. And they say it's the same guy." He suddenly slammed his hand on the table and everyone jumped. Joe leaned back and laughed.

The woman with the red hair sneered at Joe. "I don't believe a word of it. They wouldn't let a man like that work here. This is a high-class company!"

Meg turned back to Christie. "Did you see any burns or scars or anything, when you talked to him?" She seemed more concerned than anything.

Christie tried to remember the man's face, but it had been so dark down there. "I don't remember seeing any burns, but he was wearing the hat and dark glasses. He said he was wearing them because he had a sensitivity to light."

"Yeah, FIRE light!" Joe said loudly, causing the two tall girls to titter behind their hands. Christie had learned that their names were Sylvia and Tatiana.

Meg stuck her tongue out at Joe and rolled her eyes and smiled at Christie. Ms. Gary poked her head in. "I hope that you're not telling tales again, Joe. How many times to I have to tell you to hold your tongue!"

The walk home after work was a little less scary than the night before. No one seemed to be following her this time, at least. When she got home, she poured herself a bowl of cereal and checked her phone, it had been off all day, but she wasn't really surprised to see that no one had texted. She opened her laptop and when she saw the skype icon on the desktop, she realized that she had completely forgotten about her French lesson. She typed a quick message explaining that she had changed her hours at her job so she wouldn't be able to do the lessons at the same time anymore.

After she sent the message, she opened up her browser, curiosity overtaking her, she typed in "Operius Fire". A list of results came up and she spent the next little while sifting through them. She was looking for an article that would help verify anything that Joe had said at lunch. She had to know the truth about the mysterious tech guy for some reason. She read a few of the articles, but none went into much detail. One of them listed the names of the people who had died; there were four. It also said that besides some mild cases of smoke inhalation, only one person was seriously injured; a man named Erik Bellom. Her eyes stayed glued to his name on the screen. Suddenly, her skype showed that her teacher had messaged her back. She numbly clicked open the message, seeing her teacher's name on the top of the screen… The name listed was Erik Bellom.