Chapter 10:
As the weeks go by, I am really starting to feel at home at my new research position at the museum. I really click with my colleagues and I have made some close friends in some of the other departments as well. Since that first jog, I have jogged with Jasiri a second time and I have had coffee with Beshte and some of my lab colleagues a few times.
But even when I have developed these friendships there was one thing that I was still suspicious about...none of them seemed to be available at night. Even when I have had friends that over-occupy themselves but I never saw it in a way in which they are never available any night but are open to any time during the day.
It's a warm Friday morning in early July, as usual I took the Blue and Red Lines to work. I am both excited and anxious for later tonight because the museum is having this summer gala for researchers and employees. Even though that I'm excited to have some time to hang out with my colleagues but I am also a little nervous for this gala since it is black tie formal and the museum president and their family will be attending this event.
I eventually went into the museum, check in with security and I went upstairs to the DNA lab department. I went into my office and placed by bag under my desk, grabbed my laptop and lab notebooks to head to the lab. As I was about to grab a lab coat when I noticed something different about it...instead of the blank lab coat that I have usually grabbed for the past month, I saw a lab coat that had some blue towards the upper left area. I looked closely at the writing to see whose coat it is and it said:
Dr. Edwin G. Mariani, PhD
Genetics Researcher
I was surprised to see that it was actually my jacket. Even when I knew that I would eventually get a jacket with my name on it, I didn't think it would be that soon. I then heard footsteps in the hallway near the laboratory along with a familiar voice.
"I see that figured out our little surprise." I turned around to see Ma Tembo with her lab coat and hair in a bun. She seemed to be giving a gentle smile to me.
"Oh hi Ma Tembo! I just found the coat right now. I honestly didn't think this happen until later because when I was working at Genico, I didn't receive my jacket until I have worked there four months." I said in surprise yet delight.
"That might be how things are done at Genico, but not here. We usually give named jackets to researchers after their first month to mark their first milestone while working for us and as of today Edwin, you have reached that first milestone." Ma Tembo said with a sense of pride in her voice.
"This is so sweet of you Ma Tembo, I really appreciate the gesture. Thank you!" I replied.
"It's my pleasure, Edwin. How is sequencing the lichen DNA going?" Ma Tembo asked.
"It's going well, though it can be time consuming sequencing each individual strand of DNA." I replied.
"I understand, sometimes I feel the same way when I constantly help out the interns, but it's rewarding." Ma Tembo said before heading to the back of the lab.
The next few hours after that moment were exhausting, whether it was sequencing lichen genomes to assisting the interns with their projects. After those four hours, I finally decided to go on my lunch break. I went down to the cafe with the rest of my colleagues and we went to sit at our usual table. We sat down looking all exhausted hoping for a moment of rest, but that was slightly interrupted when Beshte approached our table.
"Hey guys, how's it… man you guys look wiped out? Did you guys ran a marathon in the lab or something?" Beshte said while he was sitting down. This made me wake up a little bit.
"Wait wha… oh hey Beshte, no we didn't run a marathon, our lab's interns have just been driving us insane this week and they practically exhausted us to death today." I replied in a tired yet slightly irritated tone.
"So many questions, so many people asking for help,and I just need some space from it all." Bupu said in a definitively irritated tone.
"I guess I can understand, I have encountered like 10 children who try to touch the artifacts, 8 obnoxious tourists, 4 lost children and one kid who threw up in the first floor hallway." Beshte said.
"I'm just ready for this day to be over so that I can get ready for the gala tonight." Makini said.
"I know, I already have a dress ready picked out." Vuruga said.
"That's cool, I also rented a tux from this place on Dearborn." Pete said.
"That's cool. I'm just going to wear the tuxedo I wore for my PhD ceremony with a different tie, but I'm not concerned about that, what I am concerned about is that I might accidentally make a fool of myself in front of the museum president." I said
"Oh don't worry, you'll be fine. The museum president is a fairly reasonable person. I've known the family for years." Beshte said.
At that point of the conversation, Jasiri walked to our table and sat down. Since my first week at the museum, she and Makuu occasionally sit with us during our lunch breaks.
"Hey guys, I just need to warn you that when Makuu comes..do NOT say anything about interns, one of them messed up big in our lab and Makuu is still pissed about it. So just try to talk about anything else." Jasiri said in a worried tone.
"Okay, we won't mention it Jasiri. It's probably for our benefit too, our interns have drove us insane today too." I replied with a reassuring tone. But when Makuu started to walk towards our table. The table fell into silence, with all of us shifting our concentration towards our lunches. After a few seconds, Beshte decided to break the ice.
"Hey Makuu, got any plans for this weekend? Because a friend of mine from the army is visiting and we plan to go out for some drinks Saturday night, you're more than welcome to join us if you want?" Beshte said. Makuu just then gave out an irritated stare baring an expression that was almost anger but not exactly full-blast anger.
"I'm sorry Beshte but I'm not exactly in the mood to socialize. One of those motherfucking interns damaged one of my specimens! I still can't believe that for nineteen-twenty years old, an intern could have the coordination of a frigging ten year old. On second though perhaps I should join you for that drink so that I can just forget about today completely." Makuu said in an irritated tone.
"I guess we can understand, our interns have been driving us crazy this week too. We could just let it go at the gala tonight." Vuruga said.
"Yeah, I'm sure you'll just forget about what those interns did after you get some time to relax tonight." Pete said.
"Excuse me guys, but I'm just going to use the restroom, can you watch my stuff for me, it'll just be a minute?" I said.
"Sure Edwin, we can watch your stuff" Makini said in a casual tone. After which, I began to rise from my seat and head towards the bathroom.
Third Person P.O.V:
As Edwin left to use the restroom, something popped into Bupu's head. His eyes slightly widened band turned to the rest of the group.
"Uh guys, I just thought of something, since Edwin is going to the gala tonight, that would mean…" Bupu was about to finish before the others catch up to the realization.
"He's going to find out! Oh my! I don't know how we are going to explain this to him!" Vuruga said with obvious signs of anxiety.
"Calm down, Vuruga, you don't want him to get suspicious. If he has to find out this way, let's just let him find out. I have jogged with him like two or three times, I think he might be understanding towards the situation that we went through." Jasiri replied.
"Wait a sec? you guys haven't told him yet?! Perhaps there will be something interesting to see other than a boring gala." Makuu said in a shocked tone. Though he also was a little amused of the possible reaction that Edwin will have of this revelation.
"This is not something to joke around about Makuu! We don't know how Edwin is going to handle this!" Makini said with irritation.
"Okay, Okay guys calm down, I'm sure that Edwin would understand when he finds out. But if it will be anything like how I found out then I would recommend that someone should try to calm him down. Let's just make the gala be the cam before the storm" Pete said.
Edwin P.O.V.
I walked towards the table and I see many of the others seemed to be deep in discussion.
"Hey guys, what are you talking about?" I asked. After I said that, I just received a bunch of awkward stares from them as if I told them that there was a fire.
"Oh hi Edwin, we were just talking about...uhhhh...oh we were just talking about some of the stuff each of our interns have done." Makini said in a rushed manner. She almost seemed as if she was stressed about something.
"Okaay?..." I said. I'm a little suspicious because this has not been the first time that they had an anxious dialogue when I left the room. Is it related to my job performance? Are they trash-talking about me behind my back? Are they planning a surprise party? Or is it even about me? Is one of them going through something?
I just sat down and continued to eat my lunch. There were like two minutes of silence before Vuruga stared at me from her plate.
"So Edwin, I saw that you got your lab coat engraved with your. That's cool!" She said.
"Thanks! I just received it this morning." I said.
"I also noticed that you're engraving, said Edwin G. Mariani. I'm just curious, what does the G stands for?" Makini asked.
"Oh, the G stands for Gianluca, my middle name. Yeah, it was my mother's father's name." I replied.
"Okay, are you close with him?" Makini asked.
"To some extent, I have visited him like once or twice a year but he died when I was thirteen." I said.
"Oh I'm sorry to hear that." Makini replied.
"It's okay, it was like fifteen years ago and he lived a full-life." I replied. We just talked about more casual topics and we soon went back to our labs.
For me the rest of that day was spent sequencing parts of lichen genomes. Several of my colleagues and I actually finished an hour early, possibly due to the gala. So I took the Red and Blue Lines home and when I got back to my apartment I changed out of the clothes that I was wearing at work today so that I could change into my tuxedo for tonight.
To see how it looked on me, I walked in front of my bathroom mirror. I saw that it still looked the same as when I first earned my PhD. It was just a black suit pants and jacket with a white button down shirt under it. I also put on a blue clip-on bow tie for a new touch.
After having a breath mint, I placed my phone, keys and wallet into my pants pocket. I then placed my hair back in a ponytail and I headed out for the door to walk the two flights to the first floor.
It was around 5:30 when I reached the corner of Kedzie and Milwaukee and I ordered an Uber off of my phone. I'm taking an Uber because first, I don't want to risk getting a stain on my tux in the subway and my car at the mechanic until tomorrow morning, so Uber is my only option for now.
After my Uber arrived, I stared out the window to see if watching the buildings would help calm me down. I eventually arrived at the museum half an hour later. I walked to see that some people also in formal wear were entering the museum. I reached my pocket to grab my museum ID and I saw that Beshte was working in the front gate in a similar tuxedo that I was wearing. I approached him with my ID.
"Hey Beshte, looking sharp!" I said. He then turned his head towards me and gave out a light chuckle.
"Hey Edwin! Thanks! I like your tux too! It's suits you well." Beshte replied, while I gave him my ID.
"Thanks! I can't wait to loosen up and relax from this stressful week" I said.
"Me neither, I'll probably join in once I finish checking people in." Beshte said, while he gave me my ID back.
"I hope you have a good time Edwin." Beshte said.
"Thanks! You too!" I said, while walking into the museum.
As I walked through the glass doors, I saw that the main floor was decked out with tables spread out across the white marble floor; there was even one table a few feet from the titanosaurus skeleton and one a few feet from the totem poles. Each table was round with a cream colored table cloth with around seven or eight black chairs around these circular tables. I approached a table that has several name tags and I saw that one of the tags had my name on it and below my name I saw that it had the number 10 on it. Since I also saw that there were numbers on the tables so I presume that it was my table number.
I walked around the plaza to see that many people were talking with each other whether they were standing around or sitting at a table. I eventually found the table which seated both my colleagues from the genetics lab and even some from the fossil lab… I guess they grouped all those in the sciences at one table.
Among my colleagues, I saw that Bupu was wearing a black corduroy suit jacket, matching pants, a white button down underneath with a brown bowtie. Vuruga was wearing a solid dark red dress with a gold chain and earrings. Pete was wearing a tux with a black suit jacket with a white undershirt and a tan bow tie. Makini was wearing a strapless lavender dress with some lace patterns present while also wearing the little silver earrings she wore to work today. Along with my colleagues in the genetics lab, I saw Makuu wearing a similar tux to Pete's but with a light green bowtie. I then approached the table and took a seat.
"Hey guys, you are all looking nice!" I said as I sat down.
"Hi Edwin! Thank you! You are looking sharp yourself!" Makini replied.
"Thanks! I guess it doesn't look bad after a year or two of not wearing it." I said.
"I honestly wouldn't have guessed that you haven't worn it in a year, it still looked as if it had just been dry cleaned." Bupu said.
"I agree, you look pretty nice Edwin!" a voice said from behind me. I turned around to see that it was Jasiri and in my mind, my jaw dropped when I saw what she was wearing. She was absolutely gorgeous.
I saw that she was wearing a dark midnight blue dress, which had a pattern of clear sequents in the upper half with some dark purple sapphire earrings to compliment the indigo streaks in her hair.
"Oh...hi Jasiri!...uhh..You look amazing tonight! Love the dress" I said in a slightly nervous tone. I thought making a fool of myself near the museum president was my main concern for tonight, but I guess that making a fool of myself in front of Jasiri.
"Thanks! I got it at this store on Washington Boulevard and I have saved up some money for a month to buy this...uhh Edwin are you okay?" Jasiri said looking a little bit worried. Her concern was probably caused by me dazily staring at her because I got distracted by her beauty. I then heard her ask me if I was okay so I shook my head and got myself back into focus.
"Oh I'm fine, I was just curious on where you got those earrings. They really look good on you." I said as an attempted save.
"Oh okay, thanks and these earrings were a gift from an old friend." She said.
Soon thirty minutes pass by and as we ate our appetizers, we saw Ma Tembo walking towards our table carrying a half-filled wine glass. She was wearing a yellow dress with long sleeves and little gold sphere earrings.
"Edwin, pleasure to see you! There are some people that I would like to introduce you to. They are right this way." Ma Tembo said while gesturing her hand towards a table behind her.
"Okay..sure." I said as I stood up and started to follow her towards where she was gesturing.
As I followed Ma Tembo, we approached a table with six people sitting in it. I saw that security guard, Kion, was there with his red hair in a similar pony tail to mine, while wearing a black tuxedo with a red pocket square. I also saw that tour guide, I think her name was either Vitani or Milani, but that's beside the point. Anyway, the tour guide was wearing a cream white dress with a silver oval pin on her dress's left sleeve and on that pin was the letter "V" so I guess my first guess of "Vitani" was right. Along with those two people, I also saw four totally new people at the table and two of them had long hair like me, but their hair is slightly longer. One man with a black tuxedo and white tie, looked as if he was in his mid to late fifties and he had brown eyes with long brown hair that seems to show a little graying. The other new guy had much darker hair, practically pitch black, with green eyes and he appeared to be in his early thirties. The black haired guy was wearing a black tuxedo with a white rose on his lapel. There were also two women at the table, one of them was about the same age as the brown haired guy but she had short blond hair, deep blue eyes and was wearing a solid black silk dress with a v-neck along with a gold chain and diamond earrings. The other woman was closer in age to the black-haired guy and she had short blond hair as well, but a darker shade than the other woman. She also had brown eyes, and was wearing a green dress with some lace patterns, one strap over her right shoulder, with a thin silver necklace and some green sapphire earrings to match her dress.
"Hello your majesties, I would like to introduce you to Dr. Edwin Mariani, our newest researcher in the genetics lab. He is helping us determine the rate of mutation of lichen DNA in correlation to changing environmental conditions." Ma Tembo said. I wonder why she was introducing me to this group of people and why did she refer to them as 'your majesties'...oh crap, are they members of some country's royal family? Or are they aristocracy from the UK.?...Okay, I'm really nervous now.
"Hello, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintances tonight." I said to them and they just stared at each other for a second or two ...Why did I just say that? Tell me!..Why the hell did I just say that?..But suddenly I heard a little bit of laughter coming from two or three members of the groups.
"You too Edwin! but we would have just gone with a casual greeting, I'm actually not that into formal stuffy titles like that, we're not royalty or anything like that. By the way, I'm Kiara, Kiara Furahi-Mgeni, I work in the General Counsel." The woman in the green dress said while reaching out her hand for a shake.
"Nice to meet you Ms. Furahi-Mgen-" I said while shaking her hand.
"Actually, I just prefer Kiara, I am not one for titles." Kiara then said in a casual tone.
Seeming to have jovial attitude about it and she seemed like an approachable person. Then the guy with the long black hair and green eyes stood up and reached out his hand.
"Nice to meet you Dr. Mariani, my name is Dr. Kovu Mgeni, but you can just refer to me as Kovu. I work in the artifact conservation lab and I am also Kiara's husband." He said while shaking my hand.
"It's a pleasure Kovu, you can call me Edwin, or even Ed if you want." I replied as we released from each other's grip. He then walked towards the tour guide.
"This is my sister, Vitani, she's a tour guide here." Kovu said. While I was shaking her hand, Kovu then moved towards Kion.
"And this is Kion, he is Kiara's brother and he is a security guard for the museum." Kovu continued.
"Oh yeah, we have actually met before by the check-in a few times." I replied as the two of us shook hands.
"Oh yeah, you're that genetics guy who always seems to almost scratches my shoes." Kion said in a calm yet tellingly irritated tone.
"Oh yeah, I'm sorry about that, I guess my mind always just seems to be focused on work, and sometimes my phone." I said, trying to lighten the mood of the conversation.
"Well, I think you should be focused on watching where you are going." Kion said blankly while walking towards a nearby table. After this the blonde woman in the black dress came towards Ma Tembo and I.
"Don't worry about him, he can be a little blunt sometimes, but he's a decent person to be around. Oh, where are my manners, I'm Nala Furahi, I'm the museum's chief financial officer and I'm also Kiara and Kion's mother." She said while shaking my hand.
Nala then gestured towards the long brown-haired man next to her, who in response began to look towards me.
"And this is my husband, Simba, he is the museum's chief executive officer and the museum's president." Nala said.
After Nala said that her husband was the museum president, many emotions were running through my head. Should I try to continue a conversation or should I just shake his hand and just leave? Or perhaps I already made a bad impression through that ridiculous greeting. So I just reached out to shake his hand.
"Hello Mr. Furahi, it is a pleasure to meet you and i apologize if my greeting earlier was overly formal greeting earlier." I said to try to lighten things up.
"Oh no, it's okay, I actually thought it was kind of creative. So I heard that you are studying lichen DNA, can you tell me a little more about that?" Simba said.
"Sure, so you know how the structures of certain proteins can change in response to an alteration of temperature and pH? Well our study is trying to determine the specific proteins, sequences and other aspects of the DNA of those lichen proteins with both current environmental conditions and the conditions of samples that have been collected over the course of several decades. We are particularly studying lichen species such as-" I was telling him before I heard a xylophone tone. After hearing the tone I saw Simba pick up his phone.
"Your research sounds interesting Edwin, but I have to take this phone call right now. But it was nice meeting you!" Simba said before he put the phone to his ear.
I started to talk a little about my research to the group and they seem to have some level of interest in the subject. After I finished, Ma Tembo and I headed back to the table with our group and we all started to head to the caterers to get our meals. After getting our food we were talking to each other, sometimes complaining about our interns and even sharing a few stories. For example, I learned that Makini and Makuu are actually in the same self-defense class and that Vuruga once thought about becoming a cardiologist before becoming a genetics researcher.
It is almost eight thirty in the evening and we were just talking as we have been for the previous hour. But then came a sudden feeling in my gut...perhaps that chicken I ate didn't agree with me.
"Excuse me, guys, I'm just going to use the restroom for a little bit, can you save my seat for me." I asked.
"Sure no problem Edwin." Jasiri said. I then walked towards the restroom and I looked around at all the other people in the plaza having a good time.
When I entered the restroom I saw that it had been recently mopped so I approached with caution to avoid slipping on the wet floor but then I almost slipped when I heard a loud groan.
"Aaaggghhh", After hearing that I try to reposition my feet and continued to walk towards a stall... I guess someone else's digestive system disagreed with the food tonight.
I was in the stall for five or six minutes and after I flushed the toilet and pulled my pants up. But I when I opened the door, I just stared in utter shock and surprised because towards my left where the sinks were I swear that in front of me was...a lion in a tuxedo?
But that was NOT all, because this lion was standing on two legs, with his shoes on and they were using a cell phone like a human being. I then saw that they put away the phone in their pants pocket and began to place his hands..or paws in the water. Their hands were something that I have never seen before in my life. They seemed to have the same shaped hands and fingers as humans but when I took a peak at their palms of their hands through the mirror, I saw that there were these black formations in the palm and fingers around the dark brown fur on his hands. The brown of his fur was darker than I have seen on any picture or zoo exhibit, it was almost a gingerbread color but slightly darker than that. This lion also had pitch black hair or mane... or whatever he has, but the most noticeable detail about them was what looks like a scar across their left eye.
I was shocked to see this, but what shocked me was that his tuxedo looked familiar in a way with the green eyes and the white rose on his jacket. Then I realized that it was probably that Kovu guy I met earlier and perhaps I only see him as a lion because I've probably overworked this week and I'm probably just seeing things out of straight up exhaustion. So after the lion...I meant Kovu left, I just put some water on my face to wake myself up a little bit.
But when I got out of the restroom….the surprise was just beginning.
I looked to see that with the exception of a few people, everyone in the plaza suddenly became animals, all of the sudden. There was a zebra and giraffe chatting with each other in one table, an enlarged meerkat talking to what looks like a badger in the next table, and the people that Kovu was sitting with earlier we all lions now, in which they were in the middle of toasting their wine glasses.
What is going on? Did I get drunk off only half a glass of wine? Or was there something in my food causing me to hallucinate? Has my food been laced with something? I JUST NEED AN ANSWER ON WHAT'S GOING ON?!
So in a state of confusion, I cautiously went back to my table and my fair share of surprises has not ended. When I got to my table, I saw that everyone there sitting around my table, have 'transformed' as part of this possible hallucination. They were all wearing the same clothes but they were all anthropomorphic animals, but Pete was the only one who looked normal. From the table I saw that apparently, Ma Tembo was now an elephant, Bupu was an antelope, Makini was a mandril, Vuruga was some type of buffalo, Makuu was a crocodile, and Jasiri was some type of long-haired hyena. I wonder why Pete is the only one that still appears human?
As I approached the table, I couldn't help but overhear a discussion they were having with each other.
"I am sorry guys but I am not sure how to explain this Edwin.." Makini began to say.
"Explain what to me?!" I interrupted in surprise. Did they know what was going on with me? Anyway, my interruption seemed to have startled them a little bit.
"Oh Edwin! Uhh...well we were just talking about.." Makini began to say while the rest of the group seemed to flash a bunch of awkward smiles and expressions.
"Wait? Did one of you put something in my food?! Or can you please tell me why I am seeing these hallucinations all of the sudden? Because even since I went to the restroom, I have been seeing animals that are normally on four legs only standing on two? I'm not sure why these visions are animal based but-" I was saying all of this in a panicked and confused tone.
All of the sudden, Jasiri started to walk towards me and sat in the empty chair next to me, with an apprehensive expression on her face.
"Edwin, I'm not sure how to explain this but...uh... but...just feel my hand and I'll swear that this is real. Nobody drugged you or anything like that." She said slowly with a much quieter tone as she began to stretch her arm towards me.
"What do are talking about Jasiri?! Someone must have drugged my food! Why am I seeing these hallucinations? And what does feeling your arm have anything to do about-" I was beginning to say... but I eventually stopped when I touched her arm.
I was shocked to feel that her entire arm was covered in soft, greyish-brown fur, though I saw some areas have almost spots of a dark purple-black color. When I got closer to her hands I saw that her palms had similar formations to the ones I saw on Kovu's hands in the bathroom. I felt to see that it the formations had an almost scratchy, flesh-like texture. I then took a look at her nails and saw that they were that they were now small black claws in their place. I was just beside myself in confusion...practically shocked in silence.
"Wha..Wha..Why am I feeling fur on your arm?! Why are your nails claws?! You guys can't be werewolves or anything like that...cause those are make-believe, Right?!. Is this some kind of medical condition? Or…" I was just trying to think and talk of explanations of what is happening here.
"Edwin, there is something that we need to-" Jasiri said before I interrupted her.
"That's it! Perhaps I got myself so exhausted work that I literally drove myself insane! Yeah, yeah that's probably it! ...All I need is just some rest and relaxation! Yeah!" I said as I began to stand from my chair while the others just stared at me with concerned expressions.
I'm sorry that I'm leaving so early, I had a good time but I need some time to just refresh my-" I began to say before I accidentally bumped into someone.
"Oh I'm so sor-" I said but paused when I felt and looked at their hands and thy were dry, grey and wrinkly with wide black appendages and I looked up at the person… and that person was actually a hippo! They just appeared to have a bit of a surprised expression on their face.
"Wha Wha what?! Or who are you?!" I said practically yelling. The hippo's expression changed from a surprised to a concerned expression.
"Edwin? Please calm down. it's me Beshte. Let me-" The hippo began to say before I interrupted them.
"Aw man, either I've really lost my mind or I somehow entered an alternate dimen-Or is this some kind of government experiment that I accidentally walked into?! Uhh… I NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE!" I screamed in a panicked frenzied state.
As I began to run to the staircase to the lower floor I heard Beshte's voice calling towards me.
"EDWIN WAIT!"
I bolted down the staircase to the lower floor and I saw the glass door towards the parking lot and park outside the museum. I don't care if it's night and I don't have my car at the moment. I don't care if I have to take the Red Line, bus, hitch-hike or even run all the way back home, I JUST NEED TO GET OUT OF THIS MUSEUM!
I began to run towards the doors down the hallway, my escape was only yards away! I was about to go leave...but I then stopped when another figure walked right in front of me...and they had a gun!
As I raised my arms above my head, I noticed that the gunman was also wearing a tuxedo with a black jacked, but they had a blue and purple pocket square with a red bow tie. As I saw their face; I saw that they had the face of what appears to be some kind of primate with long white hair, red and blue stripes down their face and brown eyes. I think I've seen this type of primate in a book or something, I believe they're called mandrills..But that is besides the point now since they are now pointing their pistol directly towards me.
"Please! Please! Please don't shoot me! I promise I won't tell anyone! In fact you don't even have to pay me to keep my mouth shut! Just let me leave and your secret is safe with-" I said as I tried to negotiate with them but they continued to position their gun towards me while they gestured me to be quiet.
"Don't worry Edwin, this will only hurt a little bit,... this is for your own good." An old familiar voice came out, as if she was trying to calm me down.
"Wait?! How do you know my- Holy shit! You're that guy from human resour-" I began to say when he slowly placed his finger on the trigger.
"NO! NO! WAIT! WAIT! I promise that I won't tell! PLEASE DON'T SHOOT ME! PLEASE JUST LET ME GO-" I plead with my life when I heard…a click.
Why didn't I hear a gunshot, did they use a silencer or is gun jammed. When I tried to look for another way out.. I felt a stinging pain on my shoulder.
I saw that there was some type of dart sticking in my shoulder blade. Why was there a dart in my shoul- is this some kind of tranquilizer dart..or was it a poison dart so my death won't leave any blood stains?
Either way, I yanked the dart out of my shoulder and I quickly ran in circles to see if there was another exit, while the human resources guy was just standing there with the gun for some reason.
I then saw that one of the glass doors in the far left was unguarded..but my vision started to become blurry.
I tried running to the door as fast as I could, but whatever was in that dart was starting to overwhelm my body
I am only five feet away from the door when I began to stubble and I can't seem to get back up...But the substance in the dart overtook my body, I collapsed onto the floor and my entire surroundings became pitch black.