He wakes up in a white room, lying on a table. He frowns as he pushes himself up, looking around.
"Hello?" he calls. The door opens and a man enters, probably in his thirties, with an impressive beard.
"Hi," says the man. "My name is Brian. How are you feeling?"
He racks his brains, but can't think of his name to introduce himself. "Good, I think?"
Brian smiles and pulls up a chair. He remains perched on the table.
"So, you're probably wondering what's happening, where you are, who you are, etc. I'm here to answer any questions you may have. First of all, this is Waystar Royco. Have you ever heard of it?"
He shakes his head. "No."
"Secondly, you've recently been subject to the severance procedure. Do you know what this is?"
Another head shake. He's beginning to feel afraid.
"It's a simple procedure, whereby your memories are separated. When you are outside of this office, you will remember who you are, but you won't remember anything that happens in here. When you're in here, you won't remember anything that happens outside. Do you follow me so far?"
"Uh huh." He slides off the table. "Very funny prank. I'm getting out of here."
He runs to the door. Brian makes no attempt to follow him. He runs down the hallway, to another door, which is unlocked. He jumps in the elevator on the other side and presses the button frantically. The elevator goes down. He breaths a sigh of relief, turning to look at his reflection in the mirror facing the doors. An unfamiliar, yet reassuringly handsome, face looks back at him. He turns back to the doors, ready to get out.
PING! The doors open. Brian is standing in front of him, waiting. His clothes have changed from what he was wearing moments ago.
"Welcome back," says Brian cheerfully. "I'm glad you decided to give this another go."
He stares. He looks down and sees that his own clothes have also changed. He's now wearing a navy blue shirt and trousers, not the casual attire he was in previously.
"Step this way." Brian nods and he reluctantly follows him back down the hallway. He's back on the same floor he was on before.
"Okay, what's happening?" His voice breaks.
"Please don't be alarmed." Brian sounds genuinely concerned.
"I can't get out of here. Is that it?"
"No, no you did get out of here. But you came back!" Brian smiles like this is a good thing.
"How did my clothes change?"
"You changed them. You left here, you went home, you agreed to come back in today."
"But I only saw you a minute ago."
"That was yesterday."
"What?"
Brian puts a comforting hand on his shoulder, then takes it away when he flinches. "I'm sorry, what would you like me to call you?"
He still doesn't know his own name. "Call me… Ron. Ron Rockstone."
"Sure, man. Very solid name."
"Can you please tell me what's happening?"
Brian nods. "You've forgotten everything that happened since you got in that elevator yesterday. When you leave here you'll forget everything that happened here today. That's what severance is."
"But why?"
"The work we do here is highly sensitive. We're a media company, and recently there have been some leaks to the press about the head of the company, Logan Roy. Does that name mean anything to you?"
He shakes his head.
"Mr Roy decided that the best way to maintain confidentiality was to have all his employees severed, so outside of work they won't remember anything that happens in work, and visa versa."
"So are you severed?" Ron asks.
"I sure am. I have no idea who I am outside of work." Brian sounds perfectly happy about this.
Ron thinks about this. "So I can't ever leave here. Whenever I try to leave, I'll just end up back here. I have no choice?"
"Well, every time you find yourself back here, it means you've chosen to come back."
"No, it means the other guy has. The guy that I am outside work. Do you know who he is?"
Brian shakes his head. "Only the higher-ups know that. That's highly confidential."
"Well, they can tell him that I want to leave. I don't want to keep coming back here."
"I don't have contact with the other floors, sir. Only your outie can put in a resignation request."
"My whattie?"
"Sorry, that's a colloquial term for the person you are outside of work. Right now, you're your innie."
"And I can't know who I am outside of work?"
Brian shakes his head. "That would compromise the severance rules. No communication with your outside self. Church and state."
"Okay listen, you've got the wrong guy. This is like, the most fucked-up thing I've ever heard, and I'm still thinking about like six other things? I don't have the attention span to work here, wherever here is. Can I borrow a pen?"
Brian shrugs, takes a pen out of his pocket, and hands it to Ron.
Ron scrawls DON'T COME BACK HERE on his hand, tosses the pen back to Brian, and runs for the elevator again. He jumps in and pushes the button to go down.
PING! The doors open and Brian is standing there again.
Ron looks down. He's now wearing a white shirt with rolled-up sleeves. The message on his hand is still there, but it's faded, like someone has tried to wash it away.
"Okay, fuck you outie, I guess," he mutters under his breath.
"Step this way." Brian nods in a different direction. "It's time for your induction."
Brian leads Ron to another door, which is locked. Brian swipes to open the door, then takes Ron down another corridor, into a room filled with people, all with varying levels of confused expressions.
"Take a seat." Brian gestures to a table near the back of the room. Ron reluctantly makes his way over and sits down. There's a large TV at the front of the room.
Brian picks up a remote and presses play. The room quietens as a video starts playing.
"Welcome to Waystar Royco," says a man in his seventies or eighties on the screen. He has grey hair and a pleasant expression. The name LOGAN ROY appears onscreen, next to the title Chief Executive Officer. "We are one of the world's largest media conglomerates, operating globally across media, entertainment and theme parks."
Various graphics appear onscreen, representing the different brands, then a younger, black-haired man appears. The name KENDALL ROY appears at the bottom of the screen, next to the title Chief Operating Officer.
"By joining Waystar Royco, you're joining one of the most dynamic news and entertainment companies in the world," says Kendall. "Feel it."
Another young man appears onscreen, making Ron sit up. He's seen this man before, saw him in the mirror of the elevator both times he's been in it. It's him. He's in the video.
Before he can see the name on the screen or the accompanying job title, the video quickly cuts to Waystar Royco's harassment and diversity policy. Ron sits with his heart thumping. Why is he in the company video if he's a new employee? Who is he?
Ron zones out for the rest of the video, which ends with a group of ecstatic employees jumping in the air and shouting "Feel it!" Brian turns the video off.
There's a knock at the door before Brian can continue with the induction. A man dressed in all black enters and whispers something to Brian, who looks in Ron's direction.
Ron sits up straighter as the man in black approaches him. "You need to come with us, sir."
Ron gets up with a shrug, thinking that things can't get any weirder. The man leads him out of the room, down the hallway to the elevator. "They'll be someone waiting for you on the other side," he says, pushing the button. Ron gets in the elevator, noticing as he does so that the man in black has a gun in his pocket.
In the elevator, he pushes the down button and waits.
PING!
Roman blinks as the elevator doors open. Judging by the light coming through the windows of the lobby, it's not the end of the working day yet. There's a security guard waiting for him as he steps out of the elevator.
"What's happening?" he asks the guard, confused.
"There's been a security threat against your family, sir. A gun went off on one of the upper floors. Your family have been escorted to the panic room. Would you like to go there now?"
"Yes, fuck yes. Take me there now."
Roman follows the guard to the elevator for non-severed employees. As he gets in with the guard, he catches sight of the message his innie wrote on his hand yesterday. Maybe he should have listened to himself.
The elevator arrives on the top floor and Roman is escorted to the safe room, where his father, Kendall, Shiv and Gerri are already inside.
"Romulus!" Logan greets him with an uncharacteristic hug. "I'm glad you're safe, son." He moves away to talk to the security guard.
"What happened?" Roman looks at his siblings.
"We don't know," says Kendall.
"There was a gunshot, on Tom's floor." Shiv is chewing her lip nervously. "Security brought us straight here."
"So where's Tom?"
"He's in the other safe room, with Greg."
"Oh, the less safe safe room? Glad we got the real one." Roman flops down on one of the sofas.
"So how's severance going?" Gerri asks, looking up from her paperwork.
"How should I know? My innie has tried to leave twice. Yesterday he wrote this on my hand." Roman holds up his palm.
"I still can't believe you underwent the procedure." Shiv shakes her head.
"You're just jealous that Dad picked me."
"What, to be a publicity stunt to make severance look less horrific? You're just his little bitch boy."
"Guys, can we not?" Kendall sounds tired. Shiv looks at Roman and shrugs.
"Where's Con?" says Roman, suddenly wondering if his eldest brother might be in danger too.
"He's giving the eulogy at Mo's funeral," says Gerri.
"I think I would rather be locked up with the gunman," says Shiv.
After about half an hour, which feels much longer, the security guard returns and informs them that they're all safe to leave.
"Did you catch the gunman?" Roman asks.
"It turns out it was a suicide, not an attack. One of the recently severed employees took his own life at his desk." Kendall suddenly looks very pale. "We're investigating how he managed to bring the gun in."
They file out of the safe room, one by one. Shiv is talking to Tom on her phone. "No, it was a false alarm. Who cares which room you were in, Tom!"
Down the elevator they go, Roman already thinking about returning to work tomorrow, back to the department of severed zombies. It's what Dad wants. It's how he'll finally make his father proud.