Mysterious Lavender
A long time ago in a faraway mindset, an 84-year-old man was off to his interview when he saw the local idiot atop that building. We never did quite get to hear the ending of that story, and now you can. Here is The Interview…
Howard Jenkings
Howard Jenkings was having a simple afternoon. The birds were chirping at his favourite time, 5:30 am, the Earl Grey tea was just the right temperature, and his little dog Snuffles was asleep at his feet. He’s always loved watching the Earth at its twilight hour, especially in the morning. Everything seems to slowly come alive and with it, the warm, golden rays of sunshine that warm his heart. All comes to a quiet start as Howard leaned back on his rocking chair, enjoying the view of the sun-touched forest from his porch…
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP
Startled, Howard spills his tea on his lap, causing him to furrow his eyebrows and try to dry his soaking pants. He runs back inside his house to turn off his alarm before his wife Karen hears anything. Slamming on the snooze button, he looks over at the bed to see a moving wife. Holding his breath, he prays that he hasn’t disturbed her…
She resumes a peaceful breathing pattern and returns back to her slumber.
Howard breathes a sigh of relief, but not before he grabs a new pair of pants and runs out of the room to calm his nerves. Darn electronics, he thinks to himself angrily whilst changing. Little does he notice a black Chevy Malibu has been watching his activity ever since he woke up…
Today is the biggest day of his life (except for his wedding day of course). His boss had announced a month ago that a new position at the Head of Office had opened up and they would be holding interviews all through the month to see the best candidates for the job. Now, Howard has been working hard the last 40 years being an office sales person and this is the first time that a head salesperson’s position has opened up in at least a decade, and the first to the whole department. Now, here was his chance, and he wasn’t about to blow it.
He looked in the mirror for the 76th time and smiled to himself. Let’s go get ‘em. Satisfied, he got his briefcase, made sure his suit was nice and sharp, and walked out the door, locking it behind him. He took a sip of his coffee from his thermos and opened the door to his Cadillac. For a second, he felt a little dizzy and had to lean on the car for support before the headache magically vanished. Shaking his head, he got behind the wheel and drove off to work. The black car followed closely.
Entering the building, Howard wished it was the last time he ever came here. Sure the coffee was free and the company was mediocre, but he had a coffee machine now, and that benefit was now pointless. His wife also bought a different type of coffee and to be honest, he enjoyed it much more. He sat down in the waiting room ust outside of his boss’s office and waited to be called in.
After an hour of inactivity, and an unsettling silence, Howard stood up to peek inside the room. He had seen almost all of his coworkers go in before him even though they arrived after but he had patiently waited his turn. Now, the waiting room was empty, and the only activity here was the sounds of Howard’s breathing and the flickering light on the right side of the room. Looking into what he thought was now considered the interview room, all appeared to be dark. The chairs looked empty and unused. His boss’s fish was nowhere to be seen within her fish bowl, an uncommon sight. Even his boss was nowhere to be found.
Confused, Howard tried to open the door and found it unlocked. When he tried to turn on the light, it looked as though the power had gone out but in the waiting room, all the ceiling lights remained functional except for that growingly annoying flickering light. There seemed to be an unsettling silence to the room but he just tried to ignore it. As he went around his boss’s desk, obviously looking before for any living soul but all he could see were dark shadows being cast from the outside hallway, he saw a couple of loose papers in front of him, a very expensive-looking pen on his right, a mysterious-looking bracelet, a newspaper article, and a coffee that seemed to have gone cold.
Wondering what had happened and perhaps he had gone to the wrong building (though he went to work every day), he took the bracelet and pen for investigation. Maybe I can look this up on my fancy new computer when I figure it out, he thought, taking note of how the room looked. He inspected the papers and they seemed to be irrelevant except for the 2nd last one… It was labelled CASE 53. Weird, I don’t know any significance of the number 53… he thought humbly to himself before a sound startled him.
You Will Soon, a deep monotone voice stated.
Turning around at the voice, he saw no one but a shadow of a tall man facing him. The flickering light made it seem as though he was coming and going in and out of existence every few seconds. Howard took a step back, frightened.
“Wwhhoo are you??? Whaatt do you want from me??? I swear I haven’t touched anything and I was just here for an interview and this is my boss’s desk and I’ve been waiting for an hour and no one has come and gone in half an hour and I’m hungry and tired and my hip is starting to hurt me and this is my one chance to get promoted in 40 years and I can’t mess this u…”
Oh you’ll get an interview. That’s for certain.
Ping. And all went black.
Mysterious Lavender
Thank you once again. You truly have been an amazing audience and I hope you enjoyed this! Come back next week for Part 2!!
Remember: Keep smiling and all will be okay :)
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