The door opened with the sound of a bell,
''Go!'' Marion whispered to his coworkers,
Gary and Lina jumped out of the elevator with gusto, in truth Marion didn't know what to expect, on the one hand the whole place could be swarmed with people, on the other the sounds they've been hearing could mean it was already a scene from a nightmare,
Gary and Lina stormed out of the elevator, not knowing what to expect, Marion had convinced them that was the right move, somehow.
They looked around, an empty lobby, no one, not a single soul. that seemed odd, they looked around confused.
''um, does anyone else feel like something's wrong?'' Lina said while looking around,
''there's definitely something wrong, where is everybody, all those people that were going down the stairs couldn't just have vanished'' Gary was nervous,
'something's wrong, we heard screaming before meaning something's happening, those people going down the stairs have got to be going somewhere, and even if they were abducted somehow, or killed even, there would be a trace, something to signify a struggle or blood, anything, but there's nothing... we need to get out of here'
Marion did the first thing that came to mind, he checked the stairs, no one, the stairs were as empty as could be, which didn't reassure Marion in the slightest
"Follow me" Marion reassured
"no way, something's wrong i'm not going out there when people are vanishing into thin air, even the screams and shit, what kind of fucked up prank is this" Gary hugged his body as he spoke.
"And what, just sit here? whatever the hell took those people couldn't be too far off, suit yourself if you wanna sit here but Linda and i are going, and this definitely isn't a prank if you're still praying it is"
Marion was harsh, but he didn't care at this point,
Lina didn't say anything even though she never agreed to go anywhere she felt far safer with Marion than with Gary.
Gary mulled it over, obviously distressed, just then a loud humming sound erupted,
The trio looked around surprised,
A blue wave penetrated the walls and spread out everywhere, it seemed to bypass all walls as if they weren't there,
"Shit, this can't be good, let's move"
Gary and linda concurred,
They ran out the door just fast enough to see the wave spreading all across the open view,
'where do i go, where do i go, where is it safe for god's sake, is anywhere safe?'
Suddenly, Marion twisted, the wave was going outward, towards the edge of the city.
He felt he should go the opposite way, he knew he should,
So he just ran that way, for some reason, even though he wasn't the type of guy to move for some feeling he just had.
"HEY, WAIT UP, WHY ARE YOU RUNNING THAT WAY" Gary yelled as he tried to catch up, linda lagging behind.
They ran along, trying to ignore the screams resounding around them, it was hard not to cringe or flinch when hearing such guttural sounds.
Marion ran, he wasn't particularly athletic, he was pretty thin and weak all things considered so he couldn't run that fast or that far, well he hadn't needed to before since one didn't need to be physically able to succeed nowadays, the world had moved on from those days,
That's what it had seemed like, now Marion wished he had exercised more, His lungs were burning up, sweat was piling up on his forehead, and his thighs were giving up, he hadn't even ran for that long.
The same applied to his colleagues, but every single time they were about to drop from exhaustion, an invigorating scream of terror would shake them awake.
They ran and ran and soon they arrived at a park, the park that stood in the middle of the city,
A beutiful well maintained park, a symbol of order in the evermoving city, in the middle one could see a beautiful blue lake, with a gigantic white pillar embedded into it, around it were multiple white flawless spheres, it had always looked so majestic and alluring, no wonder the park was so popular.
''it's a good idea we came here Marion, sorry i doubted you" Lina spoke a lot calmer,
"yeah, sorry coming here is obviously the safest choice, i have no idea why i was ever worried in the first place" Gary sighed in relief, his shoulders relaxing a little,
"No worries guys, i just hope you trust me from here onwards, now let's get to the pillar already," Marion took the initiative and walked in the front,
they walked toward the monolith, in unison, smiles on their faces,
the spheres of white resonating with each other producing a white humming tune,
'what was i thinking about anyway, i should have come here from the beginning'
'wait wasn't i always here, what was i doing in that building why have i been doing anything, was i doing anything? i don't care, all those thoughts are useless, the only thing that matters is that i'm here now, where i should always be, surrounded by perfection...'
They trio continued walking, now they had their feet in the water, and were inside the radius of the spheres, the humming growing ever louder, all was well.
'perfect, perfect, perfect, perfect, perfect...'
something was tugging at his mind, something wasn't letting him be perfectly at peace, a lump in his mind, annoying and persisting,
'what was it, why can't i remember? something happened... no it doesn't matter, i'm here now, i'm safe all i need to do is keep on walking, that's all there is to life, the pillar of white, that's it, it's always been this way'
he was forgetting something, something very important, what was it.
In front of him the pillar lay white as could be, reflecting light like a giant mirror, the bottom sinking into the pond, the shallow water doing nothing to diminish the perfect splendor of the monolith.
As Marion wrestled with the feeling inside him he inadvertently slowed down, Gary and Lina passing him by, the ripples of their steps spreading far and reaching even the pillar.
A leaf being carried by tthose ripples managed to reach the pillar and stick to it, for a second.
That was it, Marion watched in awe, for a moment perfection wasn't anymore, a blemish appeared, disturbing harmony, for perfection is or isn't, nothing in between.
Marion was repulsed, his insides turning, he puked on the spot, his mind cleared, he remembered one thing, he saw perfection once before, where was it,
'Ah, it was at the office... what office? where was it?'
Marion looked up, still tasting the barf in his own mouth, and then looked back,
Marion couldn't move for a moment, his brain failed to understand what it was seeing,
All around him, thousands of steps, thousands of people, were moving in unison one step at a time, towards one goal, the giant pillar of white,
Marion stood like a rock in a river the only unmoving object in a current of flowing people,
'what in god's name is going on...'
All the passerbys carried on, passing by Marion, uncaring, eyes as empty as could be.
And then he heard it, a mechanical whirl, it came before he saw it.
The white creature was back, only this time the plural form of the word 'creature' seemed to be more accurate.