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“Come on hurry up we are going to be late,” said the young women running down a small street. She was probably in her mid twenties with auburn hair that just brushed passed her shoulders. She spun around and smiled her soft pink lips glistened slightly in the evening son. She was wearing a pair of short brown shorts and white top that clung to her body as if it were a piece of her. The curves of her body were outlined by the slowly setting son. She tapped her right foot bound in a sandal against the old broken sidewalk a small back pack slung over her shoulder.
“It isn’t my fault the meal took so long,” shouted a deep voice from down the street threw heavy breaths.
“Well James another day another attempt.”
A man turned slowly around he was in his thirties with flat brown hair that had lost its shine over the few years. He then looked back into the slit in the huge metal door he was looking through only moments ago. Then in a harsh deep voice he spoke, “think you will make any progress?”
“Probably not but what can we do”
James nodded; he was a large man at least 6’8 and 300 pounds of solid mass. His skin was slightly tanned almost to a brown he stroked his face with his massive hands. He was dressed in a blue-grey short sleeve shirt and matching pants. He had his name stitched onto his shirt his hair made people think he was more bear then man. Yet something in his eyes let people know there was more in there then just what was on the surface.
“Come on we should get there quickly.”
“I guess,” James began to walk down the hall but stopped at the next metal door and opened the small slit and peered in. “How long?”
“An hour maybe two.”
“You spend too much time there.”
“Or maybe not enough,” the man came up beside James. He was much shorter by at least a foot and weighed 100 pounds less. Where James had hair this man was thinning and going grey. He wasn’t any younger then 50 and walked with a slight tendency to put more weight on his right foot. He had a brown folder tucked under his arm and a pen behind his ear. He wore the same uniform as James except with long sleeves and his name was not stitched on it.
“I think you enjoy being there then in bed with your wife,” James snickered slightly.
The man glared at James his eyes turned from their calm brown to the color of a forest fire, “I have been there longer then I have been married”
“So you admit it?” James closed the small slit and walked to the next door looking through it.
“I never admit or deny anything.”
“You know it is impossible”
“Everything is possible, just the impossible takes longer.”
James sighed and closed the slit moving to the next door and repeating the process staying quiet he knew he would never get anywhere.
The two walked to a set of large oak panel doors and pushed through them there was a sign above the doors. The sign was in bold red letters that read Enter at own risk we take no responsibility for anything that happens.
James shuddered as they reached another metal door and pushed a button causing a black key pad to pop out from the wall, “go ahead you know what to do.”
The man nodded entering the digits 2985 there was a loud hissing sound and the metal door slid to the side. No matter how many times James had come here the stench of human filth and rotting food always made him sick. They had entered another hallway this one lined with the same metal doors. Only the door at the far end had a set of metal bars in front of it.
James coughed as he spoke, “why do we even have this place!”
The man didn’t seem to mind the smell it was easy to tell he had been here longer then his large companion James. He then checked one of the doors and looked inside screaming was immediately heard and he closed the slot he opened, “because the director says so.”
James checked another door coughing the smell kept getting worse the longer they stayed, “I thought you had more power then him.”
“Nobody has more power then him.”
James nodded looking through a slot, “we have another lifer here”
“I’ll send the reapers and cleaners down tomorrow.”
“Why not today?”
“This one was doomed to fail anyway so why waste time going back up”
James nodded and closed the slot, “not like the others will complain about the smell”
The man laughed reaching for his keys and unlocking the metal bars, “come on leave the rest we need to see this one.”
James walked in followed by the man who locked the door the two moved to a key pad on either side of the door and typed in their own pass key. James typed 4359 while the man typed 8723 there was a loud click and the door slid sideways.
James shudder slightly he always hated the sound of scraping metal, “I hate that door.”
The man shook his head and stepped in looking around the plain room the walls were brick painted in a thick coat of white with a tint of blue. In the left corner was a single cot with a mattress thin enough to be a slice of bread. A foot over and right at the top of the ceiling was a small rectangular window masked with a thick metal net. It had one bluish-grey cotton blanket and a single pillow. In the ceiling were 3 recessed light fixtures and a few water stains from the dripping pipes. The floor was cover in thin durable grey carpet that seemed to be ripped as if something had been tearing at it. In the right corner was an angled bar only 4 feet off the ground. Right beside it was a small out cropping with a toilet and a small sink with a plastic mirror hanging over it. On the left wall was a small bookshelf filled with worn out soft cover books and a small lamp. In the very center of the room below the middle light fixture were 2 oak chairs facing each other. The chairs were identical to one another the third chair sat beside the bookcase.
The room was dimly lit but it was easy to see the figure sitting on the chair that faced towards the door.
James turned up the lights so the figure was no longer shadowed but could be clearly seen, “much better”
The figure never flinched when the bright light splashed across his eyes then he simply smiled, “Hello James.”
James nodded and shut the door he and the man had just come threw then took a seat at the chair beside the bookshelf.
The figure turned his gaze to the older man walking towards him, “Good morning Dante.”
Dante smiled, “It is the afternoon.”
The man spoke in an apologetic voice, “Without a clock or the ability to look outside I am unaware of the time.”
Dante nodded and took a seat across from the figure studying the man looking him over. The man across from Dante had a thick head of shiny black hair that made him miss the strands he had long lost. The man was in his mid twenties his figure was that of an athlete that had long lost the touch of the sun yet still kept in shape. His eyes were an off hue of brown that fit almost perfectly with the rest of his face. “So Jared I see you have been reading more now”
Jared nodded “I’ve studied now Philosophy, And Jurisprudence, Medicine, And even, alas! Theology All through and through with ardour keen! Here I stand, poor fool, and see I’m just as wise as formerly.”
Dante looked at Jared for a second slightly confused.
Jared smiled, “Dante’s Inferno first act.”
Dante nodded, “A great book, what else have you read.”
Jared pointed to his book shelf, “Go look for yourself.”
“I do not have the time Jared so let’s just start talking about why you are in here. Is that okay?”
Jared shrugged, “You are the doctor, are you not?”
“Tell me about your last dream?”
“My dream, no it wasn’t a dream it was a memory a wonderful memory,” Jared stopped and looked to Dante
“Keep going close your eyes if it helps.”
“We were standing no running in a street”
“Who is ‘we’?”
“Me and Angela, my wife the woman I love?”
“Jared you were never married.”
“I was Married I can remember the warmth of her touch the softness of her lips the scent of her…”
“But you were never married”
“Yes I was we spent 6 years together 6 wonderful years.”
“When?”
“Since August 3 2008 we met in a museum.”
“Which museum?”
“The louver, in Paris during a…”
“You have never been to Paris!”
“Of course I was the company I worked for sent me over there.”
Dante shook his head, “We phoned them they said a Jared Munro never worked there.”
Jared looked at him “I know I was there but.”
“But nothing, Jared the mind if it wants something enough it will create a false memory an alternate life.”
Jared was starting to get angry, “But I can taste her lips I know how her hair smelt and how her skin felt against mine.”
“She isn’t real!”
“Yes she is if she isn’t then how come I have a p-” Jared stopped short of that word.
“What did you say?”
“Nothing.”
“Tell me what you said!”
“I said ‘then why do I have these feelings for her?’”
“You don’t have feelings for her you can’t have feelings for somebody who isn’t real?”
“Then why do women who think they are pregnant but really aren’t have feelings for those who are not there?”
“That is different.”
“How is it different?”
Dante paused for a second, “It is unconditional love it cannot be explained.”
“Then neither can my love for Angela!” It had been the first time Jared had ever raised his voice to Dante.
James Sprung from his chair pushing it over as he did he was ready for anything that might happen next.
“Even if she is real Jared she would be impossible to find.” Dante was trying to calm Jared down calmly.
“Everything is possible, only the impossible takes longer,” Jared hadn’t even moved over the small event that had happened.
Dante looked Jared in the eyes, “Jared I am sorry to say this but you have been in here your entire life. I was here the day your parents brought you in you were a violent child your mom was crying. You had almost choked her to death and when we tried to get you into your room you ripped a man’s eye out.”
Jared looked at Dante, “Your lying I know you are it can’t be true. It isn’t true it never happened.”
Dante put his hand on Jared’s shoulder as he stood up, “We will talk more tomorrow you have heard enough for now.”
James walked over to Dante and the two walked towards the metal door opening it slowly and sliding out. The two never said a word as they left they simply closed the door and left Jared alone in his room.
Jared stood and walked over to his bed and fell onto it curling up slightly, “she is real I know she is.”
He reached behind his bed and pulled out a small wrinkled photo in the photo was him and his wife Angela in front of the Eiffel Tower kissing. Jared’s pointer finger stroked her face as he began to cry, “You are real,” he kissed the picture, “I love you.”
 kiba_ginji · Mon Dec 04, 2006 @ 06:55am · 1 Comments |
