5 « L’enfer c’est les autres II »
Louis raised his head and I could see shock in his eyes. He was to obvious. Was he shocked that I discovered that He lied to me or was it about my mentioning the word 'Dogo'. I could only question him to know for sure. But first I had to wait for him to answer my question simply because liars, when caught by surprise tended to sell themselves. So, I put on a relaxed expression and looked at him fixedly. As He started forming the words with his mouth We were interrupted by a ringtone: "🎶Sim Simma, who got the keys to my Beemer? Who am I, the girls dem sugar...🎶."
I took my phone out of my pocket to see an unknown phone number starting by 25. "25...government call ID...The Company?" My mind quickly connected the dots and I motioned Louis to hold on before answering.
" Good morning, Mr Barry? Ankh Barry?" Said a young feminine voice through the speaker.
Ankh: "That would be me, yes. Good morning, How can I help you? With a smiling voice.
-"My name is Zara Toei, I am the assistant HR at 'The Company'. I am contacting you regarding your application for training. Your application has been accepted and we need to conduct a quick interview A.S.A.P. let's say in 30 minutes?"
Ankh: "Ah?? 30 minutes? Yes Yes no problem, I'm coming right away."
- "See you then"
Tutut.
[battery: 10%, energy saving mode activated]
Louis:" who was that?"
Ankh:" The company" I said looking at the clock on the kitchen wall, the time was 7:23
"I got an appointment for my internship. Need to bounce right away but don't think this is over. When I come back, we talk."
I still had my relaxed expression on but Louis knew I was serious. He nodded without saying anything.
I finished up my juice and picked up my key chain, intending to leave straight away. In fact the distance was quite long and despite my straight answer, I wasnt sure I could make it on time.
Louis:"You are going to leave dressed like that?"
That's when I realized that I was hardly prepared, ."
I sprinted as fast as I could up the stairs, and ducked left into my room, which door I had left open earlier.
With a wave of my hand toward the wardrobe, I willed for my standard office uniform (every freshly graduated uni student had one at least, for job interviews): dark suite and classic white shirt matched with a wine-red tie. Kinesis and my new mental capacity for visualization worked in perfect tandem as the the set of clothes dashed out of the wardrobe and landed neatly on my bed.
I quickly changed into a jacket-less version of the uniform because it was way too hot to step out the house wearing a suit, not to mention the dusty trip. So I put the jacket my a backpack and ran out of the house toward the parking space in the back yard, holding my keys and wallet. The backyard was also covered with concrete tiles. I ran to my red and black 'Africa Twin' dirt bike , stuffed my wallet in my breast pocket and vanished in a cloud of smoke, speeding to my appointment.
"It's Monday today, at this time, the main road is jammed packed by office workers and high schoolers.... taking the inroads would make for a big detour but since they are empty now, it should be better". I thought.
People didn't like the inroads at peak hours because these were not paved. These 'roads' were nothing more than unpaved trails traced into the reddish brown soil snaking in between house blocks . Needless to say that they were eroded by years of pedestrian stomping, not to mention the wind and rain. The roads were irregular and, if you ask me, they the main source of dust inside the city. Everybody complained about those, but the government only cared when elections were getting close, paving or renovating an old road to coax the mass and show something for the term.
Anyway, everything was proceeding as smoothly as possible during a slalom: Red light. Green light. Bumpers. Ducking stray chicken and goats here, potholes and dirty puddles there.
It is a challenge to understand the structure of this city. It is not a typical 'rich-poor' neighborhood structure you can see in modern cities. Though there are dedicated areas for the rich, the areas are mostly inhabited by rich expatriates because it is located farther away from the city center. The local moguls favored staying downtown, close to the 'party'. About insecurity? They had an armada of 'security agents' on the their property so you had to have a death wish, literally, to act against these people.
This made for a 'Dali-esque' scenery made up of mansions standing side by side with dwellings of straw and banco; and some pathetic or funny interactions between neighbors.
As I was rushing through one such area, in front of one of the so called mansion, I passed 3 men loading up housewares on the back of a tricycle•. This is not an uncommon occurrence ever since carriers started using these utility vehicles for their cost efficiency (cheap purchasing price, cheap maintenance, decent tonnage and overall low operating costs). I stopped at a traffic light a few hundred meters away from the mansion. Raising my left arm I looked at my wrist-watch out of habit. *pop*
Notification!:
Object: Timeline; Type: passive ability; grade: so-so; Description: "because your unconscious was forcefully unlocked, you acquired the ability: timeline (grade: so-so). This passive allows your brain be in synch with the world clock. You never lose track of time."
Ankh:" And another one. There seems to be a pattern to me getting passives like that. I have to find time to explore this too...so much to do with so little time...but this 'timeline' can change things." As I was having my internal monologue, I raised my head when I heard the three men with tricycle overtaking me, ignoring potholes and even the red light which I stopped at. In their rushed maneuvers, a thermo-box dropped from the tricycle. The driver slew down, probably to turn around, but one of the men signaled him to keep going before looking in my direction with a deadpan face and motioning a "keep quiet" with his index finger raised to his lips.
That's when it dawned on me that tricycles weren't only popular with carriers, another profession favored this mean of locomotion, namely: Burglars.
"Lol did I just witness a burglary? None of my business anyway, there is still 17 minutes left before the appointed time, I'll make it in 8. Let's enjoy that meat pie sent from heaven" referring to the box left behind by the burglars ". *Greed on!* I parked my bike on the side and went back to pick up the loot. Standing on the 'sidewalk', I used 'kinesis' on the box after making sure i was alone. It moved quite slowly (indicating that its content was close to my limit) and *pouf* it landed at my feet with a small cloud of dust. Not wasting time I directly opened it and....
*urrrrgh barf....*
That was me gagging and suppressing something trying to escape my stomach.
Hmm how can I put this?... Let's say that I didn't expect 'the meat pie' metaphor to come at me so literally.
Inside the box was a disgusting pot-pourri of what appeared to be human organs sealed in a plastic and covered with ice bags. The smell of fresh blood was present indicating that the organs were fresh.
Usually, human organs are inside people, so organs in the open box meant... dead people?
There was no doubt these were human organs because ever since I opened the box, I seemed to have a legend giving me details of everything I saw, at least the things I should take note of. All in all I could see 'human heart', 'human liver' attached to the corresponding organ in the box, like an AR application.
*pop*
Notification!:
Object: ID; Type: passive ability; grade: so-so; Description: "Because your unconscious was forcefully unlocked, you acquired the ability: ID (grade: so-so). This passive allows your brain to identify things you have encountered before. You always know what you're dealing with...almost."
I completely ignored the notification and was thinking of what to do. I could just clean my fingerprints and leave ASAP. I would still make it to my meeting, but that's not right. I'm not that type of guys, though I didn't want to get involved there is a minimum I have to do.
Let's call the cops.
Ankh: « I think it's '18' » I proceeded to dial the emergency number but no one answered though I held the line for close to a minute.
Ankh:«let's call Louis, maybe he can go see them since I can't move from here »...
« The number you have dialed is not available, please call back later »...the robotic voice sounded in my hear. I hung up.
The last person I could contact right now was Zara Toei. She seemed responsible and organized enough to help handle the situation.
Tuuuuuuuuut tuuuuuuuuuuuuuut tuuu..
Zara: « Zara Toei speaking, how may I help you » her professional voice sounded more focused than earlier even though it was still rushed.
Ankh: « Assistant Director Toei, I am Ankh Barry, we spoke on the phone earlier... »
Zara: »...yes?... » she pressed indicating that she remembered and wanted to hear the point of the call.
Ankh: « There is an emergency, I came across a burglary probably with wounded people, I tried contacting the police but no one is picking up my calls, so... »
Zara: "....I see.... I have to say that I am very disappointed in you Mr Barry. The company had great expectations but you seems to not be what we are looking for. » she said in a suddenly cold and superior voice.
Ankh:" What are you talking about? People are probably bleeding out right now..."
Zara:" ahaha this is a funny one. Not only you are incompetent enough to not be on time to your appointment but you have to make up such a lie so early in the morning? I've heard enough, good day Mr Barry". Tuuuut tuuut...
She hang up.
Ankh:"wow this bitch is crazy » I said, my voice dripping with anger and confusion. « This idiot went and assumed stuff on her own while I was trying to act right. Fuck this, people have no fucking common sense and empathy anymore. The second you try to do the right thing, it's like you become their enemy. » ranting while quickly going towards the mansion the three men came out of.
Since nobody cared, I at least had to go through with the endeavor of 'doing the right thing' this time, I was compelled. There wasn't much I could do, but I couldn't stay still or just leave, maybe I could help. I ran to the house where I spotted the 3 men earlier. The gate was closed but not locked. it only needed a weak push to open.
