Enter: Dawn

Listen, I didn't expect to be involved in the stuff I'm about to tell you, but you know how it is, life has a way of throwing you into unexpected situations. There's no real way of telling this story without telling the entire thing, so I, unfortunately, have my work cut out for me.

Anyways, I should stop wasting your time with my unnecessary personal ramblings. We start.....now!

My name is Dawn Rivera, and I was an ordinary 17-year-old living in my hometown of Silver Springs with my father. My father told me my mother died before I was born, so as you may guess, I never met her.

Anyways, skip to January of 2023. I have just gotten an email from a company I've never heard of, Prometheus Inc. which invites me to intern with them, the email includes an address that just so happens to be on the outskirts of town separated from everything else. They're offering to pay me a fair amount, and say they found me through my school. While the whole thing looks a little suspect, the address is legit and I decide that there's no harm in at least checking it out.

I decide to leave my room and head downstairs to the living room, where my dad is at.

"Hey Dad" I greet him. My dad looks up from his place on the couch and pauses the TV.

"Hm? What do you need Dawn?" He asks me.

"I got an email from this company... Prometheus Inc. They want me to intern for them. Is it okay if I take the car and go check it out?" I respond. My dad adopts a thinking expression for a few moments before asking.

"Where exactly are they?" He asks.

"Oh, they're on Palmetto Street, I know it's kind of on the outskirts of town but I looked it up and it's a legit location" I answer. At this answer, he looks at me skeptically before conceding. "You can go, just be safe."

"Thanks, Dad, I'll be back before you know it! Love you!" I quickly say before almost running out the front door.

"Love you too!" He shouts back at me, still on the couch.

After that short exchange, I'm on my way to Prometheus Inc. for my new internship. I'm driving until I hit a red light, right next to a park.

"Tch." I let a sound of annoyance escape me. I never enjoyed parks, and seeing all the full families there. I love my dad don't get me wrong, but I really wonder what it's like to have a mother and I can't help but be jealous of the people around me who know what it's like to have a mom and a dad. Parks are full of these people, so being near one kind of ticks me off.

Thankfully, the light changes and I'm able to go on my way. After maybe 20 minutes of driving, I arrive at the place. It's a normal looking office building 5 stories high with a small parking lot surrounded by a bunch of trees. As I pull into the parking lot, which is strangely empty I whisper to myself. "Where the hell is everyone?".

I pull into the parking lot and park my car close to the entrance. I'm not a big fan of walking after all. Once my car is parked, I prepare myself and head inside.

The inside of the building was...average. But what shocked me was how busy it was. There shouldn't be even one person here based off of how empty that parking lot was, but I was looking at a lobby with at least 20 different people all doing different things. Pushing my confusion to the back of my mind, I walk up to the receptionist.

"Are you busy?" I ask the lady, she looks to be about 20 years old with blonde hair and blue eyes. She looks at me with a kind expression before speaking.

"No, I'm not, I assume you're Dawn Rivera?" I feel even more confused now. I guess her boss told her to be expecting me.

"Yep, that would be me. Here for the uhm, internship." I smile at her nervously.

"The boss will be here in a moment." The receptionist replies. I wait for a few minutes and decide to scroll on my phone for a bit while I wait. After a couple of minutes of waiting, a man walks up to me from my lefthand side. He's wearing a formal suit and tie and has his brown hair slicked back. He's well-groomed and is walking with confidence. I assumed this might be 'the boss'.

"Dawn Rivera? It's nice to meet you, my name is Sean Schwertner, I was the one to send the email and I will be the one in charge of you during your time here should you fully accept our offer. May we discuss the details in my office?" He says to me as he puts out his hand for me to shake. I accept the handshake and reply "It's nice to meet you too, lead the way.".

Sean leads me through the building down a hallway. We walk for a couple of minutes until we reach a room. Sean opens the door and beckons me inside.

I walk into the room and give it a quick lookover. It's pretty small, with minimal furniture. In the center of the room, there is a desk, with two chairs on each side. Behind the desk, there's a small bookshelf that is completely full of books, with there being barely enough room to remove them. I sit down in the chair closer to the door, as it seems to be the guest chair. My assumption proves correct as there are no complaints by Sean as he sits in the opposite chair.

"Right, let's get down to business, shall we?" Sean asks. I nod my head, choosing to let him continue on his own.

"I'm going to ask you one thing first, and your internship depends on your answer. How would you react if everything you thought was true, turned out to be false?" That's a really, really weird question. Now this place hasn't been the most normal in the first place, but until now it's just been small stuff, easy to ignore or look past, but now the weirdness is being slapped in my face and I don't think I liked it very much. Nonetheless, I chose to answer the question.

"Well, I think that at first at least I would be understandably shocked should such a thing be true, but I'm a curious person by nature, I think that once I calmed down I would search for what the real truth is and base my new beliefs on that." I honestly tell him. At hearing my reply, he adopts a smirk.

"Very good Dawn, that's the kind of answer I was looking for. Now, what if I told you that the scenario I gave you is very much true, and the only way to get the truth would be through Promotheus Inc.?" I really hope this isn't going to be what I'm thinking it is. Shit shit you've got to be kidding me, this is stuff straight out of The Matrix. I really hope that he's kidding.

"What are you getting at?" I sternly ask him.

"No need to get hostile Dawn, but I will tell you one thing: If you want the answer to that question you have to agree to work with us, there will be no going back once you accept." He replies, calm as ever. Now, as I said I am a curious person, so I would very much like to know whatever it is he's teasing...On the other hand, this is very suspicious and if I agree to whatever it is he's offering I could end up getting scammed, arrested, or worse. Oh well, nothing good ever happens to those who don't take risks.

"I accept your offer." I say confidently. After hearing my words, his smirk drops and he adopts a serious expression.

"Good. Now I need you to look at me very carefully." I stare at him as asked, with a confused expression on my face. Imagine the shock on my face when he raised his hand and it spontaneously combusted.