Curiosity kills

Rachel finds that sometimes not knowing is the best option.

Rachel Desborne had never broken the law before. She was always the good girl, she followed every rule and every instruction. she had never snuck out, never left home without leaving her parents a very specific plan of everything she was going to do. So why was tonight different?

Why did she wait for her parents to go to bed so she could creep through the house and out the front door? Why had she run the two-mile road that lead from her neighbourhood to the Industrial Area?

 

The answer was simple: curiosity. Her father worked in the industrial sector, in fact all the adults in Dolos did, and lately he had been called in to work extra hours. He would come home exhausted and agitated and would refuse to tell her or her mother how work was or any information as to what he was doing at work. He was eating less and spent most of his time sitting in front of the TV (a very normal activity for a working man her mother assured her). But Rachel was worried. Her father wasn’t the same, whatever was happening at work was affecting him and she intended to find out what was going on. She was due to leave for Dolos Academy in the morning and had to know what was going on before she left. She ran through town, terrified she would be spotted by one of her neighbours but no one seemed to notice her. The funny thing about Dolos, was that it was dominated by adults. When a kid turned 16 they got sent out to a place called Dolos Academy, it’s like a special boarding school which is out of town that’s supposed to prepare us children for the outside world. Rachel’s birthday was the next day and she desperately wanted to sort out the mystery of her father’s work before she left. As she approached the industrial Area of town she stopped to catch her breath. She could hear the sounds of machinery and men shouting reverberating off the containers stacked haphazardly behind the small wire fence that’s sole purpose is to keep out inquisitive people like Rachel.

“what a great job it does” she thought as she found a section that some animal had burrowed under, leaving a gap that her slim frame could only just fit under. She felt a shiver of nervousness and fear as it dawned on her that she had just broken the law for the first time ever. She was now inside the industrial area. It wasn’t quite what she expected, there was no constant truck traffic, no men just hanging around smoking or chatting. In fact, there was no movement at all in the little compound she had entered. The compound consisted of 6 buildings all set out in what looked like a 3 by 2 grid, lit by five spotlights that were situated in each corner with the last one standing in the very center of the compound with lights shining in between the buildings. Three other compounds set out in a two-by-two grid could be seen from where she stood. This formed the square industrial area. But which area did her father work in? and where were all the workers?

 

Sneaking out into the open she could hear the sounds of machinery echoing out a gap in the sliding warehouse doors on the first building. She began to creep towards the door but then decided to get down on her belly and crawl her way there. She had seen people do it in the movies to stay undetected, and if it was in so many movies it must work right?

She crawled right up to the gap and looked inside. there was no movement inside, nothing going on to justify the amount of noise that was coming from the building. She slowly stood up and tugged at the door, her curiosity taking over her fear of being caught. The door didn’t budge. She pulled on it again and it still refused to move. Looking down she saw that the big rollers the door was set on where welded in place. “what the hell?” she mumbled, bending down to get a closer look. The rollers weren’t going anywhere anytime soon; someone had really wanted this door to stay in place. “there must be another way in, they wouldn’t make it completely inaccessible right?” she thought as she took another peak inside. still nothing moved and she realised the building was in fact completely empty. There was nothing but empty floor and what she had thought was still machinery was actually just a network of cables and support beams that ran from the floor to the ceiling. Following the wires, she saw that they lead to several large speakers. “That’s what’s making the noise!” she whispered. “but why pretend to have things going on? What do you do Dad?”

Moving from building to building she found the exact same thing in Four of the other buildings, but the last one’s door was fully shut. Sensing something was different with this building she approached carefully. Looking at the bottom of the door she saw that the rollers were untouched, no welding was done. She grasped the door and went to pull on it when she realised; there was no sound coming from inside. None of the machinery sounds she had heard in all the other buildings, this one was dead silent. Unsure of herself now, she debated whether or not she should open it. “what if this one has an alarm? Or has one of those bombs that are triggered by the door opening on the other side” she said to herself, before realising how crazy that sounded. “Shut up Rachel” she muttered. She pulled hard on the door and fell straight on her a*s. The door had slid back quickly due to the force of her tug and had pulled her with it. It made a horrible banging sound as it ran out or room to roll and hit the stopper blocks set into the roller tracks. Rachel sat still, her ears straining to hear if the sound had aroused suspicion. After what felt like an age she decided the coast was clear and picked herself from the ground and peeked inside the dark building. The interior consisted of the same uniform factory style, once clean tiles now stained from years of exposure to oils and grime. There were no cables hanging from the ceiling, no speakers attached to the ceiling. Instead boxes containing metal pipes of various sizes were piled against the walls and broken glass was scattered on the ground. In the very center of the room was a small stairway leading down under the building, the glow from artificial lighting visible from the top of the stairwell. The faint smell of chemicals reached Rachel’s nose. The smell instantly reminded her of her dad, it was the same smell that invaded the house when he came back from work. She had definitely found the right place.  She started down the stairwell but then scrambled back as she heard a female voice echo from below.

“it’s all done Simon, the project is finished and nearly ready for shipment. We just need to run final tests.” There was a pause and then, “yes I understand. We will have it stocked for shipment tonight.” The faint sound of shoes clacking on tiles slowly faded into the distance and silence returned to the building. Rachel waited for a few minutes before creeping down the stairs. She blinked and shielded her eyes as the full glare of the artificial lighting stabbed at her eyes. As her eyes adjusted to the glare she saw she was at the end of a long corridor that definitely had the “crazy commercial lab” look to it. The floor and walls were covered in white tiles that were so ridiculously clean Rachel could she her reflection clearly on the shiny surface. A sudden burst of cold air caused Rachel to shiver. She looked up to see she was standing directly under a large air vent which stretched all the way along the corridor. “why would they need to cool this place down? Its already cold enough outside. And why does the air smell so bad!” she mumbled into her coats collar. Dotted along the length of the passage were doors that were a deep shiny black, a stark contrast to the pearly white tiles that surrounded them. Looking closely, she could see that none of the doors had any security on them, not even a key lock, but she also couldn’t see any way to open them. The doors were all smooth blocks that had nothing to grip on, and they didn’t slide when pushed in any direction. After trying all the doors, she started to wonder if they were doors at all, maybe they were just fancy tiles or something that broke up the all-white look of the hallway. But the hallway can’t just be a dead end, she had heard that lady on the phone call walk off somewhere, there was an exit somewhere. She paced the corridor, looking at every tile, every little crack. “maybe it’s a secret entrance, a secret wall panel or maybe…maybe...” she couldn’t think. What was she doing? What was she trying to accomplish, what did it matter what her dad did? Maybe she just needed to tell him that she missed the old him, the one that took her to the swing set in the park and pushed her until she was so high she was scared she would go right around the bar and crash into him. But she shook the thought from her head. The last thing her and her dad had done together was a walk to the cliff lookout to talk about how she would soon be moving on, going to board at Dolos Academy when she hit sixteen and how he would miss her being in the house. He had looked so sad about her going and she had reminded him that at least he and mum could finally get the alone time that she knew they missed. He had laughed weakly at that and suggested they get back to the house in time for dinner. That had been three months ago. Since then work had consumed him totally. She barely saw him. She had to find out why his work was so important, she needed to know before she left for boarding school.

 

She opened her eyes to find that during her trip down memory lane she had slowly slid down the wall and was now crouching with her back pressed against the cold tiles. She took a deep breath and stood up, a new determination burning in her eyes. There must be an exit. She walked back to the staircase and turned to face the corridor again. She counted all four black doors, two on each side of the corridor. She got down on her knees and pressed her head to the floor to see if anything seemed different from a lower angle. Nothing seemed new or relevant. Standing up again she walked to the first door and threw her body against it. It didn’t budge. She then turned her attention to the tiles surrounding the doors. She pulled and pushed them, tried to slide them to the side but they weren’t going anywhere. She tried all the doors again but nothing changed and in frustration she slapped her hand against the wall. Some of the tiles under her hand pushed ever so slightly into the wall. “what?” she whispered as she pushed her hand against the wall again. Some parts of the tiles were sliding into the wall, others were staying in place. She pushed with her finger, slowly working out what the shape was; a hand. shoving her hand into the indent she felt something click and the white wall at the end of the passage slid straight up into the ceiling, revealing a second corridor. She bolted through the gap, expecting it to close the moment she removed her hand but it stayed up long enough for her to get into the new area. It was identical to the last section, but with the exception of having a single dark grey panel set between the two black ones on the left and a normal looking grey door at the end of the corridor. Rachel walked towards the door, glad there was an easy way out of this place but as she passed the grey panel it slid into the ceiling revealing another branch of corridor. She stopped and saw that there was the same four black panel set up; yet the one at the very back on the right looked like it was swung open, but she couldn’t see what was through it from where she was standing. She started towards the opening and had just reached it when she heard voices inside. They were getting close to the opening! Rachel didn’t wait to see if they would appear in the corridor. In a sudden panic she bolted back to the corridor with the grey door and found that the exit to the passage with the staircase was covered by the wall again so she bolted to the grey door that lead into the unknown and shoved her way inside, throwing the door shut behind her. She crouched down behind it, listening to see if she could hear anyone that had heard the disturbance. As she listened she glanced around the room and gasped as she saw that the far wall was fully covered in a single black panel that reflected the room on its surface. Her own reflection in it had scared her, she looked wild. Her blonde hair was disheveled and her ponytail was falling apart. Her eyes didn’t look like hers, they had an intensity she wasn’t used to seeing and her face was frozen in a frown that she didn’t like at all. She was a smiley girl by nature, she never frowned. She had slowly been creeping towards the mirror while gazing at her reflection and nearly jumped out of her skin when the door banged behind her. She spun around to find the door covered by one of the grey drop down doors she had seen earlier. She ran towards it, sudden panic gripping her. Why had the door dropped? Why won’t it open!

She pushed at the grey panel but it wouldn’t move so she crouched down to try to lift it and gasped in horror. The lower part of the grey panel was covered in scratch marks, it looked like an animal had been trying to claw its way through. There was a gouge mark in the panel that was as long as her forearm and was deep enough she could stick her fingertip inside. “what did this?” she said to herself, her voice shaky. She was trapped in this room. “maybe it’s like the first place” she said to herself, “I can get out of this place.”

A sudden burst of static made Rachel yelp and jerk upright. As the static cleared a voice she recognized said “Trial Subject number 241-376 has entered trial room. Room secured. Prepare for Final testing in 5 minutes.”

“Dad?” Rachel called out into the room, “Dad was that you?”

no reply came; the room was deathly silent.

“Dad what’s going on? What’s happening?” she shouted, her voice cracking slightly as panic gripped her throat.

Still the room failed to reply.

“Dad I don’t want to be here. I’m sorry, I just wanted to know what you did for a job! Please Dad I’m scared!” she sobbed.

The intercom crackled to life, “4 minutes till testing starts. Commence vent tests” her father said, his voice as steady as a rock. Maybe he couldn’t hear or see her?

“Dad it’s me, Rachel! I don’t know what you’re saying, but its scaring me. Please let me out!” she screamed as the air vents started up, filling the room with a dull hum.

The intercom crackled for a few seconds but Rachel didn’t hear anything that was said, if anything.

“I didn’t hear anything, please dad come get me!” she screamed, bursting into tears and falling to her knees. She cried out as panic seized her fully. “What’s going on!” she wailed.

The intercom buzzed again and her father said “Rachel…Trial Subject number 241-376, is showing signs of extreme distress before trail has started. To minimize prior damage to Subject, time of trial is to be moved forward by 3 minutes. 1 minute until trail start.”

“Dad what’s happening?” she wailed, “why am I called a Trial Subject? I don’t want to be here!”

Rachel pulled herself from the floor and threw herself around the room, trying desperately to find a way out. She scrambled to the panel and tried to lift it, using the gouge in the panel for a place to grip. It wouldn’t move. She screamed in frustration and slammed her fist into it and winced at the pain.

The room filled with static as her dad’s voice came through, “trial starts in 10 seconds. Cut vent testing”

“No Dad please, whatever you’re doing stop it please!” she wailed, “please!”

“8..”

“7..”

“please just let me out!” she shouted.

“6..”

Rachel flung herself against the black panel, slamming her fists against it, trying in vain to break it.

“5..”

“4..”

“no!” Rachel bawled as she threw herself at the door again.

“3..”

“2..”

A pause.

“I’m sorry Rachel”

“no Dad please help me!” she screeched as an alarm sounded briefly, then the room went quiet.

“please, no..what’s happening!” Rachel whimpered as she stood up in the silence. She then caught the first whiff of the what was seeping through the vents. It smelled horrible, like the chemical smell that followed her dad around like a cloud. But this smelt ten times stronger and she gagged as she breathed in. She gasped and fell to her knees, the air down there was clean but this didn’t register in Rachel’s head. Her mind was racing. “you’re trying to gas me!” she screamed into the empty room. She tried to shout out again but her voice caught as she choked on the toxic air that surrounded her. On her hands and knees she crawled to the door, her eyes burning, her throat closing up as it convulsed, she couldn’t breathe. She scrambled at the panel, knowing she couldn’t lift it, but it was her only chance. She needed air. she pawed at the panel, as her head swam. She pushed herself up against the door gasping for breath but all she got was another lungful of poisonous fumes. She turned her head towards the black wall and watched as the white on the edge of her vision merged into the black, she felt herself flop sideways, her head striking the floor. Her eyes swam as she tried to find the white again. But the white was fading fast, and as it all faded away she sighed. It was all going to be okay, the white was returning, but she didn’t remember it being so bright…

 

Silence descended on the room, Rachel’s body lay still on the floor, her lifeless eyes staring at the one-way glass that covered the wall, staring straight into the eyes of her father; who’s hand still rested on the button that released the gas that killed her. His eyes glistened as he turned and picked up his coat, then with one glance back at his daughter’s limp body he walked out the door and with the fresh smell of chemicals clinging to him, he disappeared into the night.

Author's Note

Any advice or corrections is appreciated as i'm not a very good writer and would love to improve!