Buttons

Thank goodness for Friday. A long slow week and I was ready to let loose with some friends tonight because it was payday. I headed into the plain building and up to the 3rd floor where I worked. I couldn’t remember how I got the job it seemed like id been doing it forever and it was minimal work for amazing pay. Sure it could get boring at times but we could chat amongst ourselves the whole time and everyone in there was practically family.

My job role was simple. I sit at a small desk just big enough for me. Lined up in rows like a school classroom and on it was a big red button and a little light. Once the light went green I was to hit the button and a counter on the wall at the front of the room would clock up as it counted everyone’s button presses. Some days we would only get around 50 and other days hundreds. Simple enough. It came with 1 rule. Never talk about the job inside or outside work. Easy. No one wants to hear about someone with a boring desk job anyway. I had only ever seen the 3rd floor, other floors were inaccessible and the only other communication in the building was with the dragon lady on the front desk.

It had been a slow week and so talk today was talk of what our wages were going on. I was 3 hours into my shift before my first light came on. I hit the button and checked the tally. It didn’t move. The light was still on. I hit the button again but the tally remained still. Then the light did something it had never done before. It started blinking.

'Girls, there’s something wrong with my desk?'

Everyone froze and looked at me. nothing had ever gone wrong with the desks. Panic started to rise and I asked what I should do. No one knew. Of course it had never happened. No one talks to us or had ever explained what to do with a fault.

'I’m going to go to the front desk' I stated

There was gasps round the room. No one is allowed to leave their desk.

'It will be fine' I reassured them. 'I need to let someone know it’s not working, I’ll be back in a minute'

I exited the door and headed to the ground floor. Of course dragon lady was at her desk. She was always at her desk. Before I reached it she barked at me.

'You’re not supposed to leave your desk'

'I know but...' I started

'Then get back to it' she yelled

'But it’s not working' I spluttered quickly

She froze. She picked up the phone on her desk punched in a few numbers but never spoke. She simply nodded her head and put the receiver down. She handed me a key card.

'Go down the hall all the way to the end and turn left. Someone will meet you there' she spoke softly. A tone in her voice I had never heard before. It made me nervous.

I used the card to enter the door on the ground floor. I followed the instructions but no one was there. I walked to the end of that corridor and used the key card on the door assuming this is what she meant. It was stairs leading down. I looked behind me in case someone was waiting but the corridor was clear. I headed down the stairs which opened up into a huge warehouse. The place must have gone on under entire streets and estates. It was filled with aisles of cages and each cage was filled with a person. I could not enter the aisles as they were gated. The people had bloodshot eyes and bloodied mouths. Pale faces with sunken cheeks. Many were stripped of their clothing and those that managed to keep hold of their stained rags used them not to cover themselves but to tie around the cuts and gashes that were all over them.

I didn’t go down the aisle but turned left to see an unmanned station. The cameras shown the front desk, corridor and the room in which I worked. I could see every light on every desk and every button pressed. I watched for a while. I noticed that every time a button was pressed a cage door opened. The person would exit the cage and start running for their lives. There was a button on the desk. I hit it, hoping it would open all the cages but it simply switched all of the cameras.

It was a birds eye view of the room. It wasn’t aisles. The cages made walls to the most sickening labyrinth I had even seen. I watched the person who had got out run round clueless whilst wolf like beings looked for him. I watched him get torn apart and I hit the button again. Another light in the room went on and I heard the click of another cage door open. I didn’t watch this time. I didn’t need to. I could hear it. I heard the death of another innocent life and waited for another light to go. But it didn’t happen. I hit the button to see the labyrinth. There was nothing but the beasts walking round waiting for their next victim. I pressed the button again and watched as a light came on.

It was me. I was telling them to press their buttons by pressing this one. I was letting them know a cage needed opening. I felt sick. I turned to run but the dragon lady was behind me.

'Congratulations' she applauded 'you’ve just been promoted'

I shook my head. I didn’t want any part of this.

'No' she mocked 'Leaving isn’t an option. You see you have two choices. Control the cages or be in one'

'Why are you doing this?' I sobbed

'I’m not, your friends upstairs are' she said in that calming manner that made me so uncomfortable earlier.

'I can’t' I cried

'you'll learn to' she smiled and walked away.

I tried to leave but the key card no longer worked. There was only one way out. Through the cages. I studied the labyrinth for days figuring out the route I needed to take and where the beasts would go. They were fast and my chances were slim but the dragon lady underestimated me. I looked for all the vacant cages and memorised them in case I needed to get in one. And by the end of the week I had planned my escape. It was by far the scariest thing I had encountered and it took me the whole day before I made it to the door at the end of the labyrinth. I had done it. I had escaped. I walked down the corridor of whatever building I was in now. I tried the key card not knowing if it would work. It set off an alarm. People came rushing through the door grabbing me by the arm and tossing me into a plain blank cell. When I asked what was going on a nurse jabbed a needle in my arm and before I blacked out she said 'Welcome to Meddlebrook Mental hospital'

I have written this many times before hoping the story will finally make it past these walls. They keep me sedated and tell me I’m crazy but I knowi'm not. I know

I can get out of here. I could escape and they’ve told me I can too. All I have to do is press the big red button when the light goes green......