Authors: Veronica Melan
The next morning I went to “Polo-Grand” as usual. Trying not to show a nervous tremor that was shaking my body now and then, I put the uniform on and went into the gaming room. Minutes and hours were passing by and gradually my nerves calmed down; nobody seemed to notice anything odd going on. The sensor stuck underneath my bracelet was holding on tightly and after a while I even managed to forget about it. However, every time someone expressed a desire to tip me, the treacherous droplets of swear would appear on my temples; but thanks to the dimmed lights of the hall they weren’t visible to anyone.
The day was coming to an end and there were only a few customers left. I was strolling around the tables, taking orders from the clients. After completing another circle, I stopped at one of the tables, wiping off the dust and some cigarette ash from the upholstery when I noticed a dark spot on it. I went to get a cloth and a bottle of detergent. At the table nearby there were a few people playing poker but Hulk, to my relief, wasn’t amongst them.
“I heard you've raised the requirement standards for the employees at your laundrette?” said the fat man with a puffy face, “they are as stubborn as mules.”
“Yes,” answered his neighbour, “I had to hire two more guys who smack their hands if someone stays in the dining room for too long. They eat as much as pigs, I think it's time to cut down on their lunch break.”
I made a grimace - whoever worked for this guy - poor people, they’ve got nothing good to expect from him, risking to be left with no food in the near future.
Rubbing the mark on the sofa I thought that I’d happily rob such owners without feeling any guilt - too many similar phrases I’ve heard working in “Polo-Grand”. It seemed the owners didn’t come here to drink or play but to brag about who treated their staff worst, and the cruller the methods were, the more admiration they received from the others.
Scavengers! Your favourite pastime is to beat people up, humiliate and rip them apart! I felt angry; you’ve never heard of the real values but just a desire to fill your bellies and to get rich.
And no wonder that Hulk was the topic of discussion more than others. Jenny was right - he always held the first place in competition “Who mistreats their people in a more appalling way” and nothing but awe and respect was written on the faces of these gossipers; adoration and envy, because not everybody had the guts to mistreat their people as badly as he did.
Assholes! I swore quietly, pathetic and weak assholes of the mankind.
Suddenly my thoughts were interrupted by the hail from the table next to me. The owner of the laundrette ordered a beer and needless to say how great my satisfaction was when my bracelet got topped up with one-tenth of a point from this man. I smiled widely, said "Thank you, Sir," with a spiteful satisfaction as the code had already been sent to Bob. Now we just had to wait for the moment when we could benefit from the gathered information to come, and strangely enough I had no doubts that it will happen one day.
Time. Time was the only thing we needed now.
The evening after work was boring - Jenny had disappeared as soon as the clock showed six o’clock, Robert who I visited before returning to my apartment, said that he’s got all the codes and is now working on them. After that he went back to his PC where he spent all day, judging by the untouched sandwiches from the supermarket, so I left him to it and went back to mine. Before going to bed, I read a few pages of a cheap love novel I borrowed from Jenny and ate the leftovers of my morning yoghurt.
The eighth day passed by since we attached the transmitter to my bracelet and I slowly began thinking that nothing out of the ordinary ever happened. Yes, I still had the sensor and it was constantly sending some data to Bob but nobody noticed that anything really changed in our lives. The same faces, the same dirty ash-trays, the same cocky conversations of the drunken owners. That’s how things were going until one evening when Bob burst into my room.
The door, which I forgot to lock properly suddenly flung open and nearly hit the wall, as Bob whose hair looked even messier than usual shouted to me.
“Shereen, I’ve done it! I figured out how they work!”
I told our genius off for being so reckless, quickly grabbed his hand and picking Jenny up on the way to his apartment one minute later three of us sat in Roger’s room which was unanimously called The Headquarters.
Bob, breathless from excitement, promptly began to tell us that he eventually found the connection between the codes and the bracelets, understood how to interpret its uniqueness and more importantly, on this basis, how to recreate new codes that can serve our purposes.
“So what’s our next step?” I asked, feeling that we are very close to solving the puzzle.
All three of us were sat very close to each other, excited almost up to the state of hysteria, resembling a group of children who found a treasure map convinced it was the real thing. Bob was constantly fiddling with the collar of his checked shirt and Jenny was either rubbing her puffy hands or unconsciously bending her fingers as if they were disturbing her.
“Probably, it’s time for a trial now.” said Bob, flipping his long fringe.
“Hey, I also want more points!” Jenny nagged, “can you pop at least a hundred to mine as well?”
“Jenny, stop it!” Robert protested. “What if something goes wrong? I have to test it first.”
“So, we don’t need the sensor anymore?” I asked, “Maybe I could take it off then?”
“Yes, you can take it off... however if it doesn’t bother you too much - keep it, what if we need more codes?”
“Alright, I’ll keep it. Nobody seemed to notice it anyway.”
That evening we spent a lot of time chatting in his room - we had more questions than answers but even so we couldn’t come off the topic. It felt like we’d crossed some invisible line, learned something forbidden and now all three of us were linked to each other with this secret forever. This very secret, Bob was obsessed with ever since he entered Tally, promised to reveal itself soon and show us its hidden and tangled up mysteries. Only when the orange sunset light had faded away and the darkness fell, we agreed to call it a night. I didn’t know if Bob could fall asleep tonight, perhaps he’ll sit in front of the monitor through the night but I just kept tossing in bed, finding it impossible to sleep.
Will things really work out in our favour? What consequences should we all expect if something goes wrong? Or what if from all the excitement Bob forgets about us and escapes from Tally by the morning? No, that shouldn’t happen. Bob isn’t like that and he’d never forget our help.
One thing I was certain about - something will change tomorrow and as it happened many times before, my life that already was full of ups and downs, will make another turn. I could almost feel the wind whistling in my ears and my hair fluttering on my back; will I grow wings before I jump off from the top of the hill into the unknown?
I closed my eyes, tired of thoughts and worries. Too many things were about to change and too many of them did change later on but at that time none of us could predict what the future had in store for us.
My working shift almost ended and it was only one hour to go when I saw Hulk walking into the gaming room. Trying my best to steer clear of him and troubles that accompanied him, I either stood by the bar or hung by the tables at the far end and asked another waitress to serve the dangerous area. A couple of times I saw Hulk’s eyes following me and at those moments I wanted nothing but to press an invisible button that would make me disappear. His gaze was steady, unblinking, without a hint of emotion, and his whole stance resembled a poised python sitting on a branch of a tree waiting for a prey to get a bit closer.
However, I tried to stay away, and my working day ended without any issues. The clock was now showing six o'clock.
In the locker room I threw off my high-heel shoes, changed my uniform for a pair of old jeans, t-shirt and trainers and grabbed a plastic bag, which replaced my handbag I forgot to bring with me to Tally. Jenny said she'd be home late tonight since Roger wanted her to spend some more time with him upstairs, so I left the club alone. I ran to the bus stop, jumped on the bus, got a ticket, quickly solved the math formula (I'd never thought I could be so quick now) and took a window seat.
As the bus was slowly passing through the quiet streets of Tally, the sun was still beaming down from a cloudless sky, although not as fiercely as in the daytime. We drove past a few shops and an ice-cream van; a simple melody was attracting pedestrian’s attention but not too many of them were in a hurry to indulge in a cold treat despite the evening heat.
As soon as I thought about the ice-cream in waffle cones, I began to drool like a dog.
As the bus pulled up at the "Bell-Oak" street I got out and stood on the street, thinking if I should pop to the supermarket and buy some fruit for Bob. His genius brain was in need of constant feeding but since I didn't know his favourites - and buying all of them I couldn't afford - I sensibly decided to ask him first and then go back to the shop if I need to.
So I waited for a few cars to drive by, then crossed the road and headed home.
My comfy old shoes were springing on the shabby carpet as I was climbing upstairs - I wondered how long they will last before falling apart and how much it will cost me for a pair of new ones. What if they cost me a hundred points? I'd rather ask Jenny first if she knew someone who sold shoes, maybe even second hand. I glanced with sadness at my old ones - grey, made of breathing material, good brand. Who knew that me - who owns her own boutique - will ever have to think about a pair of second hand shoes? But life sure is very unpredictable at times.
I climbed on the second floor and walked down the corridor. At first I didn’t pay any attention to the unusual silence surrounding me but as I was approaching Robert's door I began to feel more and more anxious. Why none of the TVs or radios are on and no voices are heard? I could smell some strange barely perceptible smell - somewhat sweet and dense.
“Bob?” for some reason I said that out loud in the empty hallway. My steps involuntarily slowed down and my palms suddenly got wet, I nervously wiped them on my jeans and looked around but there was no one behind me. The same kind of emptiness and quietness as in a crypt, damn it! I forced myself to move forward (do I have any reasons to be scared?), I made a few more steps but a second later my legs began wobbling like jelly. Bob's door was only a few meters away.
“Come on! Go on, you stupid woman!” I cheered myself on. “He is alright! Who cares why it's so unusually quiet around here, everything is fine and you’ll see it in a minute.”
Not letting the panic to take over (even though my inner voice was screaming about the unknown danger ahead), I deliberately hastened my steps and stopped right in front of Robert’s door. The nasty smell got stronger.
“Bob?” I knocked with my knuckles underneath number 208 and to my horror I felt the door open slowly. A nauseating creak like a surgeon' knife cut through the silence.
“Bob, are you there?”
At first I saw his arm and his leg. The leg was bent in the knee and his hand dangled along his body. Robert was sitting on the chair; his head dropped on a table, his cheek pressed against some bits of wires. The back of his neck was red – blood, streaming down his back and table, drew a path on his arm and chair. The smell became sickening sweet.
Obeying my instincts and not thinking about what I was doing, I sharply turned around, slammed the door behind me and fell on my knees, trying to catch my breath and cope with retching.
Bob, please, no!...
My imagination instantly showed me a picture of the body sitting on the chair and I just about managed to survive another sickening spasm. Then, feeling the trembling in my limbs I got up and ran to the stairs.
God, no! What have we done? Please, no...
It felt like instead of running, I was waddling like an ugly insect - my limbs didn’t want to coordinate, hands flapped from side to side, my feet were hardly moving as if I had weights attached to my shoes.
Jenny .... Where is Jenny? flashed an incoherent thought in my head, where should I go?!...
I didn’t know where I was running to, where I should go or what to think, perhaps my senses were way ahead of me, and it wasn’t possible for me to catch up with them. It was like I was trying to get away from Robert’s corpse - Robert who will never get up from his seat at the computer ever again.
“Oh, my God!” suddenly, I burst into tears; my body was shaking as I kept on running. There were only a few steps left to my door when I stumbled and fell on the carpet. My knotted hair covered my face like a thick lace and pain shot up my twisted ankle. Holding my aching wrist on which I landed badly, I stood on my knees choking in hysterics, unable to figure out what to do next. When I saw someone’s feet next to me it was too late; I barely managed to raise my head when something heavy went down on it. The world around me swayed turning into a web of red and black lines, rolled up into one black dot and disappeared.