2025-05-11, 08:24 PM - Word count:
One moment, I was looking at an enormous owl standing like a regal human. It's eyes enormous and almost luminous in the late evening darkness. There are no exterior windows in this section of the building, and the lights in all of the offices and hallways are dark. Even the bright red EXIT sign's glow seems much dimmer in proximity to the creature.
The hum of the HVAC unit and the fluorescent lights fades away and for the briefest moment all I can hear is my shallow breathing. I am an of an old lineage, being a dinosaur, and I can recognize when something is similarly old. That creature, that unknowable intelligence down the hall, it seemed to be as old as time itself.
In the next moment that I can remember, I am sitting on the couch in my apartment near the training facility. Sitting straight up with perfect posture, which I can confidently say I had never done before. Couches are for slouching in and sleeping on, and I am entirely confident in that opinion.
There's no recollection of how I got home. I had been planning to order an Uber, but there was never a receipt for a ride share and I'm not the kind to carry cash. It's too easily stolen.
Though I don't remember getting home, I do know that when I asked to watch the video camera footage of that night, the security guard told me that the camera system had been going under maintenance that night and it wasn't there.
Curious, isn't it?
The hum of the HVAC unit and the fluorescent lights fades away and for the briefest moment all I can hear is my shallow breathing. I am an of an old lineage, being a dinosaur, and I can recognize when something is similarly old. That creature, that unknowable intelligence down the hall, it seemed to be as old as time itself.
In the next moment that I can remember, I am sitting on the couch in my apartment near the training facility. Sitting straight up with perfect posture, which I can confidently say I had never done before. Couches are for slouching in and sleeping on, and I am entirely confident in that opinion.
There's no recollection of how I got home. I had been planning to order an Uber, but there was never a receipt for a ride share and I'm not the kind to carry cash. It's too easily stolen.
Though I don't remember getting home, I do know that when I asked to watch the video camera footage of that night, the security guard told me that the camera system had been going under maintenance that night and it wasn't there.
Curious, isn't it?
