Inside 863

Chapter 5 | 12/23/2020

I walked down the stairs of Red Base, ready for my two o'clock lunch break. Nothing exciting had happened today. I had Carey glowering at me from her desk all day, which wasn't out of the ordinary. She had been hostile towards me all week. I had tried to ignore her glares, but it was pretty distracting to work through. That's why I was eating lunch at two. I had time to work alone in our shared office without any interruptions.

I spotted Matt, Sam, and Woods sitting on couches, with CJ behind the camera. They seemed to be in a very serious discussion, and every one of them looked a little distressed. Probably something to do with Syphus, I thought. I gazed at them for a moment and caught Matt's eye. The look in his eye answered my question. I knew I wasn't allowed to be involved, but I was itching to know what was happening. Something really big must've happened, or else they wouldn't look so grave. I'll ask later, I said, seating myself at one of the tables. I pulled my salad out of my lunch box and started to eat quietly. I realized that I could just listen in on their conversation while I ate. No, I rebuked myself. That would be eavesdropping. But I couldn't help but overhear. They were talking about calling Syphus. If they called him, would it be the same voice as the one in my recording? I had suddenly lost my appetite. I decided to pack up my lunch and go back up to my office.

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"What all did you hear?" Matt asked, confronting me as I was about to leave for the day.

"You somehow got Syphus' number and you were going to call him," I said. "I just have one question--"

"No more involvement, remember?" Matt said with a sigh. I should've just said, "Yes, sir," or "Yep, that's right," and left it at that, but how could I? I wanted to know so bad. I hadn't been able to focus on anything else for the rest of the day since lunch. So, I asked the question I had been dying to ask, even though Matt deliberately implied for me not to ask it.

"Did the person who answered sound the same as the person in the recording?" I blurted. Matt's face lit up with wonder.

"I didn't even think about that!" he exclaimed. He seemed so caught up in this new revelation that he forgot about the "no more involvement" part. At least for the moment.

"Let's check," he said, so I pulled my phone out of my pocket and opened the video file. I pressed play, and we listened to it together for the second time. The scream made me wince. The voice of the son was on the verge of being revealed to me. It was so familiar, yet I still couldn't think of who it was! Matt leaned in closer, not so much because he couldn't hear it and more because of instinct.

"That's it," he whispered softly. "It's identical."

"Which one?" I asked.

"The raspy one," he replied.

"That's messed up, dude," I said, shaking my head.

"This is getting to be too much," Matt said.

"Yeah," I agreed. This mystery was getting out of hand. "Can't we just enjoy Christmas without any more discoveries?"

"I know, right? My curiosity is too strong."

"You look like you need a break," I told him.

"I probably do," he replied.

"I guess I'll be going home now," I said. I turned and walked out the door.