GONE DARK ✰ S. ROGERS

➜ [5] Welcome to Hell

I knock on the door of the ordinary looking building once again in the darkness. The little bit of light provided by the oncoming sun made the place look a bit less ominous, especially when you knew what was really going on inside.

The door creaked as it was opened by a tall middle aged woman with wide glasses and high red heels. She looked at me and without saying a word sharply brought her wrist up to her face to look at her watch.

"5:37 am," she announced quickly. "Twenty three minutes early. Not terrible."

Not terrible? What was I supposed to do? I was told to come at 6 and I came at 6. 

If I didn't think that this was important I wouldn't be here for another hour!

She continued to walk through the door with a turn so harsh that I was surprised that the bun in her hair didn't become undone right there.

I assumed that I was supposed to follow her and so I walked through the threshold as well, letting the door close itself. She continued walking without pause on the same path that Peggy showed me about a week earlier.

"Nicole!" She called out when we got to the training room that I remember from last week.

A short Asian girl with shoulder-length brunette hair turned her head at the name and came jogging up. She had a white, gleaming smile and seemed overly chipper.

"Yes, ma'am! What do you need?" She asked the older lady still with her bright smile. Huh I just realized I don't know the woman's name with an apparent stick up her ass.

"Show our newest recruit around the facility," Stick up her ass instructed. "She'll be rooming with you." I almost took a breath of air thinking that she would finally get out of my presence, but just as she turned to leave, she came back at the last second. "And don't break anything." This time when she turned she actually walked away for good.

I turned back to the short girl holding her hand out for me to shake. "I'm Nicole!" She said excitedly as I grabbed her hand back. "But you probably know that from Ms. Weaver. But you can call me Nikki, that's what everyone calls me. Except Ms. Weaver, but she calls everyone by their full name so I'm not special!" She stopped talking when she saw the look of confusion on my face. "I'm sorry I'm talking a lot aren't I? I tend to do that a lot."

"No it's fine, it's not a bad thing," I nodded off. "And I didn't know that her name was Ms. Weaver until you're little monologue.

"Good cause a lot of people can find that annoying," she chuckled. She perked up a little bit as if a light bulb went off in her head. "Oh I'm supposed to show you our room. Come on follow me!" She grabbed my hand and dragged away with my bag of belongings still in my hand.

She took me down a journey of halls filled with rooms containing in them even more training areas, libraries full of books, and other things I couldn't pick out.

Eventually she started slowing down at this hallway with doors that all looked similar to each other except for the numbers next to the doors.

"Here's Room 13," she gestured. "This is us!" She opened up the door to reveal a small room with two small twin beds. Each side looked identical having a desk and little set of drawers I assume meant for clothes.

"Thirteen?" I asked looking around. "That's unlucky." I pointed at the side of the room with the made up bed and empty drawers. "I'm guessing this one is mine?"

"Yeah that's yours," she confirmed. "But no I don't believe in that superstition. There's so much other plausible things to believe in like magic, aliens, or even science! Killer androids for example! My Dad and I used to go to the Stark Expo every year together, but this was the first year since it started that we haven't gone." She had a sad expression on her face for a second, but then perked back up almost immediately. "There could also be superhumans too or..." She looked up at me again in the middle of her rambles. "Sorry I'm doing it again."