The Vanishing Complex

Chapter 2

Donuts, the perfect start for a terrible day. At least, that's how it started. Sofia reached out, wrapping her fingers over the edge of the last maple glazed donut. Her mouth watered with anticipation as she set it down on a napkin and ripped off a chunk. Beside her was her best friend Josh, also enjoying a chocolate donut. That had been the safe choice. There were 5 minutes until their meeting started, before their fire breathing dragon of a boss entered the room.

The nerves built up into a knot in her stomach so she put another piece of donut on it. Then another, and another until it was gone. Just as she took the last bite, the dragon entered. Tara Martinez, senior editor, and totalitarian of the Toronto Tribune.

She dropped a stack of edited articles on the table and sat down asking for a maple donut. The atmosphere suddenly froze. Sofia tensed, her stomach curling in anxiety. She could feel the eyes of her other coworkers slowly but surely landing on her. Her stomach churned and she could feel it coming up. Maybe Tara would get her donut after all.

"Um, I'm sorry, I took it." Josh said.

Sofia glanced at him from the side. What a guy, dying for her honor. Tara stared at him, no emotion, not even anger evident in her eyes. She sighed, and passed out the articles. The covers were marked with red ink, all criticisms and long paragraphs of edits to be made.

"I'll make this quick because I have a meeting to get to, but I'm very disappointed with the articles that you've turned in. Seriously, it's a wonder how any of you graduated college and can't even spell. Fix it and resubmit. You guys are really going to be the reason that this newspaper dies."

With that, Tara left the office and headed towards the conference room down the hall. Sofia and the rest of her colleagues filed out of the smaller meeting room back to their own desks. As Sofia passed the giant flat screen mounted on the wall, the red banner reading 'Breaking News' caught her attention, and floored her to her spot. Stories had been pouring out of the United States for months now, about teenagers being rounded up in the hundreds from middle schools, high schools, even college campuses.

A coworker raised the volume as Sofia stepped closer to the screen. The reporter giving the story wore a professional, white two-piece pantsuit. Her hair was long and a deep seductive black against the white of her blazer. Behind her were the golden gates of the Vanishing Complex Sanatorium. Sofia read the initials on the gate, a shudder crawling down her back.

It made it sound like an insane asylum in her mind.

Dozens of teenagers were being herded in through the gates. They reminded her of cattle being taken to the slaughterhouse. Some held stoic expressions, while others looked genuinely terrified of whatever was on the other side of the gates. The smiling faces of the sanatorium's workers were rubbing Sofia the wrong way. She couldn't quite place the discomfort, but the more she watched, the harder it became to look away despite how much she wanted to. She watched as their plastered smiles remained frozen in place, the light not quite reaching their eyes.

Two workers wearing white lab coats were standing at the main entrance, lightly patting each student on the shoulder as they entered. The camera shifted its angle, zooming into the inner courtyard. For a moment she caught a flash of the patients inside. It only lingered for a second, but the image of teenagers in white hospital gowns loitered in her mind's eye. The camera turned back to the reporter as she finished her report.

"Parents and school counselors across the United States have reported teenagers  and young adults for demonstrating signs of the Vanishing Complex. Raids in schools across America have led to a roundup of more than 1,200 patients who have been admitted into what is colloquially known as The Nest. Created by the Chamber of Soundness in 2017, the Vanishing Complex Sanatorium has aided in the reduction of Vanishing Complex rates by nearly 50% and is trending towards completely eradicating it by the year 2020."

Sofia lifted a brow as the reporter went on, but the sound of her voice was beginning to fade as her thoughts took over. Sofia had left Detroit and moved to Toronto four years earlier, one year before The Chamber of Soundness had been introduced. She thought back to when The Chamber made headlines for coining the term Vanishing Complex.

The rest of Sofia's coworkers had dispersed mumbling about how happy they were that Canada hadn't instituted the Chamber of Soundness... yet. Sofia remained planted at the TV, her mind long gone into the past.

Their first published studies had astonished the world. Vanishing Complex rates had been reduced by fifty percent in two years. They had the lowest depression and anxiety rates in the world. It all seemed great, but now Sofia was realizing that this was the third story in a month about students being rounded up.

For a moment, her sister's face crossed her mind. She shook it away and turned back towards her desk.

"Hey." a female voice said.

Sofia glanced up recognizing her coworker Tracy.

"You're American, right?" she asked.

"Born and raised."

"Does it freak you out a little that they're doing that?"

Sofia shrugged. "I mean... it was never mandatory to undergo treatment unless you were a danger to yourself and others. You know like if you attacked someone or tried to kill yourself. Michigan can hold you for up to 72 hours."

"I don't think this is for 72 hours only."

Sofia glanced back to the TV. She didn't think so either. As Tracy returned to her desk, Sofia picked up the article Tara had returned. It was marred with red ink, you could hardly see the white of the paper it was printed on. At the corner of her desk was a stack of rejected articles. This was always the norm with Tara. Sofia stared at the red ink, it made her stomach shrivel up. Tara probably drained the blood of cats to get her red ink.

She tossed the article onto the stack and unlocked her computer. Her screensaver greeted her, a photo of her best friends doing the edge walk at the CN tower. The orange jumpsuits they had to wear were bright against the cerulean Toronto sky. Just looking at the way she and her friends leaned backward, backs to the city, made the adrenaline go pumping through her system again.

Sofia logged onto Google Chrome and searched up The Chamber of Soundness.

"Let's see what the hell is going on in my country." she mumbled to herself.

Dozens of articles showed up on the first page alone, all within the last 5 months. Key words popped out at Sofia, all saying the exact same thing. Students were being taken from their campuses and admitted into The Nest. The word taken stood out to her the most. This was entirely against their will. She highly doubted every single student was suddenly trying to hurt themselves in the middle of class or had attacked someone they knew.

She clicked on an article from the Detroit Free Press. Key words continued popping out at her, taken, students, campuses, and the biggest one of all. Vanishing Complex rates had been reduced by fifty percent and would be eradicated by 2020.

"What are you doing Chamber of Soundness?" she asked, her voice only loud enough for her to hear.

Josh glanced at Sofia from his desk. He couldn't see her eyes, but he could feel the energy evaporating from her skin.

She was about to go down the rabbit hole.

Hi guys!

How was chapter 2? Would love to hear your thoughts!