Walking in to work today, I was nervous to say the least. I had my printed two week notice in my hand, and I could only hope Corey would think her plan had worked, and she had scared me off. I took a deep breath before opening the door to the stairs, and when I did, my heart sank.

​

The light was flickering.

​

Usually, we would end up on the other side once every two or three months. But twice in one week? I didn’t know what this meant, but as I entered the store, I knew it wasn’t good. Daniel and Patrick were sitting on the couch whispering to each other, and Sam was pacing nervously around the store. When the door closed, their attention snapped to me. Daniel and Patrick’s eyes were almost completely fogged over, but what could be seen behind the fog was completely bloodshot. It was clear to me they hadn’t slept in the past two days. Sam looked like he was on the verge of a panic attack. His hair was a mess, and he kept looking over his shoulder like someone was watching him. Before I could even say anything, Daniel spoke in a voice I didn’t recognize, as if his own was taken from him.

​

“How did you get in here?”

​

“...the stairs? What’s going on?”

​

They looked at each other, then all three of them sprinted past me and opened the door I had just come through. Beyond it was the sea of souls. I was hit with instant nausea and confusion, and had to steady myself on the couch to keep from passing out. I had just come through that door, and somehow we were now on the other side. I took a closer look at the shop, and noticed a thin layer of liquid on the floor, moving ever so slightly with the gentle movement of the building. I couldn’t tell where it was coming from, but it was clear it was rising.

​

I should clarify something here - on our usual trips, the building leaves at 10:00 am on the dot, exactly when we open. It was 9:49 am. I have never experienced an early departure before, and judging by the fear in all of my coworker’s eyes, neither had they.

​

Seeing the sea of souls through the door, Daniel turned to me accusingly, his face slightly distorted and almost animalistic. “How did you do that? How did you get here?”

​

Patrick quickly grabbed his arm and pointed at me. “It’s her fault! She did this to us!”

​

“Woah, what the fuck guys? What are you talking about?”

​

They suddenly dashed towards me, arms outstretched, pure rage filling the space between the fog in their eyes. I didn’t even have time to move before I was lifted off the ground, moving too fast for me to comprehend. I blinked, and suddenly I was locked in the break room with Sam, Daniel and Patrick’s wild footsteps quickly approaching.

​

“Sorry about this,” Sam said, before shoving my body into the air vent. I started to scream, as flashbacks of my soul wandering in the air vent mere hours before flooding my mind, but the space opened up for me, just as it had before. I looked at Sam, and he gave me a reassuring nod, before shoving me as far as he could and following after me. The door to the break room burst open just as Sam closed the vent, and I could hear Daniel and Patrick snarling, calling out for me.

​

I was shaking violently, and looked to Sam for answers. He remained silent. To my complete shock, he stood up, standing fully upright in the tiny air vent space. My mind couldn’t comprehend what I was seeing, but he reached for my hand, and I, too, was able to stand. He motioned for me to follow him, and he walked deeper into the vents, before stopping at a spot with a symbol marked on the wall. He sat down, and I couldn’t take it anymore.

​

“Sam, please, tell me what the fuck is happening.”

​

“We’re stuck here. They’ve been stuck since we left two days ago, and I’ve been stuck since yesterday morning. I was also able to get in, but she won’t let me leave. Eleanora won’t let any of us leave.”

​

My head was spinning, trying to comprehend. I sat down to keep from passing out. “Why are they like that, Daniel and Patrick? What happened to them?”

​

“Corey,” he said coldly. “They belong to her now.”

​

“I can tell that, but where is she?”

​

“After we left the other night, I think Eleanora trapped the guys in here. I’m not sure how, but Eleanora is desperate, and I think she is keeping Corey from coming back, just like she’s keeping all of us here. I can feel it draining her. The walls are weakening, and the water is starting to flood in. I don’t know how much longer she’ll be able to keep Corey out…” He paused, noticing the paper in my hands that I had forgotten about. “What’s that?”

​

“Nothing, it doesn’t matter,” I said, trying to shove it in my bag, but he grabbed it from me before I could.

​

“I see you have a new plan.”

​

“I’m not actually quitting-”

​

“Yeah, no shit. So what’s the deal then?”

​

I glared at him. “Corey kidnapped my soul yesterday and tried to scare me off. I was told that I should pretend it worked and convince her I was quitting.”

​

I waited for him to look impressed, but he held his usual blank stare. “Then what?”

​

“Well, my plan was to wait for us to get to the other side again, then speak to Eleanora and ask her how to stop Corey.”

​

He laughed loudly, almost vibrating the metal walls around us. “Are you fucking kidding me? That’s your plan? Let me ask you something. If Eleanora knew how to stop this, do you think Corey would still be around?”

​

“Well, she’s just a building, and I assumed she couldn’t-”

​

“Your stupidity never ceases to amaze me. Eleanora is not just a building, Harper, she is a being beyond our comprehension that took the form of a building. That was her deal with the owner. She would house the store, and the owner would see that her needs are met.”

​

“Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?”

​

“Because I wanted you to leave it alone!” he yelled, making me flinch. “How many times did I tell you to just stop! Now look at us. We’re hiding from Daniel and Patrick, who have gone fully feral, and Eleanora is being destroyed, and there’s nothing we can do!”

​

I recoiled, feeling anger burning in my chest.

​

“This is not only my fault! You’ve been here for years, why haven’t you done anything to help her? You clearly know more than me, and refuse to give up that precious knowledge, so why not use it yourself instead of hiding in the vents like a fucking coward!” I was so angry that I began crying, a reflex I hate.

​

“You have no idea what I’ve been through here-”

​

“Yeah, I don’t, cause you won’t tell me any-”

​

“Fine! You really want to know?”

​

I paused, noticing he was also on the verge of tears. I nodded silently.

​

“I worked at the warehouse for years. I kept my head down, did my job, and made my peace with what was happening around me. I-”

​

“What was happening around you?” He glared at me for interrupting him, but I knew this would be my only chance to find out.

​

“I was in the packaging department for most of my time there. Our job was to make sure everything that left the warehouse was in the proper container. Sounds easy enough, but when you’re sending out clothing made from materials not of this world, it can get tricky. If you mixed the wrong things…” he looked down at his hands for a moment, then continued. “We lost a lot of people in packaging. Good people who, more often than not, didn’t have time to realize their mistake before it was too late. Packaging was an easy job, though. One of the easiest, and with the quickest consequences if a mistake was made. Other departments had their own rules and punishments. The one everyone dreaded, the one that was basically a death sentence, was sewing.

​

“This company prides itself on making flawless products for our custom clients. That means no mistakes. I was transferred to sewing one day after I was caught sneaking food to a woman who had been locked up for laying out the patterns wrong. I knew nothing about sewing, and knew I wouldn’t last a day if I didn’t figure it out. I sat there for a long time, just staring at the fabric in front of me, when the man next to me offered to teach me. He would show me what to do every chance we had, when we weren’t being watched. He saved my life.

​

“I asked him why he bothered, he didn’t know me. He told me the woman I had been secretly feeding was his wife, and they had been trapped here for years. He saw how I cared for her, and how I was punished in return. He decided to help me and give me a fair chance at surviving. He never smiled at me or told me when I did a good job, he simply corrected my mistakes and made sure I didn’t make them again. He wasn’t unkind or cruel, but he knew the consequences of mistakes, and would not hesitate to make it clear when I was not doing something up to standards.

​

“Not long after this, it was decided that the warehouse needed to make some changes to improve production. We were all put under strict watch, 24/7 surveillance to see which of us could keep up. His wife was one of those who failed. We heard the screams from across the warehouse, and when they rang out, he jumped to his feet and ran to her. I followed, wanting to help the man who had saved me. He tried to free her, dragging her with him, but she was too far gone.” He took a deep, shaky breath.

​

“Corey had her in her grips. When he tried to snap her out of it, Corey made her attack him. She ripped into his skin, tearing his muscles from his bones. He didn’t fight back, just pleaded for her to come back to him. I was about to step in, when Corey put a hand on my chest, her voice filling my mind. ‘If you let this happen, I will transfer you out of this place. They need to see the consequences for insubordination.’ I froze, watching the horror play out in front of me, then I turned away. I saw her then, smiling at me in her true form. That horrible face… But she kept her promise. She transferred me here two weeks later, and I’ve never looked back. I learned to keep my head down, mind my business, and do my job, and that has kept me alive and out of that warehouse all these years. I don’t plan on changing that.”

​

I stared at him, watching a million emotions flash through his eyes, before he finally met my gaze, settling on grief. I reached out to comfort him, but he pulled back.

​

“This man, what was his name?”

​

“Thomas.”

​

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8