Chapter 04 The Beginning of the Stranger Things

Aris hesitated.

"I don't mean to be a bother. And I know everyone is very busy. But if whoever was in here could maybe... I mean, only if you have time, of course... could you possibly finish cleaning this up?"

She paused. Listened.

Nothing.

"I would be... eternally grateful. I know it's not anyone's fault. Things get moved. It happens. But the cart is blocking the hallway, and doors really should be locked, and I just think it would be better if everything was back where it belongs."

She waited.

Still nothing.

"Right," she said to herself. "Well. I'll just... leave this here. For later. When someone comes back. Which I'm sure they will. Eventually."

She looked back at Happy.

For a moment, just a moment, she could have sworn its smile was wider than it had been a second ago.

She blinked.

It was the same. Frozen. Plastic. Fake.

"You're imagining things," she told herself. "Leo's paranoia is getting to you."

She walked on.

The security desk was a mess.

Cards were scattered across the table, poker cards, cheap plastic ones from the break room vending machine. A pile of chips sat in the center. Two coffee cups, both empty. A half-eaten bag of pretzels.

And Leo and Chen were deep in it.

Leo was leaning forward, his elbows on the desk, his eyes fixed on his cards like they held the secrets of the universe. Chen was across from him, pokerface on, her fingers tapping a slow rhythm on the table.

Neither of them noticed Aris standing there.

She watched for a moment. Then cleared her throat.

"Ahem."

Nothing.

"Leo."

Nothing.

"Leo!"

He looked up, startled. "Aris! Hey! Didn't see you there." He glanced at the monitors, all of them, showing the same empty hallways, the same locked doors, the same flickering lights. "We were just, uh..."

"Blasting cards," Chen said, "We were blasting cards. No point lying about it, Leo. She got us."

Leo shot her a look. "We were... ummm... we were. This is not what it looks like. I swear."

"Uh-huh." Aris crossed her arms. "You know, I'm not going to tell anyone. But maybe... and I'm just throwing this out there... maybe you should focus on the monitors?"

Leo waved a hand. "Monitors are fine. Nothing's happening. Quietest morning in weeks."

"Yeah, too quiet," Aris said.

Leo's smile faded. "What do you mean?"

She hesitated. She didn't want to sound crazy. She didn't want to be the one who said something is wrong when nothing was wrong.

"The receptionist wasn't at her desk, Mara. She was gone. Her coffee was still there."

"She probably just went to the bathroom."

"The elevator was making noise. Voices. Like someone was whispering."

"Old building," Chen said. "Speakers glitch all the time."

"And then there was storage room door open. Happy was in the hallway. On his cart. No one around."

Leo and Chen exchanged a glance.

"Probably just another tour of kids coming and maintenance guy left it there. Moving stuff around. You know how it is."

"And the labs," Aris continued. "I walked past 68 and 67. Both locked. Both had voices inside. People arguing. Something about data. Something about Finch. Something about..." She paused. "Something about me. They stopped when I knocked."

Leo set down his cards. "That is weird. 67 and 68 were supposed to be closed for today. No one should be there."

"What? I'm pretty sure I heard people talking."

Chen looked at Leo. Leo looked at Aris.

"Okay, we got someone transposing then. Or scientists forgot to check in. Yeah, either way, something is going on... we don't usually leave the storage room open. And Jeff don't usually—"

"Move the mascot," Chen finished.

Another silence.

Leo stood up. "I'll do a walkthrough. Check the labs. Check the storage room. Make sure everything's where it's supposed to be. Talk to Jeff, ask him if it was him who is making the mess. Chen, you're with me, call in Ben-san, tell him to come and check the monitors. His brake is over anyway."

"I'm on it!"

Leo and Chen walked out of the security office, their footsteps echoing down the corridor. Leo had his radio in one hand, his sidearm at his hip. Chen was already on her own radio, calling out to the other security personnel.

"Ben-san! Get your butt down here, we need you at the monitors. We got a situation. On a double! And tell Mike to check on Mara. We don't see her on cameras. She was away from her desk for more than 10. See if she okay."

"Copy that! Coming!" A voice answered over the radio.

"Chen, check Lab 67 and 68. See who's in there. I'll take storage room. If it's Jeff leaving Happy in the middle of the corridor I will give him a piece of my mind about that creepy mascot."

"Got it, Leo. Be careful not to shoot Jimmy in Happy's costume while you check the storage room. It's not his fault he has to wear that massive costume."

"Can't promise. That thing freaks me out."

They disappeared around the corner.

Aris stood in the doorway of the security office for a moment, watching them go. Then something caught her eye. The monitors.

The bank of screens in the security office was displaying every hallway, every door, every corner of the facility. 

Her eyes found the storage room feed.

Doors were still open. Shelves were still messy. Boxes were still knocked over.

But Happy was gone.

The cart was empty. Mascot suit, the seven-foot-tall, permanently smiling rabbit, was no longer there. The cart sat alone in the hallway.

"Huh? Where did it go? Did Jimmy put it on and walked away? Are they starting a tour for the kids?"

She took a step toward the monitors, as if getting closer would make the image clearer. But before she could reach—

Buzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

She nearly jumped out of her skin.

Her phone. Vibrating in her pocket. The sudden sensation against her thigh sent a jolt through her entire body. She fumbled for it, her heart pounding, her breath catching in her throat.

The screen lit up.

Sarah Mendez
"Hey, where are you? Are you coming in late today? Everything ok?"

Aris looked at the message.

She replied.
"I'm at security. Coming."  

She slipped the phone back into her pocket, turned away from the monitors, and walked toward her lab.

She didn't look back.

---------------

Lab 69

The door clicked shut behind her. She turned the deadbolt. Leaned against the cold metal for a moment, her eyes closed, her heart still beating too fast.

"It's nothing," she told herself. "Someone moved the mascot. That's all. Jaff from maintenance. Or Jimmy, a volunteer. Or someone else who's preparing for a tour. There's nothing wrong."

She opened her eyes.

Her lab was dark. The sequencer was off. The freezers hummed. Sarah's workstation was empty, a sticky note on the monitor.

"Went to get coffee. Back soon. —S"

Aris walked to her workstation and sat down. She didn't turn on her equipment. She didn't open her files. She just sat there, in the dark, listening to the hum of the freezers and the distant thrum of the ventilation system.

And somewhere, in the back of her mind, she kept seeing the monitor.

The empty cart.

The missing Happy the Rabbit.

The door still open.

She pulled out her phone and looked at Sarah's message again.

"Hey, where are you? Are you coming in late today? Everything ok?"

She typed.
"I'm here. In the lab. Everything's fine. Get me coffee as well."

She put the phone face-down on her desk and waited.

-----------------

Ten minutes later the lock clicked.

Aris looked up.

Door swung open and Sarah walked in, carrying two foam cups of coffee and a paper bag that smelled like butter and sugar.

"Morning, sleepyhead," Sarah said, kicking the door shut behind her. "I brought reinforcements just as you asked and even got a snack for you."

She set one cup on Aris's desk and slid the paper bag beside it.

"Croissant. Fresh and soft. From the bakery upstairs, not the vending machine. You're welcome."

 She took the coffee and wrapped her hands around the warm cup. "Thank you. I didn't realize I was hungry."

"Yeah, you do that sometimes. You do that when you worry too much. What's wrong?" 

Aris took a sip of coffee. It was hot. Too hot. She could barely feel it.

"Nothing, I hope."

"Aris. Come on. We are friends. You can tell me."

"Nothing definable."

Aris sighed. She set down the coffee and rubbed her temples.

"The building feels strange today. I can't explain it. The receptionist wasn't at her desk. The elevator was making weird noises. Labs 67 and 68 were locked, but I heard people arguing inside. They stopped when I knocked."

"And the storage room," Aris continued. "Door was open. Happy... the mascot suit was in the hallway. On its cart. Blocking everything." She paused. "I asked... well, I asked... if whoever was in there could finish cleaning up. No one answered. And then later, when I looked at the monitors..."

She trailed off.

"What?" 

"The suit was gone. The cart was empty. Just... gone. No one around. No one on the cameras."

"Have you talked to Leo?"

"He's doing a walkthrough. Checking the labs. Checking the storage room. He took his sidearm."

"His sidearm? It's that serious?"