The Countdown (A Project 863-Inspired Story!)

Day 2/10

Nov. 5, 2002/Nov. 15, 2002

"Can you keep a secret?" He whispered to me.

My head was spinning. I opened my eyes blearily. My breathing was returning to normal and my eyesight cleared. What had happened to me? I felt my eyelids droop shut.

"Come on, Rena Hoo. You have to answer me." he begged in a whisper. I felt his breath on my ear. "Can you keep a secret?"

I let out a drawn out breath and opened my eyes. His eyes locked with mine, and though I saw worry and fear in his eyes, guilt haunted his eyes more than possible. If his pupil was a tree, and his green iris were the leaves, then the sky that was lighting the tree was the guilt that haunted him.

"Yes." I whispered hoarsely, my throat tight.

I heard a hissing sound in the room and felt Mr. Nathaniel get up from the floor where I was laying. I tried to get up too, but only made it to a sitting position. Mr. Nathaniel had put on a gas mask, and held out a hand to me.

"So you'll take the job?" he asked me, his voice muffled. I paused, and I subconsciously sniffed the air. "You can be the accountant?" What on earth was that sweet-smelling thing?

I nodded slowly, feeling dizzy, much dizzier than I thought I'd be after I almost passed out. "Yes, I will." I said. I stretched out my hand to shake his. My palm had barely connected with the tips of his longest fingers before everything shut down like my Apple II trying to survive in the modern age of technology.

Nov. 6, 2002/Nov. 15, 2002

Someone was nudging my arm. My eyes opened slowly. Everything was sideways. Why is- OH, my head's resting on my hands! Ohh! My eyes widened. Where was I?

I shot into a sitting position, gasping for air as I looked around wildly. A man was walking around the room I was in, with a clipboard in his hand. He frowned at me, his goatee almost folding in half. "Sleeping on the job," he muttered to himself as he circled the table of computers I and a bunch of others were seated at.

I looked at a person on my left, and she made a pointed eye contact with me. A glare, but not quite. I held my mouth shut somehow and made myself familiar with my surroundings: the chair I was seated in, the whiteness of the walls, the tactile feeling of the vanilla-colored keyboard and mouse.

As I felt, I collected my thoughts. I went to the job interview, but then someone attacked me, and- oh what happened? I got the job, yes, that's right! I got the job, and then- nothing. Weird.

An accounting program had been pulled up on the screen. QuickBooks 2002, the Premier version. At least I knew this software somewhat well. A task was already in the Reminders area, and had a due date of midnight tonight.

Simple. I could do that.

And I did.

I worked my fingers off that first day, trying to figure out what was happening as my fingers flew across the keyboard. By the time I'd looked back at the time in the bottom right corner, it was 8:36 p.m.

I blinked a few times- It couldn't be that late!- and the numbers cleared up, much to my relief. 4:24 p.m. Still late, but a far cry from 8:36!

I looked at the woman on my left. She seemed to sense my eyes and looked back at me. "Yes?" she asked me.

"Er, when's break?" I asked her. Her face turned sour and she ignored me. Weird.

But the man was gone, and I stood up, out of my chair. I had to talk to Mr. Nathaniel about this. Maybe he could give me a schedule or something?