"Leif always had an issue with you hanging out with Eli, he was just jealous. You think building potato engines in an abandoned mall was gonna get you anywhere? It was for the best. Besides, his right pinky was always bent. Just another flaw that he has. Another thing in that relationship you had to fix. What else do you need to fix?"

(The time is 9 PM, in the corner of the room lies Theo, unconscious in a cot with a bottle of water on counter next to him. Sitting beside him is a woman, looking no older than in her 20's and hair the color of a clover, taking notes on her unknowing patient as he mumbles in his sleep)

Another day, another dollar, dear Theodore.

(As he awoke, Theo's head felt as though he had put it through a cement mixer. )

"Whyyy?"

"I don't know why. But at least you're here to see another day Theodore!"

(Theo was less than happy for her to be the first voice he heard this morning. A long sleeve shirt, another new dye job and that ever taunting name tag that labeled her Astrid.

He struggled to look over to the woman; Her hair a color of light blue this time. Its never a good time to see her. Yet she's the only one he got to talk to regularlly. It annoyed him. Her and her disarming accent, it sounded real but you could swear she wasn't British. Or Australian? It was something like that but made worse by the concern on her face that was clearly foreign to her repertoire of emotions.)

"Do you know how worried we were about you? Why just seeing you and Elias on the floor like that, it was just so frightening."

(Theo had to will himself out of the medical cot, and from the moment he went to move his arm it felt like someone took a sledgehammer to all of his bones)

"Where... the hell's.... Eli?"

"Oh.. Elias was actually relatively unscathed. He's been a bit jumpy while you were out of it. While we're mentioning it and him, do you know where-

(Theo pushed her aside. He needs to get something straight with Eli about what the hell happened. His memory of the event is still blurry and he knew his legs were as useful as Twizzlers ((Seriously though fuck Twizzlers, Theo was not going back to that memory of a wasted Halloween, should've egged that lady's house!"))-No! He had to focus on getting to Eli. That and not falling on his ass.)

(As Theodore barged in the room, a mixture of urgency and the fact he nearly fell over on the still open door;his legs becoming useless as he entered ,Eli stood at the center of the room.

The scene was one of a perfected chaos. Papers with page markers but none of them seemed placed in any particular order.He had been writing. Alot. Stacks upon stacks of paper, crossed out, filled in, none of it consistent,some even on the walls; it was as if his brain was a bouncing ball and the words simply landed where they landed.

After seemingly admiring his work, or maybe just trying to add it all into coherent book in head, he spoke.)

"There's so much here. So many parts, so much that can work."

"Yooo. Eli, you good? Like this is a forest's worth of paper. Where did you even get this stuff? They only give us a certain amount of this stuff per month, then we got to go Astrid for it, and it's your turn this time to sit through her seminar on recycling.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"It doesn't matter. Not at all. Tell me Theo, what do you remember from the last encounter?

(It was like Eli wasn't answering Theo's question, more just putting out a random thought to whoever heard it.)

"Well everything turned Blue and then I screamed. What about it?"

(Eli looked at Theo, like he was a student who spaced out during an important seminar. Like he couldn't believe his gall. He grabbed Theo by the collar and looked into his eyes, it was like he seemed desperate to share this with someone, but only to someone who understood.)

"...., That can't be it. You didn't hear it? You didn't see it?!"

"See what man? Like to be honest, I was too busy trying not to get sucked up in blueberry flavored doom"

(He let go of his collar and faced away from him. Eli sighed as a Father would to his idiot son after having put up with a years worth of his ramblings.)

"It doesn't matter, you're distracting me from getting down everything. We'll talk tomorrow."

(Theo just walked away. He saw Eli get in these moods, wanting to write down and record what he could before new information messed up his flow. Most of the budget before signing up at this place went to personal recorders but usually Eli was... more relaxed about it. Usually the collar grabbing was saved for exciting times, but this? This was more of an exasperation. Desperation. )

"Might as well check the emails while I'm still awake."

(Theo moved on his way to the cubicles, one of the only places he could a hint of what actually goes on at the U.N.S.T.F. He could never get a proper conversation going with anyone on the off chance, it was liked they all lived in their workstations.

As he settled down at his chair, he opened his company provided email. The usual bank information of his 5k internship payment directly into his account. Huge step up than the mall antics...

The next term of business is to send the usual messages to the family. Filler stuff, just that he's fine, things are progressing and that they don't need to worry. Other than that, his inbox remained dry. A twinge of sadness struck but he quickly shrugged it off.)

"Nothing... as usual."

"Its not healthy to talk to yourself, guy."

"The fuck?!"

(Behind Theo stood an evenly placed man, with padded gloves covering his hands and a haircut that could only be described as messy blond blinders in the front and a carpet in the back. His shirt seemed like it had magnetic buttons yet it looked Hawaiian. Both business casual and unprofessional at the same time. His pants cargo, jangling with each step as though he held an entire Walmart in his pockets. )

"Shouldn't waste your words dude, we only have another few sentences before Astrid finds out. Names Sheamus and I'm banned from several churches.

(He outstretched a hand, it smelled of pineapple soda.)

"Theo. Also don't sneak up on someone like that. It gets them paranoid. Also what's with your outfit? Shouldn't you be dressed like we're at work? Cause we are?"

"Already paranoid. And you need to stop people watching and concerning yourself with my fashion tastes. One more sentence."

"What?"

(Seemingly appearing from Thin Air, Astrid appeared in between the two. Red hair this time.)

"Theodore, Sheamus! How are you? How are your assignments going?"

" (On the fucking dot.)Good, Astrid, we were actually just in the middle of talking about how our progress is going."

"Oh Sheamus, you know its against policy to discuss projects with others outside your work group. And if you can talk, then you can work on something! Gotta put that energy to good use!"

"Oh for sure Astrid, just give me a minute to get my lunch."

(As Sheamus walked past, he gave a glancing word to Theo.)

"Wasted your sentence my man."

(Theo could only give a look of confusion as the man who looked like he belonged to a summer camp walked off to the cafeteria.)

"And you Theodore, do you have any more business in here? The supervisors say you should be getting more rest after your initial incident and with your pace, I think you might need the rest, can't answer the questions if you're mentally unwell.

(Theo wasn't particularly fond of the idea of being put off from getting another look at his workstation to piece together what happened... yesterday? A day ago? How long was he out? Questions for later, his head was killing him again.)

"Yeah.. yeah, I'll get some rest soon. Thanks Astrid."

"Anytime Theodore! We all have to look out for our best and brightest!"

(Cheery, Theo thought. Was closer to what she was used to emotionally, but still a bit off.

Theo felt like he earned a rest, too many weird things and weirdos to deal with in one span of being awake. He had a peek at Eli's room before moving down to his.

He saw Astrid's head in Eli's hands. Couldn't be though. He's just a bit sleep deprieved. He moved on from the thought, cleared the wrappers from his bed and landed face first in all that thread count.

It was bleached white.)