Khaleel poured coffee into his tumbler, getting as close to the washline as he could without spilling over. He pressed the lid on and walked away from the breakroom and back into the room with all the cubicles. He glanced at the clock as he sat down. Just a few minutes until break time.

He opened his emails. A good way to look busy. Clearing out emails was simple because most of the emails he got didn’t apply to him. Just before he closed out of his emails, he saw one from Olivia with the subject: You Will Not Believe This. He clicked open and read it. Her normally perfect formatting was gone, and it was just the text:

“There was some kind of a monster in the lobby. You’re never going to believe it. Jay Cooper saw it too. It was like some sort of big centipede thing. I don’t know, but you have to come down and talk to me on your break. I need to talk to someone about this.”

Khaleel responded, “Be right down,” before getting up with his lunch and heading for the elevator. He waited in a crowd of people, for the elevator to slowly make its way up. He took a sip of the hot coffee in his left hand then the door opened, and the remaining people on floor 36 filed their way into the elevator.

Khaleel always eyed the weight limit and then tried to do the math on whether or not this would be the time they broke the elevator. Even with his generous estimations, they seemed to come about 100 short of the weight limit. Safe and sound. Hopefully, that’s how it worked.

Its light progressed down from floor to floor. Someone coughed, and Khaleel did his best to inconspicuously turn his head away. People who couldn’t hold a cough or sneeze in an elevator annoyed him to no end. Eventually, they hit “L.”

The doors slid open with a groan, and you would swear the walls were closing in on them the way people rushed to get out of the door. But, most people didn’t bring a lunch. They were on their way to grab some food and eat it on the way back. That in itself took an hour. Khaleel just needed the pasta salad, chips, and cookie that he brought today.

Lauren and Eli were already gone on break. The reception desk smelled… unpleasant. He couldn’t quite describe what it was, but hopefully, she didn’t want to talk here. Olivia put up a sign that indicated to any visitors that most of the building was on lunch break and would be back at 1:00 PM. Thank God. Olivia smiled, “Thank you so much for coming down. Okay. This is so weird. I don’t even know if it was real or not. Lauren is gone. She just ran away and went home. Eli has not talked since it happened. So it’s like… you know did it even happen?”

Khaleel nodded and said, “I do not even know what you’re talking about.” They chuckled simultaneously, then Olivia carried it into a slower more pitchy giggle. Then just silence between them. Khaleel cleared his throat and looked about the lobby, “Where do you want to go to talk about it?”

“Is anyone in accounting?” Olivia asked.

“No, no one eats there on break.”

“Let’s go there.”

Khaleel smiled, and they got on the elevator together.

“Okay, I can’t wait,” Olivia said as the elevator glided up to the accounting office. “There was this like… centipede thing in lobby.”

“So… did you kill it with your shoe?”

“No,” she shook her head, “I mean like, huge. Like it was as tall as me, and… I don’t even know how long. Like…” here eyes popped open as she stared at the rising floor number. The doors popped open, and she checked the hallway before continuing. “Like, did I even see it? Maybe I am crazy. This sounds crazy.”

“That sounds like something a sane person would say,” Khaleel said, leading her over to the accounting office. His smile was to put her at ease, but he became hyper-aware of her now. Was she crazy? She was kind of talking crazy. It was a weird thing to lie about, but honestly, she was probably just joking with him. Just humor her then. He didn’t want her to think he was a jerk but also didn’t want her to think he was stupid. Just play along until she gives up the joke. They turned into the cubicles, and Olivia stood on tip-toes to peer over the maze of grey walls.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“Other people did see it. The reception desk still smells like puke because Eli threw up when it happened,”

“Oh, that’s what that was,” Khaleel laughed. That was definitely the smell of puke, but it took him until now to connect it. Maybe she was just waiting for someone’s food to disagree with them in order to play this preplanned joke on him.

“What? Did you think that was me?” she smiled, the lines pulling into dimples on either side of her cheek. A little asymmetrical, but in a good way.

Khaleel stopped, his face becoming warm. He was just glad she wouldn’t be able to distinguish a blush from the normally dark brown color of his skin. “No, of course not,” Khaleel said, responding way too late for it to sound natural. “I thought maybe Eli forgot deodorant.”

She laughed. Good, still in the clear. She groaned for a second and said, “I’m glad I can tell you. I thought you’d think I’m crazy.”

Khaleel set his lunchbox down and opened it up. She grabbed a chair from a nearby desk and sat down across from him, opening her own lunch from a nearby deli. Khaleel took a bite from his food. He did need to eat at some point. “Only a little,” he said, meeting her eye contact.

Her mouth twisted. Wait… was she being serious? She twisted her hair between her fingers, stared at a hair that came out when she was done, then she got up.

“No, I’m just messing with you,” Khaleel said, putting up his hands. “I…” he wanted to continue, but there was no way that sounded sincere. Of course, he didn’t really think she was being serious, but how was he supposed to know? And what was going through her head that she would be serious about this?

“It’s fine,” Olivia shook her head. “I just… it’s really nothing. I get it. I wouldn’t believe me either. I don’t need pity.” She opened her mouth, but she closed it without another word. Then she turned and walked away.

Khaleel’s legs thought to follow far too late. The elevator door was closed by the time he made it. He walked back to his desk and picked up his coffee. He sighed, his heart sinking deeper into his gut as he took another sip. Footsteps coming from the hall woke his senses back up more than the coffee did. Was she back? He knew the answer was “no” but who else would it be?

It sounded like someone running. Khaleel meant to move forward but convincing his legs to do that was another thing. Then a… thing… peeked around the corner. Or what looked like peeking, though it was hard to tell with such a grotesque appearance of the creature. Olivia was telling the truth.

Khaleel closed his eyes, hoping it would go away when he opened them again.

“Where is the creator?” It asked in a voice clear as any other person’s voice. Khaleel’s eyes snapped open, and he yelped.

Khaleel shook his head. Did this creature mean Allah? The way the creature felt around the room didn't suggest it was looking for an intangible entity but rather something physical. Or maybe it was a demonic entity, and it was confused as to where it was. Khaleel dropped his coffee cup, raising his hand and holding on to the water as it fell. Coffee dust sprayed across the floor, and the water remained suspended in Khaleel’s grasp. He held it up, forming a shield in front of himself.

The creature raised an arm. It was simple, clean, and came to a very fine point at the end. The inorganic design put Khaleel off. How could something so artificial be… here? It pressed against the water, the force of the push pressing into Khaleel's hands. The connection of the water to his body was nearly direct, though he suspected if the creature attempted to poke that way at his body it would just poke through him.

"Why are you all so useless?"

The statement came so matter-of-factly, reducing Khaleel to nothing more than an idiot threatening to throw water at a monster. He backed away with one hesitant step, then spun on his heel and ran to the other side of the office, keeping the water just in case he needed it. The creature gave chase into the hall, legs tapping on the ground as it followed along. Khaleel arrived at the end of a hall, pressing the elevator door button and turning to face this creature. It stopped, its body raised by spiked legs piercing into the walls. The slit on the front of it dangled over Khaleel's head. The elevator door opened, and Khaleel stuck his hand out to hold the door.

"What are you doing?" Khaleel asked.

"Learning," it responded without a breath between the question and the answer.

Khaleel held the water, a swirling ball suspended in front of him. "What have you learned so far?"

"You're in fear. Always. You and the others I have encountered. You fight us because you fear us. And you fear that fighting us will put you in danger because..." it moved closer, almost as if to sniff his hair. "You fear what others of your kind will do to you."

"Why do you say 'us'? Are there more of you?"

"We are many as one."

It turned itself around, the meticulous motion of each leg moving just enough to keep from accidentally hitting Khaleel. It began to hum as it walked away. A song that Khaleel was listening to before the break. It moved nonchalantly down the hall and kept moving. The elevator screamed at him as he continued to hold it. He stepped in and pressed a button to go to the ground floor. He owed Olivia a big apology.