Under the Cover
A middle aged looking man was sweeping the nineteenth floor of an office building in Portland. His face was weary looking, as if he hadn't had a break for a very, very long time. His eyes were a burnt brown color but his nose underplayed them with its size. His skin was pale white, but not too pale to make him look sick. His white hair contrast his age, making him seem of an older period. He wore a marine blue jump suit. Habitually, he swept the floors of the office, thinking about how careless people seem to be when in an office kitchen. But then he thought of not having enough to do and put the thought to rest. Because, the faster he could finish his job, the faster he could go to bed.
After he finished with the sweeping, he scrubbed the tables down and checked for any forgotten pieces of food or trash, then went on to the next floor. Luckily, most of that floor was carpet. About two hours later, he was finished, from floor one to thirty-five. All he needed to do now was check the parking lot for cars, which was always the easiest part. He got into the elevator, the only place were the lights were still on. One of the only things the man still enjoyed was the dark. His eyes squinted up the name tag attached to his jump suit, which was visible here. In print was the name "Will."
He got off on the fourth floor, which was the top floor of the parking lot. When he stepped out, the usual dankness of the place flooded his senses. But at least it was dark. He fast walked down the lot, keeping his eyes peeled for cars (even though there never were any). When he got to the last floor, his composer was better thinking of going home and sleeping.
But his hopes sank when he saw the car. He couldn't tell exactly what type of car it was, because it was under a cover. Though, from his knowledge, it looked like a Ford Tudor, which was strange to him seeing how old they were. When he walked up closer, a overwhelming odor came over him and he stepped back a few paces. By now, he was very confused as to why this was here and what the smell was. He willed himself to pull the cover off some. His prediction was correct. It was a Ford Tudor. It was a black version with all the lights bashed out for no apparent reason. The side windows were cracked, some shards had even fallen to the floor making it easy to get into the car.
Inside, he saw the blackened outline of what looked to be a body. Before he could check if this was indeed the case, he put the cover back on a left. He thought about what his boss would think of such a strange and unsettling occurrence. As he walked the streets to his apartment, he dreaded the next day when he would have to tell his boss about it. What if it had been there for days and nobody had noticed? He slept uneasily that night. When he got up in the morning, the first image that came to his mind was of the darkened body and the grotesque smell. That morning, he had nothing for breakfast. Partly because his body was not agreeing with him, but he was able to will himself to work.
He walked into the building and went straight to the TV room. The TV room was what he called the room with all of the monitors connected to the security cameras. That was also the room were is his boss operated. His name was Thomas. He was very short for his age and quite on the chubby side. He was wearing a black T-Shirt with blue jeans. And he somehow got his face to have a constant frown on it. Will took a deep breath and stepped into the office.
"Um... Sir."
"Yes?"
"Last night, while I was checking for cars in the parking lot, I for once actually did find a car."
"Oh... Really? Show it to me."
Will motioned for Thomas to come with him. He felt kinda unsure, because he usually never interacted with significant others. Especially his boss. When they got out of the elevator on the first floor, Will began to describe the car to Thomas.
"The car was very strange because it old and had a cover on it..."
"Oh really, why type of car did you think it was?"
"It was a... uh-"
But he was cut off when he noticed that the car was nowhere to be seen. He was dumbfounded by the fact that there was no car in its place. Usually by now, the first floor would be completely taken but this one area was not. It was as if it had some type of repulsion power.
"So, uh, where is it?"
"Oh uh um, it... It doesn't seem to be here."
"Sell that's very strange. But, no matter, you're a good worker. I'll just get back to my work. See you later will."
"See you later, Tom... Uh yeah..."
His mind was buzzing with questions and none of them could be answered. And he just decided to forget it. He went on with his day and did everything he had to do, though he was a bit scared when it was time to check the lot and of course it still was not there. And he went home still feeling a bit disturbed from the whole event. He slept soundly though. But it came back to haunt him the next day. He went to get the mail, which was strange of him to get in the first place, considering he hadn't gotten in almost ten years (other than taxes). But strangely enough, he did have mail. He couldn't write back because there was no return address. He opened it up when he got back to his kitchen he sat down to read it.
"Do not speak of it to anyone."
He didn't have to think to know what this was referring to and that's exactly what he did. He never spoke about it to anyone. But the scene was always buried in his mind of the rotting corpse which he was sure that it was now. And after that, he never went up to his boss to say he saw a suspicious car with a cover on it in the lot, because he knew just what would happen.
Credited to The Taxidermist
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