Original Scary Fiction
The following story is an original work. It may not be reproduced or published elsewhere without the author's permission.
To obtain permission or to get more info, contact Scuttles@ScaryPlace.com.
Andy (sarx:two)by Sean Matthew Howard
TheAmazingTumnus@MSN.com
Copyright 2001 All rights reservedThe sun finally dipped beneath the horizon and the muted violet of dusk washed across the cliffs, which hovered above West Beach. Andy Mitchell settled back into the driver's seat of his silver Acura as he pulled from the shoulder of the road. He clicked off the car's interior light.
"So, Andy," the voice from the passenger's seat seeped into the darkness, "What brings you this far out from the big city?"
"Just out for a drive. Needed some time to wind down after work." He reached up to loosen his tie and remembered that it had been that way since lunch. He tugged it down another inch for good measure. "I'm so sick of that place."
"I thought this was your dream job."
"Well, the dream is just short of a nightmare now."
"Why is that?"
"You don't want to know about my stupid problems. You're just being nice."
Sarx turned to face Andy, his tone serious. "Trust me. I'm not being nice. Tell me."
"It's the same old story really. I work myself to death. No one notices. Some fresh new face drops in from four years of college and he gets an office with a window. "
"That's not just your job, that's everyone's job. What are you leaving out?"
"You really want to know?" Andy reached for the floorboard under Sarx's legs and pulled up a black leather briefcase. He set it in between them, and while still driving, began to turn the tumblers on a combination lock. The latch snapped up and Andy pulled the flap open. He extracted a sleek laptop computer with his free hand and he slid the computer in Sarx's lap.
"Open it," he said excitedly.
Sarx opened the top and Andy switched on the power. The screen jumped to life, bathing Sarx in its bluish glow.
Andy reached over and tapped an icon. "Now, open that one."
Sarx maneuvered the cursor over the icon and clicked. A folder opened revealing a screen full of files.
Andy explained, "Every one of those files is a separate idea of mine. Most of them are completely of my own design. Games. Programs. Miscellaneous computer software. Those alone could net me quite a handsome income. However, do you see that icon at the bottom that looks like an eye on fire? That's the one that could make me a god in the computing world."
"Do tell," Sarx encouraged.
"The basic idea isn't mine. It belongs to the company that I work for. It's an operating system that they've been trying to output for years, but with no luck. The idiots in development have been screwing around for the last three months trying to figure out one glitch that caused everything to go bugfuck. Well, I decided to see if I could figure it out for them. You know, put in a little overtime. Get on the boss's good side."
"Well, after realizing that the program was flawed from its most basic components, I went back and reworked it. When I finished, it cranked right up for me, so to speak. After that, I was so excited, I began tinkering with some of the other ideas. To date, I have gotten the system running and added twelve other features that the original programmers had never even considered. This system will bury any other out there."
Andy finished speaking and nervously wiped the spittle from his lips.
Sarx tapped the screen. "It sounds like you've got the key to your success wrapped up in this little black box. What seems to be the problem?"
"I can't get anyone to listen. I've tried several times to talk to my boss about it. 'Catch me next week,' he says. Well, next week comes and goes. Then the next. Nothing. Now, I'm convinced that I'm getting blown off. Is that problem a good enough reason to hate your job?"
"More than enough, I'd say." Sarx closed the laptop and placed his hands on top. "Have you eaten dinner?"
"What?" .
"Are you hungry?"
"Yeah."
"Then pull in there." Sarx pointed across the road at a dingy little diner. "I need to pay someone a visit. And you're going to need all the strength you can get tonight."
______________
The yellow glare of bad fluorescent lighting greeted Andy and Sarx as they entered the diner.
Sarx pointed to an obscured corner booth across the restaurant. "Have a seat at that table over there. I'll join you momentarily."
As Andy crossed the room, clutching his leather case, Sarx approached the counter and mounted a stool.
"Hello, Rita."
Rita Holmes, a middle-aged waitress, turned around. "Hello, stranger. Haven't seen you for a while. You been hiding from me?"
"No. You don't have to worry about that. I'm never too far away."
"So, what brings you in tonight?"
Sarx nodded in Andy's direction. "That gentleman over there is in need of some dinner. And I thought I should come check in on you."
"Ah. Kill two birds with one stone?"
"Exactly." Sarx grinned maliciously. "How's that husband of yours?"
"How is he? He's a cop. That's how he is." Her cheerful demeanor dripped away. "Damn near sleeps at the station. Only time he's home, he's drinking beer and watching football. Closest I get to being taken out to dinner is delivery pizza..." Rita realized that she was rambling and stopped abruptly. "I'm sorry, that's just a sore subject lately."
"That's quite alright. I shouldn't hold you from your work any longer. Why don't you go see what my young friend over there wants for dinner?"
Rita scuttled off to the table where Andy was seated, leaving Sarx alone.
"Now that's a helluva woman there." A slurred voice came from beside Sarx. "I'd probably stay home more if I had one like that."
Ed Silverman was seated next to Sarx, his nearly three hundred pounds somehow precariously perched upon the singled legged stool. He was voraciously devouring two obscenely large chilidogs.
"Well, hello, Ed." Sarx turned to face him. "I see we're taking good care of that gout."
"Now, don't you start in on me too. I get enough of that crap from the old lady." He took another heaping bite of chilidog. "If'n it ain't the gout, its the diabetes. Hell, its not like I was gonna live forever anyway."
"I agree with you Ed. It's your life. Have a chilidog." Sarx stood up from his stool and clapped his hand against Ed's massive back as he was walking away. "Hell, while you're at it, have a slice of Rita's chocolate pie. They say it's to die for."
______________
When Sarx finally returned to Andy, he found Andy sitting quietly spinning a coffee cup between his hands on the table.
"I thought you were hungry," Sarx said as he slid into the booth.
"I was. But I'm too keyed up to eat right now." He stopped spinning the cup long enough to take a sip of coffee. "I'll just throw up if I do."
"Very well." Sarx settled back in the seat and rested his clasped hands on the table. "You're angry."
Andy considered it for a moment. "Yeah. Damn right I'm angry. Did you know that right now, as we speak, the bigwigs of the company are crammed into the conference room trying to find a way to completely dump this project without upsetting investors?" Andy poked his forefinger into his chest emphatically. "My project! The one I fixed! The one they won't give me the time of day about!"
"But they don't know you fixed it."
Andy threw his hands into the air in exasperation. "Of course they don't! You wanna know why they don't? I'm not one of 'them'."
"Them?" Sarx queried.
"Yeah. One of those ultra-hip well scrubbed college punks whose skills as a sycophant far exceed their skills on a computer. But they've got the good offices because they've got their heads stuck so far up management's ass that you can't tell where one starts and the other stops. And here I am crammed in my cubicle, day after day, doing their work for them while they sip lattes and download mp3's!"
"And yet they still won't listen to you?"
"Exactly!"
"So, what are you going to do about it?"
Andy's fervor faded and he slumped back in the booth. "Do? What can I do?"
"I think you have all the resources you need," Sarx tapped on Andy's briefcase, "right there."
"What good are ideas that won't be heard?"
"I didn't say anything about your ideas. Did I?" Sarx traced the edge of the case with his finger. "What else do you have in here?"
Andy stared in shock as Sarx reached in and slid out the butt of a pistol.
"Hmm... look at this."
"How did you know about that?" Andy began to sweat.
"Don't you worry about that." Sarx slid the gun back into place. "Now, what is your plan?"
"I don't have a plan."
"If you didn't have a plan, you wouldn't be carrying that with you."
"But..."
"'But' nothing. Listen to me Andrew. You are a visionary. A genius. The masses miss genius because they're blinded by their own banality. You've got your audience in that conference room. You just need to get their attention and I'd say you've got one hell of an icebreaker there."
Andy stared at the case, his thoughts reeling.
Rita came up carrying a coffeepot. "Can I get you boys anything else?"
"No," Sarx said. "I believe we're nearly done here."
Rita pulled their ticket from her apron and set it on the table.
Rita winked at Sarx. "Now, you come back and see me, okay?"
"I will, maybe sooner than you think. Oh, and by the way, tell Scott I said hi."
"Hell, you might see him before I do."
"I sure might." As Rita moved on, Sarx leaned toward Andy. "Have you sorted anything out?"
Andy grabbed the briefcase by its handle and stood up. He tossed a handful of money on the table and grinned. His eyes met Sarx, once again burning with passion.
"Let's do it."
______________
Michael Johnston, company president, and his upper management team of seven were seated around a sprawling meeting table on the sixth floor of the Blackmon building. Take-out food containers and sheaves of paper littered the table. The men were separated in groups around the table, each huddled over a laptop computer.
Just outside the door of the conference room Andy waited nervously, his case clasped tightly in his left hand. Sarx was sitting on the edge of a desk a few paces away.
"Are you ready to soar, Andy?"
Andy nodded silently and grasped the handle of the door.
"Knock 'em dead, kid."
The door swung open and Andy stepped inside. "Gentlemen!" Andy called out over the buzz of their conversations. "I need your attention!"
The room fell silent and Michael stood up. "Andrew, this is a private meeting. If there's something you need to discuss please make an appointment with my secretary tomorrow morning."
"No." Andy was seething at being put off once again. "I'm sick of being ignored around here. This will not wait!"
"It will have to. This is neither the time, nor the place."
Andy reached down into his briefcase and pulled out the gun. He pointed it at the ceiling and fired. The crack of the shot echoed off the walls and sent the men scurrying to the floor.
"This is the time and place. Now if everyone will kindly have a seat..."
Andy strode across the floor to the head of the table as the men crawled into chairs. Andy set the case on the table, pulled out his laptop and connected to the room's projection system.
"I know that you gentlemen have been working desperately to save your fiscal asses this evening. However, I'm here to tell you that it is no longer necessary."
Michael spoke. "And exactly why should we listen to you?"
Andy smirked, "Because I have a gun."
______________
For nearly an hour, Andy's captive audience sat motionlessly as he explained what the problems with the system were and how he brilliantly remedied each one. Andy wildly typed and clicked, running through the program and its new features. He occasionally glanced at Sarx, who had slipped in and was standing in the corner.
When Andy finished speaking, he closed the laptop and looked up. His breathing was heavy and beads of sweat had trickled down his forehead.
"Well?" He asked.
Michael Johnston stood up from his chair and applauded lightly. "That's brilliant. Absolutely brilliant."
Andy grinned sheepishly.
"I want you to meet with Development tomorrow morning. Tell them what you've told us."
"The development team? Tomorrow? Really?"
"Absolutely."
"Thank you sir." Andy said and then turned to Sarx. "Did you hear that? He liked it. I can't believe it."
"You shouldn't."
"What?" Andy asked bewildered.
"You shouldn't believe it."
"Why not?" "He's only pacifying you because you have a gun. He doesn't think your idea is brilliant."
"Yes. Yes, he does. He just said so. Tomorrow I am going to meet with..."
"It seems someone has put their cell phone to good use. The police have already been called. You won't even make it home; I'd venture to guess." Sarx stepped to the window. "Come. Have a look."
Andy approached the window. The ground floor of the building was awash with red and blue light as several police cruisers pulled into the parking lot.
"No!" Andy turned back to Johnston and pointed the pistol. "You lied to me!"
"We can fix this Andy," Johnston pleaded, dropping his phone from sight. "Trust me. It's just a misunderstanding."
"Bullshit."
Sarx stepped up beside Andy. "That's right Andy. Don't let him get away with it. You work your self to death here. First he ignores you. Then he lies to you. And then tomorrow, when you're safely locked away, they're going to take your hard work and ideas to the development team. Just like they thought of them themselves. I think you should make sure that doesn't happen."
"How?"
"How many more bullets do you have in that gun?"
Andy turned his face to the ground. "None."
"None?"
"I didn't actually think I'd have to use it."
"Looks like you've just limited your options severely."
"What do you mean?"
"Run."
______________
Andy flung the front door open and spilled out into the hallway. He took a step left and then a step right, his eyes darting about looking for a way of escape. He ran toward the elevator. The lighted display above the doors showed the car creeping up towards the sixth floor.
"Where do I go?!"
Andy spun around looking for Sarx, but the hall was empty. Frantic and witless, he scurried down the hall grabbing door handles hoping one would open. None did. He reached the end of the hallway and fell against the wall in despair. Peripherally, he saw a bright red glow above his head. He turned toward the glow, which was emanating from an exit sign above the stairwell door.
"Use it." Sarx's voice crept up behind him.
Andy turned around. "Where were you?"
"That should be the least of your worries right now. Looks you're going to have company soon."
The elevator's bell dinged as the display shone the number six.
"Run, boy."
Andy dove into the stairwell and the door shut behind him as the elevator's door slid open. Below him, he could hear the faint sounds of voices on the ground floor. The police were waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs. He clambered up the steps, completely lost and having no idea what to do next. His feet pounded the steps as his hands wildly grabbed at the railing. He stopped on the landing to the seventh floor and peered through the small window in the door.
"What? You think they won't look there too?" Sarx taunted him. "Keep moving!"
Up and up he continued for several flights until he realized that he had run out of floors. The only other option was the door labeled, "Roof Access: Authorized Persons Only".
"Where to now?" Andy turned behind him. Sarx was gone.
Andy could now hear footfalls on the steps below. His mad scramble up the stairs had obviously attracted attention. He was stuck once again, it seemed. He pulled open the roof access door and scaled the metal steps, taking two at a time. Barely slowing for the door, he slammed the crash bar and toppled through the door.
The stairwell door slammed shut behind Andy, issuing a metallic report like a gunshot. Wind whipped around his body as he frantically looked for a way of escape.
"This is quite the sticky situation, isn't it?"
Andy spun around to face Sarx, who was leaning casually against the stairwell door.
"What in the hell do I do now?" Andy's eyes were wide with fear, tears welling up in the corners.
"Do? You do what you came here for. You make your point. You show them all."
"And do what? Jump?"
"Do you see any other options? Besides, imagine how terrible they'll all feel in the morning..."
Sarx smirked as he stepped toward the ledge. Andy tentatively followed.
"Andy, my friend, you are a revolutionary. A visionary. They don't see that now. Common people rarely do. And if you're still standing here when the police bust through that door, they will only see a criminal. And they will be the ones to write the end of your story. But, why allow that? You write the end. You tell the world. You be the hero."
Sarx stepped up on the ledge and offered his hand to Andy. "Your last chance at greatness."
Andy stared at Sarx's outstretched hand. "Will you come with me?"
"I've brought you this far, haven't I? Let's go. I hear their footsteps on the stairs."
Andy grasped Sarx's hand and was pulled up to the ledge. He could see the red and blue lights of the police cars scattered below. The sound of boots crunching on the stairs behind him was becoming increasingly louder with each step.
"Are you ready to soar?"
Andy nodded and squeezed his grip on Sarx's hand.
"On three." Sarx's tongue darted out and moistened his lips. "One"
The footsteps stopped in the stairwell.
"Two."
The door crashed open and two officers emerged with guns drawn.
"Three."
"Freeze!"
Andy leaned forward and pushed off the ledge. He fell silently, peacefully for nearly three floors before he looked to his right hand.
It was empty.
He was alone.
It was then he began to scream.
Seconds later, the scream ended abruptly with a solid, wet thud.
Sarx smiled, stepped from the ledge and walked past the officers that were advancing toward the roof's edge.
One of the officers announced into his radio. "Suspect has jumped from the roof. He's appears to not be moving."
______________
Sarx took the stairs to next floor and slid into a waiting elevator. He pressed the button for the first floor.
"Hold the elevator!" Officer Scott Holmes ran for the elevator door. Sarx stopped the doors.
"Thanks." Scott stepped in. "What a mess, huh?"
"Most certainly."
"Haven't seen you in a while."
"I've been quite busy." Sarx pushed the button for the first floor. "Working late tonight?"
"No. Actually, I'm cutting out a little early tonight."
"Big date?"
"You betcha. A little dinner and, if I'm lucky, a little dessert."
"Well, definitely good luck to you, then."
The elevator arrived at the first floor and the doors slid open.
"By the way," Sarx added as they were stepping out of the elevator, "How's the wife?"
"Rita?" Scott laughed. "Hell if I know," he said as he walked away.
Sarx licked his lips. "That's just what I wanted to hear."
fini