The Garage, or Consciousness in Violet

Hyperventilating, mouth dry, eyes rolling uncontrollably, & neck throbbing from a violently racing heart, it was clear he was about to lose consciousness. It had come on suddenly, & Elijah instinctively knew it was inevitable. He couldn’t even get his eyes to focus, & the rows of cars swam in his grey, dimming line of vision. His only comfort was in knowing that he would collapse in front of the elevator he’d just stepped out of, on the second level of this parking garage. And though, at 2:00 PM, the lunch crowd was gone, this garage was in downtown Seattle; someone was bound to find him & help.

Yet, even that simple comfort gave way to confusion, as his sweaty shaking hands loosened on the grocery cart he’d been clenching, & awareness of his limbs disappeared. Then blackness.

*

The awaking was more sudden than the collapse. Elijah felt weighted; he could barely move. His eyes had that same dry, swollen sting you get from staying up too late. But he was conscious. As his sense recovered, he was aware that he was leaned up against something, his legs stretched out in front of him. The concrete floor under him had tire marks, and patches that reflected dark greasy rainbows from the droplets of water that gathered and wouldn’t mix on the dry oil stains beneath: he was still in the garage. But now, a spotlight was aimed at him, hues of orange & red burned into his retina.

He felt faintish, so he stayed still; his extremities cold, fingers shaking. His eyes lolled to his right, & thus he became aware of the man seated next to him, cross-legged. Salt & pepper hair, clean shaven face, olive skin, hazel eyes; grey blazer over a beige vest & blue shirt, black leather gloves, blue jeans, loafers. That face, hawkish & stone-cut, didn’t match those clothes; even half conscious & in a fugue state, Elijah saw that. The clothing read simple but contented; retired, leisured, & still within the zeitgeist. Yet the face read one who was exposed to the elements; one who had seen the world & feared nothing on those travels. The eyes stood out the most; darting quickly within a small circumference. When people lock eyes, their pupils naturally move back & forth across each other’s face. But it was the speed and range of motion of this man’s eyes that was startling; as if they were looking from Elijah’s eyes to his nose, chin, lips, & collarbone, and back again many times per second. Off-putting, and against the zen-like stillness of the man’s body, it communicated menace.

“Who are you?,” Elijah groaned, breathlessly. No answer. “Where am I?”. The sound of wind & traffic outside. “Please help me? Please? Who ar...” Elijah’s eyes squinted & his face scrunched up, “Please turn that light off.”

“Elijah, that is not a light I can control.”

Elijah squinted harder, and realized that the intense glow was in fact the sun setting, shining brilliantly through the open sides of the parking garage. It was 2:00 PM when he left the store; how could the sun be setting already?

“What time...”

“It is 5:39 PM, Elijah. Exactly. We’re on the seventh floor of the garage; this level has been closed for construction. No one will see us. You’re still so weak that if you yell, you’ll faint again. Your groceries are in the trunk of your car. The cart you were using has been returned. Some of your items may keep in this temperature, but the frozen goods will melt. There will be no security footage. No witnesses. It took you three seconds to faint, & four seconds for me to pull you into another elevator. Curiously the cameras on the second floor don’t work today. But the lock which prevented the elevator from coming to this closed level does. How odd, yes?” A wolfish smile.

“Why are you doing thi...how do you know my name?”

A shift. “Isn’t it amazing how skyscapes can change?

“What? What are you...”

“If where you’re standing on the Earth is directly facing the sun, you see the sun as it is; a bright white orb. Such purity. Truth.”

“Please...” Elijah begged.

“But the Earth moves, Elijah. Doesn’t it? And we with it. And as the Earth turns, the sun moves from shining on us directly, until it’s shining on an angle. The atmosphere acts as a prism, extracting only certain colors from the light of sun. Reds, oranges, and violets. Though beautiful, it is ersatz. False. Deception.”

Elijah looked into the man’s wandering eyes. “I am standing, Elijah. You are Earth. You turned. Now my view of the sun has changed. Ersatz. Angles. Deception. You see? I am filled with reds, oranges, & violets.” There was a subconscious, primitive response; though he couldn’t move, Elijah felt hair on the back of his neck rise; goosebumps on his arms. And this man was causing it.

“Please don’t hurt me!”

The man reached into his blazer, pulled out something dark & solid.

“I...I have a family! Please! I,...my family...”. Terror.

“Elijah, stop. It would take far too long to hurt you with this.”

It was a small black book, ivory pages, two ribbon bookmarks within. The man held it in front of Elijah’s face. It had been personalized: “Little Black Book” in small gold letters at the cover’s bottom right.

“Labeling it so amuses me. And it only cost a tiny bit extra.” Those wobbly eyes regarded the sunset, “As a young boy, I put labels on everything. VHS. Oven. Floor. Light. I suppose this is an extension of that.” The furtive eyes locked on Elijah, “What should I label you?”

“Why are you doing this?”

The man sat the book in Elijah’s lap. “Open the book to the first ribbon for one answer. Open to the second for another. Your choice.” He sat Elijah’s car keys and phone on top of the book.

“Who are you?” Desperation.

The man reached into his blazer again.

“Please...”.

He placed something in Elijah’s mouth, under the tongue, then moved with shocking speed, walking away.

“Tell me who you are?” The sound of traffic & the wind. “WHO ARE YOU!” The man was gone.

Yet, within minutes, Elijah noticed the brain fog recede & his strength return a bit. Shakily, he grabbed his phone, dialed.

“911, what’s your emergency?”

Elijah stared in front of him, unsure of what to say, shaking now from fear.

“Hello? 911, what’s your emergency?”

“I...called...wrong number” he huffed & dropped the phone.

Breathing deeply, he sat, palms resting on the cold garage floor, staring at the red & violet colors from the sunset on the horizon.

**

Aaron’s trailer was messy, small, & perpetually dusty. In the tiny kitchen, his head bent to avoid touching the ceiling, he drank black coffee, wearing a simple blue plaid shirt, khakis, & loafers. He put on a cap, & black leather gloves, then began his trek.

It was a two mile walk to The Violet, a purplish abandoned complex on the shores of Lake Michigan. Both the Violet and his trailer were in Hammond, Indiana, a tiny city of small neighborhoods & factories, next to Chicago and the Illinois border. The Great Lakes were called so because of their fresh water; but they were nearly the size of a sea. And that made this neighborhood feel like a factory beach town.

As always, lost in thought, the walk went quickly. Before he knew it, he’d gotten to the long viaduct a block before the building. He reached in his pants to grab the keys. A spider web stuck to his face. He stumbled back. “Ah! Now?!...,” he gasped. As suddenly as he noticed the spiderweb, his vision swam, his breath caught, heart raced. Confusion set in, as his sweaty shaking hands dropped the keys. Then blackness.

***

The awaking was more sudden than the collapse. Aaron felt weighted, weak. Despite the fugue state he was in, he instantly recognized he was in the garden of the Violet. His eyes lolled to the right, and thus he noticed a man sat next to him, cross legged. Elijah.

“You took me to the closed level of a parking garage without getting noticed. I brought you all the way to The Violet without anyone turning an eye in our direction. Have I gotten better than you?”

Aaron wanted to chuckle, but conserved strength. “There’s never spiders in that viaduct. Ever. Lake seagulls eat them. You put them there, so I’d know?”

Elijah smiled. “That I captured you with the same venom you used on me? Yes.” Elijah looked over him, “You live in that trailer? And...the way you dress?”

“I’m but a simple building caretaker.”

“Tending the base?”

“Tending the garden here. At the prophet’s request.” Aaron’s eyes lit up, a wild fanatical sparkle. He whispered cautiously, “We’ve finally accomplished the Prefatory Action.”

Elijah spat. “It was all a lie!”

“I’ve seen, Elijah! We’ve Unlocked the Code! We Transform the Fabric! You left too soon!”

“What are you saying?”

Aaron’s eyes dimmed, his voice returned to normal, “Why’d you pretend you didn’t know me in the garage?”

Elijah knew Aaron could detect lies. Blunt honesty: “I thought you wanted me to come back. I thought if I pretended I didn’t recognize you, you’d move on; think I’d forgotten.”

Aaron smiled, “As if you could forget. But, you did as the prophet taught us. Never drop the role. Even with our own.”

“Where’s he? The others.”

Silence.

“No matter.” Elijah reached under his shirt & produced the book. “Why?”

“Did you look.”

“Both pages are the same.”

“It is...”

“...a bank account in my name. I know, Aaron.”

“A gift from the prophet. $20,000.”

“Why.”

“Because even when they leave, we take care of our own.”

Elijah leaned back, a sharp intake of breath, then exhalation. Looking down, “You know?”

“It’s been 14 years yet still I found you. You think we don’t keep track of everyone who once was our Earth, Elijah? Even the ones who turn & change our Sun?”

“It’s a momentary issue.”

“You’ll lose everything if you don’t pay them. You only make enough to live, not to pay that debt. You have a family. Consider it a kindness.”

“Aaron, I...”

“Take it, Elijah.”

Elijah looked down. “I can’t pay it back.”

“We know.”

Silence, then Elijah asked, “Why come for me like that? Why not just...”

“You keep two weapons on you, at the hip and calf. Yes, Elijah, I know. If you saw me, or the others, you would not have listened. After...the past. I had to force your ear. That’s why I let you take me now. So you’d now I meant you no harm. That I’d allow any action from you because I come in peace.”

“Let me?”

Aaron chuckled. “Elijah, the Prophet tasked me with protecting our headquarters. You think I don’t notice minutiae? The subtle change in the taste of my morning coffee. The door lock on an angle I never leave it. You think I don’t have cameras around my trailer? Around the Violet. The viaduct? That I didn’t know the minute I came for you that you’d do the same?”

Elijah looked down.

“Espionage is not why he chose you. The fierceness of your performance in the garage. The way you pretended not to know me. Even as I walked away, you continued the act. That commitment. That’s why. When you believe, you give. You gave to us. That’s why the gift. You’ll miss the power, but we owe you.”

“I’m not coming back, Aaron.”

“I know, Elijah.”

“Aaron, I’m not coming back.”

“I know, Elijah.”

Elijah put the antidote under Aaron’s tongue. Paused. “Did you all really unlock the code?”

“I am but a gardener, Elijah. Take care.”