Life and Film

Okay so I want to try my best and tell you this. Sometimes I wonder what a person’s life or even your life is like through the lens of a camera. I mean the thought of life being like a camera and seeing the world through the eyes of another. I feel like it would be cool to see the waves of a salty blue ocean or even to stand at the top of a mountain and overlook the town below. That sure must be nice for others instead of being stuck in a cold room surrounded by a mountain of books and documents to sift through. I’ve been locked in this room for a couple of years. I don’t know, at this point all the days kind of blur together. I hope I can find the answer to the question what it means to live.

I have this gray cement colored file sitting on my cherry oak desk and I see that you and your fellow companions have traveled through different worlds and observed many different lives. It says in this file that you have seen a confrontation between two supernatural beings and other things that I’m not going to get into now. It must be nice to be able to overlook other realms and place an imaginary version of yourself into a fictional world and leave the world of issues and problems behind.

Oh, wait where are my manners? This must seem so out of order listening to a man who’s name you don’t even know. My apologies, ghosts. Well, I call you ghost because that’s what you appear to me as. Even though I have no clue as to how you got into my workplace in the basement of CBI (Cherry Bloom Inc.). That’s beside the point my name is Ryan and I work as this companies archivist. But can I be honest with you? I mean right now it’s just me siting in at my desk in a cluttered room. Don’t mind the papers. I have a friend who is the head of the company and the weird thing is that she is always wearing red.

What’s interesting is your file says that you guys had encountered someone wearing red back in your previous journey before you ended up in this office. This place okay I should say this room feels like a prison cell. I can’t leave unless higher ups tell me I can leave and most of my food is delivered and left at the door of the basement. There next to the wooden bookshelf is a long metal shoot for me to receive my mail.

There was a knocking on my door and the mechanical lock opened from the outside as a blinding white light from the florescent lights bounced off the bleak cement wall and back to my face. I could see the outline of a person who had long black hair, like no stars in the sky kind of black. This person was a woman and her eyes were emerald that shined like gemstones. She wore a long red jacket with the letters CBI in the upper right corner of the jacket.

“Greetings, Ryan. How are you doing today?” said the woman with a smile.

“I’m alright Nyx. What is it that you need? You usually don’t come down here unless you need something. So what is it?” I said.

“What I can’t come down. See how my own brother is?” Nyx said.

I didn’t say anything in response because even though she says that I’m her brother. We are not related by blood or even adopted, we are friends and just act like siblings. It’s awkward but that’s how we got to know each other and now Nyx is the owner of Cherry Bloom Inc. I think the person who is writing my story could have just called the company Sakura which translates to cherry blossom in Japanese but that’s not my point.

“I need the reports from last month so I can make sure everything looks good for our next group of clients,” Nyx said.

I looked at the floor and noticed a cardboard box that was organized with different client's problems within it. I didn’t think much about it and just handed Nyx the box. Well I slid the box over to her. Nyx knelt to pick up the box when something clattered to the floor. When I looked to see what hit the ground there was something that resembles the form of a T.V. remote with two pointed needles sticking out from its top like a taser.

I was about to tell Nyx that she had dropped something but by the time I opened my mouth she had already slipped the taser back into her pocket.

“Thanks for these and try not to work too hard,” Nyx said as she left and the door locked behind her all on its own.

I continued going through different case files when I heard something hit my wooden floor. It was a stack of superhero comics and old college textbooks that had hit the ground but what I wasn’t expecting was to see a little girl rubbing her head from slamming headfirst into those books. I screamed and ran to my phone which was a land line that would only call Nyx.

“State who you are, or I will call security,” I said as I placed the phone up to my ear only to not hear a busy tone. I could hear the sound of whimpers on the other line, and before the line was cut I heard.

“Help…Me.” said a frightened female voice as the line was cut to empty silence.

“Wait, this girl means no harm. Put the phone down and I will explain everything,” a voice said.

I looked at the girl and she looked to be no older than ten years old. She had bright blue eyes like the sky on a cloud less day. Her lips didn’t move.

I pointed at her.

“did you just say that?” I said and the girl shook her head.

She had a bracelet on that switched colors from blue to purple and ended up velvet red.

“No, this child didn’t say that I did,” said the Bracelet.

I was taken back by this because I didn’t know what to do.

“Who are you then Bracelet,” I said.

“I am a AI life form created to protect this child. I’m called Velvet. You are going to have to name this child and take care of her,” Velvet said.

Great now I must take care of a kid and care not only for my own life but two others as well. This was an unusual turn of events. My roll of film has just doubled in length.

I looked at the girl.

“What did you first go by before you ended up in this room?” I said.

She pointed at her throat and held up an X with her arms.

“This child is mute and cannot speak,” Velvet said.

I handed the girl a notebook and a black sharpy marker. I wrote a message in the book to see how we can talk.

Use this notebook to ask me any questions you may have? What do you want me to call you?

“She was originally call case number 0021,” Velvet said.

The girl wrote something down in the notebook. Her handwriting was shaky and messy but I was able to make out what she wanted to say.

(Kid)

I don’t like being called by a number.

“Okay so you don’t like that name then how about Sora,” I said as the girls eyes sparkled with joy and she wrote another message.

(Kid)

Sora I like that one what does it mean?

“Well Sora means sky,” I said.

“Sora and I are here because we escaped a lab experiment where researchers were trying to put people into dreams and have them face their nightmares. But the intention was to have the nightmares win the fight and possess the physical body to give the nightmare a true human form.” Velvet said.

This isn’t what I was expecting to hear about Nyx’s company.

Three weeks Passed

Over the course of these weeks Velvet explained to me how Sora and her escaped ending in them showing up in my office. I found an old pack of playing cards in my desk drawer, so Sora and I played go-fish as well as the game war. There was pizza box that came down the mail shoot. I opened up the box and there was a half of a peperone pizza left in there. The half a pie was smushed against the lid of the box looking uneatable, until Sora tore off a slice and eat it.

“is it good?” I said.

Sora gave me a thumbs up letting me know it was safe to eat the pie.

I started to feel like a real bond had formed between Sora and Myself.

After I got all the information from Velvet about what happened to her and Sora. I had Sora help me out with organizing papers and moving boxes. In a way Sora became my assistant and made my work go a lot faster that when it was just me. the only problem was that the more time I spent with Sora. I started to feel weak like my strength was leaving quickly.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door. I told Sora to go hide behind a box pyramid that was at my desk.

The door opened on its own as usual.

“Hi, Nyx everything alright?” I said.

“I need to speak with you in my office. Bring anyone else you have in your office with you,” Nyx said.

“Ryan are you okay? You look pale.” Nyx said.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just hard trying to sleep with all this work I have to get done,” I lied.

After Nyx left, I packed a bag for Sora and gave her my old black leather jacket. We walked out the door and down a long narrow hallway and ended up at an elevator. Once in I looked at Sora as I helped her put on my black jacket.

“Velvet can I ask you something? Can you make a digital clone of Sora so I can trick Nyx into thinking she is with me,” I said.

“Sure, but are you not coming with us?” Velvet said.

“Sadly no, I will not be going. I must confront this boss on my own. Hopefully I can talk some sense into her.” I said.

The elevator stopped at the first floor and the doors opened. I knelt down to look Sora in the eyes.

“Everything is going to be okay, just head to the entrance and the two of you are home free,” I said as I hugged Sora and tears dripped onto my shirt.

As Sora and Velvet left I felt heartbroken because what I was about to go through when I met Nyx. It meant that I would never get to see Sora again. I just hope her film journey will last a lot longer than I has.

I think I know what it means to live. Not just for one’s self, but for others and to make a difference in that person’s life.

The elevator reached the top floor and I stepped out and confronted Nyx as she sat at her desk looking at me.

“Welcome Ryan. Glad you could make it. Do you have any Idea what you have done?” Nyx said.

“I saved a kids life and I’m okay with that.” I said.

“I don’t think you get it Ryan. That thing you call a ‘kid’ is a monster!”

“That’s no way to talk about a child Nyx. She needed help even though she could speak so I helped her.”

“Case number 0021 is not to be trusted. What is with you?”

Two wolves walked out from behind Nyx’s desk growling at me as she got up from her seat and walked towards me.

“She isn’t case number 0021. Her name is Sora and she‘s a good person.” I said

Nyx started laughing.

“Oh, that’s sweet and you even gave it a name.” Nyx said still laughing.

The office phone rang and a voice comes over the speaker.

“Hi, Nyx it’s Chestnut I need to run the numbers with you to make sure everything is good for project surreality. Those two candidates you wanted me to investigate, Sam and Mary, they don’t suspect a thing.” Chestnut said.

“Chestnut I’ll call you back at another time, I’m in the middle of some family issues.” Nyx said staring at me.

Both dogs rushed me from the left and the right. When I tried to move my feet they were stuck in place. The dog on my left side took a bite into my leg and I heard my bone snap. I screamed out as I was flooded with pain.

“I treated you like family Ryan, and this is what I get?” Nyx said.

“Family huh, you sure have a funny way with words. Families don’t leave other family members in a basement for years on end.” I said as the other dog took a bite out of my left arm.

I laid on the cold ground as my vision started switching form clear to blurry. I saw Nyx standing over me.

“Well, you don’t know my family.” Nyx said.

I saw her take out the same taser she had before. She almost looked sad. She knelt to me and the last thing I heard her say was.

“You showed so much promise, why did you have to grow a backbone and not listen.”

When I awoke, I was submerged in a tank of water but Nyx was nowhere to be seen. On the other side of the glass I saw a child with dark chocolate skin being hooked up to medical equipment he looked to the around the same age as Sora.