The Company

“Have you seen Lynda?” Trevor approached with a perplexed look on his melanin face. William stopped typing to look up.

“No, why?”

Trevor stared at William’s blue colored eyes. “Come on, weren’t you two together last night?”

“Maybe. But that’s none of your business, thank you,” William immediately became the color of a tomato in a feeble defense. “What do you need her for anyway?”

“This paperwork,” Trevor raised a stack of papers to show William. “I swear I just saw her this morning.”

“Well, maybe she went home early. People do that, you know.”

Trevor felt unsatisfied by the answer, but shook his head in acceptance. “I guess I’ll just have to give this to her tomorrow.” He was about to walk back to his own cubicle when William coughed and recapture his attention.

“Dude, did you reset your password?” William smirked.

It was a gentle reminder and Trevor knew he had to do it. It was company security’s policy to reset passwords every six months. Trevor, like many of the other employees, felt the task was completely meaningless. He was a data processor. From what he could tell it appeared he was only typing in numbers and confirming they matched the projected profit margin. Why would anyone want to hack into their computers to look at that? As a business, it had become “best practice” to change passwords every 6 months. The inevitable was upon them, but Trevor had no sense of urgency to comply with such a meaningless practice.

“I’ll get to it,” Trevor promised half heartedly.

William chuckled. “Yeah, right.”

“I will, I will,” Trevor nodded vigorously. “What about you? Did you do yours?”

William shook his head.

“Sheesh, you’d think it’s the end of the world or something. It’s just a password,” Trevor added.

William nodded in agreement and dropped his head down, indicating his return to the mundane task in front of him. Trevor took the hint and slowly started walking back to his own cubicle, but the eerily silent ambience of the office caught his attention. He scanned the area and noticed there were more people absent than usual. Maybe everyone just took a day off, he thought to himself and entered his messy cubicle of 365 days. After switching on his computer, he opened up the company’s email application. There was only one unread message from the IT desk with the subject line: Reset your Password.

“Ok, this is seriously getting ridiculous,” Trevor whispered loudly, but before he could open up the email, the cravings of coffee called out to him. He stood up to follow the call of his caffeinated desire.

The office was equipped with a small room designated as the employee snack room. It was the size of a small dining room including a table in the middle. Surrounding the room were a refrigerator, a microwave, and a much needed coffee maker. Needless to say, it was the most popular appliance and usually crowded people. Today, there was only one person, John.

Trevor and John were both hired around the same time. John was hired as a software developer which meant he spent most of his time in a different department. Needless to say, they still managed to have daily meet-ups near the caffeine dispenser and used it as an opportunity to catch up.

“Hey John,” Trevor greeted, startling John.

“Whoa, dude, you scared me.”

Trevor apologized. “How’s the company treating you?”

John smiled and welcomed the small conversation. “Man, this place is great! The benefits rock. It’s nice to finally have insurance again. How about you?”

“Same-o same-o. I can’t believe we lasted this long. It’s been about, what, a year now?” Trevor shared with pride.

“Just about,” John agreed, rubbing his fingers through his brown short hair. “Hey, have you heard any news about the company changing directions?”

Trevor cocked his head in confusion. It was his first time hearing about the company’s decision to change. “What do you mean, changing direction?”

“Well, I don’t know all of the details, but rumor has it the CEOs feel the company needs to change. Something about profits dropping. So, they came out with a list of new directives. It’s supposed to increase profit, but I haven’t seen any evidence to support these claims.”

A splash of worry washed over Trevor’s face. He thought back to the financial data he had spent 52 weeks processing, trying to recall any details of numbers decreasing. Every time he envisioned a computer screen, it was blank. “I haven’t heard of anything. Plus, I don’t remember seeing anything different in processing,” he lied.

“Well, that’s not all, but it seems like there are less people around during working hours. Have you noticed that?” John pointed out.

Trevor nodded. “Yeah. I thought people were just sick or something, but I’m glad you said something. It’s like they are just walking out or no longer showing up. Like today, Lynda suddenly disappeared.”

“Who’s Lynda?” John interrupted.

“Who’s Lyn-? You’re joking right?” Trevor snorted.

John’s face was serious. Clearly it was not a joke to him. “Seriously, who is Lynda? Am I supposed to know her?

“You saw her here yesterday. She was with William. How can you not remember? Tall, dark, voluptuous.”

“Nope, doesn’t ring a bell. Anyway, I better get going. Software doesn’t produce itself and I need to maintain my health insurance. Hey, this stays between us, ok?”

“Yeah, sure.” Trevor agreed inattentively. His mind was preoccupied. How can he not remember Lynda?

He swiftly poured two cups of coffee and headed back to William’s cubicle. He had to share the news of the company’s rumor of change. Furthermore, since John did not remember Lynda, he wanted William to confirm that John met her for his own sanity.

Once he returned to William’s cubicle he noticed William was focused intensely on his work. “Hey, Will…” Trevor started, but William remained transfixed on the computer screen.

“Dude, you’re not going to believe what I just heard,” he announced, handing him a cup of joe. William refused to turn towards Trevor.

“Dude,” Trevor said again. William’s eyes remained glued to the monitor. His finger were rapidly clicking at the keyboard that rested below them. “William!” Trevor repeated, raising his voice.

William sat in a trance-like position. His body frozen in its typing pose. No matter how many times Trevor called for William, or touched him, William’s eyes stayed on the monitor with only his fingers moving. Trevor looked on the screen. Spreadsheets of numbers completely filled it. Trevor identified the work as the data they were expected to process daily. However, he was surprised at how fast William was completing each spreadsheet. Each sheet filled up within the blink of an eye before changing to the next blank sheet. William had been know to often scoff at his work. Witnessing him focused to the point of ignoring any distraction formed a new level of disturbance in Trevor. He slowly backed away from William, forgetting that William would not have paid any attention to him if he had done otherwise.

He needed to talk to someone. He walked briskly down the aisle to about five cubicle away from William’s. Whitney was there, filing her nails. Her normal activity put Trevor’s mind slightly at ease because he knew she would talk to him.

“Whitney,” he interrupted, making her drop her nail file instantly.

“Trevor, shouldn’t you be working right now?” She suggested angrily, clearly upset for his intrusion.

Trevor shook his head, “no time for that. You gotta come see William. Something’s wrong with him.”

“What is it this time? His balls itch? You know he was with Lynda last night, right?” The news had no effect on Trevor’s demeanor.

“What? I mean…so! I don’t care about that right now. He’s acting funny, like he’s in some sort of trance,” Trevor pointed towards William’s desk. “You gotta come check this out.”

Whitney rolled her eyes at the unwanted invitation. Her face said more than her words ever could. “What type of asinine prank are you two trying to play on me now?”

Trevor was beginning to regret all the pranks they had played on her in the past. It was William and Trevor’s way to make their work environment more enjoyable to them as well as the people who commuted daily. One time, they had set her trash can on fire to make her run around the office hysterically. Another time, they had force fed a banana into her computer. He never figured their plans of joy would backfired when he need Whitney the most.

“Whit, this is not a prank, just come look. See for yourself,” Trevor insisted, practically ready to grab her arm and drag her if she refused.

Whitney, wrapped in suspicion, stood up slowly. “I’m warning your Trevor. If this is a prank, I will DESTROY you!” She warned intimidatingly. Reluctantly, she followed him back to William’s cubicle.

Trevor stopped short before they had completed their path. the sight in front of him created a hurricane of perplexity. “I…don’t understand?”

Whitney walked past Trevor and glanced at the empty cubicle. Contempt painted over her face as she turned back towards Trevor and slapped him. “I told you, don’t waste my time.” She began to return back to her cubicle.

Where was William? Trevor wondered. Trevor scanned the cubicle for any clues on William’s whereabouts, but not only was William gone, but any trace of him being there has also vanished. The desk had a lonely computer sitting on its back and the chair hugging its edge. Trevor ran back to Whitney.

“Whitney, he was just there, I swear,” he said, trying to keep his voice low.

Whitney stared back up at Trevor. “Who?”

“William. He was just there, literally. A minute or two ago, he was there.”

“Who?” Whitney was confused. She stared blankly at Trevor, scrunching her eyebrows. “Who is William?”

Trevor was beginning to become annoyed. “You know the guy who works here. My friend. We’re usually together?” Trevor repeated. “The guy you said slept with Lynda last night. Remember?”

Whitney stared back at Trevor. “Trev, honestly, you feeling ok? There’s no William or Lynda here. There never was.”

Trevor’s eyes blinked several times in utter disbelief. “What are you talking about? You just told me a minute ago about their affair and now you don’t remember them?”

Whitney’s ears perked up. “No, I don’t remember because I would never say anything like that unless it were and about people I actually knew.”

Frustration boiled inside Trevor. “Whitney! Focus! Where’s William?” He shouted. Silence dropped eerily throughout the office. Whitney stared blankly back at Trevor.

“Trev, I’m really sorry,” she began, Trevor was hoping it was a joke and half expected to see William spring out from under her desk with a gotcha. “But, there is no William who works here and like I said, there never was.” She restated. Her eyes were filled with sympathy and sincerity. He knew she was telling the truth.

Trevor glared back at Whitney, wanting to refuse to believe her, but knowing she was telling the truth. He slowly turned around to return back to his own cubicle, heart filled with gloom.

“Trev!” Whitney called, stopping him five steps away from her desk. “Don’t forget to reset your password. Company policy, you know.”

Reset your password! Trevor had just lost his best friend in the company and she was worried about a password? She completely played like she didn’t remember him. He’s gone and the only thing she can say to console him was about the company’s password policy? Trevor needed someone to believe him. Someone who knew William. He started walking from cubicle to cubicle trying to find someone who was here as long as William, but in every cubicle that was occupied sat a face he was unable to recognize. Who are these people? Where did they come from?

By the time he sat down at his computer, he took a couple of breaths. What happened to William? The unanswered question became an obstacle to prevent him from continuing any work. He thought about Whitney and her forgetting, or was it not recognizing, who William was. John’s face popped into his mind and Trevor immediately dialed John’s number.

“John, it’s Trevor,” Trevor relayed after a few short rings.

“Hey, Trev-man, what’s up?”

“Listen, sorry to bother but have you seen William?”

“Who?”

‘William. He works in my department. We were at your barbecue last week. Remember?”

Trev-man, you were alone at that gathering. What are you talking about?”

Trevor dropped his phone. Why was he the only one to remember William? What is happening in the office? He quickly opened the company’s directory on the computer and scrolled through the names of all the current employees. When last he looked, there were over a thousand employees. The employee count was the first mystery that caught his attention. It had dropped significantly to slightly over one hundred employees. Scanning the names also indicated what he felt worse about: William’s name was not on the directory.

He closed the browser only to be greeted by the email inbox, staring at him with five new messages from the IT desk, each with the same subject line as before: Reset Your Password.

Trevor began drowning in a sea of panic, half regretting is procrastination to reseting the password. He opened one of the emails:

Dear valued employee,

This is a friendly reminder, your password is set to expire in 6 hours.

IT Team

He glanced down at the computer’s clock in the lower right hand corner. The message was sent five hours and fifty nine minutes ago. He watched as the clock instantly changed from 5:59 to 6PM clock. Suddenly a new message appeared in the inbox. The subject line was no longer a reminder to reset the password, but a more sinister line of four words: Your Password has expired.

Icy fear ran up Trevor’s spine. What did that mean? Does it mean if he logged out he would be unable to access his company’s email? He clicked on the subject line to view the message.

Dear Valued Employee

Your password has expired. You will no longer have access to your account. Termination process will begin shortly.

IT Team

Terminated? For not resetting your password? Trevor stared at the words on the screen. He reread the words again. Account? What did that mean?

He needed to talk to his supervisor immediately and attempted to rise to leave his cubicle. To his horrifying surprise, pressure forced him on the seat. He was immobile; strapped; legs and all. He tried to look down to see what force kept him anchored to the seat of the chair, but his head felt disconnected to the rest of his body. His eyes were glued to the screen, just as William’s were when he last saw him. His finger were furiously typing on the keyboard they touched. Gradually he felt his body slowly deteriorating. Through the reflection on the screen of his computer, he watched his facial image become more and more obscure; pixilated with each passing second. He opened his mouth, but it refuse to push any sound out. Reset your password became a track set on repeat streaming over and over in his mind. In a blink of an eye, the cubicle where Trevor once sat had became empty.

“Sad we have to end like this,” a juvenile voice spilled over a screen.

“Yeah, we should have logged in before the recent update,” mocked another. “Looks like we lost everything.”

“It’s ok, The Company was just a boring simulation game. It was fun for a while. I just wish I had known about the update before it happened. I was grinding for hours to build up Trevor. And, I had another prank planned for Whitney too.” A middle school child with blond hair chuckled. “You would have loved it. I was planning to set her on fire by sabotaging the coffee maker.”

His friend sat with him on the transformers covered bed clutching his own stomach. “Yeah, that last one where we set her hair on fire was the best. The programmers really did a great job making her so gullible.”

“Right! Best video game ever!”