The Evidence Room

One Wednesday morning, as I walked to work, my mind on the beautiful day, I had no idea the day was going to bring the out of ordinary. I liked my routine life. I awoke at the same time everyday, ate the same breakfast, stopped at the same bakery for coffee, and walked the same way to work. Everyday.

Even my job, working the evidence room at the station was to my liking. Everything was orderly. Everything was in it's place. And nothing ever happened.

First thing I noticed that was different was when I walked through the front door of the station. There was activity, people flurrying about, people I did not recognize, and it was all very vexing to me.

I made my way through to the Evidence Room. My little slice of quiet, and was taken aback to see the door to my office open. I took a moment, steeled myself, and strode into the room. There were people I did not know in here as well. They were stuffed in like sausage, along with open boxes piled in the middle of the small room and objects all over the table.

They were detectives brought in from the city, I learned, and they were here to investigate the disappearance of our Constable.

Since I arrived early everyday to avoid running into people, and being shut up alone in the evidence room, this was the first I was hearing about all of it. I usually kept to myself at lunch, eating in my office, and chose not to participate in office gossip.

Apparently, the last anyone heard from him was when he had gone to check on Mr. Wickham, reported all was fine. Then nothing. It was like he had simply dropped off the earth. There were no travel records, no sightings, and they were baffled.

The boxes in my office were filled with personal effects of both Mr. Wickham, as it was also as if he simply disappeared into thin air, and the Constable. The one thing they could not attribute ownership of was a filing cabinet. When searched, it was found empty. When dusted for finger prints, it showed nothing. It was all very mysterious. I did not like it. Not one bit.

Once they were done logging everything, they finally left me alone to organize the boxes. I took my time, trying not to think about how the events of the morning had taken me so far out of my comfort zone that I was almost sick about it.

I sat at my desk for the first time. It was way past lunch time. I cannot remember when the last time was that I missed lunch. I sat like that, still, for the rest of the day.

When it was time to go, I made a wrong turn which took me on a different route home. I did not like it. Not one bit.

I unlocked my front door and went inside. I locked it behind me, and went directly to the kitchen. As I had missed lunch, I found myself extremely hungry. I made a quick dinner, and sat down in my easy chair with my food on my lap. It took me a moment to realize that I never eat in the living room. I put my face in my hands and cried.

I woke up the next morning with a sigh as I looked to my clock and saw the time. It was later than usual and I found myself wondering if this new disorder in my life was a permanent thing, or if it was only temporary.

I dressed quickly, grabbed my hat, and raced out the door. It took me 3 blocks to realize I had forgotten to eat. I ducked into the local bakery and grabbed a scone, along with an herbal tea, as caffeine tended to complicant things for me.

When I arrived at the station, I was reminded exactly why I liked to be early. There was a bustle to the place, and people, too many of them in my point of view, looking very busy and serious. I wove through them and went to my office in the evidence room.

Everything was as I left it yesterday, thank goodness. I shut the door, and sat at my desk.

I sat there for quite some time, for how long I could not say. My mind was blank. The catalog book was in front of me. I opened it it and leafed through. I don't know what I was looking for, I just wanted to be doing something.

I noticed, at the very end of the list of items the detectives brought here, there was a filing cabinet. How in the world had I missed it?

I turned in my chair to where it was sitting behind me. For some reason, I found I could not muster the determination to look inside.

I sat there, back to my desk, staring at that cabinet for quite some time until I could no longer focus my eyes on it. Slowly, I reached out and touched the handle of the top drawer. It gave me a sort of electric shock, gently, as if saying hello. I gave the handle a little tug.

The drawer opened smoothly. I expected it to be empty, it was not. There was this swirly kind of energy, full of dark color, if that makes sense, and it spoke to me, silently. Full of contradictions, I know!

It gave me a job. After an appropriate amount of time, I was to move the filing cabinet. It would tell me when, where, and for whom. Then, I would wait.

When I came back to my senses, I saw that the day had sped by. I gathered my things to leave.

I walked out through the main room, and to everyone's surprise, said goodnight to all. Then, I took quite a differnt route home.

More to come...