The Post Office of Harper

The trees on the side of the road were a deep moss green and each of them stood sky high, being brought up in the Pacific Northwest, Mandi was at ease. Being the only one on the bus, she counted the bus stops that the driver passed regardless if there were people waiting, but the strangest thing to her, was that the people at the stops, never seemed to acknowledge the bus passing.

Pulling her out of her wandering mind, her phone rang and on the screen was "Mom", she accepted and they chatted for a bit about the new job she got at the local post office, about the green doors she's seen for the past hour.

"I won't be alone in the building the entire time though, I've got a security guard that I can't really talk to unless he talks first." she explained to her mother, "Other than that, the only weird thing about this part of the state, are these doors I keep seeing. Like who has time to place all these green doors in the woods?"

"Some people do that for art, I think. But that's nice sweetie, you said the town was Harper?"

While on the phone with her mother, Mandi caught a glimpse of hitchhikers heading the opposite direction.

"Yes ma'am. Well if it's for art, why set one on fire?" She answered as her eyes were glued to the hikers, now out of sight.

"Wrong door placement? I don't really know." The phone began crackling, "My map might be outdated, because I can't f-"

The phone call went dead, and she noticed that her phone lost service as she waited patiently for the bus to come to a full stop.

"Five minutes and all aboard can depart from bus."

"Five minutes..." she let out a sigh and brought out the handbook.

So the rules are as follows:

First rule: Clock in at 10:05pm on the dot, if you are to be late for your scheduled shift, call the 1-800 number in the employee handbook.

Second rule: Restart generator at 12am, entrance doors will be unlocked for five minutes, during which time, lock generator room door and wait until system reboots. Security guard will be doing perimeter check while doors are unlocked. Do not talk to Security until they notify you perimeter check has been done, at which time, only respond with exact words: "Thank you, carry on."

Third Rule: Take your lunch break at 2:40am and be back at 3:30am, DO NOT forget to clock back in before starting any work projects.

Fourth Rule: NEVER open the green door labelled "Loading Dock Entrance", ALWAYS choose the blue door labelled "Employees Only" even if going to Loading Dock for breaks.

Fifth Rule: All packages must be sorted before clocking out, never leave any packages in box number:56903. Must be cleared before clocking out.

If one of all of the rules listed above are not followed correctly, employee may be held accountable and proper actions will be taken.

FIRST NIGHT

Tonight was Mandi's first night at the post office. Keeping in mind, Mandi made sure she followed every rule, after all, it was her first night on the job.

At about midnight, Mandi made her way to the Generator room to do the reboot and wait for the security guard to tell her when she could carry on.

"Perimeter check done."

"Thanks, man!"

Mandi put down her walkie-talkie and carried on with the system reboot, switching through the cameras and unlocking the door as instructed.

"So you moved here recently?"

"Yeah, I'm from Seattle. What's your name?"

"A long way from home, I see. I hope the people of Harper are treating you well, it's a great town sometimes. I'm Charlie." He said as he looked at the camera in the corner of the hallway.

"You don't seem all that convinced." she chuckled nervously, "Hey, I had a question about the maps? I can't seem to find Harper at all..."

"I have to get back to work, have a good night ma'am."

He nodded and walked away.

For the last couple hours, Mandi followed the last of the rules and waited for the next worker to show up.

"Hey, new hire?"

"Oh sorry, I'm Mandi" She said and leaned in for a handshake.

"Carla." Her coworker said as she dismissed the attempted handshake.

Mandi withdrew, one clocked in and the other clocked out.

The rest of her first week, Mandi explored the building, looked at the map hanging on the wall in the file room.

"Huh, Why isn't Harper on these ones either?" Her finger traced her exact route she took on her way to town on the other maps she found.

NEXT WEEK

The night was off to a rough start, Mandi poured herself a bowl of cereal but the milk was bad, she slipped in a puddle of mud on her way to the bus stop where the bus shuttle wasn't on time and her dog ran away the late last night after coming home from work. Already on edge, she decided to head home to get dressed in clean clothes. She checked when the bus would arrive, had ten minutes to get dressed, call the 1-800 number and arrive at work at exactly 10:25pm.

As she arrived to work, she signed in, and the morning shift worker looked pissed off.

"You're late.."

"I know, I'm sorry... I tried to call the 1-800 number, but nobody answered."

"That's why you keep calling until someone answers..." Carla huffed, "Next time, don't keep me waiting or I'll tell management."

She clocked in, the other clocked out and Mandi headed straight to the mailing room to get started.

A couple hours pass and it was time for the system reboot.

"Perimeter done." The guard's voice seemed flat, as if he didn't want to be at work tonight.

"Thank you, carry on."

Leaving the generator room, she decided to approach Charlie and ask what was wrong.

"Hey!" she yelled as she jogged to catch up to him from down the hall, "Hey, is anything wrong?"

As his eyes met hers, she noticed that he looked as if he had been crying for hours, the skin around his eyes were red like he rubbed them too much, eyelids puffy and his cheeks were flushed.

"You can't do this. You HAVE to follow the rules or we'll both get in trouble."

"But you look like you've been crying." She said in an empathetic tone, "I don't want you to think that I'm like Carla, I actually care.."

His hands were wrapped in bandages and he winced as she gently grabbed his hand.

"What happened? What did you do?"

He yanked his hand from her grip, "Nothing, I just made a dumb mistake and I learned my lesson."

Towards the end of her shift, Mandi was exhausted and forgot to clear box #56903.

FRIDAY- DAY OFF

Just eleven minutes before her alarm went off, Mandi heard a loud banging coming from her kitchen. While her eyes adjusted to dark, and a bright red alarm clock reading 8:19pm, she sighed and got up.

The thumping slowly picked a rhythm and she started to question if she had put anything in the drying machine. On top of the dryer was a brown box.

BOX #56903

To: Mandi Warden

From: UNKNOWN

"With Charlie the security guard" note, a box of matches, a green candle, three eagle feathers, two garnet rings and a key.

Thump...thump...thump...

As she turned off the dryer, the thumping stopped, and she waited silently to see if she could hear anything. Putting one ear against the body of the dryer, she heard faint and shallow breathing.

"Oh my god..." she panicked and ripped the door open, her face flushed of color, and her skin going from the cozy warm feeling of her bed, to the equivalent of standing in a freezer, she dropped to her knees as she pulled out the body of her dog, Azul.

Cradling her poor pup in her arms, her eyes filled with tears that hadn't dropped, she wrapped Azul in her favorite blanket, rocking back and forth as if to say to her best friend that it's okay.

The shallowing of the dog's breath subsided and the only noise that Mandi could make, was an empty scream as she gripped tighter.

After calling 911, she explained to the police that her dog had ran away the night before. The police decided that she wasn't telling the full truth so she spent the night in jail.

The next morning, she woke up to the guard banging the bars of the cell with his baton.

"You can make one call.."

"Thank you." she sniffled, got up from the uncomfortable bed and made her way to the phonebooth, escorted by a guard.

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's Mandi... I know I shouldn't be calling you, but I need to ask you a favor.. can you bail me out?"

An hour passed, and one of the guards came in to tell Mandi that she made bond. The guard uncuffed her and she rubbed her bruised wrists, made her way outside where the security guard from the post office was waiting for her.

"What happened?" He asked.

"My dog.... Azul, I-" unable to finish her sentence, she broke down in tears and fell into his arms.

"I told you, they'll punish both of us..." He wrapped his hands around her, "You have to listen to me right now.."

She looked up and he explained to her:

"This place is like a gateway to hell, I moved here five months ago, but to them, I've been here five years."

"Them?"

"Listen... When I moved here, I could only find one job and that was the post office. I took the job because I had no choice, nobody was hiring. My first day, I was working with a worker and her name was Dina, she followed the rules to a T, until she made the same mistake you did, that phrase you're supposed to say, you're not supposed to mess up."

"But I didn't.."

"You did. you said 'Thanks, man.' and that's why those bad things started happening, it's not bad luck. It's like we're characters in a video game. We think we're making the decisions, but we're not."

"But I am, I'm Mandi, talking to you..."

"I know, that's because you pissed them off, that's why the police didn't believe you, that's why Carla was being rude to you, that's why you found your dog in the dryer... They want you frightened and on edge."

"For what? I just moved here not even two weeks ago.."

"I'm trying to tell you!" His voice raised a little in frustration, "It's been almost two month in the real world. We moved to this town for a new start, why don't you think it's on any of the roadmaps at any truck stop outside of Harper?"

"Who's They?"

"Management."

Her blood flushed yet again from her face, she was afraid.

"Because it's not supposed to exist. It's like a loophole in reality. We have to leave, I don't know how we can get out of here, but we need to try."

"I found this box last night and there was a note. I don't know who sent it but it has your name." She gave the note to Charlie.

To Mandi Warden and Charlie Porter,

Don't show this letter to anyone but the guard from the post office.

Harper isn't real, I don't know how to explain this, but my name is Dina. The box #56903 is the way out, inside the box I sent you, I included the box of matches, you need to set your home of fire. Use the green candle to melt the wax around the entire door frame, don't forget the ground. Set the three eagle feathers in your back left pocket, one ring is for you and the other is for Charlie. Next, you need to use the key to open your door. Do not forget to bring the matches with you. Once you get out, set door on fire and never come back.

Mandi and Charlie did as instructed, set her home on fire, used the green candle, the three eagle feathers, and they both put one of the rings on. As they rose the key to the keyhole, the heat coming from the door, disappeared.

"What?" Mandi said in disbelief, "It's the highway!"

Charlie followed after Mandi and walked through the door. He turned around and set it on fire, and both of them walked to the side of the road and headed to the nearest city.

They watched as the bus shuttle passed them heading into Harper.

Suddenly the relief they felt after escaping Harper, became a feeling of impending doom, as their legs became cemented in one spot, their jaws dropped in disbelief.

"Wait...." Charlie pleaded, "I-I, what do we do?"

"Hope for the best..."

ON THE BUS

"I won't be alone in the building the entire time though, I just met a security guard on the same bus, apparently he's starting his first night with me." she explained to her mother, "Other than that, the only weird thing about this part of the state, are these doors I keep seeing. Like who has time to place all these green doors in the woods?"

"Some people do that for art, I think. But that's nice sweetie, you said the town was Harper?"

While on the phone with her mother, Sarah caught a glimpse of hitchhikers heading the opposite direction.