Jake thought he had been building a future with Emma. He was 35 and she was 32. They had been together for 4 years and engaged for 6 months. He was a mechanic who worked in a local factory and made good money while she worked in consulting at a marketing firm. He was excited working on the plans for their wedding when it happened. He decided to head into work early that Monday morning to get started on the newest project only to discover that his boss was working on a project of his own…Emma. They did not notice him enter the building or perhaps they did not care but either way it felt like some one had ripped his heart out of his chest. Stumbling backwards he almost dropped his coffee and he ducked out of sight before they could see him. He left the office in a daze wandering around the streets before getting into his car, his hands gripping tightly around the steering wheel till his knuckles began to turn white.
After a few minutes he reached for his phone and with shaking hands he dialed the office and told them he was calling in sick for the next few days, he was coming down with something. They wished him a speedy recovery before hanging up. Finally starting the car he headed back to the apartment they shared,nothing no longer feeling the same.
He headed to the bedroom and pulled out the duffel bag from the closet, studying her clothing which took up most of the space before he began to methodically pack his clothing into it. He took only his essentials including his bathroom accessories, his important documents, his laptop and a couple of books. Everything else could easily be replaced and he didn’t want to waste any time considering she may come home before he had a chance to leave. He took the key to the apartment off his key ring and set it on the counter and left a simple note. It said “ enjoy your new life.” He locked the door and closed it behind him before tossing his duffel bag into the back seat and pulled out of the parking lot. He drove mindlessly for a couple of hours till he felt he could think clearly enough to stop and he found an extended stay hotel. The room smelled like bleach and flowers but it had no reminders of her. Pulling out his laptop he got to work slowly erasing his digital footprint as well as untangling her finances from his. By the time he was done, they no longer shared a life and as far as the rest of the world knew, he had simply vanished.
Cutting himself off from the rest of the world sent Jake into a deep depression. He would barely eat or engage in the outside world other than to visit the local cafe for a cup of black coffee. He had savings in a new account that he had transferred all his money to so he was not destitute but he was lost emotionally. He no longer had a job to take his mind off everything and it felt like every moment of seeing her with his boss replayed in his head like a broken record. How was he going to ever get past the betrayal or the constant ache in his heart? A month after leaving his life behind he got a call from the front office. There was a cream manilla envelope sitting in their office waiting for him. He asked the front desk to clarify that it was for him because he had not told anyone where he was and he was convinced he had vanished without leaving a trace behind but they read out the full name on the envelope including the address of the room he was staying in. Confused, he headed down to the office, showed his ID and signed for the envelope holding onto it like it might be radioactive. Did she find him? There was no return address on it. When he got back to his room he slowly sat down on the edge of the bed studying it like it might give him answers without having to look inside. Cautiously he lifted the seal and opened it, pulling out a single piece of paper written on what felt like expensive stock with a heading on it to a place he had never heard of before.
The following letter was addressed to him..
Dear Mr. Langston,
We were sorry to hear of your last job coming to an end but we are excited to offer you a new opportunity for a life changing career. We operate a factory in the mountains three hours west of where you are presently located. We are in desperate need of a full time mechanic and we are willing to offer you twice the salary of your old job as well as your own private cabin that you can easily walk to and from work. We have enclosed a card in this package and all you have to do is sign it and drop it in the mail.
There was nothing else written on the paper and reaching inside the envelope he pulled out a card with nothing more than a place for his signature. He flipped it over, even looked inside the envelope again but there was nothing else. How would it be even possible for them to receive it without a return address? Perhaps this was some kind of a twisted joke. He shrugged his shoulders and signed the card before tucking it into his shirt pocket. There was a mail box close to where he got his coffee and figured he would play along with whoever was trying to mess with his head. He tossed the card into the slot of the mail box before he headed into the cafe and ordered yet another black coffee, finally allowing himself to order a side of toast. His mind kept replaying the letter trying to figure out who could have possibly wanted to toy with him after all this time. He had even changed his cell phone number so he could not be contacted so how was it possible? The joke was on them or so he thought. By the time he was finished eating and drinking his coffee, the atmosphere in the cafe had shifted ever so slightly. He began to feel like someone was watching him but when he looked around, no one was looking in his direction and there was no one that he could see outside of the window from where he sat. He left the money on the table for his bill and grabbed his jacket, giving a slight nod to the waitress behind the counter before he stepped outside. He took another quick glance around the parked cars feeling a little bit paranoid before slowly exhaling. Heading back to his room, he stopped by the office to see if by chance there had been any other letters delivered to him and he was taken aback when they told him that another envelope had arrived for him. This was starting to make his skin crawl just a little and he asked if it had been delivered personally by anyone but they simply said it must have appeared on the desk while they had stepped out of the office for a break. His hands trembled as he took the second envelope from the desk clerk and headed back to his room, his heart hammering in his throat as he closed the door behind him and stood there staring at it as if it might bite. Tearing it open, it was just a simple piece of paper which said “Congratulations on the job. The cabin is ready and waiting for you. Do not take your own car. You do not want your ex or your boss to find out where you have been hiding. There is a black car at the far end of the parking lot and the key is inside the glove box. We will be waiting for you.”
While still holding onto the letter his phone buzzed on the night stand where he had left it. When he picked it up it was from an unknown number but it was not a phone call or a message, it was a photo. He clicked on it and it slowly uploaded and he nearly dropped the phone. It was a picture of him standing inside of the room standing there holding onto the paper. He rushed to the window and peered outside but he could not see anyone close enough to have been able to take the picture but he did notice the black car that had been mentioned in the letter. Panic began to rise inside of him as he tried to process everything. How did they know where to find him and how did they know about his ex and his boss? If they could find him so easily what else could they possibly know about his life. His first instinct was to grab his duffel bag and run, run as far and as fast as he could but where could he go so that he would not be found. He had nothing left in his life but the wreckage of what he had left behind but it still haunted him, tortured him and now this…what was this. He grabbed his wallet, keys, laptop and duffel bag and left the key to the room on the bed before he closed the door behind him. He slowly made his way towards the car, his eyes darting nervously about as he approached the driver's side door. He expected it to be locked or an alarm to go off the moment he touched it but there was only a soft click as the door opened. The inside smelled of fresh polished leather and he sat down in the seat, reaching for the glove box and opening it to find the key in there. Looking on the dashboard there was a note placed there and in careful handwriting it simply said “Turn on the GPS…three hours west. See you then Jake.”
He reached out to turn on the GPS which listed where he was sitting in the parking lot but in a small box near the bottom of the screen it had the words Destination:home. It sent a slight chill down his spine and he began to question his own sanity before putting the key in and starting the car hearing the engine begin to hum, his hands now gripping tightly around the steering wheel as he pulled out and headed down the highway unsure of what awaited him. For the next three hours, he questioned himself as to why he was allowing himself to be drawn into something he knew nothing about. Was this a trap? He had erased his digital footprint from the rest of the world but somehow some one had found him and now he was blindly driving towards either the beginning or the end of his life. It felt like an eternity since he got on the highway and the sun was beginning to set as he finally pulled onto a narrow dirt road which eventually led him to a secluded little cabin in the woods. It seemed quaint and the light on the front porch was already on. He pulled up and turned off the car, reaching over to the passengers seat and grabbing his duffel bag before getting out. He stretched and slowly looked around, the air around him felt crisp but clean and he walked up the front steps, pausing at the front door noticing the note that had been carefully placed there. It simply said “Welcome home Jake”
He pulled the note off the door and reached for the handle, giving it a turn, the door groaning as it slowly opened. He pushed it the rest of the way and stepped inside. The air smelled like pine and something else he could not quite place and he moved forward cautiously. Closing the door behind him he set his duffel bag on the floor and looked around, unsure if he was alone or not. Just as he stepped into what seemed to be the living room, he noticed there was a cozy fire burning in the fireplace, then the phone began to ring. He froze in his tracks wondering how they would have known he was there. Had they been following him the entire way? Slowly he reached for the phone that sat on the table next to a leather arm chair and held the receiver to his ear and listened. At first there was nothing but a slight crackling sound before a voice spoke” How was the drive Mr. Langston?” Jake quickly responded “Who are you and what do you want from me?” The voice on the other end of the line chuckled” Who we are does not matter. What matters is that you are a mechanic with very important skills and with no life to hold you back. Your past life is no longer relevant to you or to us. Your job begins tomorrow at 6 a.m. You will find a pair of overalls and a key card beside the refrigerator. Once you are dressed, you will walk out of the cabin and head down the road a half a mile until you come to a fork in the road. You will take the path to the left which will lead you to the factory. See you then Jake” The phone line then went dead and he was left standing with the receiver still in his hands.
He did not sleep for most of the night, tossing and turning as he replayed the past few days in his mind wondering if he was losing his grip on reality. Did he make a mistake in accepting this job out in the middle of the woods, was he walking into a trap. The caller was so mysterious yet seemed to know more about him than he knew about himself. By the time morning came, he had barely slept but he knew that he had come this far and needed to find out. Stumbling into the kitchen he saw a pair of grey overalls neatly folded with a key card sitting on top. He quickly changed into the overalls and attached the keycard to the front of it before heading out the front door of the cabin. The sun was filtering through the canopy of the trees and the birds were chirping as if they did not have a care in the world. Stepping off the bottom step of the porch, his boots scuffed by the mounds of dirt he walked through as he made his way down the road remembering the voice on the phone telling him to follow the path till he reached the fork in the road and stay to the left. Sure enough about maybe 500 yards down the road a large building loomed like it did not belong there but sure enough it was there, an iron gate in front with large walls surrounding it. Using the keycard he had been given he swiped it across the small box and the gate slowly opened and he passed through it, not quite sure what he expected to find on the other side. There was a stone walkway that led to the front of the factory and everything looked quite ordinary if that was even possible because nothing felt quite right to him. Attached to the front door was yet another envelope with his first name on it. What else could they possibly have to tell him. Was it a cruel prank left by his boss to torment him because who else would possibly know how to find him and bring him so far out in the middle of nowhere and yet he had been foolish enough to follow. Inside was a folded piece of paper.
“You wanted to disappear and we have helped you to do so. You will find a desk inside the front door. Your job is to fix the machinery inside of the factory and keep records of each completed project in the ledger that is on the desk. You will clock out at the end of each day at precisely 4 pm and no later. You must stay on the path and return to your cabin before the sun sets. Do not stray from the path and do not remain outside after dark.” He folded the note carefully and tucked it inside the pocket of his overalls before pulling open the front doors to the factory, unaware of what might be waiting inside for him. Whatever it was he had till 4 pm to figure it out.
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