Glass Back Read online

  GLASS BACK

  By: Terrell Lawson

  1

  “Three… two...one. Okay. My name is Henric McCathey, son of David McCathey, the Head scientist of the aquatic division of Lavaunzier Labs. This auditory recording hereby grants me access to...level C? B? Damn it.” Henric stops the tape recorder and throws it down. He walks over to his drawer, opens it, and shuffles through until he finds an old map of the laboratory with section D circled. “Wow, I was way off.” He looked at his watch, checking the date. August 12th. It’s been eleven days since Hurricane Taylor hit the coast. It’s been eleven days since he last talked to his dad. “Wait out the storm, make an audio recording of yourself detailing who you are, and then come to the lab. Don’t say anything when you meet the guards, just play the recording. I’ll be in section D. Tell them and they’ll take you right to me. David circled section D and folded it up, passing it to Henric. “Be good kid.”

  Weeks later, the storm had finally passed. The city had been completely evacuated besides Henric himself, and the scientists at Lavaunzier Labs. According to his dad, their work was too important to abandon. Henric grabbed an empty backpack and picked up the tape recorder again. “My name, dad’s name, age, section. It’s simple.” Henric took a deep breath before recording again. His dad had left him alone before, but this was different. No messages, no calls, no type of contact in over a week. His dad told him to expect it, but that doesn’t make the isolation any easier.

  Walking to his bedroom door, he put in the four-digit code to unlock his room. The rest of the house was cold compared to his room. Grabbing the key fob hanging by the door, Henric left the kitchen and stepped outside. Looking at the neighbor’s houses, you couldn’t even tell a hurricane had hit the town. Henric opened the garage and pushed a button on the fob and his dad’s truck instantly powered on. He hopped in the passenger side even though it was driverless. He was used to this side, and he didn’t feel like he was ready for the driver's seat, anyway. After putting the address into the touchscreen monitor, he turned on the radio to hear what the news reports were about the storm. “Recovery efforts are underway in North and South Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Taylor. The Hurricane dumped about three trillion tons of gallons of rainwater on North Carolina. It’s nowhere near a record breaker but it has done serious damage nonetheless. We’ll have more today, at ten.”

  Everything he drove past showed no signs of a hurricane. There were no fallen trees, no destroyed houses, or floods. It only looked like a little rain had passed. He didn’t know what the radio speaker was referring to. Henric tried other radio stations, searching for music, but only got static. From both FM and AM. Maybe the storm did do something. To the radio towers at least. Turning it off, Henric sat in silence as the truck took him to the lab. It was bright outside, bright but cold. The truck’s monitor told him it was 48 degrees Fahrenheit. No clouds in the sky No cars on the road. Just Henric in a big truck, in an empty town.

  “Your destination is on the left.”

  A big glass sign with black letters spelled out Lavaunzier Labs. Past that was a massive dark grey and black building almost completely rectangular, with a huge garden in the front. In the middle of the fountain was a big fountain the same color as the building with several statues spitting out water. The truck stopped itself and Henric got out, slowly approaching the building. Dad said security took their job seriously. There could be a sniper watching me right now.

  Henric made it all the way to the front entrance, but nobody came. Nobody greeted him and he couldn’t see inside, the windows were tinted. Henric buzzed the intercom and put his tape recorder up to the speaker. After a moment of waiting, he knocked on the glass.

  “Hello?!” He called out, trying to peer into the glass. “Is anyone here?” He tapped the button repeatedly before finally giving up. Pulling out a map of the headquarters, he found another entrance on the side. The door was also locked, but it had an ID scanner on the wall next to it. His dad had an old ID in the truck, Henric was sure of it. He ran back to the truck and checked the dashboard. Nothing. The glove compartment had nothing inside it, neither did the sun visor. Finally, reaching between the seat. He found an ID from last year, a couple pennies, and a coupon for a free shake. Henric ran back to the side entrance and held the card up. There was a soft ding, and the door unlocked.

  Your ID is out of date. Please seek a replacement at the registrar.

  Suddenly, metal blinds shut down over the windows. An alarm blared and a red light flashed on the wall near the security camera. A monotone voice came over the loudspeaker;

  DAVID MCCATHEY, LAVAUNZIER LABS IS STILL UNDER LOCKDOWN AND THE MAIN DRAG IS STILL CLOSED. PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR SECTION AND RESUME YOUR DAILY ACTIVITIES UNTIL OTHERWISE NOTED.

  Lockdown? Henric thought. It’s really not as bad as everyone thinks out there. Henric headed towards the escalator while looking around. This place felt ghostly when it was empty. Which was another problem. It shouldn’t have been empty. There were always guards at the entrances, even when his dad brought him here on Christmas Day. Always hustle and bustle, the scientists never rested. Even in the wee hours of the night, They were working diligently without end. His father was no exception. The entire lab looked like a mall with offices and testing areas instead of shops. You could barely go to the bathroom without clearance, everything was confidential. Dad used to joke about making Henric sign a nondisclosure agreement at four months old. The older Henric got, the more he believed it.

  The entire building was separated into two floors, both twice the size of a football field. The first floor had sections A and B, facing West and East respectively. The second floor had sections C and D, facing North and West. There technically was a third floor, but on the map it says testing area. Henric had never been there. Getting off the escalator, walked forward until he got to his father’s office. Peering inside, the light was off and his desk was a mess. His dad never leaves it like that. He turned the knob but it was locked. “Dad?” he called, knocking on the door. “I’m here!”

  After a few moments, Henric gave up and headed towards the cafeteria. Maybe everyone was hiding in there, together.

  2

  Henric was wrong. The cafeteria was completely empty. He was starting to worry now. Did they evacuate too? He can’t be the only person in town. That’s impossible. He ran to the kitchen door and shouted. “HEY! IS ANYBODY STILL HERE?!”

  No response.

  No, no no no. This isn’t real. His dad wouldn’t leave him. He gave him specific instructions. They had a plan. They would be perfectly safe. Henric forced open the metal panel where they served food and slid into the kitchen. Nobody was there. Nobody was watching him. Nobody said anything. There was no food being prepped, no one was cleaning, nothing was happening at all. The machines weren’t even on. Henric searched through the cabinets and found a metal meat tenderizer. Leaving out the kitchen door, Henric ran back to his father’s office and bashed the doorknob with the mallet, breaking the handle. He kicked the door in and rummaged through his dad’s dresser.

  All he found was files for project plans and case studies. He was about to close it when he spotted a folded up map. Henric unfurled it and saw that it was three times the size as the map he had earlier, and it had labeled the third floor as section F. It wasn’t like the other floors, it was shown as one huge room instead of a bunch of rooms connected by halls. Henric tried to check the computer to see if his dad had clearance down there but it was locked and the office phone had been disconnected.

  They would be down there. Henric had no doubts. Where else would they go? He wasn’t sure if it was big enough to fit the whole lab staff but they had to have gone somewhere. Hanging on the wall by the door was his dad’s ID tag and a key. He grabb
ed them on his way out and reached the elevator in the middle of sections C and D. The was still no sign of anyone. Henric wondered if someone could be watching him on the cameras.

  If they were, they would have stopped be from breaking my dad’s door down. He reassured himself. He shook the thought and pressed the down button.

  Just like he expected, the elevator didn’t move. There was a key slot next to the firefighter button in the elevator, so he took out his dad’s key and tried to use it in the hole. The key wouldn’t fit, so he tried repeatedly pushing the down button. To his surprise, a metal slot slid up under the button, revealing a scanner. He quickly used his dad’s newer ID on it and pressed the down button again.

  This time, the elevator began to descend.

  The elevator had no music, so Henric stood in silence as it went down. There was a big touch screen display on the wall, showing a map of the laboratory. Henric moved it around for a few moments before getting bored.

  Ten minutes passed. Then twenty. Henric was starting to worry. Where was the elevator taking him, Hell? Luckily, the elevator slowed down before he started to freak out. It dinged and opened up into a big room with an aquarium and a dozen smaller fish tanks carrying all sorts of colorful fish. The room was filled with blue lights in each corner. Henric noticed a digital sign on the wall that read ‘McCathey’.

  Henric walked around the room to another door. Inside was a much bigger office with a name plate that said ‘McCathey’.

  Henric kicked the door in anger and turned around to look at the fish. He had to use his dad’s ID to get to the third floor. On the smaller maps, the third floor is just listed as a testing area. Is there a wider area where the third floor converges? Or is it just columns of testing spaces stacked on top of each other? Is it even possible to get to someone else’s area without their ID?

  Henric tried to think logically. He was young, but he wasn’t irrational. Henric didn’t grow up around kids he grew up around animals. He didn’t play with toys; he tested new inventions. He was too smart and too collected to lose his head. He walked over to his dad’s computer and this time, this one was actually unlocked. The wallpaper was a bunch of fish in an aquarium, and they had a little tiki head to swim into. His dad only had four icons on the desktop, probably because he didn’t want to obstruct the view of his wallpaper. The icons were for Files, Recycle, Cameras, and Door.

  Henric clicked on cameras and nine boxes appeared on screen. Of the nine, six were black. The others were pointing at him, in the office, the aquarium outside and a corner of the wall near the biggest fish tank. He tried to click on the others but nothing showed up. Minimizing the screen, he clicked out of it and clicked on door. Instead of a whole application, a little text box appeared on the screen. It said ‘Would you like to open the door? Yes or No’.

  He didn’t see any reason for him to say no, so he clicked yes. Instantly, the computer chimed and a loud clank could be heard from the other room. Henric clicked back on the cameras and saw that a huge opening had appeared in the corner of the room. Henric put the key and ID around his neck and grabbed the mallet. The door was camouflaged to look like the wall; it didn’t even have a handle. Henric had to push with all of his might go force it halfway open, it must’ve weighed tons. Once he finally got through, he looked around in awe. To the left of him was

  A long, gigantic tube filled with water, fish, and aquatic life. The tunnel like tube must have been hundreds of feet long, and it scaled the wall, connecting to other tubes across the factory like building. How did they build this down here?! A better question would be why his father never told him about it. There must’ve been thousands of fish down here. The other side of the room had regular fish tanks, though some were larger than average. All the tubes had lights on the inside, but it was slightly difficult to see through because of the algae on the glass. Henric walked around and observed the tunnels, trying to see the many types of fish swimming around. There has to be something bigger here. These tubes were big for a reason. His dad probably had stingrays, sharks, maybe even whales.

  After walking the half the length of the factory, he reached a wall with a cylindrical structure in the corner. The tube wasn’t closed off; it connected to a larger tank on the right. Henric didn’t see any fish swimming in it, just sand, a big boulder in the center covered in kelp, and a bunch of smaller rocks. Then he noticed a small light blue starfish on the glass. Henric had always been fascinated with starfish. They didn’t bleed, they could regrow limbs, and they had eyes on the ends of their arms! His dad told him they could move too, though he had never seen it happen. Henric put his right hand on the glass, right where the starfish was. “It’s not a fish.” He remembered his dad telling him. “We call them sea stars.”

  Henric tapped on the glass, trying to get the sea star to move. It didn’t budge. He hit the glass harder this time, rapping on it with his knuckles. Behind the boulder, something moved, causing a ton of sand to swirl up.

  Slowly, a long slender shape rose from behind the boulder. No, It WAS the boulder! An arm reached over and swept away the seaweed. The creature rose and stared and Henric wild-eyed and mysterious. She swam up to the glass and shocked Henric, causing him to jump back a step.

  “You’re a mermaid.” he whispered.

  3

  Humongous? No. Gargantuan? No, that feel right either. Colossal? Now that, that sounded better. She was probably as big as a whale, maybe even bigger. Henric had discovered a colossal mermaid! Or rather, his dad did. His moment of shock and amazement was slightly dulled by the thought. He still had found no one. As far as he could see, there was no one in the entire lab at all. How could everyone leave without a trace? No signs of chaos, no signs of panic. Then again, if they were hiding secrets like this maybe there’s a reason there was no struggle.

  The mermaid appeared to be just as curious of him as he was of her. She wiped algae off the glass to get a better look of him. She didn’t wear seashells like Ariel. She didn’t seem bashful or even aware of her nudity. This must have been what Eve felt like before she discovered sin. He couldn’t tell what the color of her skin was, the tank was too dirty. Looking at it this way he’d assume her skin was green. The mermaid smiled at Henric, showing all of her teeth. They were sharp and serrated like shark teeth. He couldn’t tell because of the algae and glass, but they appeared to be grey. Henric raised his hand and shockingly, the mermaid waved at him.

  “I want to call you Eve. Is that okay?” He asked aloud, stunned by her majesty.

  She smiled and Henric was unsure if she understood what he said. Then she swam from the tank to the cylinder.

  Henric followed her and she watched him as she swam around.

  “Whoa, you can understand me?”

  Eve nodded again and made a signal with her hands. Henric recognized it as sign language, but he didn’t know much of it himself. Taking off his dad’s ID, Henric held it against the glass. Swimming down to get a closer look, Eve wiped algae off the glass and squinted. Then she smiled and tapped the glass.

  “Did he teach you sign language?”

  She nodded again and swam back to the tank, digging through the sand. Her long, silky, oil black hair wriggled with life as she moved through the water. After a moment, she pulled out a large silver disk. She pointed it towards the glass and it reflected Henric’s face, while pointing at the ID.

  “Are you saying we look alike?” Henric asked, watching her expression. Nodding, she wiped the glass and turned her hand around, showing Henric the algae. He didn’t understand what she was trying to show him.

  “What? Algae? The glass?”

  Eve frowned and frantically wiped the glass, removing a lot of the algae. Then she swam up and thrust her hand out of the tank, showering The factory floor with water. Henric couldn’t even tell the tank had an opening because of how tall it was.

  “The tank? You want me to clean the tank?”

  Eve smiled and tapped her nose. Henric couldn’t believe it. He was pla
ying charades with a humongous mermaid.

  “How? How am I supposed to clean it?”

  She motioned for him to follow her and swam towards the end of the tank. He did as he was told and saw a huge filtration system on the side of the tank, and a super long ladder attached to the side of the tank. There was a big screen on the wall saying the power was down. Where was the circuit breaker?

  Henric followed the fat black cords from the tank along the wall going halfway across the factory. The cords led directly into a wall with a metal plate above it. Henric could tell there was some type of door right next to it, but there was no knob or handle. He took out his father’s ID and started sliding it against the wall, hoping a scanner would activate. Unfortunately, nothing did. He took out his metal mallet and hit the wall, hoping for an opening. After the third hit, red emergency lights turned on above him and alarms blared in his ears. Next to the hidden door on his right, a piece of the wall slid away and revealed a scanner above a digital touchscreen.

  A robotic voice overhead stated, “BREAK-IN ATTEMPT DETECTED. BREAK-IN ATTEMPT DETECTED.”

  Henric moved over to the screen and held up his ID “Please submit a retina scan or identification card.”

  He let it scan the ID and waited for the sirens to stop, but they kept blaring.

  “Welcome David McCathey. Please enter your lab password.”