I work at a clothing store - Corporate came for an inspection

Sorry for the late update, but I am alright. I finally made it back to our reality after a long night stuck in our building's natural habitat. It was not an easy thing to do, but I learned a lot about our building, my coworkers, and surprisingly enough, Corporate. I’m not sure I’m happy with everything I’ve learned, but hey, we’re here now. Let me explain.

As I said, these trips to the other side aren’t super unusual, and I hadn’t experienced a mishap until yesterday. Everything was normal, we cleaned the entire place top to bottom and made sure there were no leaks in the building (Patrick or Daniel always check the windows, I’m still not ready to look out into that world again). When it came time for us to do our five minutes of silence, I went first.

I sat down in the salt circle and did my usual routine of trying to count down the five minutes to distract myself from how horrifying the shop looks in the dark. I got to the two minute mark when I heard them - two people having a conversation. I snapped my head up and looked around, trying to find the source. Obviously there was no one around.

“Daniel!” I yelled, feeling the panic rising in my chest. “Someone’s talking!”

Daniel ran out with Patrick close behind. Sam followed behind them slowly, looking annoyed. I stood up to run to them, hoping to escape the voices in some way.

“DON’T!” Daniel and Patrick yelled at the same time, and I froze.

“You need to stay in the circle, it isn’t safe for you out here,” Daniel explained as I slowly sat back down, feeling tears starting to blur my vision. “Stay calm. You’re going to be fine, but I need you to talk to me. What are the voices saying?”

I took a deep breath to steady myself and closed my eyes.

“I hear two people, it sounds like a man and a woman. I think they’re having a conversation. It sounds like… they’re talking about us.”

Suddenly, I felt the room spinning. I opened my eyes only to see darkness. I could faintly hear my coworkers yelling for me, but I was completely covered in darkness. I turned to look around me, and saw the people I was hearing moments before, now standing right in front of me. Their voices sounded as if they were underwater, or in a room next to me, just barely above a whisper.

How can you sit here and watch them continue to do this? The woman said to the man next to her.

You know we can’t do anything, darling. It hurts me as much as it hurts you. They will have to realize on their own.

“Hello?” I said hesitantly, almost afraid for them to hear. Their eyes instantly snapped to me. They weren’t looking at me, but through me, like they couldn’t see me.

Can you hear us, girl? The man whispered, fear edging his voice.

“What’s happening? Who are you? Where am I?” For once, I felt unafraid to ask questions. I wasn’t sure why, but I trusted this couple.

What have you done, Meredith?! The man yelled, panic filling his voice. You’ve doomed us all! How could you be so stupid?

You need to listen closely, girl, Meredith said, clearly ignoring the man’s quiet rage. This place is not safe. I’m sorry I’ve done this to you, but I couldn’t continue to watch you come and go in silence. Those who employ you are lying to you. That company is nothing more than a mask covering the truth. You need to dig deeper.

Meredith, stop this at once! The man said, getting increasingly agitated. He continued to look around them, as if something was coming.

Thomas, we have to do something. This can’t go on any longer. She can fix this! I know you feel it. Eleanora likes her, she wants her to save us from this!

Finding my voice, I asked “Eleanora?”

The building, darling. She is held prisoner by those above you, and she needs-

Meredith, they are coming. Thomas said solemnly, staring into the void beyond me. I turned to see, but there was only darkness.

I’m afraid we’re out of time. She said softly. Listen to me. You need to find the truth. Be careful who you trust, and remember us. Please, remember us.

She began tearing up, and Thomas held her tightly. I felt tears falling down my cheeks, and as they began screaming, I felt myself spinning once again. I closed my eyes tightly, mourning these people I never knew, and opened them to see Patrick leaning over me, concern covering his face

“Harper, what just happened?” Patrick said, visibly shaking.

“I don’t know. Where are we? Are we home?” I asked, trying to get my bearings.

“No. You’ve been out for over four hours. I thought you were fucking dead.”

“...sorry?”

I wasn’t really sure what to say, and he gave me a pat on the back, basically acknowledging I was fine. I saw Daniel on the other side of the floor, on the phone.

“Daniel?”

He looked at me with an expression I’ve never seen him have before. I’m not really sure how to describe it. Numb? Defeat? Either way, he clearly wasn’t himself.

“Corporate is coming for an inspection,” he said matter-of-factly. “They’ll be here soon. They’ll get us home.”

I felt fear creep up my spine. I’d never met anyone higher up in the food chain than Daniel before. I turned to Patrick, and he seemed to have the same reaction as me. He has been here about two years longer than me, so I always assumed he had seen a lot more than me. I guess he had never had the pleasure of meeting Corporate before either.

I looked around for Sam, but he was nowhere to be found.

“Where is Sam?”

“Who fucking knows,” Patrick mumbled. “He probably doesn’t want to be around when Corporate shows up anyway.”

I thought about asking him what he meant by that, but I had too much on my mind to care. I turned back to Daniel, who hung up the phone and sat down on the couch, staring at nothing.

“Can I leave this circle?” I asked him softly, but my voice still sharply pierced the silence that had fallen.

“Yes, Corporate will be here soon. They’ll get us home.”

Patrick and I gave each other a look before he helped me to my feet. My entire body was sore from sitting in the same spot for four hours, but I was grateful to be moving again. I paced around the floor, trying to process what had just happened. I had more questions than I knew what to do with. These people seemed to know us, and have been watching us every time we came to this reality. And this building? She is apparently sentient and has a name. Eleanora. As her name crossed my mind, I felt a shiver. It’s like she knows I know her now. I’m not sure she’s happy about it. All I knew is that those people sacrificed their existence to tell me she needs help, and that I should be careful who I trust. Whatever that means.

After about fifteen minutes, there was a knock at the staircase door. I looked at Patrick, who was just as confused as me. There was no way anyone could possibly be here. We were in a different reality for fucks sake. Who is knocking on our door?

Daniel got up from the couch and absently walked to the door, his best customer service smile covering his face unnaturally. I turned away, not wanting to see the sea of souls.

“Hey Daniel!” I heard a cheery female voice say.

“Corey! It’s so great to see you ma’am! Sorry for calling you so late,” Daniel replied, sounding completely normal.

“Oh hush, it’s no problem!”

I turned when the door closed to see a woman standing in our doorway. She was maybe 5’5”, long brown hair, and gave off a very warm, inviting energy. She was rather cute, in a girl-next-door kind of way. She walked right up to Patrick and me and held out her hand.

“Hello Harper, Patrick. I’m Corporate, but you can call me Corey. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you!”

Patrick took her hand hesitantly, but after meeting her touch, he seemed to fully relax, and even smiled at her.

“Corey, it’s a pleasure.”

She turned to me, but before she could hold out her hand, I held up mine for a fist bump.

“Nice to meet you,” I said, as she bumped my fist, looking confused. “You can never be too careful these days!”

I could have sworn I caught her face change for a moment. Her expression changed from her soft, smiling young features to a jagged, scowling old woman with pure hatred in her eyes. I felt my throat tighten, but when I blinked, the mirage was gone, and she was back to her usual peppy self.

“I totally get that! I hope you guys are staying safe here. Now, I hear we had a slight problem with our transition back, is that right?” She turned to Daniel, who was still standing with his best smile. I could tell by his eyes that he was absolutely terrified, but didn’t want Corey to know.

“Yes, Harper here informed me that she heard voices during her moment of silence. I ran to her assistance, but she fell unconscious shortly after. She was out for about four hours, but regained consciousness shortly before you arrived.”

“Four hours, huh?” she said to me, seemingly trying to hide the suspicion in her voice. “That’s an awful long time, are you feeling alright?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m totally fine. It didn’t even feel that long. It was like I was sleeping.”

“And did you have any dreams while you were sleeping?”

I felt a familiar knot tightening in my throat, and I remembered Meredith’s warning. I knew I couldn’t trust this woman.

“No, not at all,” I said, trying to sound convincing. “I just blacked out, and then woke up. No dreams or anything like that.” I was feeling a bit bold (or maybe sleep deprived is a better word), and decided to push it. “Why do you ask?”

She seemed taken aback by this, but quickly recovered her positive façade. “I always have to ask, it’s just protocol. So you’re sure there were no dreams? No further voices while you were out?”

“Nothing I can remember.”

“Well that’s good news! We can continue with our transition. Who is next for their moment of silence?”

Daniel and Patrick both took their turns, while Corey and I sat in the office. I felt her staring at me the entire time the guys were taking their turns, but I tried to seem busy on the laptop, going over numbers mindlessly. I couldn’t stand to hold her stare for longer than a few moments. Everytime I met her eyes, I felt… outside of myself. Like my mind was screaming to look away, but I had no control. The only thing that kept me able to pull away was Meredith’s voice ringing in my head. Please remember us.

Finally, it was Sam’s turn. He sauntered out of the breakroom, not stopping as Corey tried to initiate a greeting with him. I couldn’t help but notice she had no questions about where he was, or how he seemed to appear in the break room out of nowhere.

“Oh Sam… He must still be upset about his time at the warehouse.”

Sam stopped dead in his tracks, clenching his fists at his side.

“Don’t talk to me about the warehouse you fucking monster.”

Corey laughed loudly, unphased by his blatant disrespect. I had never seen Sam show any anger before, but even more surprising, I’d never heard him use the word monster. Patrick, Daniel and I often refer to our more rowdy custom clients as monsters, especially after a rough fitting, but Sam had never said anything like that. I assumed it was a coping mechanism (I mean, if I think of them as monsters for too long, it sends me into a full blown panic attack), but I might be wrong about that.

He completed his moment of silence, and once the salt circle was cleaned up, Sam opened the door and revealed our staircase.

Thank fucking God, I thought, as I rushed to grab my bag and get out of there.

“Bye Sam, see you later!” I heard Corey call just before the door slammed, hard.

I followed Patrick out of the back, and saw Daniel chatting with Corporate on the couch.

“Oh, Harper, may I have a word with you? Daniel, you can go home, I’ll lock up for you.”

Daniel looked between me and her, before slowly standing up and heading out the door with Patrick.

“I just wanted to go over your experience one more time, while the memory is still fresh.” She patted the couch next to her, and I reluctantly sat down, trying to avoid eye contact. My entire being was screaming at me to run and never look back, but part of me knew I had to use this as a chance to get more information.

“Of course. Like I said, I sat in the circle for my five minutes, and maybe two minutes in, I heard a couple voices talking, then the room-”

“Hold on, just one moment. When you say a couple voices, what do you mean? You heard more than one voice?”

Fuck.

“Yeah, or I think so. It was hard to tell, it was so quiet. It might have been just one, or a lot all sort of talking over each other,” I scrambled, trying to cover my tracks.

“What did they say?” Her voice was beginning to grow threatening, and I tried to swallow my fear.

“I couldn’t make out any words. It was all gibberish, just noise.”

“Alright. And when you blacked out, you didn’t see anything or anyone?”

“Who would I have seen?” I asked before I could stop myself, the sudden bravery in my voice surprising both of us.

“I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking.” She was clearly losing her cool, and I could see the ancient scowl overtaking her face.

“No, I didn’t see anything. Just darkness, then I woke up to Patrick staring at me. That’s it.”

She examined me carefully for a moment before her composure returned.

“Well, good! I think we’re done here. You can head home, I’m sure you’re exhausted. I’ll be back tomorrow to make sure everything is good with the shop. See you then!”

I wasted no time getting the fuck out of there, and now I’m not sure what I should do. I mean, I can’t quit. There was a reason Meredith sacrificed her life to warn me, and I think there are people who need my help (and apparently, a building). I don’t know why they would ask me, I think I’m the least qualified to do anything that requires stealth, secrecy, or courage, but I guess this is now my responsibility.

I wish it came with a raise, but that’s life.