Computer #35

The television blared and Jodi was nearly asleep when her cell phone rang.

She blinked, rubbed her eyes, and slid the screen to answer.

“Hello, this is Jodi,”

“Good evening Jodi, this is Martha from Deleas. I’m just calling to confirm that you will still be participating in our test tomorrow.”

Jodi coughed, still half-asleep, ‘Yes, Martha, hi. I will be there.”

Jodi thought she could hear Martha smile through the phone, “Perfect, they thank you for participating. It’s best that you get a good night’s sleep. Please arrive at the address in your brochure at 8:00AM tomorrow.”

Thank you, Martha was it? I-”

She had already hung up. Jodi frowned at her screen, the reality TV show reflected on its black surface. She rummaged through the mess on her coffee table. There was an eviction notice to her apartment, crumpled receipts, unpaid bills, an empty can of beer…

Here it is

A red brochure with Deleas in a clean script on the front.

Jodi had found an article online that wrote about participating in psychological studies for money. She had already tried a few. She came across the Deleas ad in a newspaper. She had never heard of the company before, but the experiment seemed super easy. All she had to do was sit at a computer and answer their questions for $15 an hour. She wasn’t used to getting up early, but she would be there any time they pleased for $15 an hour. She flipped open the brochure, but she was too tired to read it. Her eyes glazed over the letters, which became fuzzy and floated off the page. The brochure slid out of her hands and fluttered onto the floor, like the feathers of a parrot, as Jodi fell asleep on the couch.

—

At 8:00AM the next morning, Jodi was sitting in a black leather barrel chair, in the front lobby of the Deleas office. There was a desk directly infront of her, and an entrance to a hallway to the right of the desk. There was a small metallic black round table next to her, with a snake plant, desperately clawing for the sunlight outside. Deleas was in small plaza, a few doors down from her laundromat. She had never noticed it before. It blended in with all the other unvisited corporate offices around town. The office was a short walk from the bus stop, thankfully. She had thought she would be late.

Jodi tapped her flats anxiously on the beige carpet. There was a man sitting at the desk across from her, typing furiously on a computer. She had nodded to him when she entered and said “hello,” but he must not have heard her. He hadn’t looked up or said a word since she arrived. As soon as Jodi stood up to ask the man at the desk when they would start, a thump thump of shoes came from the hallway and entered the room. A woman in a navy blouse and pencil skirt stood at the hallway entrance, her curly hair tied up in a bun. She beamed to reveal extremely large, extremely white teeth.

“Good morning Miss Stapleton, I’m Martha. Please, come with me, and you may leave your purse with Mr. Anders.”

Assuming Mr. Anders was the man at the desk, Jodi picked up her purse and held it out to him. He silently took the purse and hung it in a cabinet behind him. “Do you need to use the restroom Miss Stapleton?” Jodi shook her head. “Excellent, you will receive a restroom break later.”

“O-Okay,” for some reason, Martha’s clear, melodic voice, made her trip over her own words. Martha nodded and gestured for Jodi to follow her down the hallway, still plastered on that huge smile.

Jodi followed her, listening to the thump thump of her high heels and watching the way her curly hair moved to and fro slightly with each step, like Medusa’s head of snakes. Jodi thought about her huge teeth.

No wonder I could almost hear her smile through the phone, she thought

Martha stopped walking and turned around, “What was that Miss Stapleton?”

Startled, Jodi also stopped, and even though they had seemed far apart, they now almost crashed into eachother, Martha’s eyes expectant.

“Oh, I uh, didn’t say anything”

Martha nodded, and gestured for her to make a left down another small corridor. At the end was a metal door. A sign just above the door said “examination room.”

Martha held open the door for her, and Jodi awkwardly stepped inside, Martha waited patiently until she was well within the room before she entered behind her. Jodi immediately shivered, the AC had to be on full blast. She began rubbing the sides of her arms and looked around at the room. The walls were painted a stark red, and the carpet was nearly the same color, though a shade or two darker, like a huge field of poppies. It’s nice looking, if not an unusual choice, Jodi thought.

They stood inside a large room with hundreds of desks, each with one computer, one desk chair, and one person in the chair, staring at the screen before them.

Every single chair appeared to be occupied already.

Did I get the start time wrong? Jodi thought. She could have sworn that Martha had said 8:00AM on the phone last night, but she was so tired…

Thud, the door swung shut behind them. Startled, she turned around and saw Martha had been looking intently at her.

There was a divide in the center of the room, where Martha began walking brusquely. As they stepped between the desks on either side, Jodi thought she heard a faint humming sound.

What’s with these bright red walls?

Martha turned her head to the side to make sure Jodi was still following her, and Jodi crept forward. She felt as though she was walking through a room of sleeping people, and she was afraid to wake them up. Everything was so quiet. The only sound was the humming, and the clicking of computer mouses, like hundreds of clocks ticking, all set to different, incorrect times.

Martha pointed her chin towards the wall, “the red is meant to improve attention span and alertness, for your best testing experience.”

Jodi nodded, glancing at the people who were all laser focused on the screens infront of them, like cats ready to pounce at prey. She scoffed, I’ve never seen people who take this thing so seriously.

They were almost to the back row of desks. Martha stopped and counted on her fingers, then made a sharp right turn.

“31… 32… 33… Here we are. Computer 35.”

She pulled out the leather desk chair for Jodi to sit. Jodi climbed into the chair and looked at the screen infront of her.

“Now,” Martha said, “just answer the questions as best as you can.”

Jodi had a million questions, what was Deleas anyway? Who exactly was Martha? What sort of questions would they be asking her? How long will the test take? When she turned her chair to ask Martha, she was already gone.

The computer infront of her was a blocky 80’s style, with a clunky keyboard and mouse. The test was already on screen. Jodi put her ear to the computer to see if that was where the humming came from, but it was silent. Strange for an old computer, she thought.

This appeared to be some sort of personality test. Jodi had skimmed the newspaper ad, so she didn’t remember all the details. They would probably account for her age and gender, possibly political affiliation. Jodi didn’t really care about any of that, this would help her keep her apartment before she found a new job.

First question was easy enough

“I often take out my anger on others when dealing with stressful situations"

The options were

Strongly Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

Jodi clicked on “strongly disagree,” her pupils narrowed and her eyes began adjusting to the bright screen before her.

—-

How long have I been sitting here?

Jodi glanced to the corners of her screen. There was no time on the computer, and the questions were not numbered, but she knew she had answered at least fifty, probably more.

She raised her hand slowly, not wanting to disrupt anyone else around her. Everyone was expressionless, still staring at the screens infront of them. I don’t know how they can be so patient, especially since I was the last person to get here, Jodi thought.

No one had even gotten up to use the bathroom.

Jodi raised her hand. She didn’t need to use the bathroom, but she just needed to stretch her legs for a moment. Though she didn’t know what time it was exactly, her internal clock was growing weary.

Martha emerged from the back of the room to desk 34. She bent her knees so she could get closer to Jodi, as if she too, didn’t care to disturb the silence around them.

“Yes, Miss Stapleton?”

“May I please use the bathroom?”

Martha tilted her head, and looked at her, concerned, as if reading her mind “Do you really need to use the bathroom?”

Just lie, just say yes

But somehow Jodi thought she’d know if she lied. For some reason, she couldn’t lie to her.

“No, not really, I just have been sitting here for what feels like a really long time and-”

“Miss Stapleton,” Martha blinked slowly, revealing silver eyeshadow, and slightly pursed her lips. “I’d like to remind you that you may only access the bathroom during your assigned breaks-”

“When the hell am I getting a break then?” I snapped.

Martha tensed, and backed away slightly, as if she’d been struck.

I suddenly felt very hot, as if I was getting scolded by a teacher in school and everyone in the class turned to look at me. I stole a quick glance around the room. Everyone was still focused on their screens, but she felt an intense focus on her, as if the red walls were made of thousands of bloodshot eyes.

“Miss Stapleton, please proceed with the examination, and do not ever curse in this room”

“But -”

She gestured to my screen with an open hand then walked away.

Jodi scoffed, she felt wounded, even though she didn’t know these people, it was still wrong of Martha to scold her infront of them. Although, no one seemed to take any notice of what happened.

Whatever, weird test lady. Soon I’ll be out of here and I’ll be getting paid, Jodi thought

Was it even legal for Martha to not let her use the bathroom like that? Jodi wondered.

She’s super unprofessional too, she decided she would report her to Deleas for misconduct. She would just need to find their corporate website. Jodi smirked at this prospect, feeling slightly rejuvenated by this fantasy of victory. As she continued with her test, she imagined Martha stomping her shoes, thump thump, “please, you can’t fire me! Deleas is all I know!” her bun loosening as she stomped.

The next question that came up on Jodi’s screen made her stomach warm, and her throat tighten. She read the words over and over.

“I still feel guilty about my mother’s death”

Strongly Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly

What?

Her heart began to pound in her chest. She clicked “strongly disagree” without a second thought and turned her chair away from the desk, burying her face in her hands and she felt her heartbeat wasn’t letting up.

I misread it, she thought

It must’ve said something about “guilt” and my mind thought it saw something else.

She took a deep breath and turned her desk around to face the screen.

“I answered the previous question honestly”

Strongly Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

“Okay, this has to be some kind of fucking joke. How did you-”

Martha came from her post at the back of the room like a swooping vulture, marching to desk 35, a strand of curly hair coming loose from her bun. “Miss Stapleton”

Her voice was almost cheerful, but her face was strained, “please refrain from obscene language in the testing room, you will upset the other testing subjects.”

“Martha, I’m sorry, but I-”

Jodi couldn’t find the words to explain, how could she? She just dumbly pointed to her screen.

Martha glanced toward the screen, then looked back at Jodi “Are you having trouble accessing your test?"

Jodi chuckled, “No I can access it just fine I just -”

She could clearly see that the test is working, why would she ask me that?

Martha put an arm over the back of her chair, and bent her knees so she could whisper in her ear. She was so close that Jodi could hear the sound of her lips peeling back to reveal her paper white teeth, like the sound of a slug being lifted off the sidewalk.

“Just answer the questions as best you can, Miss Stapleton.” Before Jodi could respond she returned to her full height and walked away. It was as if she read her mind, and knew that she had nothing to say.

This was some kind of joke. It had to be. Someone set me up.

Jodi laughed to herself, and rested her head on her forehead, her elbow on the desk. The hum in the room was getting louder, her head was starting to pound. There were no cameras that she could see, but she felt the skin-crawling sensation that someone was watching her.

Somehow, the newspaper ad, this is all some kind of prank

She looked back at her screen

“I answered the previous question honestly”

She started to laugh, uncontrollably, like she hadn't laughed in years. Jodi stood up from her desk.

Go ahead and stop me Martha

She walked sideways out of her row, but halted once she reached the divide between the two groups of desks. She felt as though she were inside a gorge, two cliff faces staring down on her that could crumble at any moment. Jodi’s hands trembled at her sides as she started walking. She stepped past each desk. The lights from the computers like lanterns leading her through the dark, casting a pallid glow on everyone’s faces.

What the hell is this place?

As Jodi approached the door she thought of her eviction notice. She wiped her forehead and noticed it was covered in sweat, and her hands were cold.

I don’t care about the money anymore, just get me out of here.

She pushed open the door and made it back to the hallway. She breathed a sigh of relief. For some reason she thought the door would be locked, that she would be trapped there. She laughed to herself at how little sense that made. They couldn’t just keep people here Jodi.

The door shut behind her and she slapped her chest, startled. She scampered down the hallway she came from.

Back in the lobby, the man at the desk, Mr. Anders, was sobbing. His head bobbed up and down and his chest heaved. “Uh, Mr. Anders?” Jodi stopped infront of the desk and reached out to comfort him. Mr. Anders let out a loud scream.

AHHHHHHHHH!

The metal door of the testing room opened.

Thump thump

AHHHHHHHHH!

“Jesus” Jodi covered her ears and ran to the cabinet behind Mr. Anders’ desk, he was still screaming. Luckily it was also unlocked. She grabbed her purse and ran to the front door. She shoved it open with both hands and gasped as she stepped onto the concrete sidewalk of the plaza.

AHHHHHHHHH!

The front glass door swung shut behind her.

Click.

She bent her knees and hung her head down as she caught her breath. After a few moments she got to her feet and turned around, expecting to see Martha. What would she do? Drag her back in there?

But she wasn’t there.

In fact, the entire building was deserted. The lobby was empty of furniture. An impression laid in the carpet of where Mr. Anders’ desk stood just a few moments ago. The paint was peeling on the walls. The snake plant withered and brown.