Max sat at his desk, 

reading, 

watching the time.  

Time

felt thick when he was at work, 

stagnant.

The turtle Susan made him sat in the pocket of Max's shirt.

His name was Patrick. 

Patrick was reading, too. Though, he didn’t care for the book. 

The book was about watch making, 

or maybe it was a book about god. 

It didn’t really matter, the two weren’t paying too much attention to it, either way. 

“What do you think, Patrick?” 

Asked Max, 

“Do you think God is just watching us? Like we’re little animals in a terrarium?” 

Max paused, a strange expression crossing his face, 

“Now that I think about it,” 

Muttering as he closed the book,

“God might be a bit of creep…” 

Max stood, and stretched. Resolving to wander the office to impulse spend his time.

His office park was made of four large buildings all connected by a maze of stairs, and tunnels both above, and below. It was easy to get lost, if you didn’t know the way. Fortunately, Max was a quick learner, and knew the layout better than his own apartment. 

“Isn’t your apartment a one bedroom?” 

Asked Patrick, interrupting Max’s internal monologue. 

“Well, I’m not there very often.” 

Max laughed, sheepishly, taking a detour down a twisting hallway. The door at the end would lead to some stairs that emptied out on the roof. 

The hallway 

  lengthened 

and no matter 

             how far

Max 

           seemed 

to 

 walk, 

or 

     how 

long,

  the hallway 

didn’t 

    seem 

to 

  end. 

Max 

  became 

worried. 

“It’s never taken this long to get to the door before…” 

He looked down at Patrick, 

“Has it?” 

Memory suddenly foggy.

Patrick shrugged. 

"What time is it?" 

Max looked for his phone, but hadn’t brought it since phones never worked on the premises for security reasons. 

He looked for his watch, but had forgotten it since he normally used his phone. 

"It must be early in the morning..." 

Max worried, 

         "Or late at night." 

         Comforted Patrick.

Max looked down the hallway behind him.  

It seemed to have tripled, quadrupled, quintupled in length!  

He could no longer even see where it ended. 

Max tried to walk back, so he could retrace his steps. 

The lights flickered and darkened, 

shutting off 

one 

at 

a 

time. 

Unable to tell what was forward and what was back,  

Max stood still. 

In the absense of the electric buzz, everything felt muffled.

Yet, something 

somewhere 

down that

 long 

dark 

path 

began 

to click. 

click. click. click. click. click. click. click. click. click. click. click. click. click. click. click. click. 

Max's spine rattled, 

building dread, 

until it moved through his feet and he turned back towards where he had been going, and stepped forward.

The lights powered on, again.  

The clicking stopped. 

The door at the end of the hall, that he had been desperately searching for, was there 

slightly ajar, 

thick dark bleeding through the crack in the doorway.

From that dark, beyond the open door, came a 

soft, 

      distorted, 

whisper. 

It lulled sweetly, 

almost a song. 

Whatever fear the clicking in the hallway caused, 

the song 

washed it from his muscles. 

"Be not afraid" 

It sang. 

And, Max was not afraid. 

He moved towards the sound.

It hummed

                       in sweet 

mournful 

                        static, 

twisting   up     and

                                     down 

Layering upon itself in many voices.  

Max slipped behind the door, 

into the unknown passage,

clicking 

it shut 

behind 

him.