Candle in the Attic Window(18)
I was working at one of the great kettles, doing some maintenance, when I had again the strange feeling of being watched. When I turned around, I couldn’t detect anything but the spouting kettle and its sounds of working metal that was endlessly heated and cooled down, until it was worn and had to be melted and formed into something new. Somehow, my attention was drawn to the melting furnace, to the small door at its front, and when I moved stealthily forward and looked into it, I thought I saw the flames dance wildly and form some kind of face, fretting at me. When I tried to retreat, I felt a heavy weight upon my shoulder, holding me still. A valve opened and the spell broke and I ran away without any true explanation as to what had just happened.
Only hesitantly did I tell the others on my shift what had happened, and over the weeks, I learned their stories, too.
Florian said that he had seen a big, silvery, shining ball, waiting in one of the hallways. Inside, there was the form of a women leering at him. The face was odd. The head more like an elipsoid and the skin of greenish hue.
When, three days later, his twins were born, something wasn’t quite right about them.
And there were other tales, of unexplained noises and lights.
The next time the alarm rang, it was in my area. I knew the people of my shift very well now, so instead of running to the next point of safety, I ran in the direction where the alarm was sounding, to see if I could do anything. I stopped stone-still when I saw that my efforts were, and must be, futile. Before me stood, as if built from iron clinker (the iron oxide formed during forging), the human shape of a screaming man. Looking like the human remains from Pompeii that were shown on exhibition at the museum, this thing stood before me, unearthly and yet human. I couldn’t help but shrink away. I could discern the features of my coworker, Karl, who had been working in this area, but was nowhere to be seen. Yet, this couldn’t be him. How could that be possible? This was a thing beyond physical laws and reality. Yet, it was standing before me.
I heard a faint sound behind me. A shadow flickered over the tubes and bunches of cables. Turning around, I saw a stag beetle buzzing against one of the lamps.
When I turned back, Karl was gone.
After the accident, in which we lost Karl – another broken valve, they told us – the air in our lounge area turned serious and our emotions seemed to hang heavy above our heads. Some played cards, but only half-heartedly did they follow the game, they just wanted something simple to do, so they did not have to think about the latest turn of events. You could have cut the air with a knife and the vibrations from the outside world of working machines seemed to us now like the bringers of doom.
“It’s not the worst thing that has happened,” mumbled Chester..
I raised my head in surprise. “What do you mean by that?”
He rubbed his chin and took a sip of milk. “There were guys before, in my youth. They were not dead when we found them, but the foremen were so hasty in taking them away that there was much room for imagining. Something weird had happened to them. We were not allowed to see them anymore. One of the officers did slip us a word that they were put in some kind of asylum with another man who dared to look ....”
“But what is that thing out there? What does it want?”
“Some say it is some kind of personified evil. It’s said it is a man; others believe it’s some kind of force, nature-bound, like rain or a heavy storm.” This time it was Pit, who always smoked a cigarette, even though it was forbidden to smoke inside Komplex 5.
“However it is ... there is still the question”.
Chester looked ominously at me, as if this was an especially important detail.
“The question?”
“They say that whatever it is, it asks you a question. If you answer right, you might find some kind of reward. If you’re wrong ... well …”
“And what kind of question is it? I get that you’re speaking about some kind of riddle.”
Chester shrugged his shoulders. “It’s always a different one. A different one, depending on what person you are, what character you have.”
I couldn’t get the his words out of my head. The whole evening, I worked in a kind of mechanical stupor, I did not listen to the greetings of my ship mates, nor to the call for supper or lunch. Only when my shift ended did I wake up, as if from a very deep dream.
I took up my stuff and turned around the corner. All seemed very silent. Had I lingered too late? Too deep in thought to think about time? The Komplex usually never slept, but the two hours between one and three o’clock were the quietest hours. I should have left four hours ago. Getting my overalls out of my locker I withdrew my hand as if touched by an electrical discharge. The door was icy cold. Hastily, I changed into my fresh clothes, with my mind made up to leave the Komplex as fast as I could. Today was an unlucky day. I felt it with every fibre of my aching body.
Someone opened the door. I turned around, but my eyes took some time before they could discern the person’s features in the dark.
There it stood. It was humanoid, but almost double my height. Its skin was red and seemed to steam, while its face was a mocking mask, with very deep and dark eyes that shone like charcoal in its sockets. When it reached out and pointed at me, it seemed to do so in a kind of slow motion. It held out a claw with three fingers. An unearthly voice that seemed to hold at least a thousand other tongues from ancient times spoke.