The Mysterious Green Light

Rachel was suddenly awoken by a sliver of green light coming through the curtains. She checked her phone. It was 4:07. She got out of bed and drew the curtains. A bright green light flooded the room. She shaded her eyes and squinted out into the city below. The street under her window was also drenched in green light. There were cars on the road, but none were moving. She couldn’t see any drivers. They must have abandoned their cars, she thought. She looked around for the source. It seemed to be coming from above her. She scanned the building across from her’s. Nothing. It must have been from her building. She walked out of her room to the little balcony. The night was slightly chilly. She pressed her back to the railing as far as she could without feeling like she was going to fall over. She looked up and saw the source of the light coming from a room three floors directly above her own. She hurried back inside, put on slippers and a dressing gown, wrapping it tightly around her.

She took the elevator up to the twelfth floor. She didn’t have any trouble finding the room; a green light was leaking out from under the door. She crept to the room and knocked. At the sound of her knock, the light shut off. She waited for a few minutes, expecting whoever was in the room to answer. Nothing. The longer she waited, the more she wanted to leave. Standing alone in the dark hallway was beginning to scare her. She finally gave in and ran softly back to the elevator. When she came back to her room, she quickly tiptoed to her room and hopped into bed. She rolled herself in her blanket, trying to get comfortable. When she couldn’t, she checked the time again: 4:45. She tossed and turned until her alarm went off. She groaned. She stumbled out of her room and sleepily got ready for work. Olivia was already awake and drinking tea.

“You look terrible. Take the day off,” she said.

“I’m fine, I just didn’t sleep well last night.”

“Why?”

“It’s a long story and I’m already running late.”

Olivia chuckled. “Want me to make you breakfast real quick?”

“No, that’s fine. I’ll just get some coffee at the office.”

With that she left. On her way to the elevator, she had an idea. She went up to the twelfth floor and knocked on the door to 1237. No answer. I know someone was in here last night, she thought. She tried again. Still no answer. She jiggled the doorknob. It was locked. She tried to peek through the keyhole, but could only see an empty room. She gave up and went down to the lobby. On her way out the door, she had another idea. She went back inside and asked the receptionist, Cynthia, “Who’s in room 1237?”

“Let me see,” she said looking it up, “it doesn’t look like anyone lives there. Why?”

“Huh. Ok thanks,” Rachel replied, ignoring the question.

That evening after work, she went back up to 1237. She knocked on the door. No answer. She jiggled the doorknob . No answer. She looked through the keyhole. Nothing. At that moment, the janitor walked by and gave her a quizzical look. She smiled awkwardly and made her way back down to her room.

That night, she was awoken again to the green light. She checked the time. It was 4:07 exactly. She quickly went back to 1237, but this time she was prepared with a hair pin. She didn’t even bother to knock or jiggle the doorknob. She picked the lock as quietly as she could. As she slowly opened the door, she was blinded by the intense green light. She shaded her eyes, looking for something that would be emitting the light. As she scanned the room, she felt a dull pain in the back of her head. She sank to the floor and the last thing she heard was someone running down the hallway.

She awoke, dazed. Sunlight streamed through the windows. Where am I? she asked herself. As she looked around, the previous night came flooding back. Someone had hit her in the head and taken off. She rubbed the wound, wincing as her fingers brushed against the bruise. She stood up and tried to check her phone. It was dead and the screen was cracked. She looked around for something else that would have the time. There was no clock on the wall and all of the electrical appliances were off. That’s odd, she thought. A little investigating told her they had all been unplugged. She forgot about the time and decided to look around.

The kitchen and living room area appeared to be totally unoccupied. There were just the basic appliances that the room had come with. There was no couch, no TV, not even so much as a shelf. She tried a bedroom door, but it was locked. These doors lock from the inside, she thought, warily. Quietly, she crouched down and looked through the keyhole. It didn’t appear that there was anyone inside. She picked the lock, this time looking all around her to make sure she was alone. Sure enough, this room was evidence of a squatter. There was an air mattress with blankets thrown every which-way, wrappers and take-out containers were strewn across the floor, and dirty clothes were piled up on a chair by the desk. The desk caught her attention. It was one of the only real pieces of furniture in the room. The desk was covered in papers, many of which had complex calculations. What is this stuff? she asked herself. She gently flipped through the papers until she saw something else that piqued her interest. There was a single page which had strange symbols on it. Some sort of code, she guessed. She glanced around again to make sure she was still alone. She took a blank piece of paper and a pen and began to copy the code. She was a bit more than halfway through the page when she heard a slight movement. She realized in terror that she had left the door to the bedroom open. Panicking, she looked for an escape. She saw the window and had an idea. In a few seconds, she had pocketed her copy of the code, had jumped out of the window and had grabbed the railing to the balcony, hanging by her hands. From there she jumped onto the balcony below. The squatter poked his head out of the window. Clearly he was aware that someone had been in his apartment. She pressed herself against the side of the building, trying to hide. She waited until he was gone to jump to the next balcony. As she landed, she scared an old woman who had been sitting near the french door. “Sorry,” she mouthed, and jumped onto the next balcony, her own. She tried opening the door, but it was locked. Ugh! I’ve had enough locked doors these past few days to last me a lifetime! she thought. She started to bang on the french door, hoping that Olivia was home. Luckily she was. When she saw Rachel, her eyes widened and she quickly unlocked the door. As Rachel stepped into the apartment, Olivia hugged her, saying, “Where were you?!” Before Rachel had a chance to answer, she continued, “I was so worried about you! When you didn’t get up for work, I went in to wake you up and you were gone! Then I tried calling you, but you didn’t answer. Where did you go?!”

Rachel signaled for Olivia to let her go and asked, “What time is it?”

“It’s 11:45! Don’t you have your phone with you?”

“Yeah, but it’s dead,” she said holding it up, “11:45? I guess I was out for a little while.”

“Out? What do you mean, are you okay?”

“I got hit in the head. It’s a long story.”

“Well you have time to tell it, you’re not going to work. Put your phone on the charger and come back out here. I’ll get you an ice pack and make you something to eat.”

Olivia’s “bossy” manner was welcome. With the confusion and suspense of her previous situation, Rachel hadn’t noticed how hungry she was, or the throbbing in her head. She did as Olivia said and then relayed the events of the past couple of nights.

“And then I found this,” she said, pulling the paper out of her pocket and handing it to Olivia, “see if you can make anything of this.”

Olivia looked at it, confused, “Did you steal this?”

“No. I copied it down. I didn’t get to finish. I was about halfway through when he came back. There was also a lot of complicated math.”

“Hmm. I’ve never seen a code like this before, not that I would be an expert. Maybe it’s another language?”

“I don’t think so, but you might be right. I’ll take it to the station tomorrow and see if anyone there knows anything about it.”