Seeker of Time

The days start and stop the same way. My first alarm snatches me away from the comfort of my dreams at seven forty-seven AM. Suddenly, eighteen minutes pass when my second alarm goes off and I roll myself out of bed and proceed with getting ready for work. My breakfast usually consists of the first protein bar I can get my hands on and tea as I rush out the door, trying to escape my curse of always being late.

Navigating the summer city streets is typically a tedious task but by some grace, it’s rather empty today. There is barely anyone out to make you question the extent of humanity’s kindness. I check the time on my phone “8:23”, there should be people still out and about facing the morning rush. Suddenly, I crash into someone and feel my phone and notebook slip from my fingers. I hope my phone didn’t crack from falling, I realign my thoughts to become a decent member of society and take a look at the wall in front of me.

“Sorry about that, I’m super clumsy in the mornings.” I manage to get out, waking up my voice.

“It’s no worries, here let me help you with that.” The kind stranger bends down, picking up my black notebook as I carefully pick up my phone.

“Thanks,” checking the time I realize if I don’t make it to the station in the next four minutes, I will miss the next train and will be unforgivably late to set. “, Sorry I have to get going!” I grab my notebook and take off towards the station. Fortunately, I managed to not have any other mishaps and slide my way onto the subway just before the doors close.

If the empty streets weren’t unsettling enough, the barren subway cart is enough to raise a few red flags. I slowly move and make my way towards a seat and take a deep breath, the day is already so crazy and it hasn’t hit nine o’clock yet. My hands graze over the leather of my old, reliable black journal. Its original intent was for work sketches but anything goes with this notebook. I lazily flip through the pages to occupy my mind, I might as well review the set sketches for today. I fan the ivory pages out until I find the sketch I’m looking for. In today’s set we have to build from scratch and create an abandoned warehouse, it shouldn’t be too difficult but there will be a lot of big pieces to move. Hmm, that’s weird, I notice my sketch looks a lot more detailed than I last remember it. Maybe I did some late-night sketches too close to going to bed?

I look to the cart once again and I see the same faces as when I first got on. I check the time on my phone again “8:42” why haven’t we made any stops yet?

“Um, excuse me, is this the red line train?” I wave down the guy sitting across from me.

“I thought so but this seems like a new route…” he trails off sounding uncertain with his answer.

“I thought so too, I feel like we should have passed several different spots at this point.”

The younger rider checks his watch with a worried look growing on his face. To my right are the only other riders in the cart. It was one middle-aged lady and two men dressed for desk work. They seem to be immersed in small talk when I decide to walk over and ask them about the subway’s pathing.

“Sorry to interrupt but, is this the red line train? I don’t recognize this route and I wanted to make sure I’m on the right train.” I try my best to interject at a break in the conversation, but is there ever really a best time to interrupt?

“We were just talking about the same thing, I take this line every single day for three years and this is the first time I’ve ever seen it skip stops like this.” The older businessman says.

“I’m just hoping it stops skipping once it gets to my stop, my manager won’t tolerate another coffee-less morning. “ the younger businessman adds.

“I’m not in too much of a rush today but it is a little concerning.” The woman states.

“Well, it’s not like someone would hijack the subway!” I crack, aiming to lighten the mood.

My top-tier joke falls upon deaf ears as an awkward silence fills the space.

“But what if… you know what never mind we’re probably just being paranoid.” She cuts off her negative thought.

Just as she finishes, the train slows into a stop, doors opening to a stop that looks nothing like a subway station.

“Uh, have you guys heard of this stop? ‘Media Station’?” The younger rider from before speaks up.

“It must be taking a new route darn it!” The younger businessman inadvertently answers.

Five minutes pass and the train still has not taken off from this stop, doors still wide open.

“I’m just going to get off here and hope this place is close to my original spot.” I slip my phone into my back pocket and make my way out the doors. I have an unshakable unsettling feeling but I quite literally don’t have time to worry about it.

I take one step out the door and to my sheer mystification, I walk into my set sketch. Or at least, a room that completely resembles it.

“What in the-“

“What is this place? I’ve never seen a station like this.” The young guy from the train cuts off the calmest mental breakdown to date.

As I walk further into the room, I open my black notebook to the page with the sketch set and start playing a solo game of spot-the-difference.

“Oh my goodness, what is this?” The woman gasps out,

“Where is the exit?” The older businessman asks, not really expecting an answer.

“The strange things just won’t stop today.” The younger businessman is the last one off the train.

“Wait, you too?” I ask, heart racing at the idea that the events of today have been intentional.

“I mean-“ his words are drowned out by a loud voice played from a speaker.

“Welcome riders, you have been selected to participate in today’s ‘Seeker’ event!” It’s a loud ominous voice that sends chills up my spine with each word.

“Seeker? What does that even mean?” The lady asks

“I am sure you five are filled with many questions however, time is of the essence and I truly despise wasting it.” The voice became intimidating while discussing time and everyone in the room shares nervous looks, not daring to say a thing.

“You all have half an hour to find a particular item within this room and whoever finds it will have the privilege to keep it.”

“What kind of item do we have to look for? What the heck?” The young businessman asks, immediately flinching once the words leave his mouth.

“Now what would be the fun in sharing all of the secrets?” I had originally thought the voice was pre-recorded but that answer was too specific not to be someone watching and listening in real-time.

“You may look wherever your brain leads you, but, if no one finds the item before the clock runs out, you shall lose twelve hours of your day. I’m sure everyone had marvelous days planned out for them.”

I pull my phone out of my back pocket to check the time. It hasn’t changed since we got off the train. And my phone has given up on trying to find a signal. How is this even happening right now? Did I even wake up this morning? This must be some elaborate dream, no, nightmare?

“Without further adieu, let the seeking begin.”

The room is covered in a blanket silence as everyone tries to process the situation at hand. No one moves except for the darting eyes making contact with another pair, wondering if they are playing a role in this elaborate game of hide-and-seek.

“Wait look there.” The young guy points at a wall at the far end of the room, opposite the still parked subway train.

What originally looked like a window now resembles a timer counting down from half an hour every second passing creating a spike in my blood pressure. Man if I make it out of this I should really start getting checkups more regularly.

“So now what? Do we just start searching blindly?” I ask, hoping someone has started forming some sort of plan.

“You are going to just follow their instructions? What are you a sheep?” The older man retorts back, the lack of his morning coffee definitely showing its side effects.

While it’s true, I don’t want to just give whoever is behind this what they want, any other options seem very limited right now. I begin scanning the room and back at my notebook, hoping to find a discrepancy that will give me a clue.

“Do you have any better ideas?” I ask him.

“I don’t know why not trying to call for help or maybe wait for the train to start back up?” He sounds so proud of his “plan”.

“How genius of you, if only there was cell service or what if maybe the subway would magically move after being stagnant for who knows how long! It’s clear they have control over it.” The middle-aged lady comes to my defense. The seasoned businessman is left with his mouth shut and pink tinting his cheeks. I can appreciate her doing that, but it doesn’t change the fact that we do need to come up with a plan and at this point, it seems he is the only one trying. Everyone is lapping the room searching high and low for something we don’t even know what it is.

“This is so dumb, how are we supposed to find something if we don’t know what we are looking for?” The young guy echoes my thoughts.

“They made it sound like we will know it once we find it.” The young businessman replies, voice strained from lifting the steel table.

“That sounds like my father telling me I can date once I get married.” I say rolling my eyes and sifting through the stacked boxes, hoping the mystery item would be hiding in plain sight. Wait a minute, what if we were near the item the whole time? This room looks a lot like my sketch and feels even more so like a set, meaning it is not designed to hide nooks and crannies. For the most part, what you see is what you get, but the train was most definitely real. I make a light sprint for the train doors and begin my search.

“What are you doing? They said the item was in the room, not the train.” The young guy states.

“This area is structured like a film set, so maybe the train is a part of the room, it is the only exit after all, and as she said earlier they obviously control it.” Just as I finish responding. I notice that one cart window looks more reflective than the others.

“Hey, can someone come to break this?” I call out.

“It’s on you if we get sued for destruction of property.” The older guy comes with one of the steel chairs and shatters the glass. With the glass gone all that remains is a pile of money looking back at us.

“Congratulations contestants, you just passed our experiment and won $20,000 each! Thanks for participating!” Confetti comes raining down and everyone is just as stunned as I.

“Well, this solves definitely getting fired.” I laugh out choosing not to read too much into the situation.