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Gangle’s words rang in his head as he was dragged into the tiny, dark room. As if it wasn’t bad enough, having to stay in that small fast food place all day, crammed into the space with four other people. There wasn’t enough space out there, and there certainly wasn’t enough in here, either.
The walls seemed to disappear in the darkness, but he knew they were there. With each breath he took they moved in closer, and his throat started to close up. There wasn’t enough room for him to breathe. The walls were going to crush him—
A tv screen lit up in front of him.
The grainy screen showed Gangle in front of Spudsy’s, smiling in a very unsettling way. That new plastic mask was getting creepier by the second.
“Hi! Welcome to Spudsy’s! In this video, you’re gonna learn the ins and outs of what makes you a good crew member, and a valuable asset to the Spudsy’s Corporation.”
He was so confused.
“When did you make this…?” She’s been with them all day, making sure no one stepped out of line. At all. He tried.
“Now I know what you’re thinking, ‘I don’t want a career in fast food! I wanna be a comic artist and eventually launch my own manga-inspired webcomic!’ And it’s cool to have dreams, but you also need to remember that they are completely unrealistic, and you need to stop trying!”
This was so weird. Why was she trauma-dumping to him in a video recording? What was the point of this?
“But before we get into all that, first things first! Are you smiling?”
“No?” Jax started, annoyed and really wishing that he could escape this prison of a room.
Gangle’s plastic smile dropped off her face, and she somehow made direct eye contact with him through the screen. “Why not.”
Jax blinked, and suddenly he was being forced into an uncomfortable, lumpy chair. Four mechanical hands shoved him into it, and his breathing quickened. His limbs were stretched in unnatural ways as they pushed him as close as he could possibly go to the screen, so close that it hurt his eyes. He could count each pixel.
His voice was muffled, but he still tried to ask, “Wait, uh, no one can see this, right?”
His only response was Gangle creepily telling him, “It’s time for your employee reevaluation!”
The screen immediately started flashing between Gangle’s two regular masks. Black on white, white on black. The alternating colors seemed to burn into his skull, enhanced by the piercing tone that the machine made, gradually speeding up.
He was frozen in place. The screen was the only thing he could see, but he could practically feel the walls crushing him, the air leaving his lungs in an instant. He tried to suck more in, to no avail.
Jax! It’s okay, you don’t need to breathe. You can’t die in a way that matters, here. Get ahold of yourself !
This wasn’t working.
His senses were overloading, flooded with panic. What the fuck was happening? It was just a flashing tv and a small room.
It felt like it was getting smaller.
And the TV in front of him was killing him slowly. He could hardly stand to look at it, but his face was held in place my those f***ing mechanical hands. Even if they were taken away, he didn’t think he could look away. It was like he was frozen in place, completely helpless to do anything.
The loud tones and flashing lights were everywhere, surrounding him. Logically, he knew this wasn’t possible, but his body didn’t seem to get what his mind did. His muscles were all locked up in panic and he wanted to be completely still but he couldn’t stop shaking.
Then, as suddenly as it had begun, it was over.
He was dropped to the floor unceremoniously, and Gangle showed up one last time on the screen.
“Go show us what you’ve learned!”
He could hardly hear her over the blaring noises in his head. Everything in him was screaming to get away, but he couldn’t do much else other than curl in a ball. He laid there in the fetal position, trembling.
He was crying, for some reason. He was so stupid.
Stupid, weak, and pathetic. That’s what you are.
A small sob escaped from his chest, and he shuddered. The walls hadn’t stopped caging him in, the only light coming from the now-open door.
Open. The door was unlocked now.
Tears running down his cheeks, Jax crawled over to the door, trying to escape the anxiety that this stupid f***ing room caused somewhere deep within him. He was almost there, only an arms reach away—
~~
Pomni stepped past the doorway.
She paused, and then backtracked.
That room was so abnormally dark. Why weren’t there any lights?
She peered in, and her heart dropped through the floor. There lay Jax, silent tears crawling their way down his furry cheeks. He looked up at her, and pure fear was reflected in his eyes. What had happened?
She had to get him out of there.
The tile was cold, the coolness seeping through the fabric of her trousers as she kneeled down to pick Jax up off the ground. His wobbly weight couldn’t support himself, so she half-walked, half-dragged him into the hall. His lanky form collapsed against the wall with her, draping itself over her shoulders.
Pomni could feel the warm, wet tears seeping through her uniform. She had never seen Jax so utterly terrified, all of him bared for her to see. She shifted slightly, and moved his head into her lap.
Red-rimmed eyes stared back at her, blinking from exhaustion. She lowered a gloved hand to his head, and brushed his hat, making it even more askew than it had been. Taking both her glove and his hat off entirely, Pomni started to run her fingers through his fur.
The soft, lavender fur that her fingers sunk right into, tousled slightly from the cap that he had worn. He sighed slightly, and closed his eyes. He still hadn’t said anything, and she was honestly worried. None of this was like Jax. He didn’t let people past his walls.
But she had found him helpless on the floor, just minutes earlier. What had happened to lead up to that?
Quietly, she asked him, “What were you doing in there?” His face turned away from her, hiding his expression.
“Something for extra training…Gangle wasn’t happy with me earlier.”
Slightly muffled and wet-sounding, but it was a relief to hear his voice nonetheless.
She frowned as what he said caught up to her.
“What did Gangle do?”
“Nothing.” His voice cracked.
Pomni groaned, and reminded herself to talk to Gangle later. But right now, Jax needed her.