Invitation
1866 Words
Trisha opened her eyes and found herself on a bed. She tried to move but she was chained to the bed. He raised her head and glanced over her body. She was still covered in her towel.
She looked round the room. There was something strange about it. It was made of four white plain walls with some gadgets hung on the wall which she had no idea what they were meant for. There were two doors. Apart for the bed and herself, the room was entirely empty.
“Good morning Miss Trisha.” A female voice said through a speaker. “I hope you enjoyed your rest. I believe your metabolic reactions are back to one hundred percent normal after the break. You will be relieved of your rest so you can join the Bar after refreshing your body. Your safety belts will be released now.’
“You call this safety belt? What do you want from us?”
There was a clicking sound before some electronic hooks moved the straps were released.
Trisha got off the bed, felt a sweet sensation of standing again.
Where was this? How did she get here?
She closed her eyes.
Jack! They were together. What were they doing?
She blushed. They were doing something nasty when were thwarted by some strange men, who killed all of the people in the hotel and abducted them. Were they sent by Dolbycato?
“Hey, where is Jack?”
“Miss Trisha, please proceed to the washroom to get cleaned up. “
“I said where is Jack.”
“You need to join the bar. Miss Trisha, please proceed to the washroom to get cleaned up. The door is your right side”
Trisha hissed and walked towards the door. She opened it and went in. She pulled off the towel, brushed her teeth and had a warm bath.
She came out with the towel wrapped round her body.
“Miss Trisha, you may proceed to put on the clothes on the bed.
When did they bring this? Who brought it? She knew the robot or whatever was speaking would not give her answers.
She wore the clothes: a pair of blue rubber pants, white vest, yellow jacket and a pair of yellow sneakers.
“Miss Trisha, please go out through the door..’
The second door opened. She went out and found herself on a short corridor. She took a left turn as directed by the voice and they passed through a small garden which was one of the most beautiful Trisha had seen.
“I can see that you admire the hand-work of Mytosil. He is the best E-customizer in Giranticus. That is the garden of Aber.”
“Please where is Jack?”
“We have arrived and my duty has been well executed, Miss Trisha.” The voice said. “I am 493.” She said as they arrived before a wide shiny metal door. “Have a nice day,”
The voice faded.
The metal door opened and a voice said, “you are welcome to the bar, Miss Trisha Bell. Please come inside.”
Trisha walked into a very large room. There was a very large screen on the wall, with an electronic podium overlooking the sets of chairs arranged.
The top was dome shaped, with some sparking elements used to adorn the ceiling.
“Please sit down.” Trisha saw a tall heavily bearded man sitting on the chair next to her. Just a few chairs away sat a young girl who looked like an Asian. Next to her was a young African.
They all looked lugubrious and intimidated. The scary looking men in masks holding dangerous weapons were moving standing and watching every one.
“You are welcome to the bar, Mr. Jack Brian. Please come inside.”
The door opened and Jack came in. he was dressed in black baseball jacket with white plain T-shirt underneath, black slim denim pants, and black boots.
He wore them in a rebellious way, giving him some Viking touch, a blend of cowboy and confidence.
“Jack!” Trisha called, glad to see him alive.
He smiled at her and walked towards her. He sat next to her.
He glanced at the heavily bearded man who looked back and said, “what?”
“I am glad you are fine.” Trisha said and held his hand.
“I am glad you have new clothes.’
“Shut up you i***t! You and only be loved for a second and be hated for the rest of the times.’
He chuckled.
“That one second of loving me is the most important part of your life because it redirects the rest of the time towards positivity. The second you love me, turns to minutes you revivify, and hours of endowment which turns to weeks of sweetness and being forth months of capacity building and years of endless bliss.”
“I told you that I puke easily when irritated.”
“Ladies and gentlemen,” a voice interrupted. “I am glad to announce that the bar is about to commence. All principal actors are available. You are welcome Agent Bitrux of UIB.”
A door opened and a man dressed in red cardigan came in. Jack gave him a glance and frowned. ?he had seen this man somewhere.
Where?
Yes! The man who made the comment about new dimension in his project. The man he chased and ran away.
“What is wrong?” Trisha whispered as she noticed how Jack was starring at the Bitrux.
“That is the man who made a comment about new dimension.”
“The one you ran after?’
“Yes.”
Bitrux walked and stood before the podium and glanced round the room.
“Good evening ladies and gentlemen.” He said after clearing his throat. “My name is Agent Bitrux of Universal Intelligence Bureau, UIB.”
“In all of my criminal life, I have never heard of UIB.” The bearded man said half aloud.
“I welcome you all to the inaugural bar which is an exercise mead to tell why, when and how. Think before you Act but sometime you have to act before you think. You must know why you were invited here...”
“I was not invited.” The girl Trisha said looked like an Asian, Li Jing said. “I was abducted and people were killed.”
“My entire family was killed by you.” The African, Diallo lamented.
Jack whispered to Trisha, “I am going to say to him, I was in the middle of something with my bed mate and it cut because of you.”
“Jeez! Can’t you be reasonable foe once?” Trisha whispered back. “
“Who were you with? It wasn’t me.”
“Shaggy said that a long time ago.”
She chuckled.
“I understand your pains. We apologize with gusto for the manner at which you were invited. It is a tradition that you don’t walk to us but we pick you in our own way. Even those that walk towards us, we pick them before they find us.”
“Did you have to kill my family?” Diallo asked.
“Your family is safe and better.” Bitrux said.
“Safe and better?” Diallo said angrily. “I saw their bodies. My dad, my mum….”
“That brings us to the first item on the bar: Why. You ask why you were invited here, why you had to be invited in such a manner, why you have to see some people get killed.
We do not select those we invite. The coordinates fall on them. It is automated, independent of any individual but laid down tracks of events and requisite factors monitored by the deep pattern of the forces.
The selection could conflict with our minds.” He glanced at Max. For instance, I wondered if Max was really chosen. That is an example of the conflict I talked about. The coordinates chose him but my doubts him. That is why the coordinates are beyond any being. They are perfect. You all here because you were chosen.”
“Diallo, you saw your family all dead but I assure you they are alive. Part of the invitation scheme is to start hard on the invitee. He is not coming for birthday party or Halloween. He is coming to see the hard part of life. He is made to witness some violence, or murder of his people...he has to experience firsthand the pain and fear of terrorism.
Before we proceed, I will like Diallo to make a video call with his family.”
“What family?”
“Please make a call. We all gave you back your phones.”
Diallo could not understand this. He saw the bodies. They were all dead.
He dialed his mother’s number hopelessly. It connected and he was dazed shocked to see his whole family in the living room looking at the camera.
“Mum?” He said in a state of shock and confusion.
“We are so proud of you Diallo.” She said. “When we were told about your selection, out of the billions of people on earth, we felt overwhelmed. The law is not to tell you until you get there. We were giving a part of your first salary. Three hundred thousand dollars. We converted it into Duler and we bought a new house and have plenty. You father has a new car and was planning to have a second wife before I discovered.”
“We are proud of you.” The father said.
“But I saw you die?”
“It was a sweet sleep my dear. Mr. Bitrux said we will sleep when they fire it at us.”
The second call was made to Li Jing’s parents. She saw her father walking with prosthetics. They had a new house too and life seemed to be better.
“All of the people you saw die at the prison yard, hotel, street and Diallo’s house did not die. They were sent to TQ: Temporary quietus. It is all part of the design. We also had to invite you like that because you may be tied up by a contract, jail term, or any reason that may make you think twice before coming..”
“Don’t we have a choice? You talk like it is obligatory.” Max said.
“You do not have a choice.” Bitrux said, ‘You have to accept the invitation because if you refuse, you may not go back to whatever you don’t want to leave. Man does not know what is going on and still lives in a cloud cuckoo land.
The world is a state of turmoil. There is war all around but what is going on right now is not just a war but a purge."
"A purge?"
Li Jing asked.
- Writer
