Syndedeménos (Connected)

CHAPTER 20

Before Keenan had entered the workforce at the age of sixteen, he had been provided with various basic training intended for company employees by his father. Keenaan had mastered all the things that employees who had worked for several years usually learned, such as all details about company systems, production techniques to lessons on leadership. Even though Keenan had accomplished more at a young age, George always wanted more and more for his eldest son. The intelligence possessed by Keenan had seemed to be a valuable asset of the company in George's eyes.

As a person who never wants to lose, Keenan had taken all the challenges his father gave him. He had been even willing to sleep only four hours in a few weeks to make his father not disappointed. His hard work had paid off. Keenan's appointment as manager had spread to all the mass media and his name had been plastered as the youngest and most influential manager in the country. The media also had highlighted Keenan's ability to divide his time between work and studies at school. Not only young people, many parents had praised his achievements and made him an ideal example.

The ideal figure coveted by parents could have a positive impact because it could encourage the motivation of children who were lazy to learn. However, the ideal figure that looks perfect could actually make a bad impact for many people because not everyone understood what things must be made to achieve Keenan's achievements. People who made Keenan an ideal figure forget one thing, namely Keenan's sacrifice in spending his teenage years.

Sean and Karen understood best that Keenan didn't have any time for shopping, playing games, or dating. In the end, none of his school friends had asked him to go because they had already known that Keenan would definitely reject them. Sean only accompanied Keenan at school but he would play with other friends when he were not with Keenan. Karen, who always depended on Keenan, still had one or two friends she could take for a walk. But Keenan didn't have time for that. The three lives he knew were work, school and family.

Based on his predominantly introverted personality, Keenan didn't feel the need for energy from socializing with his friends. Moreover, he already had long-term goals that had been planned. Socializing with his schoolmates would only slow the pace towards his goal. When asked by Sean about socialization at school, Keenan had changed the word socialization to the word negotiation and he had felt he had done what Sean called socialization.

What was I really after all this time?

Is all that meaningless?

Keenan's question just crossed his mind after he thought about everything he had accomplished so far. Even though he was so determined to escape from this building, it turned out that the reason was not as strong as he thought. It turns out that the things he struggled with at his father's company, at school, or at home, don't make him feel completely whole. If he was asked whether he really wanted to go back to being the old Keenan Aldrich or not, he could not answer with certainty. As if the belief that had been displayed in public were just a mere formality.

"Hey! Why are you keeping quiet like that?"

Keenan was surprised when a hand was moving up and down in front of him. Zack's voice and hands immediately interrupted Keenan's thoughts of his past.

"Looks like I'm not getting enough sleep," said Keenan, making an alibi.

"Yeah yeah, looks like you've been up all night. No one dared wake you up while you were asleep at the dining room table. We'll talk later when we have more time."

After passing through the emergency exit, Zack took out a flashlight from his pocket because the sunlight was no longer able to shine on the stairs that he and Keenan were passing. Keenan also became more alert in his steps and decided to stop thinking about his past that had occurred after Zack reminded him to be careful when descending the stairs.

Arriving at the designated floor, Zack pointed his flashlight towards the door, no longer at the descending stairs. When Zack and Keenan exited through the emergency exit, they saw a long corridor with sunlight pouring in from the glass wall at the end of the corridor. Then Zack turned off his flashlight and walked across the corridor to his left.

Keenan's suspicions about malls or offices was true. Along a fairly long corridor, you can see room after room that were insulated as the one usually used as an office. Most of the rooms were lined with glass, but many were broken so that the front of the room was filled with pieces of glass.

The room that had the brightest light was at the end of the corridor. The room was about three hundred square meters in size with glass walls that were mostly cracked and glued together with duct tape. When viewed from the electronic items scattered on the floor, it seemed that the room was one of the rooms that was still used for activities.

After disappearing for a while, Pygmy came out of one of the four doors that connected the large room with three other rooms and a corridor as the entrance to the room. Pygmy was walking towards the gallon of drinking water in the middle of the room. His left hand held the mug and his right hand tilted the gallon so that the mouth of the gallon flowed water into the mug by gravity. Seeing what Pygmy was doing, Keenan suddenly remembered that he hadn't had time to drink at breakfast because the children had already gathered around the dining room. But it seemed that Keenan had to resist his thirst because Zack signaled for Keenan to follow him.

"This small room is usually used to make food… yes, actually… we usually only eat instant food." Zack scratched his temple which didn't itch because he was a little embarrassed when he showed the contents of a cardboard box full of instant noodles. "At least you can boil water from the portable stove."

Keenan and Zack moved from one end of the room to the other. There were two adjoining rooms that are exactly the same size. In one room there was a mattress that was soft enough to sleep on, a small cupboard and some equipment that was either on the floor or put in a cardboard box carelessly. The items were more or less as messy as the things outside and Pygmy was tidying them up one by one while babbling. The other room had a mattress only without any tools beside it.

The small room was not as good as the rooms of the maids in the Aldrich residence. But it was clear that the room could make people more comfortable than sleeping with dozens of other people. After observing the room, Keenan's gaze was fixed on one item hanging on the wall close to the ceiling. The item looks like new because it still had pure white colour. Then Keenan remembered that there was another electronic item in the kitchen but he didn't think that it could work.

"Did you guys put it there on purpose?" asked Keenan, pointing to an air conditioner with the direction of his gaze.

"I forgot to tell you. This room isn't like any other room you've been in before. You can use electricity here, although it's still in limited use because we stole it from the building next door."

Without even asking, Zack could already see Keenan was confused with a furrowed brow face.

"Yeah… stealing electricity. You never knew it could be done?"

And Keenan's question about Pygmy being able to freely use his cellphone was finally answered.