The Controller

Aaron splashed through the gray puddles that formed on the sidewalk as the rain beat down out of the heavy gray skies. The hood of his white sweatshirt was pulled up over his head and kept some of the rain off of him, but most had soaked through to his skin. He kept glancing at the businesses that he passed as he walked home through the downtown area in hopes he could dart inside of one. Most were closed, some he knew wouldn’t like a teenage boy entering the place, but then his eyes landed upon a squat gray building that crouched on the corner of an intersection.

The faded yellow sign proclaimed that it was an internet café and he searched his memory for hearing about the place. He couldn’t recall anything as he stared at the rain streaked stone blocks that the building was made out of. They appeared to be crying as he approached the structure and he found himself tempted to pass it on by in favor of a gas station that was just down the block.

Just then, overhead, Thunder rumbled across the sky with an ominous sound and the cloud broke open to pour out every last drop of rain that they could. His hood was no longer any help and he found himself running towards the building as he felt the chill set into his bones.

As he neared the place, He saw that the windows were tinted to almost an inky black color and the only light that escaped were mere flickers of pale light. He grabbed the ice cold metal of the door handle and it felt clammy beneath his hand. Yanking the door open, He darted into the vestibule and halted dead in his tracks.

He peered through grime coated glass doors into the interior of the café. As his eyes adjusted to the dim light he made out several tables set up like in a school room with three terminals on each one. Kids ranging in age from younger than himself to just older than himself were seated behind the computers and stared blankly into the monitors. He glanced around at the vestibule and saw that cobwebs clung close to the ceiling in darkened corners as though they were afraid to be seen. Suddenly the rainstorm outside didn’t seem quite so bad and he turned to leave the place.

As he turned and looked out the doors, the rain fell even harder and across the street a flag snapped straight out in the wind. The thunder that had rumbled before now roared through the sky and he found himself taking a step back. He drew a deep breath and turned back to face the doors.

He walked up to the doors and reached slowly for the handle until his hand enclosed over its dusty surface. Turning the handle, He pushed the door open and edged his way inside. The room didn’t brighten much as he looked around the place with his own eyes, but the faces of the internet users looked even paler. It seemed that the only light came from the glowing monitors.

“Good afternoon, young man.”

The oily voice came from right beside him and made him jump as he whirled about. The man sitting behind the desk would’ve towered over Aaron if he’d been standing, but he was thinner than the youth. His skin was an unhealthy shade of yellow and his eyes were so bloodshot that they almost glowed red. His lips pulled back in a cruel looking smile and reveal a set of blackened stumps that Aaron assumed had once been teeth, “Can I help you, young sir?”

Aaron swallowed hard as his gaze darted over to the monitors, “Uh…Actually…”

“An hour is only two dollars.”

He could feel the money in his pocket left over from his lunch money, but the desire to spend it here wasn’t that strong, “I really need to be—“

He broke off as he glanced outside at the raging storm and the proprietor grinned, “You may use a computer to check the weather report, though I think it won’t let up for sometime.”

Aaron ran his fingers through his dingy blonde hair and scratched the back of his neck, “I’m not sure…”

“Free of charge for such a short usage.”

He glanced once more at the pale vacant faces and then back out into the storm. With the howling rain and lightning, he didn’t really want to head back out into the bad weather, but he wasn’t sure if he wanted to use a computer here. He looked at the proprietor, “No charge to check the weather real quick?”

“None at all, young sir.”

He sighed and nodded. What could it hurt to use a computer for a few minutes at the most? The proprietor’s smile broadened and he pointed towards one of the empty machines, “Just have a seat down there.”

Aaron nodded and turned to walk to a computer that was at the back of the room in one of the darker sections of the room. He passed the other tables by and those that sat there didn’t even glance up as he passed them by. A quick glance at them showed him that none of them seemed to be moving and the chill he’d gotten from the rain was nothing compared with the one he got now. His pace slowed as he headed towards the indicated terminal.

But all to soon, he reached the glowing machine and stared down at it. The monitor case was covered in dust but the screen strangely enough was free of it. A rickety old folding chair was pulled up to the table and he slid into it behind the monitor. As he scooted the chair forward, it rasped as it slid across the hard floor.

Aaron glanced around the monitor towards the proprietor who grinned and nodded for him to go ahead. He drew his head back with deliberate slowness and faced the glowing screen. A logo announcing that the computer belonged to an internet café was displayed on the screen.

The screen suddenly flickered twice and he leaned forward with a frown. The screen changed from a normal computer screen and became a blank pale green colored screen. His frown deepened and he leaned a little closer. The pale luminescent screen began to throb and pulse in strange gyrations.

As he watched it his eyes grew heavy and he found his gaze following the movements. He didn’t know when the humming began in his brain but soon his concentration was fully upon the glowing screen. The movements ran from one corner to another and then back again and then around. He found his thoughts draining from his mind like the slow sands drain from an hourglass.

As he realized this he tensed up, but a message appeared on the screen and he thought he heard a voice in his brain, ‘Relax, Aaron..’

He shook his head. Who was that inside his brain? ‘You know my…’

The slow and lazy movements continued their pattern across the screen and dragged his gaze with them, ‘Thoughts are not necessary…’

His muscles relaxed as his thoughts continued to drain away and soon memories vanished into nothingness like ghosts. The voice filled him now, ‘Relax…Just…let… go…’

Something inside of him relaxed and he felt a tug from deep inside of himself. For a moment, he grabbed a hold of whatever was trying to get loose, but the voice was there, ‘Allow it to come free, Aaron…’

‘No…I need—‘

‘You’ll be happier if you release it.’

He felt his grip on whatever it was loosen, ‘Not yet…’

‘Free it from its chains.’

The thing had become slippery and he soon found it sliding out of his grip. Emptiness filled his entire being and his gaze glazed over until he was just staring at the slow movements upon the screen…

Up at the desk, the proprietor glanced at his monitor and it ping up with a message, “Soul added to database.”

The Proprietor smiled in satisfaction and nodded, “Very good.”

Just then the door to the café opened to admit a girl younger than the last customer and he turned to smile at her, “Can I help you, young lady?”

The End.