Horror / Ambition (Analysis)
Ambition
Dave left his cubicle to head to the coffee machine. He didn’t need another coffee, what he needed was to look at something besides his computer screen for a few minutes. Cubicles are a lie and he knows it. They are fake little offices for people that are just not important enough for the real thing. Dave would prefer that they get rid of the cubicles and just line all the desk up like the number pushing factory workers that the truly are. The only acceptable reasons for leaving your cubicle were to go to the bathroom, or to get coffee. Dave had already gone to the bathroom, so he decided to go for coffee this time. Weishaupt Investments, didn’t mind letting the workers get coffee since the caffeine helped them to stay awake. The coffee was free, because it was good for the company.
Making his way through the cubicle labyrinth he tried his best to avoid the losers around him. Most of the Employees of Weishaupt Investments always want to reach out to their fellow employees for a chance to discuss how evil the management was. Dave didn’t buy into this theory. He knew that the people in charge are in charge for a reason and the fools below them that are always complaining are destined to stay at the bottom of the latter. He felt that they were useless and tried to avoid any conversation with them, but when you are at coffee machine pointless conversations with useless people are impossible to avoid.
Joe was at the machine slowly mixing cream into his cup, milking his break for all that it was worth, Dave takes his coffee black, but he will stand around stirring it with a straw anyway, for the same reason.
“Here you go Brother Dave.” Joe said as he handed a cup to him, jumping into that Masonic greeting bullshit as always.
“Thanks Brother Joe.” Dave replied returning the greeting that he knew would be expected of him for being a member as well. It was all crap but he played along in hopes that someday it might help him. He got into the Masons young when he still believed that they secretly ruled the world, before he wised up and realized it was just another illusion; another dead end. Sure all the vice presidents and chairmen of the bored are supposedly members, but no one has ever seen a single one at any of the meetings. Their outdated pictures on the walls of the temple are the only proof that they ever where.
The only good thing Dave has ever got out of the Masons was a gold coin with a pyramid and eye symbol on both sides of it. He was awarded the coin when he came to the aid of a fellow member that used the secret distress call during a bar fight. Dave never saw the guy before but helped out because it was his duty as a member. Not to mention that he loves any chance to kick someone’s ass all over the bar. This is one talent that Dave has over most employees of Weishaupt Investments sure he understands the finer points of creative accounting, but he could also drink and fight like a biker. After Dave kicked the crap out of the would-be attackers the guy gave him the coin as a thank you, saying. “You will find that this can be very helpful to you when you need it the most.” So far it helped him out of two speeding tickets and once got him upgraded to first class when he flashed it as he was boarding the plane.
“Did you catch the game last night?” Joe asked.
“No I missed it.” the truth is he had no idea what game they were discussing, but he didn‘t care enough to ask.
“Too bad, it was amazing,” Joe said enthusiastically, “They slaughtered them twenty-three to five.”
“Good for them.”
“Are you coming to the meeting tonight?”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Dave lied.
“I’ll see you there then.” Joe said as he returned to his own cubicle.
Dave stirred his black coffee uselessly for a few seconds and then began to return to his. walking by the others he heard a beckoning yet slightly secretive “Pist!” coming from the cubicle before his. This was Jerry Nichols desk.
“Dave,” Jerry called out with a whisper. “Come here I need your advice.”
Jerry was a young new recruit that was assigned to Dave as a sort of apprentice. He had no use for him but pretended to be helpful because it is better to be the new guys guide then it is to be the new guy.
“What is it?” He asked as he entered Jerry’s three-walled world. Like all the young guys, Jerry decorated his walls with photos and comic strips. When you have been with the company for a while you don’t feel so possessive about your space.
“I was working on the tax deductible status of last summers Faulkner project.”
“Jesus Jerry, that’s easy you just deduct all the salaries of the people employed by the project. The thing should balance out on its own.”
“No that’s not the point.”
“Then what is?”
Jerry leaned out of his cubicle to see if anyone was near by and then began to whisper, “I found something wrong.”
This cloak and dagger shit was getting on his nerves. “What?”
“The profit margin is off by about three hundred thousand.”
“Over or under.” Dave asked beginning to become very interested.
“Under.”
“Let me see what you found.”
“Here you can see it on the screen.” Jerry offered.
“No, print it. I can think better that way.” Dave lied.
He knew even before the printer had stopped and the naïve Jerry was about to hand him the blade that would carve Dave’s way to the top out of the flesh of the weak.
“What do you think?” Jerry asked nervous as Dave read the print out.
He knew exactly what he was looking at. Old Blackwell was trying to skim off the top. No wonder he had all the rookies working on it. He didn’t want anyone to catch what he was up to.
“You idiot!” Dave began as he twisted the metaphoric blade deeper into Jerry’s gut. “Do you know what this is?”
“No what?” Jerry asked sounding like a scolded child.
“This is a tax scam, and you uncovered it. If the I.R.S. ever found this they would through the CEO in jail. People get killed for things like this.”
“What should I do?”
“Destroy it. Pretend you never found it. If I was you I would erase the hard drive as well.” Talking fast and with a since of growing panic to help generate the very same in his wounded prey. Jerry became so confused and frightened that he didn’t even notice Dave was keeping the printed copy. He walked away from the sweating panicked Jerry with a grin slowly forming on his face. Dave felt taller and stronger. He was oddly aware of his manhood which seemed to hang lower then ever before. For once his work was feeding him that same primal joy that he got out of bar fights. After years and years of being nothing more then the doormat for which the chosen wiped their feet on before entering into greatness, at last he felt like he was the one that was rubbing his shit stained shoes clean, he felt like the beast itself.
He walked right by his cubical and straight on to the elevators. Mr. Blackwell was leaving the elevator as he got on.
“Where are you headed Mr. Edwards?” Mr. Blackwell asked.
Dave pushed the button for the 5th floor and tried not to laugh. Dave could feel the printout in his hand. It felt heavy and great. He was aware of its presence and he seemed to be gaining some sort of power from it. He was even more aware of the print out then he was his Manhood, and in many ways it was his manhood now.
When the elevator door opened again Dave made his way over to Mr. Scottsdale’s office. He was the closest thing to the head of the company who actually had his office in the building. As he approached the secretary’s desk he knew that he was either beginning his climb to paradise or his descent into hell. He honestly didn’t care which, for both directions lead out of purgatory, and that is all he really was concerned about.
“I need to speak with Mr. Scottsdale.” He told the secretary.
“Excuse me, you are?” She asked, even though she knew damn well who he was.
“I’m Dave Edwards from the finical department.”
“I was uninformed of you having an appointment.”
“I don’t have an appointment, but I need to speak with him.”
“I’m sorry but Mr. Scottsdale is a very busy man I’m sure Mr. Blackwell could assist you in whatever it is that you feel is so important.”
“Look I must see him now.” Dave demanded, he had not thought all this through and the idea that he wasn’t going to be able to speak with him was beginning to put a real damper on his victorious kill. He was no longer so aware of his manhood, and he had the odd feeling that he might be shrinking right along with it.
“I’m sorry Dave but he just doesn’t speak with regular employees I feel bad to be the one that has to tell you this, but you are just not important enough for him.”
Dave took the gold Masonic coin from his pocket and showed it to her. “I must see him.” He told her again.
“She looked at the coin and then back at him. “I will not let it be said that the Sisterhood did not recognize the Brothers.” She smiled at him. “I will tell him that you want to see him, but if he says no there is nothing more that I can do. Do you understand?”
“Yes of course.” Dave replied. This was the first time he had used the coin at work and now he wondered why.
“The secretary pushed the intercom button on her desk. “Mr. Scottsdale may I come in and speak with you for a moment?”
“Yes of course,” came the reply oddly echoing Dave’s last statement.
“You wait here and I will ask him.” She told Dave as she got up from behind her desk.
Dave watched her go through the big doors, and suddenly there was a strange feeling of dread growing inside of his gut. It was not that he was afraid of Mr. Scottsdale or for that matter of what may be behind the door at all. He was more afraid of passing through the door then he was at arriving in the other room. Something told him deep down in his soul that this was a beginning to an end.
She returned with a look of surprise on her face. “Mr. Scottsdale will see you now.” She told him holding the door open for him.
Hesitating only for a second, he began to walk in. As he past her he notices an odd look on her face. At first he imagined that it was a look of respect, but it was a different kind of respect then he would of wanted, it was the kind that an executioner has for the condemned’s last words.
Dave entered into the office, he felt as if his entire being was shrinking as he walked through the door. Two brass lions greeted him with frozen roars as he walked by. The carpet was thick and the walls were tilted mirrors, reflecting one image to infinity. He was in fear of his own image as if those reflections would at any time step out of the wall and beat him to death for his ignorant belief that he deserved to step foot in this office. The desk was hand carved oak and the man sitting behind it was even more impressive then the room.
“Mr. Edwards, I’ve been expecting you.” Mr. Scottsdale began, “I’m surprised you figured out to use the coin to get by the secretary. I thought for sure you where going to give up and return to your own floor. Do you know what would of happened if you had?”
“Ah…. No sir.” Dave was almost too confused to speak.
“You would of returned to your prison and stayed there for life.” Mr. Scottsdale let that one sink in a while for effect.
Dave fidgeted a little and tried to understand what was going on.
“I suppose you where planning to come in here and show me that print out you stole from poor foolish Mr. Nichols. He is way too trusting don’t you think?”
“Ah…”
“Don’t worry you don’t need to answer that. You see Mr. Edwards, I do not care about how Mr. Blackwell is stealing from me, in fact I admire him for it. What I care about is ambition, and it appears that you have it.”
“How did you know?”
“I know everything that happens here my friend. I know for instance that poor Mr. Nichols is busy trying to erase his hard drive, effectively loosing any proof that he was the one that discovered the truth about Blackwell in the process. I suspect that was on your suggestion. Brilliant, you got him getting rid of the evidence for you. I’m very impressed with your vicious instinct Mr. Edwards.” He smiled a rather bloodthirsty smile and exposed his teeth like fangs. Not in a threatening way, but as fellow predator, like two carpenters admiring each other’s hammers. “I think it is time that you moved up in the world Mr. Edwards. I would like you to come to a meeting tonight at the Masonic temple.”
“I’m already a member sir and I was planning on coming tonight.”
“Not that meeting,” Mr. Scottsdale told him. “The real meeting.”
“Excuse me sir?”
“Go to the kitchen entrance and ask for Raul, he will be expecting you.”
“Sir?”
“Be there for eight and don’t be late.”
“No of course not, I would never.” He stumbled through his sentence.
“Take the rest of the day off Mr. Edwards I want you to be ready.”
“Thank you sir.”
“Don’t thank me. Only a fool thanks his destroyer.”
“Excuse me sir?”
“That is all Mr. Edwards,” Mr. Scottsdale said sounding as if he was beginning to become annoyed “I have work to do so if you don’t mind?”
“No, of course.” Dave said as he left the room, nervous confused yet grateful, “Thank you… I mean good bye sir.”
“Good bye Mr. Edwards, for now anyway.”
“I don’t feel right about this.” Dave’s wife Laura pleaded as he attempted the double Windsor for the fifth time in the mirror trying desperately to get it right.
“What is the big deal it is a meeting that’s all I’ve gone to hundreds of them.” Dave explained.
“Not like this you haven’t.”
“So what.”
“Don’t go and down play this Dave this concerns both of us.”
“How does my going to a meeting concern both of us.”
“It is not the meeting that bothers me, it is how you got invited.”
“I wish I never told you that story.”
“So do I.” her eyes beginning to tear slightly not from the fear that she felt but from the sad realization that it was true she would of preferred that he never told her she would have been happier to be ignorant. She knew that this was selfish of her. It was selfish to beg for ignorance over knowing what is truly happening to the one you love and it was this betrayal that she had committed in her heart that caused her tears to grow. Dave did not understand this. No man can understand the heart of the woman..
“Look you don’t understand this is business, this is how it works.”
“It doesn’t have to be this way and you know it.”
“What the hell does that mean.” Dave asked as he at last felt satisfied with his tie and moved on to the suit coat.
“What about the restaurant.”
“Oh God, your not going into that again are you?”
“Damn right I am!” Laura yells, “When you went to business school it was so you could open your own restaurant someday not so you could climb the cooperate latter of some evil company.”
“Number one, there is nothing evil about Weishaupt Investments, and two, the first thing they taught us in business school was that most restaurants fail.”
“So what, isn’t it better to try and fail then to give up?”
“No, in fact it is not.” Dave said as he walked out of their apartment.
It was exactly eight o’clock when Dave left his car and approached the back kitchen entrance of the Masonic temple. Dave had been there for almost an hour but he waited until eight before approaching. Dave knocked on the door not sure what to expect but was extra shocked when a confused Chinese cook answered.
“Raul?” Dave tried.
“Raul!” The cook calls out as he disappeared back into the kitchen.
A rather smartly dressed Spanish gentleman approached the door. “Mr. Edwards I presume?”
“Yes,”
“Follow me.”
Dave entered the room and closed the door behind him as he followed Raul down a near by set of stairs into the basement. It was a rather impressive wine cellar and the two men walk through rows and rows of dusty wine bottles silently. The room had a feeling of age beyond understanding. The stone walls and wooden racks seemed to out date the rest of the building. Something about this room cried out as ancient. It wasn’t the wine, in fact it seemed as if the wine was an attempt to hide the true meaning of the room. It reminded Dave of a tomb, which is odd since he had actually never been in a tomb, yet he was convinced in his mind that if he had, it would look and felt like this. They came to an old wooden phone booth with glass panels on its door and solid walls on the other three sides, the wood carvings on the door handle and surrounding the glass were impressive vines. It was obviously an antique of some value. Raul motioned Dave to get inside. Dave did as he was told too nervous to question. sitting on the small wooden bench inside he awaited his next command.
“Dial 666:2323,” Raul instructed.
Dave grabbed the phone and began to dial.
“No, you have to put the coin in first.” Raul tells him.
Dave put a quarter in the phone but it spit it right back out through the change return.
“It does not take that kind of coin.” Raul told him.
“Then what kind of coin does it take?”
Raul just looked at him with a knowing glance.
Dave fingered the Masonic coin in his pocket and he thought of all the things that he had been able to achieve with it. “Will I be able to get it back?” Dave asked.
“After tonight, you will not need it.”
Dave thought about it for a second, but then he thought about how life is the thing that happens while you are too busy thinking when you should be acting, so he grabbed the gold coin slid it into the slot and dialed the number. Raul shut the door to the booth as he dialed.
As soon as he pressed the last digit the phone booth walls echoed with the sound of metal slamming into place. the floor began to shake. The entire phone booth began to sink into the ground. Dave saw a vicious smile come over Raul’s face just as he lost sight of him because the booth had completely submerged into the floor.
It was pitch black. Dave moved his hands in front of himself in hopes that he might be able to catch a glimpse of movement, but he saw nothing. The phone booth was still sinking, he knew this from the feeling of it not from any visible signs. Dave had not been frightened by darkness since he was a small boy, but now he felt like that boy again. Terrified by what is unknown. Almost hyperventilating he rummaged threw his pockets in a panic. He located his Zippo and quickly raised it to strike. When the flint flashed and the small flame appeared Dave wished he hadn’t bothered. He saw through the glass of the phone booth door a wall made entirely of human sculls, there lifeless dark eyes staring at him as he descending downward. He dropped the lighter in his shock.
He rationalize to himself that the sculls must have been fake. “Just some ghoulish decorating for effect.” he figured. He considered searching the floor for the lighter to confirm his theory, but then he thought better of it. Boys fear the dark because they don’t know what is there, a man realizes that he may be better off not knowing.
From the floor he begins to see light as the phone booth descends into an opening. Dave can see torches. The phone booth stopped and the door opened, Dave was sitting in front of a long cave that was lit by torches lining the path. It was not the torches on the wall that grab his gaze; instead it is the torch in the hand of the woman in front of him that he found himself fixated upon. She had bright red hair and glowing green eyes. She was wearing a white dress that was so sheer, that even in the subtle light Dave could tell that she was a natural redhead.
“Come this way.” She instructed him, and he was glad to oblige leaving the chair and walking down the cave hall.
“Where are we headed?” Dave asked not so much because he desired an answer but more so he could make small talk with the nearly nude seductress.
“To the meeting, the others are waiting.”
Dave was as aroused as he was terrified, in fact his fear only added to his desire. He had urges of grabbing her and throwing her to the wall. He could taste her. His loins cried out for her with a virgin intensity. It is as if some how he knew that sex with her would be something more then just sex. Something beyond his comprehension. He was suffering for her. His desire causing him to sweat in the cold underground cave. He dared to touch her hand, just a touch, somehow he felt he had to.
She pulled her hand away from him fast. She stared at him with her green eyes glowing in the flickering light. “I’m not for you.” She said scolding, then she added. “Not yet anyway.” With this she smiled and all the tension was dropped. They proceeded down the hall once again.
They arrived at an open room with several executive type men in full dark suits that seem ill suited for the dungeon like décor. Mr. Scottsdale was there as well as the man that originally gave the coin to Dave.
“I’m glad you made it.” Mr. Scottsdale said.
“Thank you for the invitation sir.” Dave replied.
“Congratulations.” The man that gave him the coin added.
“Yog-Sothoth is waiting.” One of the other men interrupted.
“Yes of course we are.” Mr. Scottsdale added.
All of the men began to walk down the long dark tunnel before them. This tunnel had no torches and its darkness was as never-ending as it was intimidating. Dave looked back at the red haired beauty, he wished she would come with them, he was not ready to depart from her. She smiled again and then turned away.
He could not see his own body before him as they moved deeper into the darkness. Dave felt his heart beating and had the sensation of death whispering into his ear, dark, cold and exact. He was just beginning to wonder if he was alone, when the others began chanting.
“We are one, we are many.” They chanted.
He was not surprised by the chanting for he had grown use to the odd pagan tendencies of such groups like the Masons, but it was what they were saying that bothered Dave. Another thing that bothered him was the name Yog-Sothoth. The thing that frightened him was that he seemed to recognize this name, but not from his adult life or from his childhood. It was as if this name was carved in stone at the very beginning of time, and he can’t help from thinking that it was something for which his primal soul knew to keep away from. He felt his animal instincts telling him to run for his life, But at the same time he felt a darker more modern instinct pushing him forward. It was his ambition that won over the primal fear. To return was to return to the prison as Mr. Scottsdale had put it, and he had more will then that. He began to feel that his fear was pointless and uncalled for. He was a man of the future, a man of change. He would not give in to such unexplained fears. He would approach all experience with an open mind. Like a man of science, he would only believe in what he himself could experience.
“We are one, we are many” The others chanted. Not only did they speak the same words at the same time, but they seemed to have the same voice as well. One voice expelled from several mouths.
There was light coming from somewhere up ahead. He heard the sound of something moving in water and his heart stopped for a second. He could feel the pain in his chest begging him to let go; let it end. His body would rather die then head into that dim light. He realized that the feeling of death behind him was not so much a dreadful feeling but more of a comfort. Somewhere in his mind he understood that to turn around meant to die and to die would be so much better then to move forward. The man of science and modern ways choose to push all of those thoughts away and bravely walk toward the dim light. Still he did not feel brave for doing this, in fact he felt weak. All things seemed to be backwards to Dave now. Death was better then life and running seemed braver then facing what was before him. Lying to himself about the true nature of bravery Dave pressed on.
They entered a room that was moderately lit. It was a great cavern with water in its center. There were ledges on all sides and a walkway leading to a small rock that sat in the middle of the water. The others all moved to the side locations, and somehow Dave seemed to know that the spot in the middle was for him. He walked over to it and stood there not sure what to expect.
“We are one, we are many.” They chanted again.
Dave wanted to speak but no words would come to his aid.
“We are one, we are Yog-Sothoth.” They chanted and the ceiling began to move.
The movement of the ceiling did not suggest that something was on the ceiling, it seemed to be that the ceiling was in fact alive. The movement jerked forward and the ceiling opened up revealing an opening with endless rows of sharp yellow teeth. An eternity of chewing grinding and dying. The stink of ancient death poured from the hole.
Suddenly Dave remembered what the name meant to him, Yog-Sothoth the eater of souls. This was the original darkness. The only true death for man. To die at his hands is to truly die, to never have existed, be erased from all of reality. Once you have been eaten by Yog-Sothoth you are gone forever. All your dreams and thoughts become his, along with your body. This is the true ending.
He felt his soul being ripped from the flesh, The pain was deeper then ever felt before. it was the pain of betrayal, the pain of losing his way. He thought of his wife and of his entire race and he knew that he had betrayed them all. In his mind he could see the crying eyes of every mother and father that his soul had ever been born from. Dave remembered why he was born and born again, he remembered what the true purpose of man was. He understood just in time, to realize how badly he had failed. Those sculls on the way in where the sculls of heroes. They were the ones that choose death over this.
The true Dave, was gone. Sucked into the mouth of Yog-Sothoth. Dave’s soulless body raised it’s head and spoke in the same voice of the others. “We are one, we are many. We are one, we are Yog-Sothoth”
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A horror short story, wow, it starts off so calmly, with a gent named Dave being bored about his job at Weishaupt Industries. Great descriptions, intriquing suppositions, the greed this man shows for power over those in power wow. The verbage is awesome. The way that he comes to the secret meeting is curious. Suspence and horror are entwined. Thank you for sending shivers up my spine.
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There were some mis-spellings and grammatical errors, i.e. “finical”. However, you do paint a vivid picture and provide great character depth. I also believe you did a great job building fear and suspense. I think you wrote a tight story. There are a lot of spelling errors, but if you were to fix those there is no reason for this not to be published.
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I think in the first paragraph there are a few tense slips. The story is told in past tense so I’d say stick with it. Ok, yeah… the story definitely jumps between tenses. I’d switch the “are” with “were” and reword the sentences. Having said this, the narrative does rely heavily on the “to be” verbs—are, were, was, etc. Though they’re impossible to avoid entirely, try to use them as little as possible. Usually removing them leads to more descriptive or powerful prose.
“…of the bored…” Was this a play on words? If so, I think it’s kind of clever, but also suspect that 90% of the people that read it will just consider it a spelling error. I’d switch it to “board”.
“…then began to return to his….” There’s a word missing here.
““Pist!”” / Psst!
“…called out with a whisper…” This seems contradictory.
You know… If this were a television series, or part of a movie… I think it’d be really effective. But as it reads, it kind of drags. Sorry, I’m not trying to sound harsh, but it’s just like this guy is going through the routines. There’s not really any action, (at least not enough upfront to keep the reader’s attention) no conflict (besides Dave’s internal conflict with himself), or drama.
There are a lot of verbs in the dialogue tags—offered/lied/demanded, etc. I think these are ok occasionally, but there’s so many of them that it makes the writing look a bit weak.
Okay, where it starts to get interesting is when Dave gets to the temple.
It seems like in the narration there is a lot of unnecessary description. Like earlier about the cartoons on the wall and the guy’s safe position in the company or “…yet he was convinced in his mind that if he had, it would look and felt like this….” None of this really advances the story… It just adds to the words and waters down what at it’s core has the potential to be really great.
I thought the ending was pretty good with the soul-ripping bit, but it just seemed like there was waaay too much that came before this. I think if you could cut this down to about half it’s size it’d be much more readable. If you have any questions or comments feel free to send me a message or use the comments box provided below. Thanks for sharing.
-Curt
I liked the story, it kept me interested. However, some basic proof reading is necessary. Some words are misspelled and others are in the wrong tense. Other than that, keep up the good work!
Few examples I noticed:
skulls instead of “sculls”
Almost hyperventilating, he rummaged threw(should be “through”) his pockets….
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