Bright kicked back. The sigh he let out was due to the mental fatigue the day had given him. There were 3 minor containment breaches, all at a different site. It took hours to get the skips re-contained. And most importantly, the coffee machine was still broken. A day of this could make someone upset. A month of this could put someone on edge. And as for 3 months of this…
Jack pressed a button under his desk. An above security camera shut down. He sat there, waiting. He glanced at his watch. Did it really take this long the other times? He glanced over at his desk, eyeing a small box labeled “IMPORTANT”.
He pulled a file out of it and crumpled it into a small, paper ball and placed it onto his desk. With the quick flick of a finger, he knocked it off into the bin over by the wall. The grin on his face pleased him. He continued to ball documents up and attempted to flick them. On his 47th attempt, the paper ball was unceremoniously stopped in its tracks and fell to the ground. Bright looked up at the figure that had manifested in front of him.
“Ah, good,” Bright spoke, “you’re finally here.”
“Hope I didn’t keep you too long.” The figures voice was slightly harsh yet somewhat reassuring.
“No, no. It’s fine. Did you figure it out yet?”
“I’m sorry Jack. I’ve been working on it but-“
“It’s fine.” Bright’s gaze fell into his lap. “I was sort of expecting it. Just my luck, you know?”
The man didn’t respond, only searching for a chair. Once he found one, he lit a cigarette and moved it towards his mouth. For a moment, he stopped and just stared at Dr. Bright. “Do you want one?”
Bright looked at it before saying, “Ehhhh, sure. Why not?” He walked over to the man and took the small roll of paper from his hand, placing it between his mouth.
"What was it this time?"
Bright pointed to a small, orange bottle on his desk. "Decided simple”
“I see.” He pulled out a stick of his own and began smoking. “I’ll find something, I promise. I know there must be someway for us to have a final meeting.”
“Actually… “. Bright paused for a second, considering something. “Nah. Never mind. I suppose I could just tell you some other time in another life.”
“Bright… I come here every time you decide to move onto a new body, and each time, I never feel like I’m helping.”
“You are, don’t worry.”
“How?”
“Because I said you are.”
“That’s not a good answer, Jack.”
Bright chuckled. “I know.”
“Okay. Man, those drugs aren’t very fast acting, huh?” Bright nodded slightly. The man sat motionless for a moment. “I actually wanted to talk about something for once. Something about morality.” Bright just sat there with a puzzled look on his face. “Did your host know you’d be doing this?”
“He was a D-class. What’d he expect? That he would miraculously survive after all is said and done?”
“I am aware Jack. I’m just saying that unnecessary death of others is ty-“
“I have gotten this spiel before. I know.”
“Okay, okay.” After another minute, the man stood up. “Well Jack, I sense it’s about that time for you.”
“Dang it. I was hoping we would at least have a bit longer.”
“Anything you want to say before I go?”
“Thank you.”
“You say that every time.”
“And I always will”
The man sighed and put out his cigarette using his fingers. He then tossed it on the floor. “Well, goodbye for now Jack. I wish you luck.”
Jack hesitated for a moment then said, “Hold on.”
Jacks suddenness caught the being off guard. “Yes?”
“I want to ask… where do we go when we die?”
“Oh, you can’t be serious.”
“Couldn’t lie about anything as extreme.”
“Well, Dr. Bright,” He said, almost mockingly. “I can’t tell you that. Not because I don’t want to. Just that I don’t have an answer. They all expect me to be all knowing but I barely know more then the average joe.”
Bright laughed a little. “Yeah, of course. What was I thinking? If you knew everything, I wouldn’t still be here. Well, goodbye friend.”
“Have a good one, Jack.”
“See you in another life.”
| At around 2:00 a.m., a corpse was discovered in the office of Dr. Bright. The now deceased D-230455, who was the host of Bright's consciousness, was found sitting on the floor. Testing of the body concluded that the cause of death was an overdose. Surveillance equipment has proved ineffective in finding footage of Brights death. Three items of note included 2 cigarettes found on the floor and one white, cotton blanket which was covering the body. |
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