He knew he must keep very still while he waited. Kevin was sitting in the office of Dr. Lars. He sat there, in a comfy chair, when he began thinking about arriving at Erebus.
Kevin pulled up to the white complex, and hopped out of the car. His demons would be freed there. He would remember what sleep felt like. He smiled and walked to the entrance. Nothing could be seen through the tinted glass doors. He entered, and found he was in a waiting room. Assorted chairs were sitting around the room, and a tall man in a white apron and blue undershirt with a buzz cut stood at the front desk. When Kevin went to greet him he glanced at his name tag so he could call him something. The tag read HIPPO, which he figured was a nickname.
Kevin then spoke, “Hi, I’m Kevin, I have a meeting scheduled for 4:30 with a Dr.-” to which HIPPO responded, in a thick Austrian accent, “Focus is imperative.” It was as if he had delivered such a line routinely for years; but that’s all he said to him. Kevin was already fairly intimidated by his height and bulk, but the way he said that line made him think that he might be the type of person to throw Kevin across a room without effort.
Kevin and HIPPO then made their way to Lars’ office. They entered the hallway to the right of the front desk, which went only left and right, with no other hallways. Kevin noted the fire exit to the right which, oddly, didn’t have an “EXIT” sign above it. Only a piece of paper that read “FIRE”.
When entering the office, which was two doors down to the right of the hallway, he tried to look around to get a sense of familiarity with the room, but HIPPO put his hand on Kevin’s shoulder, and once again, in monotone, said, “Focus is imperative.”
Part of Kevin then wanted to leave, but he decided that HIPPO might just be foreign or an immigrant and isn’t used to regular social cues. He also certainly didn’t want to be rude to a big Austrian guy with a buzz cut. Kevin wanted to observe the room, but he tried, out of respect for the HIPPO’s orders, to keep his perception within the boundaries of the clock in the center beige wall in front of him, the desk, the chair behind the desk, and a portrait of Dr. Lars. Kevin hadn’t even seen him before. Only HIPPO. Kevin didn’t think much farther about it.
The portrait sat on the far left side of the desk, and was tilted slightly to the right, so Kevin could only get a vague sense of what he looked like. Kevin wanted so bad to see his appearance. He figured it was no big deal if he observed the room for a little while. He stood from the chair and moved to the right side of the room, and took a good look at the picture.
Kevin saw what he assumed to be Lars, with mid-length blonde hair, white skin and prominent eyes. He couldn’t place the eye color, due to the picture being black and white. Kevin let out a chuckle, as he found Lars to have a striking resemblance to Sting. He reached for his pocket to bring out his phone for a comparison, but Kevin found his pocket to be empty. An overwhelming feeling of urgency struck him as he searched his front and back pockets.
He looked in his seat, but couldn’t find his phone. Looking around the room, Kevin yelped and dropped to the ground when the lights shut off, and an alarm began sounding. The only light source was the light flickering on and off from the alarm. He remembered. Stop, drop, roll. Kevin slowly rose and felt around for the doorknob. His hand eventually met the cold knob of the only door in the room. He tried pulling it open, then realizing it was a push door when it wouldn’t budge, only to find out that pushing it was a challenge. Kevin backed up, keeping his hand on the doorknob, and pushed with the most extreme strength he could exert. The door swung open, and Kevin slowly stepped through the door.
The hallway was dark, and only lit by the alarm’s flash. He peeked from behind the door, and looked left and right. An orange inferno blazed inside of the room farthest to the left of the hallway, the door open.
Kevin suspected an arson was afoot. He walked to the middle of the hallway, and looked behind the other side of the open door. On the ground was HIPPO. He was clearly unconscious, and Kevin panicked, speeding to his aid. He tried dragging him by the arm to the fire exit, which was farthest to the right of the hallway.
HIPPO, to Kevin’s shock, responded by grabbing his leg with his free arm and slamming him to the ground. Kevin quickly retorted with a kick with his free foot to HIPPO’s face. Kevin darted to the fire exit. Almost out of breath, Kevin prepared to push open the door with all the preparation to slam it shut. Suddenly, the booming sound of shoes stomping on the ground, similar to the giant in Jack and the Beanstalk.
“Fee, fi, fo, fum.”
Catching a glimpse of sunlight through the cracks of the opening exit, Kevin whipped his head back to match the sound of the giant footsteps with a visual, simply out of instinct. HIPPO let out a cry of raw anger, as Kevin turned to push the fire exit open, only to feel a tug on his shirt, then followed by an immense force to the back of the head, followed by darkness.
