Chapter 14

The sun was beating down, glorifying the already decadent suburb into something dreamlike. This was a neighbourhood where the streets were lined with palm trees and every house had a gate, and yet as Pandara’s feet strode casually down the coloured brick lined pavement, she felt nothing of the glamour about the place.

Things were still stewing in her head; her identity being the main ingredient. Callum hadn’t tried to tail her since she left which had been a pleasant surprise, even though she hadn’t made her way out of the neighbourhood particularly cleverly or hastily. Threatening him had clearly worked, and she’d already made a mental note of its effectiveness.

Her feet were starting to feel the strain of walking. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the card holder that was given to her at the hospital, minus of course the ID card she had thrown away. She sighed as she realised she wasn’t as infallible as she had believed. Unhurriedly investigating its contents, she found nothing much of interest. Still, she wanted an inventory of her life and this was the sum total of that now. She first clocked what looked like a bank chip, something she hoped would enable her to access some money in the near future. In addition, she’d found a library card, a folded up photo of her husband which she casually threw aside into somebody’s garden, a sharply folded couple of bank notes which amounted to thirty Sterling and another ID card with her picture on it.

“Hermato Engineering” The words spilled out, confused.

Softly spoken, the name brought forth no memories. Instead, she stared closely at her face printed in full colour on the card. It was clear the picture was not meant to be a light hearted one, but underneath the neutral expression Pandara sensed a hidden smile. It may have been that she’d wanted to beam with joy, possibly for getting the job she had always wished for. Yet now, all she felt was bitterness and resentment at what life had handed her, or rather taken away. Blank memories. Sure, this could change at any moment, but even if they did come flooding back, Pandara knew she had been left permanently scarred by the accident.

The old Pandara was gone, it was time to discover who the new one was.

As she looked up from the ID, it dawned on her that she hadn’t been paying attention to where she was going for the past few minutes. Now, instead of immaculate streets supporting her soles and luxury mansions saturating her peripheral vision, she was confronted by a plain if not ugly alleyway. The cold, colourless brick walls and the almost flavourless smell of dust mixed with day old rubbish enveloped her senses, but mostly she was aware of the peculiar lack of strangers. This new location stuck out somehow as a place she wasn’t welcome in. Others may have likened it to a bad feeling.

Pandara stopped in her tracks and put her card holder away. Resisting the urge to feel worried, she observed as much as she could from where she stood. At one end of the alley, the narrow lane gave way on one side to a small courtyard littered with dumpsters and a few garages lining its edges. At the other, the path ran straight through into an unremarkable road with little foot traffic. A distinct silence had also settled all around.

Directly adjacent to where she stood, something caught her eye. Nestled into the brick wall which until now went undisturbed from one end of the passage to the other, was what could only be described as a mirage. At first, she had put it down to her strained state of mind, as she saw something flicker in and out when she blinked. This peculiar glitch however didn’t try and hide. It only became more obvious, and a moment later the flickering image suddenly became as clear as day, and now she was looking at a previously hidden brown door. No sign, no numbers, just an entryway that wasn’t there one second and there the next.

As she blinked, she noticed something. Each time her eyelids shut, for the briefest moment, the door returned to its hiding place, and stayed there until a split second after she opened them again. She experimented with this a few times, checking if this happened every time. It did. Even opening just one eye revealed the hidden entrance.

A few seconds later, her mystified brain had suddenly worked it out. Something within her proximity was tracking her pupils. Instead of feeling that satisfaction of solving a tricky puzzle, all Pandara could feel was curiosity and a little worry. Why was this doorway showing up? Was somebody watching her now or was it an automated system? Was this visible to only certain individuals or to anyone who walked by? Something told her the latter was unlikely, but that only meant her ability to see it was something unique to her.

One thought struck her, and so before she made any further moves, she fished out her card holder once more, pulling out the Hermato ID card. As she turned it over in her hands, she disappointingly found there was no address written on it. At least that made sense. No modern company in their right mind would provide a secure means to accessing their HQ and print their address on it as well. Certainly not the sort of mistake a company that could have gone to this much secrecy would make.

Susan was clearly looking at the entrance to a secret location, and it may well be her employers. If she was indeed a paid operative of these people, what awaited her inside?

Instinctively, and as a way to push the crowded number of questions out of her mind, Pandara reached out to the doorway. It slid open silently before she could even touch it. The unnerving fear she felt couldn’t prevent her from taking a couple of steps inside, and as the doors slid closed without so much as a whisper, she quickly found herself being transported underground in some sort of elevator.

The box had no buttons to push, suggesting an artificial intelligence was directing her journey, but Pandara noticed that a glowing tube of light encircling the top of the walls seemed to pulse a soft orange three times, then stop. ‘Creepy’ She thought. The entire downward ride lasted about twenty seconds and as it slowed to a stop, the metal contraption opened up into an area she once again didn’t recognise. ‘No surprise there’ she thought. She’d expected some sort of reception area, maybe with the company’s name emblazoned on the wall or desk so she knew she was in the right building, or at least something she could use to gather some basic information about the company, but right now all she saw in front of her was an indistinct corridor, albeit a wide and clinically pristine one. Not a person, name or emblem in sight.

Carefully and quietly, Pandara stepped outside, and the elevator hastily closed its doors again the moment she was clear, only to take off quickly to another floor. Whatever this place was, there was some incredibly efficient technology at work. The suspicion that this was indeed an engineering company made a lot more sense now.

Looking around, Pandara was reminded of a maze, as corridors and doors led off from the current hallway in all directions. There was a vague feeling of déjà vu from seeing the frosted glass doors and strip lighting so monotonously repeated everywhere she looked. Worst of all, there were no signs on any of the doors, just numbers and letters. Not a single thing that helped her determine where she was.

It was a bit too much for one morning, and the urge to flee rose up inside her. Pandara quickly spun round on her heel to call for the elevator, but the wall next to the closed grey doors was blank like a fresh canvas, and just like the entrance to this mysterious place, there was no way to call the exit down to collect her. Suddenly she felt trapped.

An abrupt noise echoed down towards her from behind, and as she glanced over her shoulder she spied an unknown employee heading out of one door with an armful of small chips just like hers from the bank. Before she had time to plan her next move, the person vanished into another doorway and the door slid shut behind them.

Before she had even registered her relief, another door opened loudly, this time from the right side, and suddenly she found herself staring at a very flustered looking lady. Due to their proximity, there was no avoiding this one, so Pandara observed her as she made her way towards the elevator.

The stranger was wearing a black suit with a mid-length skirt, and displayed luscious pure white hair that flowed over her shoulders and down to her chest. Pandara wasn’t sure how she was going to approach a conversation with this woman, hoping to avoid one altogether. It was possible the stranger was one of the many employees in a company of this size that she’d never crossed paths with; it certainly didn’t seem too ridiculous an idea. However, her current state of mind was not at all prepared to deal with any form of interrogation, and so she spun round quickly and walked in the other direction. For a brief moment, she thought her getaway hadn’t been noticed.

“How the-?” Came the almost inevitable acknowledgement, but the words that left this woman’s lips threw Pandara completely off. She stopped, took a deep breath and turned around to face her. As their eyes met, the look of surprise in each pair was evident.

“I’m sorry,” The mystery woman continued, apologetically. “I mean, I didn’t realise you’d be back so soon. Is everything all right?”

“Uh…” Pandara replied, struggling to think of a way out of this conversation. “I had to come back and sort a few things out. All the paperwork that needs doing.” It was pathetic, she knew it, but it was all she had.

The stranger looked at her with a little confusion. Clearly this wasn’t making any sense. She continued anyway.

“Listen, I’d love to chat for longer but, well, I’m sure you know how the boss is.” Adding a fake laugh might have been a bit too much and didn’t feel at all right in the situation, but she did so anyway.

“Of course.” The lady left a noticeable pause. “I’ll see you in the office later then?”

She didn’t know if she imagined it, but she sensed a rushed tone in the woman’s voice, and it seemed like she was just as keen to wind up this conversation as Pandara was. After a quick wave goodbye, the two departed in opposite directions. Feeling unsure, Pandara looked behind her as they walked away from one another, only to catch the stranger doing the same thing, immediately turning back around in embarrassment. ‘Odd.’ Pandara wondered.

That brief interaction she suddenly realised had taken a lot out of her. Even more questions toiled inside her head, like why the woman seemed surprised to see her and why she also felt the desperate need to escape the conversation too. There might be a mundane explanation for everything that had happened today, but she was clearly not ready to handle the situation. The only thing she thought to do was to hightail it out of here, try and get some cash from her bank and stay at a hotel somewhere until she felt more stable, but even that was denied to her by a strange elevator she couldn’t figure out how to call.

Internally, she let out a huge, frustrated scream.

Suddenly a voice called out at her from behind.

“What are you doing back already?”

She turned around to see who had called out. A handsome gentleman was staring right at her, also expressing a big surprise on his face not too dissimilar to the strangers a few moments ago.

“I thought you’d left for the day. You look pale, and you’ve changed clothes...” Pandara tried to respond but the man approached her and rested his hands on her shoulders, instantly disarming her defence mechanism with his brash invasion of her personal space. “Susan, are you OK?”