Fabrication: Shikri - Prologue

Author's Notes: This is very highly subjected to get rewritten. Also, you may notice like 7 other chapters of this series. It's okay, this is the prologue so no need to read 31 pages of the other ones before this one :)))

Prologue

I woke up in a cold sweat. My mind was flashing with yesterday’s events. I steadied my heartbeat before getting out of bed to get some cold water from the fridge. As I looked at the grandfather clock, its short hand was between two and three. It was dark, with a sparse glitter of starlight outside. Realizing that it was still deep in the night, I returned to bed to get some shuteye, knowing that tomorrow will be another long day.

As the roosters crowed, the sun began seeping into my bedroom. I got out of bed, getting greeted by a lovely breakfast prepared by Leah, my wife. After finishing my breakfast of scrambled eggs on toasted bread, I got myself ready and headed out to work. Morning commute was always hectic because of how many people there were, but I made my way steadily through the crooked alleyways and big roads toward an enormous brick tower. Beside it, on the ground, was a concrete wall that had the letters D, M, and A carved into it.

The DMA–also known as DEPARTMENT OF MORAL ACCOUNTING, is a government agency that is in charge of all things that have to do with the goodness and badness of us human beings. My role in it involves handling customer service inquiries and resolving any issues or bugs related to the Ethicalibrator. An Ethicalibrator is a device that we all have on our personnel, which is used to track how good our actions have been throughout the day. The more good deeds we do, the higher our point total is in the Ethicalibrator. The more we misbehave or act out of the norm, the lower our point total. However, the device isn’t perfect. Hence why there are people like me who work in customer service.

I headed up the elevator, getting to my little cubicle and starting off my day with a warm brew of coffee. Teriq, a colleague of mine, came by and gave me a stack of paperworks that needed to be looked over.

“C’mon man, do I have to be the one to do it?” I complained as I rotated my chair.

“You know how it is. All ‘em young ones don’t even know how much points a loaf of bread is worth! You’re the only one who I trust to look over these numbers.” Tariq said.

I couldn’t complain about it since the Ethicalibrator was on me. But if I could, there could be a three hour special of me doing so on DVD. The numbers I had to look over were pretty menial. All I mostly had to do was assign points for new actions that weren’t registered in the database yet. Here are a couple of fun ones that I saw:

-Giving the middle finger to an expired jelly salad after food poisoning: -23 pts.

-Giving 53 bunches of bananas wrapped in the shape of a TV as an anniversary gift: +13 pts.

-Using volcanic rocks as seasoning during environmental awareness day: -7 pts.

-Killing a significant other with a cyanide lubricated marital-aid: -5672 pts.

-Helping people afford groceries in a superhero costume while calling oneself “THE PRODUCER”: +127 pts.

After spending my entire morning time on just assigning points to actions based on the guidelines, it was time for a lunch break. I headed out with a couple of my colleagues to this sandwich shop that we’ve been hooked on lately. The best part was, they let us customize our sandwiches however we want.

With lunch break ending, I got back to the office to continue my tasks for the day. When I got to my cubicle, an envelope from an unknown sender was lying on my desk. After checking that it had my name on it, I opened it up on the spot, intrigued as to why it was there. The letter read:

“MEET ME AT THE 83rd FLOOR,

ROOM 108324

AT 1800 SHARP.

YOU SHALL COME ALONE

AND DISCLOSE THIS INFORMATION TO

NO ONE ELSE.”

I returned to my desk, mostly puzzled by why I am the one receiving something like this. I couldn’t really focus for the rest of the day.

When the clock struck 6 PM, I rushed towards the elevators, spamming the button numbered 83 when I got inside. Getting out, I saw a long corridor of doors labeled in an unintuitive mess. It seemed that the bigger numbers were to the east, except only for even numbers. Some numbers didn’t exist at all, and it was like a whole labyrinth up here. After scrambling around, I managed to find room 108324. When I opened the door, there was no one there. As I was about to walk away, I spotted another piece of envelope on the ground. Picking it up, I opened it like the last one. It read:

“GOD IS DEAD.

KEEP IT A SECRET FROM THE PEOPLE.

KEEP THE LIE GOING.

THAT IS THE FABRICATED MOTTO

YOUR COMPANY IS RUN ON.”

Getting an unnerving sensation behind me, I turned my head around to spot Teriq standing in front of the door.

“H-hey, what are you doing here?” I asked.

“Were you the one who called me here?” I continued, showing him the first letter I received while hiding the latter.

“What if it was? Also, do you know what could happen if it’s found out that you were to be found in possession of something like that?” He said.

“Like what?”

“Nothing. I recommend you get some rest, colleague. Tomorrow will be rough.”

He left without saying a word more. Looking out the windows and seeing the setting sun, I realized that I should also head home. I also realized I might be slightly scared of heights as I looked down on the town from such a high viewpoint.

Returning home, I got greeted by Leah who was preparing dinner. After dinner, I got ready for bed earlier than her, who was on the sofa knitting some kind of ugly Christmas sweater. I told her to not sleep too late before passing out on the bed.

I woke up in a cold sweat. My mind was flashing with yesterday’s events. I steadied my heartbeat before getting out of bed to get some cold water from the fridge. As I looked at the grandfather clock, its short hand was between two and three. It was dark, with a sparse glitter of starlight outside. Realizing that it was still deep in the night, I returned to bed to get some shuteye, knowing that tomorrow will be another long day.

My sleep was interrupted early in the morning by the doorbell ringing. I went to check out on it as Leah was fast asleep on the couch, her hands loosely holding on to knitting pins. Opening the door, I was greeted with two officers with a badge that I was all too familiar with: the DMA.

“How’s it going?” I asked.

“Mr. Levi, you have been sentenced to damnation by the moral court.”