There were no windows in the archive center. Standing in complete darkness, I fumbled for my phone. I turned on the flashlight. Everything was fine, except for the fact that there was no light. I heard someone call out, “If there is anyone left in the archive center, please make your way to the hallway. The power has gone out, and we must follow protocol.” Groaning, I pointed the light forward, Maggie and Sammy doing the same. We carefully made our way out of the archive center. Gabe closed the doors, locking them once we were standing in the hallway. Some natural light flooded the area, the brightness a large contrast to the pitch-black archive center. We turned off our flashlights and followed Gabe, as he explained what we were going to do. Everyone in the Brick had to report to the floor manager, where we would receive special instruction based on the situation. Apparently, this had never happened before. The Brick never lost power, thanks to the massive generators. Something must have happened to them.
214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG2XpokrFLL
We reached the end of the hallway, where a large crowd of people was huddled around a single person, who was giving directions. As we got closer, the noise of the crowd rose until it was a deafening mash-up of dozens of conversations. Gabe pushed his way to the front to figure out what we were supposed to do. When he found us again, he said, “We’re supposed to stay here. No one is allowed to leave. The elevators have been shut down, and the stairwells are all locked. No one could leave even if they wanted to.” Someone walked over to me. A large hood covered their face. They were dressed completely in black. In a hushed voice, they whispered, “It is possible to leave. Do so, now. Trust me. You don’t want to be here.” A moment later, they were gone. I turned back to my group. No one had noticed the person. “I think we should try to leave. It’s possible, I know it,” I said. Gabe looked over at me in shock. “And break protocol? No, you can’t do that. I won’t let you.” I don’t know why I was choosing to trust a stranger. My instincts told me to believe them, I suppose. “Then you can stay. I’m leaving.” I pushed away from everyone, walking to the stairs. I felt a tap on my shoulder. “We’re coming, too,” Maggie. “All right. Let’s get out of here.”
214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm0Or247gvL
Standing in front of the heavy doors that blocked the stairs, I was starting to question the legitimacy of this stranger's warning. The doors were closed. I pulled on the handle as hard as I could. The doors didn’t budge. Maggie stepped over and gave it a go. Still, the doors held. We tried to pull together, but it did nothing. I was prepared to try again when Sammy stepped in front of us both. In a single motion, he pushed the door open. “It’s not locked,” he said matter-of-factly. “But it is a push, not a pull door.” He started to walk down the stairs, leaving Maggie and me at the top. Well, didn’t that make us feel stupid?
214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWQWFWbhiS0
I bounded down the stairs, the sound of my steps echoing off the wall. We walked down dozens of flights of stairs. I lost count after 17. We reached the ground floor as a loud boom sounded somewhere above us. I heard screams coming from every direction. We ran outside. Looking up, I saw some of the middle floors of the Brick explode. Shards of glass and bits of debris rained down on us. We found cover under some trees. After a moment, another explosion made a floor a few lower than the first burst into millions of pieces. Over the next 5 minutes, explosions rang out on practically every floor. Only then did it occur to me. Whoever was responsible for the explosions wanted to bring the whole Brick down.
214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM7FvFs66hx
“Elias.” My name was quiet. “Elias. Elias!” Now it was being shouted. I blinked. Maggie was standing in front of me, her hands on my shoulders. I looked up at the Brick. The glass and concrete walls were very much intact. I pointed up to the middle floors. “But the explosions, the glass, it was… it was all broken. What… I don’t understand. The Brick was broken.” Maggie raised an eyebrow. “Are you okay? You haven’t been responding for five minutes. The power turned back on, and there was this big boom. We ran outside because we didn’t know what was happening. The Brick is fine. There weren't any explosions.” I tried to comprehend what Maggie was telling me. But I’d seen it. Was I going crazy? I decided to just go with what Maggie was saying. “Yeah, sorry.” She let go of my shoulders and took a step back. Sammy cleared his throat. “So, um, now that the electricity is back, do you guys want to go back to the archive center to watch the rest of that video? We were just getting to the part we needed to see.” I nodded. “Yeah. Let’s go.” We walked back inside the Brick. On the elevator ride up, I could have sworn I saw scorch marks on the walls.
214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf1asOZICgs
Back inside the archive center, we found Gabe. He was sitting behind his desk again. As soon as he saw us, he jumped up. “There you are. I started to wonder where you had gone. Do you need to look at anything else?” I nodded. “We need to see the rest of the video we were watching in the archives.” Gabe started to walk back to the computer and unlocked it for us. “Thanks.” Gabe smiled and walked away. The video was still paused where we’d left it. With a deep breath, I pushed play.214Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT0xXovOSBp
