I am patrolling a large building complex, it is apparently my job. It seems it is early evening, the sky turning a grey blue, the weather not being important enough to notice. The buildings I'm patrolling between are old red brick, large sprawling things with added wings and removed areas all over the place, serving to create a delightful hodgepodge of strange architecture.
To traverse this site, I'm skateboarding. There are small rooftops I'm ollieing onto and curved buildings I'm using as quarter pipes. I'm not brilliant at it but I'm never usually this good, intending things and mostly doing them. It's quite good fun. Eventually though, I attempt ramping up a building only to see my board fly off into the distance, dropping down onto the lower levels.
I know the lower levels are bad, but I don't think I've been down to them yet. I hurry through several old brick-sided passages, down sets of stairs, in and out of the intriguing buildings. I eventually end up at a nondescript grey door, a rear entrance to the lower level.
I go through, and note that the architecture is much the same, there are just the occasional chain link fences though, and the floor is a dirty concrete. Actually there's not much rubbish down here, which I expected. It might be a bit grotty but it seems to be tidy.
I can't see my board where I believe it landed, and I somehow know that 'Lily' will have it. I head further along until I enter a clearing within the buildings. More of the large brick buildings to my left, but a long chain link fence to my right with barbed wire on top. The fence leads to a gate of a similar style, and at the gate are a couple of guards on the other side, a small woman on this side.
The woman is dirty, she looks like she is probably homeless, and I come to be aware that the lower levels are full of people without any other place to go. It's Lily, and she appears hostile to me. She's angry about something, the living conditions down here perhaps? I care, but not enough; I'm here for my skateboard. I think I yelled at her, pure intimidation tactic. It works though and she reluctantly hands me back my board.
The guards let me leave via the gate, I head back up, this time to the front entrance. This place is a maze but I know my way around fine it seems. I meet up with a coworker, a lady with black curly hair, her skin a dark brown. We continue patrolling, with me skating every so often whilst we talk.
Eventually we make our way back inside at the main entrance. There's another girl who looks very similar to the friend I'm walking with, her sister or daughter perhaps? She seems shy and I've never met her before, so I do my whole 'let's be over the top friendly to not come off as creepy whilst probably coming off as creepy' routine. We leave via a few more corridors, these ones internal, old white painted walls, faded red carpets, tall ceilings, and winding passages from various alterations in the building over the years.
I start talking about how I actually used to live here with my dad, just in these front rooms. It was a while back, but it's nostalgic to me to walk through them. We reach the front, and it's turned quite dark outside. My friend says her goodbye and leaves in a direction I don't plan on heading. I explain to the awkward one where I live and in which direction I'll be heading in, she will be travelling with me it seems.
I live on the other side of the town, meaning I head through a built up and busy area at night. I talk with my companion and I feel the awkwardness begins to dissipate between us thankfully. There's a strange tone I keep hearing as we head through town, and it seems it's people making bell tones, in a bid to guess what tone a real bell will make. We walk past the bell itself (the Liberty Bell apparently), it's only 2 foot tall, awkwardly painted blue, and guarded by a bored looking police officer.
I assume I make it home okay and time passes on normally here because the next thing I remember, I'm back in the complex at work the following morning. I'm working the lower levels today it seems, which makes me feel rather uncomfortable. I'm struck by a sudden need to find something out and I'm not quite sure what that is. There are a few shareholders dotted around today, nondescript people looking to ensure things are running smoothly.
I start to interact with one of the denizens of the lower level, he's an older man with a whitening beard. He leads me to a storage locker filled with packets of food. He indicates that if I'm hungry that's what I need. The 'hunger' he refers to is in relation to the answers I need. I start sifting through packet after packet, slowly getting more frustrated and desperate at the lack of answers. Most of the packets are out of date and seem repulsive to be which is stressing me out more. I turn away from the locker wondering what to do next...
I woke up.
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