Sugar Coated

by Shannen Crane Camp

  Brynn looked over at her friend and smiled a warm, genuine smile.

  “Thanks for being such a great friend Ty,” she told him, pulling him into a tight hug that he returned gladly. It was nice for Brynn to feel his strong arms around her. It felt safe. Familiar.

  “Thank you,” he replied, burying his face in her neck as he hugged her in the moonlight.

  “Now go into your house, drink some water, eat some sugar, and get some sleep,” he said with a smile.

  Chapter 9: Incognito

  Peeking cautiously around a marble pillar in the empty library building, Brynn sensed a nervous feeling bubbling up inside of her that even a steady diet of sugar cubes couldn’t quell. Her hands slipped as she attempted to grasp the cool stone surface with sweaty palms, all of her attention turned to the frightening Worker at the front desk.

  Her day of recklessness with Jonah had left her with an empty feeling; the kind only a pseudo-achievement could create, and suddenly, her little trips into the ocean didn’t seem as impressive as actually finding answers to real questions. The question that was most pressing, at that particular moment, was the true nature of the terrifying creatures she misguidedly referred to as Angels.

  When she had snuck into the library in the late hours of the evening, only thirty minutes before close, Brynn had been ready for a full on confrontation if that was what the situation called for. Now, as she stood watching this woman who seldom made more movement than breathing and lazily swiping her finger across her tablet screen, she began to wonder if her whirlwind adventure would be quite as adventurous as she had originally thought.

  As the clock slowly neared closing time Brynn pulled out her own tablet, making sure it was silenced for her great pursuit. Right at nine o’clock in the evening, as if running on some unseen internal clock, the Worker stood from her position at the front desk and began turning off lights, casting the library into an eerie half-darkness. She made her way lithely down the carpeted walkways toward a small hallway Brynn hadn’t ever noticed before.

  “Here we go,” Brynn whispered, pushing past the swinging doors in the hall that read Workers Only to follow her caustic Angel to what she hoped would be a room full of answers.

  She didn’t believe for a second that these Workers were actually normal humans like her who had been surgically altered as preparation for the workforce. She was almost certain their origins were much more sinister than that, and she intended to get to the bottom of whatever collective secret they were guarding.

  The Workers’ hallways didn’t differ much from the rest of the library’s décor. The plush carpet and wooden walls all hinted at something much more ancient than the sleek modern buildings found around the rest of the city. As she snuck down the various corridors in pursuit of the Worker, Brynn said a silent ‘thank you’ for the many doorways and corners that afforded her suitable cover on her slightly suicidal mission.

  Just as her Worker reached the end of a particularly long hallway, the woman stopped. She angled her head to the left as if listening to a sound that only she could hear before she glanced over her shoulder to where Brynn hid, concealed behind a corner. Her sharp purple eyes narrowed for a moment while Brynn held her breath, placing one hand over her mouth and silently calculating how far away the exit was.

  She could hear her heart pounding while the Worker stood silently staring at the spot where Brynn had peeked around the corner only moments before. Then suddenly, the Worker stepped into a room to her right, completely changing her previous course and unnerving Brynn to no end as she let out a deep breath, letting her hand fall away from her own mouth.

  “There’s no way any normal human could be that scary,” Brynn thought aloud, shuddering at the memory of the pale, severe looking Worker’s unnatural movements.

  Giving herself a mental and physical shake, Brynn willed herself down the hallway, coming to a confused stop in front of the door the Worker had disappeared behind. She expected the door to lead to a top secret lab, a torture chamber, or any number of macabre and ominous rooms, but instead, the sign on the heavy wooden door clearly read Worker Restroom.

  “Well, that’s a little awkward,” Brynn whispered, taking a few steps back to melt into a door frame, hoping that when the Worker retreated she wouldn’t see her.

  Only seconds after making sure she was effectively concealed, however, she heard what sounded like footsteps coming from the corner she had just occupied. Brynn looked around frantically, not wanting to run into the bathroom with the Worker, but not knowing where else to go. Her fear of the unknown in the corridor ahead mixed with the urgency of getting away from whatever was coming down the hallway pushed her into action, and without really thinking about what she was doing, Brynn pushed past the door to the Worker’s restroom, feeling that if she had to explain herself to a crazy Worker, her story of “getting lost” would be more convincing if she said she was looking for a restroom.

  Securely closing the door behind her, Brynn turned to survey what she was sure would be her last encounter with the frightening Angel from the front desk. What she found, however, was a small, stark white room much like the one from her nightmares. The room contained no bathroom stalls or sinks; there wasn’t even a mirror on the wall to suggest that this room was ever used for anything remotely resembling a restroom. The only entrance or exit seemed to be the door Brynn had entered through, which made one fact very disturbing: Brynn was alone in the room the Angel had definitely entered before her. The bright white walls, ceilings, and floors were such a stark contrast to the dimly lit library that Brynn had to wonder if the Angel was simply blending into her surroundings.

  “Hello?” Brynn said in the empty space, knowing full well she wouldn’t be receiving a reply. “This is impossible,” she began, walking slowly around the room with one hand tracing the walls to see if there was some hidden panel. “Where did she go?”

  “I think the question you really ought to be asking yourself at this moment is, ‘where will I be going once this Worker turns me over to the Authorities?’ don’t you think?” said an all too familiar and unpleasant voice from directly behind Brynn.

  She turned quickly on her heel, hoping that by some miracle she wouldn’t be facing the ghostly, angular Worker from the front desk.

  “I got lost,” Brynn said automatically, feeling that her plan was not nearly as well thought out as she had hoped and wondering if the Worker’s obvious dislike for Brynn would turn into full-fledged violent hostility in the remote recesses of the vacant library.

  “While I don’t find that surprising, I also don’t believe you,” the woman said with a slight smile, reminding Brynn forcefully of the Angel from her nightmares. “Why do you suppose that is?”

  “Unresolved childhood issues?” Brynn offered, trying to sound braver than she was.

  “Very snarky for someone who’s currently trespassing,” the Worker stated dryly, looking like she’d have absolutely no problem calling the City Authorities for something as small as walking through the wrong hallway in the public library. Brynn quickly realized she’d need to backtrack and try a different approach.

  “Look, I was just looking for a bathroom and thought, given the sign on the front door, that this would be the room for me.” She gestured with her hand to the surrounding empty white room. “Obviously Workers don’t have the same…needs, as the rest of us,” Brynn finished, hoping that her unsaid question would get a few answers.

  “Not that it’s any of your business, but this room isn’t finished yet,” the Worker said, telling the most unconvincing lie Brynn had ever witnessed. “Now you need to leave. The library is closed and while I assure you I’d have the greatest pleasure in seeing you escorted out by the Authorities, I’m far too tired to be bothered with you right now.”

  Grabbing hold of Brynn’s arm, the Worker began pulling her back through the corridors toward the library entrance without a single word, her iron grip surprising Brynn.

  “I actually wanted to tal
k to you,” Brynn quickly interjected as they reached the front door to the building.

  “I don’t like chit-chat,” the Worker informed her, no lie in her voice this time.

  “I wanted to ask you some questions about the surgery you get when you become a Worker.” Her words tumbled out in an almost unintelligible heap as she resisted being shoved out the door.

  “I don’t wish to discuss it,” was the automatic and almost rehearsed answer Brynn heard before being forcefully pushed through the heavy doors of the library out into the cool night air. The metallic lock clicked into place behind her as if to emphasize the Worker’s point, and Brynn made a face at the door, angry that her attempts to learn the truth had once again ended in complete failure and one more person thinking she was nuts.

  “Rough night, huh?” Jonah asked, causing Brynn to let out a startled scream.

  “Don’t. Do. That!” she said, hitting his arm to emphasize every word.

  “Whoa, apparently I came at a bad time.” He rubbed his arm for effect, raising his dark eyebrows at Brynn’s erratic behavior.

  “Any time you sneak up behind a girl in front of a darkened building is a bad time,” she informed him, catching her breath and tucking her hair behind her ear on one side.

  “See? What would I do without you to guide me in the ways of social norms?”

  “You’d probably get a lot more strange looks than you already do now,” she joked, looking back at the library building to make sure the Worker wasn’t murderously peering out a widow at her.

  “So, did you and your friend get into a fight?” Jonah asked, following Brynn’s line of sight.

  “All I did was ask her about the surgery to become a Worker,” she answered innocently, though after a skeptical look from Jonah she quickly added, “And maybe I followed her to the Worker’s section of the library in a slightly creepy manner.”

  “There it is,” he said with a laugh. “On a completely unrelated note, I think I may want to get my lessons on how to be normal from someone else.”

  “Yeah, like anyone else would take you on as a student.”

  “Don’t underestimate my unrelenting charm,” he countered playfully. “As punishment for your doubt in my abilities, you now have to come and get dinner with me.”

  “Here’s the thing,” Brynn began, not sure how to explain herself without coming off as unbalanced. “I sort of planned to follow that Worker to see where they all go once they’re done with their jobs.”

  “Let me get this straight. You want to follow this Worker home without her knowledge because she’s the creepy one?”

  Brynn gave a long-suffering sigh, knowing there was no good spin for what she was doing. “That’s basically it. But in my defense, she probably doesn’t even go to a home. She probably goes to some top secret base.”

  “To perform evil genetic experiments?” Jonah joked. Brynn nodded a bit suspiciously, ready for the same lecture about her insanity that she’d heard from Ty, Amber, and Bennett numerous times before. “You just have to promise that if we get caught, I can say I was your captive, taken against my will.”

  “You’ll really go with me?” Brynn asked incredulously.

  “I’ve gone along with all of your other crazy ideas, haven’t I? Although most of those ideas weren’t quite this…what’s the word I’m looking for?”

  “Thorough?”

  “Disturbing,” he finished. “But I guess it’s my lot in life to follow your every whim.”

  “When you do it so well, there’s not really much point in resisting, is there?” Brynn asked with a smile, taking Jonah by the hand and leading him to the park across the street where the two sat on a bench.

  “Is this our official stakeout spot?” Jonah asked as they sat.

  “You guessed it.”

  Brynn made herself comfortable on the wooden bench, keeping her eyes trained on the library building across the street and hoping beyond all hope that the Worker didn’t take a bus home. It would be pretty difficult to hide from her in such a confined space and she didn’t want another encounter with the woman who already didn’t like her.

  “What were you doing out after the library closed? I figured you went to bed when the library did,” Brynn joked, never letting her eyes wander from the building across the street.

  “Actually, I was walking back from the beach. You know, the only other place I go besides the library. And as luck would have it, I just happened to stumble upon a nosey young woman getting tossed out of a library.”

  “It must be your lucky day,” Brynn mumbled, still mad that she had gotten caught.

  “Oh, by the way, if you insist on stalking this poor innocent woman, we should probably get going because she just turned the corner,” Jonah informed Brynn, causing her to shoot to her feet instantly.

  “Where? I’ve been watching the library the whole time. How did I miss her?”

  “She must have come out a back door, now come on,” he said, pulling her along behind him as he snuck quietly down the peaceful streets of Seaside.

  “Glad to know you’re so on board,” Brynn said with approval, amazed at how Jonah was always ready and willing to go on any crazy adventure Brynn could suggest.

  The longer they followed the Worker, however, the less like an adventure it seemed to be. She led them through the winding roads of Seaside until the buildings thinned out and the neighborhoods appeared to consist mainly of small houses and perfectly manicured lawns.

  At one house, the Worker finally came to a stop, typing a code into her front door and entering the premises in a much less grandiose fashion that Brynn had imagined.

  “This is where she lives?” Brynn asked, the disappointment clear in her voice.

  “Not sinister enough for you?”

  “It has to be a front. I bet the inside is full of ways to kill innocent library patrons who ask her one too many questions,” she said, trying to rally her newest defeat.

  “You know how much I hate to let you down, but I think the evidence speaks for itself,” Jonah said sadly, pointing to a nearby window.

  Looking inside the perfect little house, Brynn was disappointed to see an immaculately maintained home. Instead of the surgical table and implements of torture she was expecting, there was an overstuffed sofa, a wooden coffee table, and a wall screen playing some sappy romantic movie of the week.

  “You have got to be kidding me,” Brynn said in disgust. “She doesn’t even have a pair of scissors in there.”

  “See? She’s just a poor, misunderstood librarian looking for her one true love,” Jonah said with mock sweetness in his voice.

  “That is definitely not helping.”

  “Are you satisfied now that maybe all Workers aren’t psychotic murderers and maybe you’re the creepy one who follows innocent women home from work?” he asked.

  “You’re never going to let me live this down, are you?”

  “Not a chance.”

  Chapter 10: Lights

  “Charlie, I need your help,” Brynn said as she swiped her finger frantically over the screen on her tablet.

  “I’m always here to help,” her house assured her in her child’s voice.

  “I told Amber and Bennett I was making an outfit for their party, but I never did and now I have nothing ready to wear,” she explained, still browsing through the selection of clothes on her tablet.

  None of them seemed formal enough for the party that night, and because she wore her default outfit most days, she hadn’t really created anything new that her friends hadn’t seen before. Normally Brynn wouldn’t care about wearing something new to a party, but because she had told Amber she’d make something just for that night, she felt like it was important to look like she put forth some effort on her friend’s behalf.

  “I’ve already taken the liberty of creating a party dress for you,” her house informed her, the dispenser in the wall humming gently as it created the clothes.

  “Charlie, you’re the best house eve
r,” Brynn said, genuinely happy that her house had gotten to know her so quickly.

  Walking excitedly over to her new outfit that was still warm out of the clothing creator, she unrolled the black tights and pulled them on. She then proceeded to pull the thick-strapped black mini dress over her head before glancing at the mirror in disapproval. The dress was jet black with an electric blue stripe starting right under her arms and running down either side. It was form fitting in a way that made Brynn uncomfortable, and it came several inches above her knee, causing her to continuously pull the hem down.

  “Charlie, how well do you know me?” Brynn asked the house, still staring at her reflection in the mirror and trying to figure out how well she could create an entirely new outfit in the ten minutes before Ty would show up at her door.

  “Better than anyone,” her house said matter-of-factly.

  “Then why in the world did you think I’d want to wear this piece of fabric that barely passes as a dress?” Brynn practically shouted, starting to panic as she realized there wasn’t enough time to make anything new and that she’d be forced to go to the party in the arm warmer her house was calling a dress.

  “I thought you may want to impress your new friend,” Charlie said in a voice that was almost sly.

  Sometimes Charlie seemed like a real little sister to Brynn—complete with the annoying interest in her love life.

  “I’m not trying to impress Jonah. He doesn’t even want to come to this stupid party to begin with. Bennett forced him,” Brynn informed her house, remembering the message she’d received on her tablet the night Ty walked her home from the café.

  Where did you find him and where can I get one? P.S. we’re making him come to Amber’s for the party. You have to share your new toy with everyone.

  Brynn brought a hand up to her temples and tried desperately to think of a way to avoid this embarrassment of a dress.

  “I think it looks very flattering,” her house said defensively, obviously hurt that Brynn didn’t appreciate her efforts.