There was Something Strange Going on at the Office

She couldn't believe she was walking into the office again after how fucked up yesterday was. If it wasn't imperative for her to be there on time, she wouldn't have been in at all. Her game plan was as follows: raid the fruit bowl in the break room, avoid Rachel, avoid anybody that looked like they might have even heard of the IT department, then run back to her desk and keep a low profile.

The plan worked well at first. She secured a pear from the communal fruit bowl and filled her drink bottle with water. On the way back through, she glanced in one of the neighbouring rooms where Sarah and Cathy worked. She was almost getting used to seeing Sarah slutting it up in the workplace, and now Cathy had joined her. From the looks of it so had the other women on level 2. It makes sense, she thought to herself, they're just pretty girls trying to look their best. No, what really seemed strange was the fact that they were without exception asleep at their desk with their headphones on. Synchronised napping at 9:08am was definitely new. Hell, normally half the office isn't even in yet. Maybe they've finally realised how important it was to come in to work on time every day.

Morbidly curious, she decided to wait around for a bit. At 9:15, nobody had moved a muscle. Everybody was breathing in a calm, measured way. Starting to get a bit bored, she approached Sarah and tapped her on the shoulder. No response. These were the kind of over-ear headphones that companies loved to buy in bulk even though they were fairly uncomfortable, hopeless at noise isolation, and had poor microphones. They weren't even that cheap, but they were "certified" for the office suite, so that's what they got. This did mean that she could hear quite a bit of sound leaking out of it as she pushed her head closer to Sarah. Somebody was speaking, a low, comforting voice. It was repetitive, but a little hard to make out.

"Pretty girls do as they're told," the voice said, over and over. Everybody knows that pretty girls do as they're told, she thought. Why the hell is she listening to some audio file about it though? What was it going to say next, the sky was blue? Water is wet? A few moments later, the voice changed it's rhythm. It took her a few loops to understand what it was saying clearly. "You would do anything to please your superiors", it said, over and over. Wait, that's not right... Sarah's lips were mouthing the words along with the voice from the headphones.

Something finally clicked in Jenna's mind. This is... this is some kind of brainwashing thing. She pulled her head away as quickly as she could, the gravity of the situation suddenly sinking in. She looked over at the group of women. They were all just sitting there soaking this all in. They're all... they're hypnotised, or something, she thought. She had to get out of here, immediately.

She thought back to the voice playing on whatever recording Sarah had been listening to. "You would do anything to please your superiors". Jenna thought about it, but it was basically bullshit. She wouldn't even fetch coffee for her boss, let alone "do anything" for him. What it had said earlier was true, though – pretty girls do as they're told. She strained to think back past the last seven days. Pretty girls should always try to look their best, but despite that basic, universal truth, she did recall that there was a sudden, dramatic shift in what all the pretty girls around her seemed to consider "looking their best". She struggled to reconcile all of this.

Running through her thoughts, Jenna felt increasingly panicked by all of this. She thought back to the sleazebag from IT who had come to "test her". Whatever was going on, he must have had something to do with it. Mister Grey and Nathan were both acting extremely recklessly. Did they know something was going on? If all of the other women in the office were already six layers deep into this Svengali shit, then she knew she was in major danger. I might be the only person here who hasn't been affected. I need to talk to somebody outside of this office, immediately.

Jenna found the most secluded corner of the office she could – the second supply room. Nobody ever came in here. Generally nobody remembered there was a second supply room. She pulled out her phone and started looking through her contacts. These days, her friendship circle outside of work was scant. She settled on Yuki. She hadn't kept in touch with her since the final year of University, but for a little while there they were extremely close. She pushed call and waited anxiously to see if she'd pick up. To her relief, the call connected.

"Oh my god, Jen, what's up! It's been forever!"

"Hey! I know, I've been meaning to catch up for ages," she replied.

"How are you? What's going on?" Yuki said. Jenna froze for a moment.

"I'm actually in kind of a spot right now, Yuki."

"Aw shit, what's wrong? Can I help?"

"I um," she started, but then froze again. You should never talk about what happens at work to outsiders, it suddenly occurred to her. What had she been thinking? Of course she would never talk about what happens at work with Yuki. Yuki was an outsider. How could she have been so stupid? "Actually I'm... Look sorry to bother you," she said then abruptly hung up. She received a message almost straight away afterwards.

"If you need me, I'm here," it said.

Jenna spent the rest of the day hiding. Somebody was going to notice her missing, if they hadn't already, but there was no way she wanted to go back to her computer and risk having god knows what fucked up ideas put into her head. Maybe I'm immune to whatever it is? Still, I need to be careful.

That night, she had a dream.

In her dream, she was dancing with a man in a business suit. His tie had been loosened and the jacket was open, but they were going for it. Normally she hated dancing, and she hated noise, and crowds, but doing it for him? That was a pleasure. She was practically grinding a hole in his pants. He was so fucking hard, and she was so fucking wet. Suddenly, they were in a private room. Nobody else was around.

She couldn't see his face, but that didn't matter. She tore off his clothes with implausible ease, like it was made of tissue paper, and she shoved the dick straight into her mouth. She sat there for an eternity just sucking it and teasing it and stroking it. She wasn't experiencing any physical pleasure, but she knew that if she made him happy, he might say the words. Oh fuck, please say the words, she thought to herself. He grunted and unloaded into her mouth. She swallowed every single drop, and then cleaned him up with her tongue enthusiastically.

She looked up at him with anticipation. Say the words say the words say the words say the words

The alarm buzzed. "Fuck", she shouted out loud.

Chapter 3

By Wednesday, Jenna was determined to get to the bottom of it all. She was confident that there was a group of people at work who had conspired to do... something to the women. Force foreign ideas in their heads. Control them.

When she got in to work, she avoided her desk again and went straight into the neighbouring office. Several women were at their desk, staring intently at their monitors, silently working. Some of them were already starting to zone out from what she could see. Suddenly, somebody almost knocked her sideways.

"I'm.. so sorry," said Cathy, out of breath and evidently sprinting to get to her desk. "I almost didn't make it into work on time, I had to get a taxi." Jenna sympathised. It was imperative to do so, after all. If Cathy was running late, it was probably because she'd spent so long looking in a mirror this morning. Her makeup was flawless and she'd had her hair done since yesterday. Instead of the "classy hooker" look that some had been going for, she seemed to have more of a "gym clothes" aesthetic going on. She was wearing an extremely tight set of leggings that made it hard not to stare.

"That's ok," said Jenna, although it was in fact quite painful. "Hey, Cath, could you do me a favour?" she continued.

"Oh sure Jen, what do you need?"

"Just come with me for a sec, let's grab a coffee."

"Oh um, sure," she said. "Just let me put my bag down."

As she fetched a coffee with Cathy, she made some small talk. Really, she was just stalling her – she wanted to show Cathy what was happening to the other women, to see how she might react. She was also curious.

"Cath, how do you feel about your superiors?" she said, thinking back to what was being drilled into the women yesterday.

"Um, they're fine I suppose," she replied, looking a bit confused. Jenna paused for a moment. Oh fuck it.

"Would you do anything to please them?" she said after a pause.

"I would do anything to please my superiors," said Cathy with no trace of hesitation or doubt.

That confirmed it beyond a shadow of a doubt. Whatever they were doing – it worked. She let out a sigh.

"I thought you might say that," said Jenna. She was struck by a bolt of inspiration. "Hey, you know, I've been thinking... I've worked here a lot longer than you have, haven't I?"

"Yeah."

"And I'm technically a rank above you, yeah?"

"Technically, yeah. You've got your own little private area to work in. What are you getting at exactly?"

"So you could say that I'm you're superior, right?"

Cathy looked a little torn. Jenna knew this was a bit of a logical stretch – Cathy did not in any sense report to Jenna, even though they were on different pay levels and Jenna had more responsibilities in the office.

"I don't think that's really how it works," said Cathy. Damnit, she thought. I really need an ally. Wait, maybe I'm overthinking this...

"But you are a pretty girl, right? So you'd do as you were told?"

"Pretty girls do as they're told," said Cathy, "of course." Jenna was relieved. So she couldn't convince her that she was her superior, but Jenna didn't even need to take advantage of any of the brainwashing to get her to cooperate, thankfully.

"Great, I'm so glad to hear it. You will come with me back to the office, but you're not going to sit down or do any work today. Do you understand?"

"Um, yeah, I can do that," she replied.

The two of them walked back through the corridors and arrived near Cathy's desk. She didn't sit down, so all was going well up to that point. Everyone else in that room was, as predicted, now asleep with their headphones on.

"That's weird," said Cathy.

"Yeah, I'm glad you noticed," she said. "I think they're doing something to the women here, Cath."

"What? Doing what?"

"They're um, hypnotising us, or something. I think it doesn't work on me, but you were here yesterday just like these people, repeating phrases under your breath."

Cathy looked completely blindsided.

"That's the silliest thing I've ever heard, Jen." Cathy turned to look at the people all there sleeping, mouths moving silently. "Although I do admit, this is next-level bonkers. Have you told anybody else about this?"

"Well, I couldn't tell anybody outside, because you should never talk about what happens at work to outsiders. I wasn't sure who to talk to. I know I want to get to the bottom of this, but I just don't know who to trust."

"If I was like that yesterday then..." Cathy looked increasingly panicked.

"I think it started last week, but I'm not sure exactly."

"Maybe the update that went around on Thursday last week? Could they have done something to our computers then?" It was so obvious. She couldn't even believe she hadn't thought of that.

"That's probably the best working theory we have," she said.

"Jesus Christ. We have to wake them all up, right now."

"No! If we make too much fuss they'll just come down here and tell you all to get back to work anyway. You'd do it if I told you to, wouldn't you?"

"Pretty girls do as they're told, so yeah. Jesus, you're right, we're going to have to play this one close to the chest."

"Agreed."

Privately, Jenna didn't trust Cathy at all. She was completely compromised and there could be dozens of secret beliefs and commands buried in her head. But she needed someone to help. She couldn't just run away and never come back. It just wasn't the done thing to leave work during work hours without permission. Because she didn't fully trust Cathy, she elected not to take her to the second supply room. She considered it something of a private sanctuary – a fortress of solitude perhaps – and she knew there was a possibility that Cathy might get caught by someone. She would do anything to please her superiors, the poor woman. What they needed right now was a plan. Any kind of plan. The beginnings of a plan might be enough.

"Can you think of anybody else who might not be compromised, but isn't an outsider?" Cath whispered. Jenna put some serious thought into it. "Is there anyone in IT we can trust, maybe? Do you have any friends there?"

Jenna explained to Cathy what had happened with the IT guy on Monday.

"Did you do what you were told?" she intoned, just in the way that Rachel had that day. She sighed, this wasn't a productive line of discussion.

"No I did not. Do not ask me that again, Cath," she replied. Cathy's genuine confusion about why Jenna hadn't done as she was told was overridden by her own desire to do as she was told right at that moment.

"Of course. I won't ask you that again."

"Good. But to answer your question, I'm not sure if there's anyone there we can trust."

"Do you know anyone from level three?" she asked. Another bolt of inspiration struck Jenna as the question entered her mind.

"Have you seen Sophie recently?" she asked Cathy. Cathy thought about it for a moment.

"Now that you mention it, I think she went away last week. Took some leave for family issues. I thought she'd be back by now."

"If she wasn't here, then she's probably safe. But she also works here, so she's not an outsider. Alright, we're getting somewhere." She was suddenly almost excited by this. The stakes were real, but it also felt like an old mystery novel of some kind. The main character is pretty fucking stupid, though, she thought to herself.

She instructed Cathy to wait in the bathroom until she got back. She was only too happy to do as she was told. The elevator dinged, and as before, she decided to duck into a corner where she wouldn't be seen. A group of men got out, so she felt her suspicions were vindicated.

"Are we on schedule, Mark?" said a voice. Mister Grey's voice. That fucking pig.

"Absolutely sir. Things have been going very smoothly. They're taking to the suggestions like ducks to water," said another voice, much more timid. Is that the IT guy from before?

"But has it worked on everybody, Mark? Have you tested everybody?"

They stopped walking.

"I um, yes. I've seen to it that we've tested everybody. There's just one person who might be an issue."

"Who is it?"

"Miss Greene. She seemed like she's only had a partial uptake on the suggestions" he said. Jokes on you, fuckface. None of your fucking 'suggestions' worked on me at all!

"I assume I don't have to tell you about the gravity of this situation, Mark," he said. He sounded like he was starting to wind up. "I assume, Mark, that I am not required to make you fully and completely cognisant of the consequences of you fucking this up for me. For the whole company."

"Absolutely not sir," he said even more timidly than before. "I'm seeing to it that we pull her in for a manual adjustment today. I'm completely confident that it won't be an issue, sir."

"Good."

They continued walking down the hallway and out of earshot. Jenna was terrified. They were onto her. She needed to contact Sophie, right now.

* * *

She managed to find Sophie on chat. She wasn't friends with her, but she sent a message request and breathed a sigh of relief when it was accepted.

Jenna > Hi Soph. I'm sorry if this is a bad time. Do you have a sec to chat?

Sophie > Hey Jenna yeah I've got a min. What do you need

Jenna > This going to sound completely insane, but there's something really serious going on at work and I need your help.

Sophie > Of course, what's wrong

Jenna > Do you have access to a gun?

Sophie > Jesus whats happened are you ok

She spent the next half an hour in an extremely intense text chat with Sophie. She seemed to believe Jenna, or at least was humouring her. She knew it sounded completely insane, but promised that she would be able to prove it all as soon as she came back to work the following today. She made the urgency extremely clear, and Sophie promised that she'd bring in her boyfriend's target pistol on the condition that it was unloaded. Good enough. I only have to threaten them if it comes to that.

The remainder of the afternoon was going to be trickier. She was wanted now. It was only 1pm and she couldn't leave without permission until 5pm on the dot. She had to evade them until then, and considering they might be hunting for her, possibly not until much later, after everybody else had left. She opened up the crack of the meeting room floor. Level one is a possibility. Maybe the basement parking? No good, she'd have to go past IT on the way down.

She waited until nobody was around in the corridor, and she made a dart for the other end. She crouched past the main admin area and went back into the lady's room. Cathy was still sitting there, staring into the mirror diligently waiting for her return.

"Cathy," she said. She felt guilt welling up inside, but this was important. "I now need you to run a distraction for me. I'm going to... I'm going to run downstairs and try to get out of the building and I need you to go in and distract the IT people in the main office while I do that. Is that understood?"

"Yes of course," Cathy said, smiling. Cathy seemed to take some pride in doing what she was told. Jenna knew this was not going to work very effectively – as soon as she went in there she was more or less going to be dancing to their tune, falling over herself to please them. But they were already looking for her, and she needed to throw them off until she could get somewhere else in the building. She needed them to think she'd left the building, as unthinkable as that would be to actually do. Cathy would be grilled about her whereabouts, she'd tell them what she believed to be happening.

A few moments later, she was ready to make a break for it. Her true objective was, as before, the secondary supply room. She signalled to Cathy to go in and start distracting them. Then she performed the odd hybrid of a crouch and a sprint towards her destination. Her heart pounded the whole way. I fucking made it! She closed the door as quietly as she could behind her and started making a little spot to hide in behind the giant stack of tissues, stationary and paper. If somebody opened the door, she wouldn't be immediately visible as long as she could keep quiet.