Quoted By:
>Diplomance
Your line of thought is extremely simple. You only need to pull out all the stops to fix the problem if it's an actual problem. Therefore, as it <span class="mu-i">isn't</span> a problem— can't be a problem, mustn't be a problem— you shouldn't need to do much at all. You're certain that once you explain the situation to the employees, the misunderstanding will be cleared up, and they'll settle down. And nothing will have been wrong.
You nod, to confirm it to yourself. That's how it'll be. "Okay! All set! When I come back, they'll be fixed."
YOU BELIEVE IT IS SO EASY?
"I don't <span class="mu-i">believe</span> it. It is easy. Bye!" You wave, then shut your eyes, stick your hands straight out, and push through the curtain.
The noise is the same— louder, harsher, more desperate— and on top of it, the floor is thickly sticky, so you yank up your foot every time you step, and teeter forward, and stomp it down again, and you do that blindly, ignoring the noise, ignoring the smell (it's of death) (you know this smell), stomping on and on, until your shoe comes down on something, something yielding, something fleshy, and something screams, and something siezes your ankle— a hand siezes your ankle, hard enough to bruise— and you don't scream, but (do shriek) make no noise, and open your eyes. Because you thought it was a good time to do so. And you think positive, and you think positive, and you think positive, Charlotte, think positive.
This is fine and it is good. It is a hill of bodies, many of them burnt or injured or otherwise degraded, oozing, twitching, mouths opening and closing, eyes sightless, arms flailing, bound together, not cleanly, mostly at the torsos. This is good and it is fine. This is not wrong. Why?
Why isn't it wrong?
Why isn't it... why... it can't... because...
Ah! Because it's not real! After all, Us isn't really ten thousand people in a giant auditorium, any more than it's ten thousand people holidaying at the beach or at the lake. It's a big thing of goo. And so are these people, even if they don't know it yet! That's right! They're only perceiving themselves as a horrifying flesh-abomination, because that's how they... how they incorrectly, temporarily feel. It's not how they want to be, obviously. So if you reason with them, they'll go back to normal! Bingo!
You take a deep breath, through your mouth, so you can't smell the smell. "Hello! Greetings!"
The noise continues unchanged.
"...Salutations! Employees of the company formerly known as Headspace! I have come to let you know—"
The noise continues unchanged.
"—that, um, you— hello? Can you hear me?"
It'll be simple. It'll be easy. It can't be anything other than simple and easy. If it's anything other than simple and easy, you will crack in two. Except you won't, because you're brave, right? You're strong? Shining? A paragon of virtue and justice? A heroine?
(A heroine who turned most of the people she rescued into...)
No! Positive thinking, Charlotte! You <span class="mu-i">cannot</span> fail now!
