Day 156

There's always something off about Staff Only rooms.

I'm not sure if its the whole "fear of the unknown" thing or the smell of burnt hair and blood that lingers around these doors, slinking down the halls and dissipating before it hits the unsuspecting masses.

The doors are locked with a code that new staff members don't actually know yet they always punch in the right numbers, the older ones (veterans, if you will) have it tattooed underneath their left index finger so it is in perfect view at all times, changing weekly as all staff codes do.

To the average consumer the codes aren't even there, nor is the smell, nor are the shrieks of terror as the Staff Only doors swing open to reveal a seemingly ordinary room full of hardback plastic chairs, one grey coffee table and several eggshell coloured cupboards.

The reality is swiftly different as I found upon joining a large corporate retail brand and memorising the algorithm that set the code for the Staffroom door every month (for personal safety reasons I can't disclose names or numbers, I'm sure you'd understand if you had seen what I've seen behind those doors).

My first break was the hardest, the algorithm tore through my mind and before I could even comprehend it I had already unlocked and opened the door which lead to a room nothing like the one I'd seen on the interview.

The hardback plastic chairs were already occupied by corpses in varying states of mutilation and decay, each with a sign around their neck detailing the reason for their death (which varied from "writing down the algorithm with intent to share" to "poisoning the café food").

It's hard to know what to feel when confronted with a room of (the remains of) people who probably didn't deserve the torture they had been through let alone having their bodies on display in the break room as an example to all other employees.

I would quit but the consequences for that are almost as severe as the ones that led to those corpses in the break room so I've had to ask for a transfer, claimed it was easier on my family and the retailer had my undying loyalty - the usual spiel.

I don't know if they accepted it exactly, I've been transferred but the other staff members act a lot colder to me than my previous team - I think they suspect that I plan on writing this and sharing it before I leave the country for good.

Let's hope they don't find me.
I don't want to end up in the break room.
Not like the others.