Joey had been working under Mr. Stirling for 3 months by now and he was in a routine.
He would wake up at 5:30am sharp, shower, do his hair, eat his pre-planned breakfast, and head to work to make sure Mr. Stirling got a proper greeting when he arrives at the office for 7:00.
And like clockwork, at 6:58, Joey gets himself ready to greet his boss.
Joey is fully prepared to serve his boss however he sees fit.
At 7:00, Mr. Stirling walks into his office.
"Good boy, now, get under my desk and service me while I plan the day out." Mr. Stirling says, walking over to his chair, getting his notepad out.
"Yes Sir." Joey drones, taking his usual position.
90 minutes pass by and Mr. Stirling strokes Joey's hair and gently tells him that he has finished planning his day out.
"Joey, get up, I'm finished."
"Yes Sir." Joey drones in the same monotonous voice.
"Busy day for me Joey. I need you to take my calls until your lunch break at 13:00."
"Yes Sir." Joey turns around and walks out of Mr. Stirling's office, no thought ever popped into his mind about cleaning himself up. He didn't have to, it was part of his job...
Joey was really in his element in his new job, he took to the admin work so quickly that even Mr. Stirling was impressed and told Joey how much of a good worker he was for him, deepening the hold he had on Joey's mind and will.
But 13:00 soon rolled around and Joey went to have some lunch at the coffee shop across the street.
As soon as he left his place of work, his phone buzzed. A message from one of his old school friends, Mike, "hey mate, I'm back in town, should totally go out for a few drinks tonight, got a couple other mates from back at school to come, you in?"
Joey initially hesitated at responding to the message, but in the same moment, a message from Mr. Stirling appeared, "go for it Joey"
Naturally, Mr. Stirling had any message sent to Joey's number forwarded on to his own, he needed to keep track of his most favoured employee.
Joey respond with a swift, "I'll be there, 8pm good?"
"Yeah sound mate see u then"
Joey completed the rest of his work day, doing whatever he could for Mr. Stirling, and headed to the pub down the road to meet his friends.
Joey was slightly early, arriving at 1945, but used the time to get a head start on drinking.
As part of his contract with Mr. Stirling, Joey was prohibited from drinking alcohol while on call... and he was on call 24/7, even when he wasn't at the office.
So Joey sat there, slowly drinking his orange juice, until the first of his friends arrives, Mike.
"Hey Joey mate!" Mike called out from across the pub, pushing through a crowd of people, "how've ya been bud?"
"I've been really good thank you, I have this new job which I absolutely adore."
"Is that why you're dressed like that then?" Mike enquired, eyeing up Joey's satin unifrom.
"Yes, my boss has a strict policy on uniform."
"Aight then, the other two should be here in a sec, said they missed their bus, I'll get a round in for us while we wait. Mike said, not even lookking up from his phone.
"No thank you, I don't drink anymore" Joey responded with a smile.
"What?! You used to out-drink everyone back at uni, until I dropped out anyways..."
Mike didn't even know what to talk about anymore with his old friend, he seemed to have changed so much. He went to the bar anyways and got himself a Stella while he waited for the others to arrive.
A couple minutes of waiting at the bar, Mike heard someone yell his name from the entrance, his friend Troy.
"Sorry man missed the bus, Brett shouldn't be too far behind, he had to stop by his house on the way."
"Nah it's all good man, Joey's back there but... he's a bit weird. He says he don't drink anymore... and he's all dressed up weird, says it's for work."
"Maybe it just is?" Troy responded, watching Joey from afar.
"I don't know man, sounds like a cult to me..."
Troy just gave a little laugh back in response, "you really think Joey of all people are dumb enough to fall into a cult? I'd expect that from you but not from him."
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!
"Dude, you dropped out of uni because it was 'too slow and boring'"
"Yeah... so what? I got a decent job now."
"Sure.... Warehouse Worker at B&Q sounds mint... I'm going to go talk to Joey now, might get some intellectual conversation out of him."
Troy walked over to the table, Mike lagging behind, a bit red in the face after talking with Troy.
"Hey Joey, not seen you in a couple months! How've you been?"
"I've been really good thank you, I have this new job which I absolutely adore."
Mike's eyes widened, he grabbed his phone and typed out a text to Troy about how he said the exact same thing to him with the same mannerisms.
"Hate to break up this moment but Troy ya phone just buzzed, not gonna answer it?"
"No... I'm talking with my friend... anyways... is that why you're dressed like this now, you used to wear baggy hoodies like the rest of us; well, except Brett..."
"Yes, my boss has a strict policy on uniform."
Mike couldn't contain himself anymore, "Troy! Drinks! Now! Come!" Mike grabbed Troy's arm and pulled him up to the bar.
"Look at my text dude, applies to everything he's said to you tonight"
Troy looks at his phone and goes red, "you sure?"
"100% Bro is definitely in a cult.."
"Probably just coincidence, we probably just asked him the same questions. You do get a bit delirious when tipsy anyways..." Troy disregarded the talk he had with Mike and went back to Joey who was sat on his phone."
"Yes S----- Yes I understand, I will be there shortly. Sorry gentlemen, but I have been called into work, my boss needs me for something."
Joey didn't even wait for them to respond, he just got up and left.
"Ok... let's follow him" Mike said, watching Joey walk across the street through the pub window.
"Dude... are you crazy? It's his place of work, and Brett isn't even here yet..."
"Don't you want to know what he does?"
"Kinda, but I've had a couple drinks, I don't want to get done for intoxication or something." Troy quivered, despite his tough look, he'd always been afraid of breaking the rules.
"Well I'm goin even if you don't come with me." Mike bolted out of the pub, and a mild-mannered Troy began following him.
They got to the massive building where Joey works, but it was one where each floor is a separate company. Lucky for them, Mike spotted Joey getting into a lift.
"Look at him, fixing himself up, he doesn't even have a mirror... how does he know how he wants to look..."
Troy just gave Mike a side eye, "dude, you never just run your hand through your hair?"
"Whatever... shut up! Floor 8!"
The two snuck up the back stairs up to the floor Joey went to and tried to find him.
They looked in the small food area, no one, in the general workspace, no one.
They then walked down a long corridor and came across an office room so they peeked inside.
"Dude!" Mike yelled in a whisper
"What the--" Troy couldn't get the rest of his sentence out he was too shocked.
"Don't think this is a cult...." Mike admitted
"Yeah..... I don't think so..... still..... pretty messed up..."
They had caught Joey crawling under Mr. Stirling's table ready to service his boss.
Mike and Troy went to leave, when Troy's phone had a loud notification sound go off.
They got up and ran away, but they had managed to get themselves lost...
Meanwhile, in Mr. Stirling's office, Mr. Stirling seemed to notice a disturbance, "Joey my boy, go to see Garrett in security and see if he can find out what's going on..."
"Yes Sir..." Joey groaned, getting up from under the table.
Joey marched down the hall to Garrett's office, barely missing Mike and Troy hiding in the mini canteen.
"Good evening Garrett, our boss would like you to check on something for him."
"Anything for our boss" Garrett droned, in the same monotonous voice as Joey, "what does he require?"
"He heard a sound from the hallway and would like you to investigate"
"Certainly... Just at first glance, I see motion at the 'Rejuvenation Area. I will do investigate'"
"Thank you so much.." Joey droned.
Mike and Troy had recently left that area but had lost track of each other after trying to stay silent in a dark office.
Troy was hiding under a desk in the back of the shared office. Meanwhile, Mike hadn't moved from the rejuvenation area, and just stayed scrunched up onto a vending machine.
Garrett had little trouble in finding Mike, as the luminescent lights gave him away instantly, "I'm unsure what's dumber, you coming here uninvited, or your hiding spot" he said, still with the same monotonous tone but with the smallest hint of sarcasm.
"Wha-? Get off me!!" Mike yelled, as Garrett picked him up and carried him into Mr. Stirling's office.
"Hello there... what brings you to my offices? Why do you fee entitled to break into my space?" Mr. Stirling enquired with a stern look.
"I aint tellin you nothin!" Mike yelled back, trying to shake off the grip Garrett had on him.
Mr. Stirling just let out a little chuckle, "alright then, you just sit tight here and we'll get your other little friend to help jog your memory..."
Mr. Stirling motioned to a chair in the corner of to room which Garrett dragged Mike to and pushed him down into it, a mechanism popped out of the arms and strapped Mike to it, making him unable to move.
"Oh... and before you leave Garrett, please do something to make him unable to disturb me."
"Yes Sir" Garrett droned, pulling a rag out of his back pocked and positioning it over Mike's mouth, tying it at the back.
Garrett went back to his office where Joey was awaiting his return.
"I have found the other, an acquaintance from my host's previous life, he is residing in the stairwell, using his personal device."
"Brilliant Joey, Mr. Stirling would be so proud of the man you are becoming..." Garrett said as he left his office once more to find the remaining stoaway.
Troy was hiding in the middle of the stairwell he used to get up to the main offices, frantically trying to message Brett, who by now was just waiting at the pub wondering where all his friends went.
HELP US... OFFICE... FLOOR 8
Troy desperately tried to get a message to Brett, but he had no signal, not a single bar or data where he was. He was trapped, and all he could hear was the faint footsteps of someone coming toward him...
"I can see you... don't run..." Garrett taunted, staring at Troy from the railing above, "you have no where to go..."
Troy just froze, he wasn't as brazen as Mike and didn't know what else to do other than give in.
Garrett took Troy's hand, along with his phone and led him up to Mr. Stirling's office...
"Hello.... and here's our final intruder"
"Well I----" Troy mumbled
"Stop! Garrett, deal with him like you did the other"
"Excellent... thank you Garrett, please go back and bring Joey in."
30 seconds passed, which felt like 30 years for Troy and Mike, until a faint knock on Mr. Stirling's door came through to end the deafening silence.
"Enter." Mr. Stirling commanded.
Joey came in and seemingly ignored the fact that Mike and Troy were sat right behind where he was standing.
Despite the muffles of Mike and Troy, Joey didn't even flinch...
"What do you think we should do with our intruders dear Joey?" Mr. Stirling asked, motioning at the 2 men sat at the back of the room. "Do you think we should let them go? Or should we welcome them into the company?"
"I believe we should do whatever suits your needs best Sir." droned Joey, salivating at the mouth.
"Agreed... Joey, go and fetch two conversion sets."
"Yes Sir." Joey left just as he arrived, not even looking at his former friends, desperatly trying to look for an escape.
But it was no use... Joey unboxed two identical pairs of headphones, very similar to the ones used in his own job interview...
Joey placed the first set over Troy's ears.
Mike was still shuffling about in his chair, and he somehow got the cloth off from his mouth and starting screaming, "you'll never get away with this you know! Get off him! Troy! What's happening?!"
All Mr. Stirling could do was try to tune out the sounds of a man with no escape, and he rolled his eyes...
Within a minute, both Mike and Troy had the headphones on, and could hear nothing at all thanks to the headphone's noise cancelling technology.
The final touch, Joey pressed a button and soft waves came blasting through the headphones, instantly calming their minds.
Next came the binaural beats, invading their brain.
In sync, Troy and Mike fell into a deep sleep...
In the meantime, Brett had been waiting at the bar, for 45 minutes, just on his own, relentlessly trying to get in contact with either Troy or Mike.
It wasn't until he was about to give up and go home that his phone buzzed... a message from Troy, "HELP US... OFFICE... FLOOR 8..."
Brett just brushed it off as a prank and responded with, "don't play games with me today, had a shitty day at the office, just tell me where you are."
Within seconds, a reply came back, "Meet me in the foyer on Floor Eight of the office building across the street."
Brett was confused, Troy never used proper grammar in his texts, maybe he was a polite drunk?
Nevertheless, Brett got up and headed across the street to meet who he thought was Troy.
Back in Mr. Stirling's office, the transformation was going smoothly, Joey was watching it all unfold with his signature empty look and Mr. Stirling was watching with great anticipation. After all, we was getting two new employees without even putting out a job advertisement.
A mantra had been playing for them for 10 minutes by now, re-wiring their brain to see Mr. Stirling as their boss, making them think that it is their duty to do as he says.
"They are almost finished. Joey. Go and fetch their new uniform."
"Yes Sir..." Once again, Joey left and came back minutes later with two sets of clothes, identical to his own.
However, Brett had just reached the main office building, and seeing how there was so many floors, he thought he'd ask someone for the quickest way to the 8th floor.
It didn't take Brett long to find someone...
"Hey, sorry to bother you, do you happen to know how best to get to the 8th floor? My friends told me to meet them there."
"Ah yes, you can just follow me there, I'm heading that way anyways"
Brett followed the man, unknowing of Garrett's true identity... unknowing of how he had been messaging Garrett after he took Troy's phone after capturing him.
While Garrett was escorting Brett, Mike and Troy's conditioning came to an end when the audio stopped, and Joey stepped in to remove their headphones.
"Stand for me" Mr. Stirling commanded.
"Y----esss.... S--ir" Mike and Troy groaned, their body still adjusting to their new brains.
"Fantastic, Joey, take them away to change, and make sure to freshen them up a bit, they look dishevelled."
"Yes, Sir." Joey droned perfectly
In only 90 seconds, Mike and Troy emerged into Mr. Stirling's office again, both now wearing their new uniforms.
"You two look perfect. And I know you feel perfect too. Isn't that right?"
"Yes.... Sir" they drones with increasing eloquence.
"Now... serve me while I finish working, Joey, show them how it's done."
"Yes Sir" the three of them chimed.
Mr. Stirling had only been able to work for a matter of minutes before another knock came on his office door.
"Garrett Sir. Our two intruders had another friend whom I lured here to you Sir."
With a facial expression full of ecstasy, Mr. Stirling responded with a cheerful, "Enter."
"Hey, so apparently, you are who I'm suppos....ed... to--- see...... what... the....... What's going on?!" Brett exclaimed in fear.
He tried to run, but Garrett made sure he couldn't get anywhere...
"Welcome to your future..." Mr. Stirling jeered, as Brett could only look in awe at what has become of his prior friends...
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