1

The Intern

Present Day

From the floor, my eyes scan over the room. The walls look worn with diamond

patterned, moss colored wallpaper that peels from the corners. The rugs are old and tan colored

with stains that are various shades of brown and red. The room has an eerie familiarity to it.

Have I been here before? A sense of unease creeps over me. Suddenly, I feel the need to leave

immediately.

After picking myself up off the ground, I begin to cautiously walk out of the room and

down a hallway. The entire place smells of stale air and vinegar. The bitter aroma increases my

desire for fresh air and freedom. I turn right. Then left. Then left again. With every turn I end up

in an identical hallway: no pictures on the walls, no doors, just the same worn wallpaper and tan

rug.

My heart begins to race as I start to panic. My walking pace picks up speed. I am running

now even though I have no idea where I am trying to go. How did I get here? Right turn. What

am I looking for? Left turn. What am I doing? Left, right, right, left - there was no exit. I hear a

man screaming. The scream is full of pain and pure terror. I turn around and begin to chase the

scream. I remember now. I need to save him. As I sprint down the hall, an icy chill overtakes my

body, immediately followed by a surge of hot energy. I shoot upright and sharply inhale what

feels like my first breath.

I’m back in the cool metal tub, submerged halfway in water just like I left. More of my

memories flood back as I try to shake off the disorientation of having just been put under.
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“She’s awake,” Tania says in an uninterested tone. Tania has red hair that rolls down her

shoulders in waves and icy blue eyes that would intimidate almost anyone. Recently, she has not

been the warmest person, but who could blame her after the incident.

Nick, with his square frame glasses and short brown hair whips around from his

computer screens and begins to question me. “What did you see? Were you able to find an exit?

Did you find him?”

I look down at the ground and my eyes begin to water, “I heard him,” I shamefully reply,

“I heard him, and I was running toward him but then I got pulled out. If I had more time maybe I

could’ve helped but I didn’t even see him. I didn’t see anyone.”

“Consider yourself lucky,” Tania coolly interjects, “it's too dangerous to keep sending

you there. Maybe we should give up.”

“Give up?” Nick snaps back, “What? You just want us to cut our losses and walk away as

if nothing happened?!”

“What I want is for the rest of us to stay safe! We don’t know enough. I don’t want to see

anyone else get hurt!” Tania shouts back, briefly slipping out of the emotionless façade she has

had for the past three months.

Before the incident, we were the perfect team of six. Isabelle, my blonde, genius 26-year-

old step-sister, and Tania were the leading scientists for our experiments. Nick was the computer

genius, and Tommy and Drake were the fearless explorers of our newest discovery. Then there

was me, the (almost-scientist) intern who was supposed to observe, study, and double check

everything in order to prevent any accidents. It was also my job to be prepared to pull Drake and
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Tommy out in case of any mishaps. I was the one who was in charge of studying the meticulous

process on how to bring them back without harming either of them. Three months ago, I failed.

Three months earlier:

It is a warm day for the middle of October and as per usual, I am late. I never seem to be

able to budget my time right between my bill-paying job as a waitress and my internship with the

company that could grant me my dream job. I counted down the days until I could quit my job at

Dan’s Diner. I had made a few friends and the salary was above minimum wage, but my true

passion was science. The only reason why I didn’t earn a salary working at the lab was because

Oasis, the company we worked under, would only hire me once I was an official college

graduate. The rest of the team were only a few years older than myself, but I jumped at the

opportunity to be a part of this project when my step-sister Isabelle was talking about it two

summers ago. In four months, I would graduate a semester early and finally be able to be a real

member of the team and not the intern. I was just as intelligent and mature as the rest of the team,

I just didn’t have the same qualifications … yet.

My life is busy, but the routine is always the same. I enjoy the simplicity of my schedule;

however, my internship is anything but simple. We work with interdimensional and otherworldly

locations that can be reached by transporting our minds instead of our bodies. We are just now

beginning to understand how all of this is scientifically possible, and if this place actually exists

somewhere in our universe, or another. So far, we have only transported Drake and Tommy’s

consciousnesses into what we call the Abyss. The biggest conclusion we have come to is that this

place is not on our Earth. Today will be made up of more cautious exploration of this foreign

terrain and hopefully another groundbreaking discovery.

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Once I arrive at our building, I take the stairs by two until I get to the fourth floor. I

breathlessly stumble into our lab. As I catch my breath, I notice that the place is a mess. The

corner table underneath the large window is covered with papers of scribbled calculations and

the metal baths still have murky water in them from our last round of tests. The chair that Drake

accidentally broke while fake wrestling Tommy was discarded next to our wall of computers,

monitors, and screens.

“Where were you?” Isabelle questions, “we were about to start without you.”

“It's about time you got here!” Tommy exclaimed as I slid into my chair and got my

computer out from my bag.

“Come on give her a break guys. She is the only one here who has another job outside

this lab” Tania says with a sympathetic tone. She always sticks up for me. Tommy rolls his eyes.

“Besides,” Drake adds, “she’s damage control. We couldn’t start without her.”

I roll my eyes at my damage control title. It is used sarcastically now because the only

interesting thing we have encountered in the Abyss is some terrifyingly bleak decor.

Drake then proceeds to grab Tania’s waist, pulling her into his lap and wrapping her in a

tight hug.

“Ah yes, the newly engaged couple, never failing to remind us that we are all single,”

Nick sarcastically comments while glancing over at Tommy, hoping to make him laugh.

“Yeah, get a room,” Tommy snorts and playfully shoves Nick

I glance over at Tania and Isabelle to see if they notice how much Nick is blushing after

that encounter.
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Tommy could have been a professional athlete or a model, so no one blamed Nick for his

not so subtle crush on him. However, Tommy’s drive for adventure and danger are the only

things he ever really focused on at the lab and are what convinced him to join the team.

Tommy is also the one who dragged Drake into this job. They were teammates on the

football team at Ohio State. When they didn’t get drafted, Tommy begged Drake to take this job

with him. At first Drake was hesitant, but when we all met a little over two years ago and he saw

Tania, it was like love at first sight. They just got engaged a little over three weeks ago and are

already planning a beautiful wedding at the church around the corner and a honeymoon in Bora

Bora.

Their futures were so full and well planned, and I felt behind being the only remaining

intern. However, I knew that we all had potential to be extremely successful, especially if we

kept on our track of success with these tests and missions.

“Come on guys focus,” Isabelle interjects, “we got work to do so let's get down to

business, shall we?”

Present Day:

Hours after I am brought back from the Abyss, I find myself gazing out the window. I

had made myself a cup of tea in an attempt to get rid of the persistent feelings of unease, anxiety,

and defeat that I’m left with after my failed attempt at redemption. I watch as snowflakes from

the first winter storm begin to fall.

“How are you holding up,” Nick’s voice snaps me out of my daze.

“Honestly, not great”

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“That makes two of us,” Nick replies, as he stands next to me while blankly staring out

the window. He keeps scrunching his face to prevent any tears from falling. Every time we go

searching for Tommy in the Abyss, he gets his hopes so high. I can tell he’s hurting.

“I hate that this is all happening. If I had taken the risks of going into the Abyss more

seriously-”

“Do NOT blame yourself for all of this,” Nick turns to me and says in his best

authoritative voice, “What happened to him and the rest of the team was not your fault. We all

made mistakes that day.”

“But I was the one who was supposed to correct those mistakes!” I retort as my voice

begins to shake, “It was my ONE job to make sure they got back safely! I failed the team.” Nick

hugs me tightly in his big brotherly way as I finally let the tears stream down my face.

“I miss them so much” I let out between sobs

“Me too”

Three months earlier:

“Alright you guys know the drill,” I state as I drowsily talk Drake and Tommy through

the process of going under. Luckily, these steps are now second nature to me or else I could

make a life-threatening mistake.

I am so exhausted from the late shift I took waitressing last night at the diner. I needed

the cash, but I only ended up getting four hours of sleep. Even though I am the expert on what

everyone needs to do in order to get to and from the Abyss safely, which is a lot of

responsibility, I am not worried. Nothing interesting has happened since the first time Drake and

Tommy went under. Just the same old room and hallways.
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After Drake and Tommy have completed their cognitive transportation into the Abyss, I

briefly skim over the charts and computers with my tired eyes and slump back into my chair.

Now, all I have to do is watch, listen, and wait until we hit the 60-minute mark. The longer they

stay under, the harder it is to get them out, which is why we have stuck to hour long explorations

only.

“Hello?? Can you guys hear me?” Isabelle says into the intercom system,

“Crystal clear,” Drake responds

“Tell me what you see.”

Twenty minutes go by as Isabelle, Drake, and Tommy talk over the speaker. Tania

documents any fluctuations in their vitals on her clipboard, Nick monitors the computers and

makes sure all of the equipment is functioning properly, and I wait until it is time to wrap up

today’s exploration and bring the boys back to our reality.

“Do you see any signs of life?” Isabelle asks eagerly

“Negative,” Tommy responds

Although we all wanted to make some sort of scientific breakthrough, Isabelle was the

most eager out of all of us. She wanted to show Oasis results, so we could keep exploring this

uncharted territory. It was her dream to win the Nobel Peace Prize and be one of the top female

scientists of our generation. It was a big dream, but she still strived for it every day at the lab.

“Hold up I think I just saw something!” Drake replies excitedly

Isabelle plugs her headphones into the microphones, so she can concentrate. We have had

false alarms like this before, where one of the boys thinks they see a living creature, but then it

just turns out to be nothing. I am drifting off out of boredom and lack of sleep, when I suddenly

hear faint screams through Isabelle’s headphones.

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“Oh my god it's huge!” Drake screams

“Drake what IS that?!” Tommy exclaims

“RUN!”

“Pull us out!”

“What is it?!” Isabelle asks as she waves her arms at me to bring their consciousnesses

back to our world.

I jump out of my seat and run over to the tubs. Nick is furiously typing code to try to

speed up the process while Tania injects the guys with medicine in a desperate attempt to calm

down their spiking heart rates.

“What’s wrong?? What is going on?? Guys I need you to-” Isabelle stops mid-sentence

and her face turns white. I hear a faint screeching through the headset that makes my head hurt. I

have never heard a sound like that before. I watch as Isabelle slowly falls to the ground and

begins to have a seizure. Nick rushes to Isabelle and attempts to stop her seizing. I hop on the

mic.

“Hello?? Drake? Tommy? Is anyone there?” I ask desperately, only to hear nothing.

“Drake’s vitals are off the charts!” Tania exclaims with panic in her voice, “oh god oh no

no no.” She begins to shake him, splashing water everywhere, but gets no response.

“I need you both to talk to me right now!” I scream into the microphone out of

desperation and horror. What happened to them? Why is this happening?

“uhghhGh” I hear a familiar groan on the other side of the mic, “d-don’t come h-h-here.

m-m-monster.”

The mic dropped dead. Those were the last words Drake spoke to me.
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Two Weeks After the Incident:

I knock on Nick’s door. He is dressed in a tux (probably a rental), black shoes, and

slicked back hair.

“You clean up nice,” I say, giving him a half smile

“You don’t look half bad yourself,” he replies

I had to dig my only black dress out of the back of my closet. I haven’t worn something

this formal since my high school homecoming. We became close friends these past two weeks

through mourning our losses and trying to figure out ways to help both Tommy and Isabelle,

who are now in comatose states. We think that their consciousnesses might be stuck in the

Abyss. Whatever attacked Tommy and Drake must have somehow sucked Isabelle’s mental state

into the Abyss with them through the transference of sound waves. We don't understand it yet,

but I know I will not stop until I figure out how to bring them back. Nick and I have already been

experimenting and theorizing how this is possible, but this is not something we discuss today.

Today, we need to be there for Tania.

We walk into the church and are handed pamphlets with cursive lettering on the top

spelling out In Loving Memory of Drake Miller. Tears begin to fill my eyes. It is too real. I

glance at Nick and I can see he is thinking the same thing. How did this happen? We walk

further into the church where we see Tania. We exchange hugs and proceed to sit in one of the

pews. I feel numb. After all, one person can only cry so much in two weeks. I stare into space as

the funeral procession begins. This is our reality. Drake is gone.