Lost Clinic - Part Two

As I step through the smashed in wall I tentatively approach the towering device, the shiny exterior catching the light of my torch and reflecting it back into my eyes. I jump with a start as a delightful tune crackles over a set of hidden speakers, the screen flickering to life as it lags its way through a Swap Clinic loading screen.

"Wel...come... toooooooo" the device crackles, the massive cylinder opening with a grinding hiss. "The Swap Clinic 'User Unknown'. Timesheet inaccessible... Update server inaccessible... Trait Bank inaccess... Partially accessible... Begin procedure?

Flinching at the harsh crackling coming from the speakers I watch as the dust covered touch screen finally flickers off the stuttering loading pinwheel. The interface shifts for a moment, freezing on what appears to be some crisp and clean corporate user interface before crashing as a series of folders and explorer windows pop onto the screen. 

Inching closer I spy the names of the folders, long strings of hyphens and numbers with the occasional word like 'hair' or 'chest'. Two large folders sit up the top, each apparently empty and numbered to always be easy to find.

'001. Input'

'002. Output'

Lost Clinic - Part One

Floorboards creak underfoot as I pace into the cramped dank apartment, a deep moist funk clinging to room as the stagnant air slowly circulates for the first time in who knows how long. Clutching the last of my boxes in my hands I slowly trudge towards to pile in the center of the mall central living room, a series of three windows illuminating the rather open space through a set of sickly green curtains.

"This..." I begin to huff, inhaling sharply as the sickening moist scent begins to overwhelm my sense. Looking at the pile of boxes I place the one in my hands the floor, watching as the loose board shift beneath its weight, before rushing over to the pile. One by one I read the labels, my gaze soon locking to one before I move to rip it open.

In one swift motion I pull free a full bottle of air freshener, spraying wildly as the room soon fills with a caramel and cinnamon scented mist. Sighing to myself I look around, my heart sinking as it slowly dawns on me that this was my new home. Rents were high and only getting higher, and without a job to help me pay for the drastically increasing cost of living I had been made to make sacrifices. Thankfully, before it had gotten too bad I had found this place, a severely neglected apartment sitting above an equally empty and forgotten storefront.

"Should have just sold pictures of my feet or something..." I grumble, eyeing up the L-Shaped kitchen counters sitting beside front door and opening up into the sparse living room. The mint green counters are scuffed and damaged, small specks and dark spots either being stains or some kind of mold infestation that I'd need to deal with later. The over and stove top sit beneath one of the windows, the green tinted light highlighting the rusting edges around the metal appliances.

Look back to the front door I slowly tun left, looking at the tiny heavily outdated bathroom with a soap-scum coated shower and bath combo sneaking just into view through the slightly ajar door. To the left of the bathroom sits the one and only bedroom, the small room struggling to even fit a wardrobe alongside a single bed.

Pacing deeper into the apartment I keep spraying the scented mist, knowing full well I would need to be doing this for days and weeks to come in order to remove the disgusting fuck clinging to the orange shag carpeted bedroom in particular.

"Or married rich..." I chuckle weakly, making light of my situation as I step onto the well worn and filthy carpet in the bedroom. "Maybe I just a fresh start or..." I continue, pausing as I gag at the sensation of the carpet shifting beneath my feet. The aging flooring almost squelches under foot, the plush pile shifting as whatever glue had held it to the floor boards had eroded long ago.