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The building was quite tall. It was... Well, it was actually ridiculously tall.
But I already knew about that. I had to go see someone.
I stepped into the elevator and pressed the button of the highest floor. The elevator was white, and there were no mirrors, fortunately. Slowly, quietly, it ascended.
-
It was tough, being an art student at my current academy. It wasn’t just an academy for art, but for design and communication as well. Now that I was in my final year and had to create a project all by myself, the pressure was starting to get to me. I had done my literary research, I finished the preparations. But the worst part, the part I was absolutely horrible at, was the actual CREATING of my ideas. My hands were never my best allies when it came to crafting items. And neither was my brain, if I’m being honest. And there was no one to help me out. Everyone was, quite literally, locked away for a few months.
But the deadlines remained.
And so I had to speak with someone. Someone I knew would be able to help me out of this mess. A genius at crafting strange items. I knew he, of all people, would be able to offer me the best advice I could possibly get.
There was one thing that worried me, though.
His willingness to help me.
-
PING!
The elevator stopped. The doors opened. I stepped outside, approaching the white door. I read what the sign said.
‘DO NOT DISTURB.’
Oh, this is going just swimmingly so far, I thought to myself.
I decided to wait outside.
After twenty minutes or so, I still hadn’t heard a single sound come from behind the door. Was he asleep? It seemed improbable, it was half past three in the afternoon, after all. I approached the door and decided to knock.
KNOCK KNOCK!
But there was no “who’s there?”
In fact, it remained completely silent.
I didn’t really mind. If I’m being completely honest, and once again, I’m really trying to be, I was relieved to hear no response. I needed help, but my everlasting nervousness when it came to meeting new people was always there. If he’s not here, then that’s not my fault! At least I tried, am I right?
And so I turned around.
PING!
The elevator doors opened, and there he was.
He was carrying a big, carton box of metal scraps and parts of some sort of... electronic device. The box was filled to over the brim with them.
The jangling sounds were quite loud as he stepped out of the elevator, but he immediately stopped in his tracks when he noticed me standing in front of his door. His sudden stop caused various metal items to fall out of the box and onto the floor with a loud CLANG.
“Oh, and I was being so careful!” he said in frustration.
“I’m sorry,” I said, and I quickly picked the items up and put them back on top of the metal heap rising from the box.
“Thank you,” he said, walking to his door. “You... weren’t waiting for me to remove the sign, were you?”
“I was, actually,” I said. “I mean, it does say ‘do not disturb’.”
“Yes, yes, but I left it up there for a good reason! You see—,” he used his leg to kick the door open, “—I always leave my door unlocked whenever I go to get my package from the lowest floor! That way, when I return, I can easily walk in, like—like this!” He walked in. “Ah, but then I bet you’re wondering: why would he put the DO NOT DISTURB SIGN on his door? Well, if someone tries to break into my apartment, they would obviously think twice when they see this sign. For when someone is home, you don’t break into their apartments! Unless you’re a... brave burglar, I suppose. But no matter! What I’m trying to say is that if I HADN’T put up that sign, people would think I might not be home, and break in! Was that—did that explanation suffice or should I go on?”
“No, I understand,” I said quickly.
“Ah, good! Please, come in. I’m sure you’ve got something to say to me when you’ve been waiting here for so long. Oh, and you can close the door and throw the sign somewhere on the floor outside, I don’t really mind. Someone’ll clean that up eventually, probably.”
I did what he said and entered his apartment.
-
It was bigger than I thought, and completely different from the rest of the building. It was dark and rather unfurnished. There were black stains on the floor and the walls, some parts of the room seemed to be burnt. I knew his inventions often tended to explode, so I wasn’t surprised to see the mess. I followed him to the center of the room where he put down the box of metal.
“Ah, finally, my arms were starting to get stiff. Well, anyway, I should probably introduce myself. My name is—”
“I know who you are,” I said, to which he started blinking in surprise.
“Wait, you do?” he asked.
“Yes, that’s why I came here,” I said. “I need your help.”
His face lit up. His slouching decreased as he waited for my brief backstory.
“I need help with a design for a new, uh... ‘invention’ of mine. I’m in my final year of college, and I really want to graduate with the project I’m working on, but the thing is... I’m not good at making stuff with my hands at all. Sure, I can do research and write pages about why I’m making something worth graduating with, but I can’t actually make it.”
“Hold on, let me get this straight,” he said. “So you need to graduate and decided to ask an evil scientist for help? I mean, you do know every work of mine is completely based on the sole purpose of ruling the—”
“Yes, I know,” I said. “That’s why I came to you. But here’s the thing... I’m afraid my plan might be too evil, even for you.”
Now he just scoffed.
“TOO evil? For ME? Heh, that’s impossible. Well, go on!”
I scratched my throat.
“Do you... Do you know how many people die on the side of the road these days? Because they drive too fast, they drive up against trees and die instantly?”
He narrowed his eyes and nodded.
“I’ve done the research on this topic, and the relatives of the deceased often want to place a roadside monument on the location of their death. However, the government doesn’t always agree with this. Roadside monuments are deemed distracting and dangerous, even though huge advertisements are still allowed on the side of the road, but that’s beside the point, and I want to create a roadside monument that will be allowed by the government, and appreciated by the people in mourning. I have already drawn the perfect design. It completely fits into every environment, and it contains a small locker people can put their supplies in. And because of its easy-to-fabricate design, it can be mass-produced. And because people will never stop dying...”
I paused for a second as I pondered my next choice of words.
“...I will become rich.”
-
He stared at me for a second. I tried to understand what the expression he wore on his face meant, but I honestly couldn’t figure it out at that moment.
Then, however, he closed his eyes. A smile appeared on his face.
“In reality,” he said, “what you just proposed isn’t evil at all.”
I frowned. “Excuse me?”
“I’m not always this profound, but here’s what I got: evil is when you CREATE a problem, and THEN solve the problem with something only you sell. Because you created the problem, you know the solution! However, in this situation, there already is a problem, and you are the one to fix it. That you become rich, that’s just a byproduct to you.” He studied my face for a second. “Although I don’t think you’ll even keep the money to yourself if you do.”
“What makes you say that?” I asked in surprise.
“You don’t seem like the type,” he said. “Sorry if I’m being generalizing, by the way. Like I said, I’m not really that profound. So I could be wrong! And so, before I accept your question, which is of course: will I help you with your project? You have to answer a question of my own. A simple one.”
He crossed his arms.
“Am I right or wrong about you?”
For a moment, I tried to think which answer would be the correct one, but then I realized there was no way of knowing. I sighed deeply.
“You’re right about me,” I said. “I’ve done many attempts to become more selfish in the past, but I’m afraid none of my attempts have actually worked.” I was quiet for a second. “I’ll... see myself out.”
But he raised his hand before I could turn around.
“Now, hold on,” he said. “I’m... actually kinda bored at the moment. Yeah, that’s right! I mean, heh, if I had anything better to do, anything more evil, I would certainly not help you at all! But I have nothing else to do at the moment, you see?”
I frowned and looked at the box filled with metal.
“Oh this?” he said. “This is for my... refrigerator.”
He quickly shoved the box against the wall, which caused it to fall over.
CLING CLANG CLING CLANG!
“Eh, let’s just leave it like that,” he said with a wave of his hand. “We’ve got some building to do! Now then, hand me the blueprints!”
“Well, they’re not really blueprints, they’re just drawings—”
“Just hand them to me!”
I quickly retrieved the folded sheet of paper from my pockets and gave it to him. He unfolded it, narrowed his eyes as he studied the page, and smiled.
“Perfect,” he said. “This will be done by evening!”
He immediately ran to the other side of his room and returned with another empty carton box.
“Here, you carry this,” he said. “We’ve got some shopping to do!”
He had already run out of his apartment and pressed the button of the elevator. I quickly followed him. He closed the door to his apartment behind me and put the ‘DO NOT DISTURB’ sign up again.
PING!
The elevator doors opened. We stepped inside.
And as the elevator descended, he enthusiastically started listing the items we were going to need. I closed my eyes for a moment and I could practically feel the weight fall off my shoulders.
He had a plan.
And it was going to work.
Asking someone for help was always an extremely difficult task for me.
But asking him was the best decision I could have made.
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