Are They Broken?

Chapter 1: Kit

The broken, skeleton of the warehouse hid many secrets on the levels below, but none so great as the story of a love found between the gifted and the beautifully ordinary. The crumbling walls and broken glass stained in blood, had long since been transported away. Not a soul remains who knows of what happened below that warehouse. But then, who is recording their story? The story of how their love began, many months before that day of destruction, when she walked in for her first day of work...

Kaitlyn O' Ryan walked hesitantly into the empty warehouse. A major in music history didn't prove to be very useful in a number-bound society, so she had taken a chance when this job offer was in her inbox as a recommended position. But what did music history have to do with psychology? She had been certain it was a scam, but she was desperate, however the sketchy warehouse only cemented in her mind she had been scammed.

"Miss O' Ryan?" a male voice said, drawing her attention. She turned around to see a young man with dark hair and cocky hazel eyes studying her through half-rimmed lenses. He held two cups of to-go coffee and offered one to her.

"I hope you don't mind caramel," he said, nodding as she took the cup.

"That's fine, but who are you?" she asked, picking nervously at the cardboard cupholder.

"That's currently classified. I'll tell you after you accept the position," he replied, "All you need to know is I'm possibly your future coworker and I'm conducting your interview."

"What is the position?" she asked, "I already emailed you that I am a music history major, not a psychology major."

"We know," he said, "I'll get more specific in a moment, but I will warn you that if you don't accept the job you can't leave regardless." He walked across the warehouse to the doors of an elevator on the far side of the room.

"Then why would I risk not being able to leave?" she asked, her eyebrows knitting together as she studied the neatly dressed man who had stepped into the elevator.

"It's a risk you can choose to take or leave," he said with a shrug, "Coming?"

She paused. She needed the money. Her dad wasn't going to support her forever and in fact, he had threatened to stop paying for her apartment if she didn't get a job. She sighed and ran into the elevator. He pressed the fifth floor button.

"The buttons work inversely," he said, "Fifth floor means five floors down instead of up."

She nodded and he tucked his free hand into the pocket of his suit jacket before sipping his coffee. She sipped her coffee purely for the sake of distraction as she picked at the embroidery on her bohemian-style purse. She finally lifted her eyes to study her possible co-worker.

Aside from his shrewd, almost mischievous gaze and shaggy, brown hair, he was wearing grey slacks, a white suit shirt with a dark grey tie, and a suit jacket that matched his slacks. Everything about his neat manner of dress and wrinkleless clothing screamed maturity, but his messy hair and childish grin said he was immature.

"A cursory study revealed you had high grades in your mandatory psychology extracurricular," he finally said.

"Yes. I chose music history instead of psychology though," she said, "I understood psychology well, but I have a passion for music."

"That's good," he said, leading her out of the elevator and down a hall.

"What exactly is this job?" she pried more forcefully.

He just gave her a nonchalant grin as he typed in a code on a keypad and led her through a door. She was suddenly standing in front of what looked like an airport metal detector with several security guards standing around the room. He set his coffee down on a table and proceeded to remove his suit jacket, belt, and took his cell phone from his pants pocket and placed all three on the table. One of the guards took his cell-phone and placed it in a small tote, then picked up his belt and coffee and walked around to the other side of the metal detector. Another guard picked up his jacket and hung it up on a hook on the wall. He took an I.D badge from his back pocket and showed it to the guard before walking through the metal detector. Then put on his belt and took back his coffee.