Doubt

Allen felt body movement around him. He could hear some inaudible voices that were getting louder by the second. Finally they were loud enough for him to regain lost focus.

Allen awoke out of the daze and looked around and saw walls surrounding him. The walls were so clean and smooth that he could even see his reflection.

He was very familiar with these walls, but seeing them right now made him confused. He looked around once and saw Tim, Yushin and Luke staring at him, with Tim even grabbing his collar.

Previously his neck was sideways so he could not notice them.

Allen asked "Where are we right now?"

Tim squinted at Allen and let go of him. Turning to Luke he said" You know whom to call right."

Luke was already calling someone, after the call connected he said" Hello,  I am calling to report a person who has recently become mentally unstable. Yes,  the address..."

Allen shut down the phone, looking at others speechless. Luke said"Hey you shouldn't interrupt when someone's calling. And by the way it was just recording mode."

The other three started walking and Allen also followed after shaking his head. Now that he could observe what was around him, he was able to determine that it was the same old passage they used to pass through and there was no sign of the previously seen ruckus. Everything was the same as it had been beforehand, the only thing out of the usual was his frown.

The things that happened before could not have been a mere dream but neither could the sight in front of him. If one of them was real then the other should be fake, but he couldn't figure out which one. Maybe my brain is so fast that it can imagine hours of stimulation? Well I knew I was a genius all along, but these commoners won't accept it.

Tim saw Allen being smug and was annoyed, so stupid why am I stuck with people who can only giggle in the back, what a fate.

Like this they entered the department doors not too long after, Allen saw that the people were gathered here.He couldn't figure which occasion could have all of them gather here.He tried to find by himself as the others were not going to tell him even if he asked nicely. 

From what bits and pieces he could hear, he figured it was the day of the announcement and the time was 8:50 A.m. Just five minute short of nine o'clock Allen got a sense of Déjà vu.

Allen thought no way I want to live through that again,  I don't even understand how I passed through that before with my body still intact. Should I get out of here right now? But first I need to gather the others.

 Allen tried to spot Tim in the crowd but strangely could not find him at all, then suddenly he sort of remembered that Tim should be in the head's office right now. What, did I forget something like this? Allen was going to move towards the room when he remembered that Tim had also said a man had arrived there about now, so wouldn't he just get caught or either scare away the man. He shook his head to calm down. 

Someone patted him on his shoulder and said" Hey Allen you are sure you don't need rest, in my view you are about to go insane due to its lack."

Allen turned his eyeball around but didn't recognize the man, just some random dude. Allen kept looking for Yushin and Luke in the crowd. Luke is near the entrance and Yushin is...

"Hey Allen, don't ignore your dear friend now. "Allen heard Yushin and turned sideways to see Yushin was already standing there. Allen said "What are you talking about? Who am I ignoring".

Yushin put his hand on his chin and put a thinking motion. He pointed towards the man who was trying to talk to Allen before. "Do you know who he is"

Allen replied "Am I supposed to know everyone standing here?"

Yushin said "Allen you are behaving quite… Strangely, he is Sam, the person who is in the same group as us. And here I thought you two were very close. Joking has a limit, don't you feel bad for him" Allen put a hand on his own head "I really don't know. Anyway I have something more important than this matter to tell you, we can argue about this later when we have the time,  excluding sleep time. "

Yushin said "You are not making sense, not that you ever do, but well it will only hurt a little to try. Sam let's go."

Allen thought "You are taking him along? Well one additional person will not hurt but really what's going through his mind,  seriously they need a mind check not me.  Wading through the crowd Allen met with Luke and said don't make much noise and took him with him without explaining anything he was dumbfounded and tried to say something but kept his mouth shut in the end. 

 Allen opened the department door and checked the time, he saw there were still five minutes remaining. He saw Yushin and Tim standing and talking with each other in the room.. They were not very nervous and seemed to be talking about his strange behavior.

"What are you doing, why haven't you opened the passage yet. "Tim said "Huh, what a passage."

Oh come on. Allen stepped towards the shelves, if I remember right it goes like this. Rub the upper half and open sesame? Or did I need to do something else? I think you also had to spit…  on your hand. He was about to call Tim when the entrance opened with a small table like before. So the spit was not needed. 

The passage opened,  ok it is like I remember. Let's go. OH I still haven't set the message yet. It might cause unnecessary problems if I stray from the script. "Guys go on ahead I will be there in a minute" .He stepped towards the desk and started tinkering with the device but didn't hear the sound of footsteps he turned his head to see that they were just standing, busy staring at him. OH well, I will have to go along with them it seems.  Allen tried to keep the speech the same as last time and lead the others to enter the path. The only thing different this time was that they were slightly early. Just that.

Soon they were standing at the underground place with the lift ahead of them. If only I had seen what th

Hey, what are you doing? Was what Allen wanted to say but stopped himself in the middle. We had to choose randomly in the first place so it is not bad I guess. Time is not wasted in pointless thinking and best of all, all the blame goes to him if the situation goes bad and naturally I will get any credit there is, after all I opened the passage didn't I. Huh,  what am I thinking. Why am I getting irritated at him for no reason. Is it the so-called hate at first sight? 

If I remember right… 

The rail had already reached its destination during the time Allen was in his thoughts. The platform where the rail took them this time was almost the same as the previous time. They were so similar that at first glance Allen thought they had reached their previous spot again. But even though their design was almost the same there were some symbols that were different than before. Though the writing couldn't be distinguished.

"Probably written in another language". "Yes, you are right..." Hmm who said that." Well we can't conclude it that easily."

"I don't see any problems in jumping to conclusions, it's not like that will kill me" Sam said.

Yeah, it was not a problem before, but know that you have said this, it is. "You know..." Allen stopped talking as he saw that the others had stopped walking. He looked to the front and saw a closed area like before. But similarly, there were slight changes in it.

He was going to step forward and try the trick they found before, but Luke had already beat him to that. Although he knew not of the trick, he still tried his fullest. He moved his hands around the wall but to no effect. Luke, frustrated at not knowing the answer, suddenly pushed the walls and the wall shifted aside.

Tim pushed Luke through the door while saying  "Well the one who found the door should go first right"

Allen was thinking of how to deal with the animals that were loose right now so he couldn't react in time. Seeing Luke stepping outside of the door, he became slightly nervous and tense. But after seeing Luke was safe, he relaxed. 

This time he did not bicker with anyone, and was second to exit the door. A glance at the surroundings and he decided that they were in a hall again. The hall had the same structure as those they were familiar with, having no specific distinguishing point.

All the secret doors I have seen till now were slightly different in their own right contrary to the halls which are almost similar. Is there some special meaning to them? 

Allen headed towards the only direction that was available to them, and the others followed him after a small pause. "Where are we going?" asked Tim. 

"To the president's office "he replied. 

"Do you know where that is?" Tim asked again. 

Allen"…"There was silence for a moment,  then one of them said "Well at least it is better than just standing around"

After a walk that lasted only a couple of minutes, they arrived at a fork. 

Allen said "We should split up here, If you find the Office… Never mind, let's go. I will take this one"

Allen left on the left most path, while the others also left after standing for a few moments, with Luke having the most troubled face. 

Allen walked along the wall all the while tracing his hands on them. And after only a half a minute he succeeded in opening a pocket door. He stepped a little back but entered after a brief moment. He used the rail he was so used to now and travelled on it. 

Soon the rail stopped at a spot, Allen cast his hopeful gaze forward searching for something. 

There was nothing different between this and other platforms except that it had a strange design. Not that he could understand the previous ones though. 

He stepped towards the end in the slightly lit room, there seemed to be no connection of electricity here at all, either to keep its confidentiality or because the place could not contain additional improvements so they left it like this. 

Now that I think about it, why had people not found about these entrances when they are so easy to get access to. 

Allen wanted to open the door with a strange pattern, but the dilemma proved to be that he couldn't find it at all. He had almost tried the whole wall but it resulted in no effect whatsoever. 

I can't find a way past the door after so much rush, should I laugh or cry at this… Looks like I don't need to do either. 

He did mention that the method of opening this door was different but I didn't guess this was what he meant by different, one can miss the basic things when confused, so this was what I read about. 

"Open the door" He waited for a moment, a few moments and looked around to make sure no one was watching. Cough, this is really difficult, at least leave some noticeable hints for the poor peripatetic. 

Allen talked to himself to see if he had missed anything. Unlike other pocket doors it will only open if the password is correct. But I don't see any panel and why were the other doors not password protected if this one is. And worst of all I won't know what's the spoken password if there is one in the first place. This is not my specialty. Wait, the man previously said the door with a special opening pattern was right in front of the president's office, so that means the president will go through here when leaving, but I don't know whether it would be too late when the president's here Or Steven's here. 

The door that was more of a gate quickly went back inside the wall. But it didn't make audible noise so Allen didn't notice even though he was standing right in front. 

However it will be better if the president…

And his eyes met with Steven, his head had instinctively moved upwards towards the gaze casted on his body. The man motioned for him to come closer, and Allen moved his legs… backward and strained his muscles to run, but he was pulled strongly from behind, and the next moment he was sent flying backwards, this was all he could figure from his upside down world. I haven't ever run with this speed before, have I. He fell on the floor and with his head raised,  saw Steven. He had thrown Allen inside the room. 

"Well I would really like to ask you some things but unfortunately we don't have the time. "Charles said while motioning to Steven. 

Steven stepped forward with such quickness that it seemed that doing this was his life's goal all along. " One should go slowly "this was his final thought as he was thrown on the desk. And before he could take in his situation he was knocked out from behind. 

And just like this Steven exited and Charles followed after a final glance and the door was locked firmly.