Hiring Josh

“Alexzander Amour, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” Alex flashed an emotionless grin as he held out his hand. The new client hesitantly shook his hand before being led away to a door leading to the rest of the ‘hospital’ (if you could even call it that). Alex continued, “Have you worked for SPARROW before? …Not a problem at all, we’ll get you right up to speed.” That was the last that Josh heard from him before the two disappeared behind the door. 

He was alone in the SPARROW waiting room. It was as bleak and pristine as every hospital waiting room. There was a desk at the front with a wall of glass separating the clerk and the customer. There was only one other person behind the desk now that Alex had left. Why was he invited here in the first place? Is this what Alex has been up to all this time? 

His eyes drifted to the table next to him. There were magazines spread out in a disorganized manner, with a bucket of children’s toys sitting on the floor underneath. One of the magazine covers displayed Alex’s smiling face with a big headline about SPARROW. Josh picked it up. SPARROW was known to be a controversial company. There were rumors of human experimentation, inhumane practices, even contract violations. None of these are ever confirmed, of course. The only thing the public knew for certain was that SPARROW was a research company aiming to explore the limits of the human body, and by extent, the strength of the human mind. He was about to open the magazine cover when Alex burst back through the door, without the other client this time. 

“Joshua!” He walked toward him with arms outstretched, as if expecting a hug. “It’s been too long. How have you been?” 

“Fine.” Josh did not offer a hug. He stood, but kept his arms firmly at his sides. 

“Good. That’s good.” Alex replied. There was feeling behind his words this time, which was strange for him. It was unsettling. Before Josh could say anything more, Alex wrapped his arm around his shoulder and whisked him away into the back. “You know, ever since college SPARROW has really been growing. And the whole time I was thinking about how great of a candidate you would be to help start our company! Unfortunately, it’s a little too late for a kickstarter project with you, but… I’m happy you’re here with us now.” 

At the end of the hall, Alex turned to enter a code into a door. As he swung it open, Josh saw a wide range of papers spread out over a big conference table. There were empty chairs surrounding the table, and Alex pulled one one, gesturing for Josh to sit down. 

“What is all of this?” Josh asked. 

“This is a log of all the studies and researched SPARROW has conducted in just the last five years. Impressive, isn’t it?” Alex paced his way around the room, stopping behind Josh to suddenly grab his shoulders. “And just think, you will be contributing to this. I think you’ll really be one of our most productive employees.” He smiled to himself as he straightened up and walked over to one of the stacks of papers, flipping through them. “How funny. I have the privilege of having you help me with one of my projects again. Just like college, isn’t it?”

“Yeah… just like college, I guess.” Has Alex always been this creepy? 

“But anyway. Enough of my rambling.” Alex pulled out a few papers from the stack at the end of the table. “I’ll need you to read and sign these. This confirms that you are agreeing to work with us, and these are the terms that you are agreeing to. You may also choose whether to have your name published in reports on studies that you were involved in, or stay anonymous.” Alex slid the papers toward Josh. 

“Can I have time to read these over?” Josh skimmed over the papers as they were handed to him. 

“Of course! But it is preferred that you sign and return these forms as soon as possible. It’s much easier to get started on our work that way.” Alex’s smile seemed to never leave his face. He stared at Josh slightly longer than was probably necessary before taking a seat a few chairs away from him. 

It was surprisingly hard to stay focused on these papers. Despite the sunglasses that Alex was, for some reason, wearing inside, Josh could still feel his eyes burning into him. There was so much to fill out. Allergies, previous surgeries, social security number… estimated pain tolerance? He might have skimmed or not thoroughly read certain parts of the contract, but that was probably fine. He needed the money anyway. He at least knew that he could quit whenever he wanted, so long as he gave them prior notice. That part he read. He signed the papers and slid them back over to Alex. 

“Perfect!” Alex sorted them into a pile and tapped them on the table to make them even. “Now, starting pay is $500 per session. If we keep you here longer than the time we initially stated, we will compensate you at $100 per additional hour. If you choose to go through more rigorous exercises, the pay will increase with the rise of intensity.” He flipped over a page. “Your first day available is next Monday evening?”

“Yes.” 

“Excellent. How about we arrange to start then?” 

Josh nodded. 

“Great. I’ll see you Monday evening then. How about I walk you out?” Alex held open the door for Josh and shut off the lights. The walk back was eerily silent, as opposed to how chatty Alex was on the way in. After Josh had left the building, he felt a buzz from his phone. SPARROW had already sent him a reminder email for his first shift.