Down on his luck, Louie walked into the local cafe.

　　The door hit the ring at the top, as the cashier bobbed her head up over the counter. "Lou!" She shouted happily.

　　"Hey, Beatrice." He answered, walking over to the counter sloppily. His feet slid along the ceramic floor tiles, not bothering to move them up and down to step. "Cheesed off?" She asked him, circling her finger on the counter sadly.

　　Beatrice was a close friend of his, she always had some kind of solution ready to just about any issue presented to her.

　　"I`ve gone through a ton of newspapers, looked at job listings on poles and gas station boards, and they`re all either taken, or the interview went to shite."

　　Beatrice pondered for a moment, looking over to the cafe advertisement board. "How about those?" She pointed over to them. "I was going to check later." He answered.

　　"Check now! Come on." Beatrice insisted, waving her hands together as if trying to shoo him away with the wind. Louie shook his head in a slow but comedic way. Looking like a dog shaking to get any mud or water in its fur off.

　　Louie walked up to the board, examining it. There were many options on display, ranging from babysitting, to volunteering.

　　"Engineer, can`t do that, salesman, I got fired on the job when I tried it last, I can`t work in an office either..." Louie was speaking to himself, as Beatrice listened in, the cafe still empty.

　　"Well, uh... How about I get you a cuppa while you keep looking?" She asked. Louie nodded as Beatrice went to the break room. He continued to stare into the endless swarm of papers, and saw an interesting offer between a few.

　　"What`s that?" He spoke to himself, swatting at the paper, tearing it out from beneath a few others. No damage was made, except for the paper he wanted specifically. A few tears in the corners now stained in its appearance.

　　"Human subjects needed for experimentation? What kind of idiot would go for that?" He laughed for a bit, before realizing he is that desperate, and potentially, an idiot.

　　"The pay`s good." He remarked, noticing any volunteer can get between four hundred to eight hundred pounds.

　　Beatrice came back to the counter, holding two herbal tea mugs in hand. They were both as fresh as her mood.

　　"Here you go, Louie." She put one mug on the counter. Louie walked back and took it, as he began talking. "I might`ve found something, but it`s a dive."

　　"As long as you get paid in a jiffy, ay?" Beatrice spoke back, placing her mug down on the counter to hear Louie talk.

　　"I haven`t got all day to decide." Louie said, a bit hesitant about the job opportunity. He took a long sip from the red mug. "What`s it about then?" She asked, recognizing his expression.

　　"I won`t waffle, but it seems to involve test subjects in some naff lab." He explained.

　　"How`s the coin?"

　　"One off! A darn big number, I might take it."

　　"Do you know where to go, and when it is?" Beatrice asked, making sure Louie wasn`t getting ahead of himself.

　　Louie put the flier on the counter, letting Beatrice read it. Detailing what Louie said just before, it also specified entry at nine o` clock, where the entrance is a garage door in a particular street address.

　　"Are you sure you`ll go for it? It seems& a bit sketch." Beatrice said, putting her shoulder onto the counter, leaning closer to Louie`s paper, and in turn, him.

　　"Put a sock in it, I know what I`m doing." Louie defended. He shook his left hand at her dismissively. "It`ll be a piece of cake, after all." Beatrice gave him a small smile.

　　"Just know I`m worried, is all." She said, picking up her mug and having a long sip. "Need to calm my nerves."

　　"Don`t be a daft cow, I`ll manage just fine." Louie assured her.

　　"If you say so." She drank the rest of her drink. "When you`re done with your mug, do let me know, you can sit in one of the corners over there." She gestured at a few booths at the far end of the cafe, an ideal place for Louie.

　　"Thanks, Bee."

　　"Anything for ya."

　　Night approached, the day had gone slow for a person like Louie with nothing to do. He left the cafe, waving to Beatrice. He kept hold of the flier, wanting to properly identify the image of the garage door he had to find in the address attached.

　　He approached a dark alleyway. To the left corner, a dim light creeped out from under an almost closed garage door. He crouched down to look inside. This is the place. He thought.

　　Louie tried to roll inside from under the gap, but he could barely make it through, getting himself stuck from the torso up. "Hey? I`m here to volunteer!" He shouted inside.

　　There was no response.

　　"I`m also stuck!" He added in a panicked tone.

　　A strange rattling noise echoed, as a dark figure came out of the corner of his view, as if emerging from the shadows.

　　"And you are?" The stranger asked, stepping into Louie`s view, they wore a long dark coat, with frizzled white hair. Almost like a mad scientist you`d read about in a children`s book.

　　"Louie Sen."

　　"I`m Reberta Powers." The woman answered, pulling a lever beside the garage door. It slowly raised up, and he took advantage of this opportunity and crawled into the room.

　　Louie gave his surroundings a quick look. It was depressing. The floor was standard white tiles, and the walls looked stained with blood. They were a mixture of viscerally brown and scarily bright red, some kind of degrading paint job, maybe.

　　"Tad odd here, innit?" Louie said. "I`m used to it." Reberta answered, walking into the darkness to flip another switch.

　　"Follow me this way, Louie." She commanded.

　　The two walk down a dark corridor, stepping into a room that looked like some kind of vintage reception. "So, I need to know some medical things about you, ID?"

　　"Uh... 839150L" Louie answered, reading off his ID from his wallet. Reberta typed up the ID on a laptop resting on the receptionist desk. "No allergies, an AB, that`s mighty dandy." She spoke to herself. "Are there any issues?" He asked.

　　"No, you seem perfect." She said, holding a wide smile. "I`m assuming you`ve seen one of my little posters around the town?" She said, continuing her rapid typing.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author`s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

　　"I... was with my friend at a cafe and found your flier on an advertisement board." Louie answered her. Reberta noted it down. "Do you have any family members?" She asked.

　　"No? My mother went missing quite some time ago, and my brother was in a crash." Louie answered mournfully. Reberta noted down his answer. "So, you`ll need to sign an NDA."

　　"An NDA?"

　　"Non-Disclosure Agreements, essentially, anything you test, hear, or do here, cannot be said to anyone but me." Reberta explained to him. Louie thought for a moment. "I`ll need a pen."

　　"Here you are." She handed him a black pen and the NDA paper, which he wrote down his signature and details onto. "Great." Reberta swiped the paper from Louie.

　　"Now, I`m sure you`ve heard of Y-Labs before, correct?"

　　"Not really, no."

　　Reberta smirked.

　　"Well, then. You`ll test some products, easy?"

　　"Oh, so it`s not human testing?" Louie asked in response, feeling a bit of his concerns lifted.

　　"We specialize in quite a number of products, whether for home use, consumption, wearing, and so on. We have it all." Reberta answered, not answering his question.

　　"And what exactly am I testing?" Louie asked, his anxiety returning. Reberta led the two to another room, and flipped a switch beside the doorway, illuminating the room.

　　"Enough that you`ll get seven hundred quid." Reberta answered, placing her hand on top of a strange box. "This is attempt forty-two on our Y-Lab cube containment product."

　　"It`s... a box." Louie remarked.

　　"Wrong, a Y-Lab Cube Containment Product. You must place the objects by it inside, and close it. It should have enough space, considering our technology." Reberta explained.

　　Louie looked over to the cube, as well as the numerous miscellaneous objects beside it. "All of them?" He asked, turning his head over to Reberta, who is writing down the process on her laptop. "Yup, every last one."

　　A red purse, small box of Dominos, blue hydro flask, white baseball cap, and some kind of vintage square painting. Unsure of how this could go, Louie chose the red purse first.

　　He tried to place it inside the cube. "How does it feel?" Reberta asked. "Like I`m putting my hand inside of a sponge?" Louie answered, almost like asking a question himself.

　　Reberta noted his response down.

　　"Now, tell me, did the object you place inside stay where you put it?" Reberta asked, hovering her hand over a clipboard.

　　"Uh... it seems to have moved to the left?"

　　"Lovely, the automatic self-organization system works then." Reberta wrote down this victory onto the clipboard. "Keep placing everything inside." She ordered.

　　Louie placed all of the objects on the table inside, every now and again, the objects would shift into corners, or on top of each other, like a game of Tetris. "That`s all of em." Louie spoke up, staring at the now empty table, as the box closed itself.

　　"Put the box under the table, and follow me." Reberta walked further down the room into a corner, waiting for Louie.

　　After placing the box under the table, Louie approached her.

　　"A bookshelf." He said. "A Y-Lab Shelf." Reberta corrected him. "It sorts books by alphabetical order without the need of a human to manually check, libraries will love it."

　　"So, if it does a person`s job, what... am I testing?"

　　"You need to get the Y-Lab Cube Containment Product from earlier, and see if the Y-Lab Shelf tries to sort any of them on it. If any objects fall off, it works perfectly." Reberta explained.

　　Louie groaned, holding back a few of his impulsive thoughts.

　　"Why can`t you have told me to bring the box over to the shelf rather than put it under the table and go back for it again?"

　　"Gotta keep yourself physically in check." Reberta joked.

　　Louie began unloading the contents of the cube, and placed some of them onto the shelf. It slowly tilted, forcing the items he placed to fall off, landing onto the ground.

　　"Good?" He asked.

　　"Now, put them back, and head down this cellar with me." Reberta commanded, opening a hatch behind her, as she steps down a ladder, her steps echoing up into the room.

　　Louie groaned, stepping down the steps of the ladder. It echoed down the chamber, he hoped that Reberta didn`t recognize his frustration, reaching the end of the ladder.

　　He looked around, seeing Reberta walking swiftly down the dark hallway the two were in. "This here is a more secret area in terms of products. Rarely tested unlike those you`ve seen above." Reberta said, not facing Louie once.

　　"So, what am I testing here?" Louie asked, worry in his tone.

　　They entered a small stone room, the floor was made from bare concrete, and the walls seemed old and worn.

　　"Take your pick from this test chest." She pat her hands on top of a strange brown chest. The light in the room was dim, but he could make out its silhouette.

　　Louie opened the chest, rummaging his hands around inside. He felt something silky. "What`s this?" He asked. Reberta leaned over to see. "That`s an exercise suit we have been developing. It`s meant to make your bones stronger, and feel less tired while wearing it in your typical working activities."

　　"This sounds like something I`d love to have." Louie beamed.

　　"Test it out, and if I`m feeling easy, you could have it." Reberta bargained, picking up another clipboard from a table near the chest. "You`ll need to strip down to your underwear, however."

　　Louie sighed. "Is there somewhere I can do that in privacy?"

　　"Unless you count me turning around, no."

　　"Can you tu-"

　　"No."

　　Louie`s face reddened. "Why?!"

　　"I do need to keep note of how putting it on goes, considering this is one of the first few tests, and you`ll need to tell me how you feel throughout it." She explained.

　　Louie took off his gray jacket, blue jeans, and green T-shirt, down to his black boxers, he avoided facing Reberta. Then he grabbed the silky piece of clothing, and inserted his legs in first, having to wear it like some kind of mascot suit.

　　"How does it feel?" Reberta asked.

　　"Like I`m being eaten by a snake."

　　"...You know what that feels like?" She asked, expressing a concerned emotion, something Louie almost thought she was incapable of. "No, but I`d imagine this is the same."

　　He pulled his arms inside the suit`s arm sleeves, the suit fully covering them, as well as his hands. "Is this some sort of body suit?" He asked. "It covers your entire body, yes."

　　Finishing off the suit, Louie put on the mask, covering his face entirely, looking more like a black shadow than a person. "You can see just fine inside the suit, correct?"

　　"Yeah."

　　"Great. I`ll need you to try and do some basic exercises, like jogging, or lifting a dumbbell. Firstly, you`ll need to flip the switch on the back of your right arm."

　　"A switch?"

　　"It`s meant to be used for exercise mode` in the case someone puts it on but doesn`t exercise in it immediately." She explained.

　　Louie twisted his arm, and flipped a small switch, similarly to one you`d see on your bedroom wall for the lights. "Now, how do you feel?" She asked.

　　"The... same?"

　　"Odd, I suppose it`ll take a bit of time. Let me fetch some dumbbells for you." Reberta walked off, opening a crate in the corner of the room, as Louie attempted to jog in place.

　　Louie slowed his jog, feeling tired.

　　"Now, you might feel tired, but that`s supposedly normal from our other few testers." Reberta said, still looking through the crate. "Very drowsy." Louie spoke up, trying to rub his forehead, barely muscling enough strength to do so.

　　"I think there should be some dumbbells upstairs." Reberta spoke to herself, walking down the hallway. "Keep documenting how you feel for me." She commanded.

　　Louie tried to rest his back on a wall, keeping composure. His body slowly drained in energy, as he slumped down, his bottom on the floor. "Tired, tired, and more tired." Louie said weakly.

　　The room felt like it was spinning, as his body continued sinking into the ground, as if he were melting like a puddle. Reberta`s footsteps echoed, as she returned.

　　"Alright, Louie. I`ve found a dumbbell for you, how`s the progress?" She asked, looking around for him. "Louie?" She asked again, grabbing a flashlight from the crate and shining it around the room.

　　She stepped on something oddly squishy.

　　Reberta lined the flashlight down at the mysterious squish, as she spotted a dark looking puddle. She poked it, a muffled voice barely responding.

　　"Seems like your bones evaporated."

　　"A shame, really. I don`t think you`ll be able to use the quid you`d be paid, huh?" She sneered, lifting the boneless Louie up. "On the bright side, no one will question your disappearance, save for that friend you mentioned."

　　Reberta opened up a lid in the left side of the room, pushing Louie`s boneless body through, as he continued mumbling and groaning inside of himself. "It`ll be a bit hot in here."

　　Reberta flipped a switch, and the room dimmed to a faint red glow, as the incinerator turned on. Louie`s form began burning, and his pained wails echoed inside the chamber.

　　"Test four... failed." She noted on her clipboard.