looper in the dark, no. 6

(Short fiction, shorter increments.)

Looper in the Dark: no. 1, no. 2, no. 3, no. 4, no. 5, no. 6, no. 7, no. 8, no. 9, no. 10, no. 11, no. 12

Mr. Brown led Looper off the floor. They entered another hallway. Looper felt a change in the air. He smelled something, too. He could practically taste it on his tongue. The sound of the machines quieted as they walked deeper into the building. The odor increased, though. Looper could feel a layer of saliva on his tongue.

“The vents from upstairs,” Mr. Brown noted. “Some people seem to like it. I do not mind it myself.”

“What is it?” Looper asked. He had tasted it before, somewhere. Perhaps inside a chocolate, once.

“Byproducts, mostly,” Mr. Brown replied, fixing his tie. “Byproducts,” he said again. Looper inspected the remainder of the building.

Twice, he got lost in passages of endless doors. Both times, he was unhappy to recover his bearings.