Episode 8

About an hour after I had dropped that letter in the box, my doorbell rang. Luckily no one else was home. I'm pretty sure "they" knew I was alone in the house.

I will admit I was pretty scared when I answered the door.
When I opened it up, two guys were standing on the walk out front. I recognized one man as No. 5, a person I had seen in passing a couple of times in the months that we had lived in the house. The other guy was vaguely familiar and I assumed I was finally meeting No. 1.

We stood awkwardly for a couple of seconds until I realized I needed to invited them in like a polite host.

We all came in and sat at guy-appropriate distance from one another on the couches.
I was getting more uncomfortable.

"Here's the deal," said the one I had assumed as No. 1. "We know you found the door. We know you've seen people coming and going. We read your blog."

"You have a couple of choices," said No. 5. "Either you stop. Like totally stop all of this and pretend it never happened. Or, you start being helpful. The corporation can use a person like you."

"What do you mean, 'A person like you'?" I asked, honestly surprised at my options.

"In full disclosure, once we realized you had been poking around, we did some poking around on you. We have seen your records, your history, your presence online. All that stuff they do on CSI. You have skills that are useful to our corporation and we are offering to compensate you for those skills," said No. 5.

I started to speak, but No. 1 cut me off.

"You need to understand that if you agree to join the corporation, your life will change. I can't swear to you that you will be the next James Bond, but your life will get interesting. You will begin to see things in a different way, view your surroundings with new insight, understand the world through a different lens. Do not take this decision lightly."

No. 5. pulled a phablet from his coat pocket and tapped it a couple of times.

"I've just sent you a contract. Think about it. You will have 24 hours to decide; either delete the email or sign it and reply. There is an attachment that tells you what you may and may not share with others. Read that first."

"No matter what you decide, we are just neighbors. Nothing changes outside of the corporation," said No. 1 as he and No. 5 stood to leave.

I stood to my feet, mind racing. Too many questions.

We walked to the door.

"It was nice to meet you," I said lamely as they left.