• [<] Chapter 3: "What seemed like an hour"

    What seemed like an hour was only seconds going by. I pondered if I should go downstairs or not, my palms sweaty and almost shaking to the point where I couldn't even hold a piece of paper without ruining it. Was this a joke? Just a big joke by one of my friends? I thought. And then I remembered. He WAS my only friend. But this was impossible since he lived in Canada. Or did he? A thousand questions ran through my brain per second and I got up to get a cup of water from the cooler in the kitchen. My heart pounded with each step I took. There was virtually no one in the office now and I was now scared hairless as to what to do.
    "Hello? Is there anyone here?" I said aloud, hoping to here a voice of Saviour. But nothing. It was quieter then when my sister told my mom she was pregnant and she doesn't know who the father is I thought to myself. Wait. I don't have a sister. What the hell was I thinking of? That one statement was so ridiculous that I snapped back into reality and started thinking straight. And then I remembered. Everyone went to lunch, including Darlene, who would never miss a meal. That wasn't her on the phone, so it must be some sort of trap. But by the time I figured that out, it was too late. I walked directly into the elevator and took it to the bottom floor where I was supposed to meet Reed without even thinking. And then all I could think of now, was "I'm going to die" and it was the last words that left my lips before the elevator opened.

    "Adam. Glad you could make it! I hope we're not interrupting anything?" The same man with the same suit was sitting in the lobby with a magazine in his hand and his legs crossed. "Knowing you, I doubt you'll be talking at all, because of the state of shock you seem to be in. So let me introduce myself. I am Reich North, also known as reed underscore richards zero-zero-four, fatality, with a one instead of an 'i', and Cute-girl1424534. And if you noticed, and I bet you did, the one replacing Darlene would be my assistant, Ms. Jenny Piotric, who is situated at home base. She does a hell of a Texan accent! God I love that girl." And as he said the last name from the his pseudonyms, I realized that those were the names of almost all the people on my neptonline friends list.
    "What the hell is this?" I don't remember thinking of saying that, but the words came out like verbal diarrhea.
    "He speaks! Brav-"
    "HEY!" I screamed out of frustration. There was a moment of silence and then Reich, as he said his name was, put the magazine down gently and stood up.
    "Adam Smith, this is your life! Or at least, it is now." He smirked, his teeth almost too perfect. Reich's slicked back blond hair shined in the light and not a single hair was out of place. Not only were his teeth almost too perfect, but he was almost too perfect.
    "Look at me. I'm almost too perfect, right? You could be this too!" He took the words right out of my head. My heartbeat started to race just as quick as the car incident and it my eyes widened at the moment he said it. For some reason he seemed happier.
    "Okay, I really don't have too much time, so I'm just going to be frank with you Adam. I like trouble. But the thing I love even more than trouble, is justified trouble. Which is why I started, what I like to call, the 'Red Market'. What in the world is that? Well, I'll tell you." Reich moved slowly towards me. I couldn't move. I didn't want to either. Just the way his voice is, so liquid and lucid, I feel almost calm when I hear it, even to this day.
    "The Red Market is a small, but strong, mind you, bartering system. Cleaner than the black market, dirtier than wall street. The way it works, is like this; you start off with a buyer. A buyer will buy anything he can get his hands on for cheap. This means even a candy bar or pieces of gum. The buyer will start off with small quantities and then move on to larger quantities and higher qualities with the same person he is buying from. But the buyer's most important job isn't buying. It's being nice. The buyer must create a friendship with the person he's buying from. This will create what I call a 'selling error'. Are you paying attention, Adam? Because here is where it gets really complicated." He snapped his fingers to call to my attention. Somewhere between the red market and the selling error, I became a Zombie.
    "The Selling error can be put in an easy Mathematical equation. You like math, right Adam? Anyways, it's just simple multiplication of one times two. The selling error is the one free thing given to you by your friend, basically. For example. I befriend lets say... a phone company person online. We become close and then he gives me free armor in an online game and levels me up. I can now sell that character and their armor and get money for it! In return, I give him the exact same thing, only he doesn't use it for that purpose! Do you understand Adam?" His smirk still intact.
    I understood every word. I was just played for a fool for the last couple of months. Now that I know the pattern, I recognize it. First it was "Cute-girl1424534" who I had in party for a month and a half. She said she had school and quit Neptonline. Then it was "fatal1ty" who 'Lost his internet connection' after 2 months. And now, 2 and half months later from that, reed_richards004 is giving me math lessons. The shock of it all made my verbal diarrhea act up again and I managed to say...
    "Okay, but what if you never get free stuff from the seller?" I don't know why I asked, or cared even, but I still asked.
    "Thats the beauty of it, Adam. If you don't get the free swag, then you sell the unused junk you bought from them anywhere you can. With a candy bar, if you buy enough, say one per day for a month, with a cost of about 30 dollars, saving them in a freezer until the end- you can sell it in a 24 pack to co-workers, saving the 6 for personal profit and saying it's a "Raffle for my niece's school with tickets at two dollars a piece." His voice became a mockery in tone. "Tell them it's for a charity or something. Therefore, you can make back the amount with only fifteen tickets sold." Reich laughed in a reminiscent sort of way, which creeped me out, but I got what he was saying. It was evil. Smart, but evil. Yet I seemed to be loving the idea as it went on.
    "Why give the 24 pack of candybars away if it's a raffle? Why not just keep them and say no one won?" I asked. The thoughts in my head were all telling me not to be a smartass, but I couldn't help it. It's my nature.
    "This is why we want you, Adam Smith. See how quickly you thought that up? Not just anyone will think that on hearing the idea, or even get the process. Now, I bet you have one more question. Go ahead! Ask it!" Somehow Reich was now right in front of me. Being one of unfriendly nature, I would not normally let anyone get this close to me. But the allure of the conversation left me brainless. Zombied, if you will. What was the question he wanted me to ask? And then it hit me.
    "Thats where you're wrong... Reich was it?" My confidence peaked, knowing that I was going to twist his script. "What you expect me to ask is 'what if no one buys the raffle tickets?', but I know the answer to that. Another buyer. At least one raffle ticket will be sold, changing the rate of money loss from 30 dollars to 28 dollars. The second buyer will then buy the 30 chocolates for only 28 dollars, with the first buyer making a one dollar profit, which isn't that much, but still better than losing money, and the the second buyer makes a profit of one dollar with a one dollar margin error, because he is paying two dollars less than what he normally would have payed. Then the second buyer can now do the exact same thing as the first buyer, with raffle tickets. And-"
    "And the first buyer will do the same, making a continuous loop until the chocolate is actually given away to one of your poor co-workers. Someone is bound to win anyways. I like to call it the 'Buyer error' and the 'Buyer circle'." Reich finished my sentence.
    "So you want me in your buyer circle? I don't think so. It seems like too much work. Besides, I don't like making friends." Even though it seemed flawless, I tried to convince myself that it was just a cheap scam that would never work and Reich was just a creepy hacker living in his mom's basement.
    "Adam, this was never an option of you joining. Your answer will be yes and I will make sure of that." Reich moved in close and punched me in the gut, knocking the wind out of me. The last thing I saw was that damned smirk. I didn't know how wrong I was about him.