Tatiana didn’t have her dream job. In fact, she was miserable at her current job. Waking up at five o’clock each morning just to drive over an hour to places that treat her like crap for just doing her job. Oh, did she mention the having to walk one-three blocks in the rain or cold to get to the buildings she services? Tatiana’s job did not give her rain gear or proper winter protection. 

Tatiana was a service technician for a laundry company called Laundry Service Works. They gave her the downtown Seattle area. While Seattle has beautiful areas, it also has unsafe areas, and Tatiana has to serve a lot of the unsafe areas and buildings. 

Tatiana was at one of those locations, it’s considered a DESC building. DESC is a company that is funded by the government in Seattle that helps with homelessness with substance abuse and mental health issues. She sat in her truck for a few minutes, this time dreading going in. Last time she was at this location she was treated but a resident inside. Then on top of that, it was pouring down raining. 

Sighing, she decided she needed to brace herself and get out of her truck and get it over with. Tatiana got out her of truck and grabbed her tool bag and went in. It took her almost an hour to finish all the service requests there. Some of the machines were so damaged, that she had to leave them down until she could have them replaced. 

Back at her truck, she took a deep breath and looked at the clock. It was only three o’clock. Sighing again, she checked the service request in her phone to see if there’s another call close by she could run to do. Finding one in the International District that shouldn’t take to long, she cranked her truck and headed out.

Tatiana was right, this was a quick and easy call to do. Pretty much it was just user error. She comes across that a lot in her area. It’s that or property issues. 

Looking at the clock, and seeing it was only 20 minutes after three, she decided to take a break and check her email. As usual, nothing exciting in her inbox. After checking her email, she checked the news outlets. After skimming through, she saw another article about another murder in Seattle. 

“How can so much evil exist in the world,” she said aloud to herself. Shaking her head, she decided it was time to head back to the office. Thankfully this day is finally over. She started her vehicle, turned up the music and headed back to the office. 

Tatiana arrived back at the office to drop her truck off around four. She went inside the warehouse because she had to use the bathroom from all the water she drank all day. 

Now, back at her office, she was no closer to figuring this puzzle out. After hours of going through the victims she knew about, Tatiana found they had nothing in common with each other. Didn’t work at the same place, didn’t live near each other, they didn’t even know each other as far as she can tell. 

She clocked out to get ready to leave the office for today. It was already close to 5:00pm and she knew she was going to get stuck in all kinds of traffic on the way back home. Tatiana made sure to grab her bag and phone and headed out of the office. Her mind was swimming with the article she read earlier.

Something about it just wouldn’t leave her mind, pulling at a memory of her past. 

Tatiana got to her car and threw her bag in the passenger seat. She put her phone in the cupholder beside her travel mug from this morning. She waited a few moments after turning on her car for her phone to connect so she could listen to one of her playlists instead of the car radio. 

After she left, she was jamming to some music and stuck in traffic. Her phone rung, but she sent it to voice mail, not knowing the number. A few minutes later, her music stopped playing again, with the same number calling back. Tatiana picked up this time.

“Hello?” She answered. 

“Hello Tatiana.”

A male voice came across the other side of the phone. It was a low, breathy voice that she didn’t recognize. 

“ Hi. Who is this?” Tatiana replied to the voice. 

“How are you doing? It’s been a while since we talked last. I see you’ve been doing well for yourself” the male voice said. 

Tatiana tried to think back on everyone she’s spoken with to try to find someone who sounded like this guy. She braked a little hard in the traffic, getting side tracked by this phone call. 

“I’m sorry, but I don’t believe we’ve spoken before.”

“Oh, we have Tatiana. I know you very well. I’ve been following your life with great interest. Not only that, but I think you and me are going to become very close in the future.” 

“I have no idea who you are. Also, I don’t have any interest in you or becoming close to you” Tatiana said, attempting to keep the sound of fear out of her voice. “How did you get my number?”

“Quiet” the voice yelled at her. “I don’t mean to yell at you, but I need you to listen to me. The life you know is a lie, and should stop living this lie. You need to know the truth. I can help with that.”

Tatiana was having trouble comprehending what this man meant. She couldn’t think of anything that was alive in her life. Tatiana was happily married and learning how to heal from her past. She wasn’t lying about anything in her life. This had to be some kind of joke., but who could pull this kind on her. 

“Who…who is this” Tatiana asked the man with a shaky voice. 

“Tatiana, we’re going to play a little game. You like games, right?”

“Enough of this! Who is this? There’s nothing in my life that is a lie.” Tatiana was starting to lose patience even though she was scared. 

“Enough? Oh, my dear girl, we’re just getting started. This game is real and not like the games you usually play with people. I thought about just killing you, but decided this will be more fun.” The man made a chuckling sound like he was amused by all this. “This will destroy your fake life you have made for yourself.” 

Tatiana just stared at the tail lights ahead of her, confused. 

“You can call me Samuel Alastor. Actually, you can call me Alastor, I prefer it over Samuel. Here’s the game we’re going to play Tatiana, I will allow you five minutes to figure out the riddle I’ll tell you, or I’ll blow up your cute little Prius you love so much.” He started to laugh evilly. 

“What are you talking about! I’m not going to solve any riddles you give me. What is the lie you think is my life?” Tatiana yelled at Alastor. 

“That’s the famous question. I knew you would forget about the past. You’re as stupid as brick.” There was a pause on the line. “Here’s your riddle to solve. It should help you remember the thing you forgot. You are in a dark room with a box of matches. On the table is a candle, and an oil lamp. What do you light first?” 

“What?”

“You have five minutes, Tatiana. Starting now.” The line went dead. 

A horn blared from behind her. She was startled back to the road in front of her and found traffic had moved. Tatiana started to panic. Was the threat real? She couldn’t stand the thought of innocent bystanders getting hurt. When traffic stopped again, she picked up her phone to see what the number was.

Of course, it only read “Unavailable 00:47.” 

Tatiana took a deep breath. She had to stay calm and think this through. Did the killer actually call her and threaten her? Would he really blow up her car? Tatiana couldn’t take the chance. She had to get the car somewhere safe. 

Here thoughts started to spin. She had no idea what he was talking about that she did. What terrible thing could she have done that she needed to confess it? 

Tatiana hit her horn to get people to move out of her way. The traffic was too thick for anyone to move. She hit her steering wheel in frustration. The call happened at 5:35pm. She had to get moving so no one would get hurt. An opening came up to a side street to take. Not to find a place to pull over. She started to look around frantically for somewhere safe from people. Restaurants were coming up, maybe the lots would be empty. No luck there. It’s now 5:37pm. Tatiana was running out of time. 

Perhaps it wouldn’t happen. When would Alastor be able to even plant a bomb on her car anyway. Panic still raging through her mind and body. The road turned into a four lane road. Tatiana was still in the right lane when a Target came in view on the left. She had to cross traffic before time. 

She looked at the clock, it read 5:39pm. Not only that, but she had only one minute to get there. She checked her mirrors and crossed. Hitting the median, but she didn’t slow down. Tatiana heard the screeching of tires and horns as she cut across oncoming traffic lanes. Someone hit her rear fender, but she didn’t stop. The back of Target’s parking lot was empty, so it was perfect. As she hit the curb, one of her tires blew, but it didn’t slow her down. Tatiana came to a stop, jumping out of the car, yelling at people coming towards her. 

“Run!! Get away! There’s a bomb in the car!” 

People started running the opposite way, warning other people who were making their way to the commotion on the road. Tatiana started yelling again to back away.

She checked her watch, it was 5:40pm and the car was still in one piece. With hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath, she started to think it was a hoax. Looking at the road, she saw traffic backing up to stand still, with smoke coming from the car that hit her. 

Tatiana saw people on their phones, probably thinking she was crazy. She decided to just get her car and call roadside to change the tire and head home. As she started walking toward the car, it exploded in a bright ball of flames, throwing her back.