Confused atoms

 I’ve been an investigative journalist for the past 15 years. What I’m about to share with you is by far the most haunting and disturbing thing I’ve uncovered during my whole career. Here it goes. I was contacted a couple of months ago by a woman I was vaguely acquainted with. A friend of a friend of a friend. We talked briefly on the phone. She sounded very distraught and insisted on meeting me in person. I happily obliged and invited her to a quiet café where I usually get my work done. When I first saw her, I could tell this was going to be heavy. She looked like she hadn’t slept in days. She was dressed randomly, her hair was a mess, her eyes were red, and she was… angry. Furious. And she wanted the whole world to know about what happened to her son. She shared with me some screenshots that I transcribed for you here. Fair warning, they are very graphic. If you’re not comfortable with harm inflicted on children, I suggest you skip this one. 01/05/2023 [Eva...

Somewhere deep within a respectable neighborhood in Paris, an alarm clock was shouting through the dawn. Moha reminded himself that he was a responsible and respectable adult, then got up without snoozing the alarm once. Upon getting out of bed, Moha did 10 push-ups and 10-sits ups, then took a freezing cold shower. Moha then dried himself up, made himself some eggs with orange juice and took his plate to the balcony to stare at the sky while eating. Moha reminded himself that the sunrise was indeed a very beautiful thing, even though all he could see were grey clouds. Moha made his bed, washed his plate, and put on his very adult grey suit that he had ironed himself last night. He put on his grown-up freshly polished shoes, armed himself with his briefcase, and stepped out into the dusk. As one could expect from a reasonable adult who had his shit together, Moha was very punctual. He arrived at the bus station at the same time as his bus. He gave a nod towards the driver...

Michael has always been a little bit secluded, you know. We've worked together for 8 years, and I still couldn't tell you a single thing about the guy. Very private guy. Anyway, he seemed like one of those fellows that are just… constantly annoyed at being alive? I mean don't get me wrong, we've always tried to include him, but he was always… chilly. Polite, but like, really chilly. It's like he didn't want anything to do with anyone. And well, I can respect a guy doing his own thing. So, I gave him his space, and I didn't think much about him anymore. Anyway, yesterday I came back from my annual leave. HR calls me over immediately, and they proceed to inform me that Michael quietly stopped showing up last week. They decided to terminate his contract after he didn't respond to their calls. Well, being the tech guy, they need me to retrieve all company data from his computer. No big deal, but a bit weird. We've worked together for so...