Internship (Chapter 10, Story 1)

James had been a straight-A student in high school, and when he graduated as valedictorian of his class, he already knew exactly what he wanted to do with his life. He wanted to be a biologist, researching and discovering all there was to know about life on earth. Like every other graduate of Scottsdale High, he wanted to work at the Scottsdale Research Institute. Even then, no one knew anything about the Institute except for what had been rumored on the street, and most of the rumors concerned the amount of money generated there. People said that even the janitor at the Institute had a six figure income. They said that the floors were made of gold tiles, and the walls were covered in silver paint. James had known better than to believe all the gossip, but he had a hunch that big and important things were going on within the Institutes's cold stone walls, and he knew for a fact that the majority of the scientists employed there specialized in biology. Anyone who knew James Jones knew that he was strong-willed and determined, but everyone in the town of Scottsdale was shocked when James managed to find a job as an intern at the Institute. People came to visit James' parents every day, hoping to find out why James had gotten the job and what he was doing at the Institute, but James' parents informed every visitor that they really didn't know much more than they did. "James isn't supposed to tell us what goes on at his job," James' mother would say, "but we know he's doing wonderful things and we are very proud of him." Whenever people approached James himself about the subject, he would hurriedly end the conversation and hurry away. By the time he had been working at the Institute for a year, he was avoiding all contact with people. He went to work early in the morning and came home late at night, long after the townspeople had gone to sleep. He moved out of his parents' home, neglecting to give them any way to contact him. People whispered about James Jones, making up wild stories about his disappearance, but no one really knew what had happened.