I used to work security at a vehicle safety testing facility – a crash test facility, really – just outside of Gothenburg in Sweden. The place has been around for a long time, and many of the most popular models around here have been tested at this facility. The purpose of security in this context was mostly to keep trespassers out and ensure that doors were locked and alarms primed.
There were three of us on the security team; Jakob had the day shift while Micke and I handled the night shift. I was 24 years old at the time, Jakob was around the same age and Micke was in his 50’s. I never actually got to know Jakob very well since we spent very little time together at work. Micke was typically a pretty cheerful guy, we’d joke, laugh and fool around. He had a daughter about my age, and at one point he suggested that I’d be a great son-in-law and asked if I wanted him to set us up. I reluctantly agreed, but I can only assume she didn’t because I heard nothing more of it.
However, Micke called in sick from work and was away for two shifts. When he returned, his personality had changed drastically, his chipper mood completely erased. I faced several shifts with a suddenly glum and sullen man who, to me, bore barely any resemblance to the man I knew. Us both being men, and especially with him being so much older than me, feelings were not a subject we had touched upon previously, and not one I felt comfortable broaching now either. So, I accepted that I would have to deal with a suddenly very grumpy and angry, colleague for the time being.
At first, I assumed that something had happened and that he would return to his usual self soon enough, but as the nights went on things only got worse. Micke began muttering to himself. He would wander off, seemingly aimlessly. I’d sometimes hear indistinct shouting from him when he thought he was out of earshot. Suddenly, a colleague I enjoyed spending time with made my job feel more like a nightmare. The dark, silent nature of the facility at night began feeling oppressive and threatening rather than calm and quiet.
It finally got bad enough that I got our boss involved. Björn, the facility foreman, was understanding of my situation and called him in for a meeting where it was decided that the company would let Micke take two weeks off on sick leave, so that he could deal with whatever was bothering him. Björn called me after their meeting and asked if I had any idea what was going on, it was worse than he had thought. Apparently it had been more of a monologue, since Micke had been silent throughout the whole thing. Of course, I didn’t know. Björn sounded worried, but also empathetic with my situation and told me he hoped it would get better, otherwise he might have to consider other alternatives.
Subsequently, I was left to handle the night shift alone. This wasn’t too bad, even though they normally wanted two of us on site in the event something would happen, any confrontation with trespassers was extremely uncommon. Other than that, it was very much routine. Keep an eye on the monitors, and try not to get bored to death. I’d been alone on the job several times before when Micke had been sick, but this felt different. I couldn’t help but be on high alert all the time, any little sound triggering an involuntary twitch and a glance over my shoulder.
On the third night, one of the security cameras went dark. It was in a combined workshop and storage room by the main testing track, where we kept and maintained our crash test dummies. I had no choice but to investigate. Flashlight in hand, I made my way over there. Irrationally, I felt like someone was watching me, following every footstep through the facility. It wasn’t even very far from the security station. Still, getting there felt like an eternity.
When I finally arrived, the room was pitch black and the ceiling lights wouldn’t turn on. I muttered a string of curses as I turned around to go check the fuse-box in the corridor. Right at that moment, I felt a sudden pang of fear as I was sure I saw a crash test dummy moving at the edge of the light cast by my flashlight. Then, a flash of bright light as I was struck hard on the back of the head. I blacked out.
I don’t think I was out for very long. When I regained consciousness I found myself tied to a chair in the same room. My legs were free, but my arms were tied tight behind my back and I couldn’t get up. The lights were clearly working again, I found them absolutely blinding. I knew I had a concussion for sure. Someone was moving around behind me, tools clinking against metal and plastic. The sounds were excruciating to my still recovering senses. It felt like someone was running a cheese grater through my brain. Behind me, a man was whispering: “We’ll show them sweetheart, we’ll show them!” Out of fear, I tried my best to stay unnoticed, but couldn’t help but cringe from the blinding light above and the sounds of clinking tools.
“Oh, you’re awake!” I heard someone say, cheerfully. I recognised the voice immediately. “Micke, is that you?” I asked, thankful to hear a friendly familiar voice. Then, the thought hit me: why is he here, and why am I tied up? “Yeah buddy, it’s me! Sorry to tie you up like this, but I had to take some precautions.” He sounded almost like his old self, happy, but something was off. He darted up in front of me, smiling wide and gave me a pat on the shoulder. Then he stepped back in behind me, grabbed the back of the chair and turned me around to face a workbench. The sudden lurch sent my head spinning, and I promptly vomited all over the floor in front of me.
“Sorry friend, I didn’t mean to get you sick.” He said. It took several moments and all of my willpower not to continue heaving. After a few moments, I managed to get out: “Don’t worry about it.”Micke smiled at me again and brought his hands out in a wide gesture, as though proudly showing off a grand invention. On the bench in front of me lay a partially disassembled dummy. He seemed to be collecting the impact sensors from them. “We’re gonna do some great things, you and I! Great things!” he exclaimed loudly. I realised what felt off in his voice: he was clearly manic.
“Look!” he said, while taking his shirt off. He had painted calibration markers on his upper chest, shoulders, and forearms. “I’ve still got some work to do, and I’ll have to get your measurements as well of course, but that shouldn’t be a problem! Not a problem at all!” Beginning to get a sense of what Micke was trying to do, I started trying to discretely worm my hands out of my restraints while I looked at him and tried to smile. “Did you know” he said, “Almost all crash tests are done with dummies based on an average man, there are very few tests that focus specifically on women.” His face soured a bit as he observed my expression. “Of course, you and I can’t do much to change that, but variation is good, variation is always good.”
I tried to speak, but I couldn’t find the words. You probably know the feeling you get when you just know that someone is about to dump terrible news on you, but you try to keep a straight face. That heavy feeling in your stomach, the jitters. That was exactly what I was feeling in this moment. I was sweating, and desperately trying to put on a happy face so as to not reveal how much he was scaring me. I knew I was failing, badly. “That’s a great point,” I got out, “we should definitely talk to Björn about it tomorrow!” Micke looked at me, questioningly. “Tomorrow? No, we can’t risk it, he doesn’t even want me around. We have to do this ourselves, it’s the only way. The only way.”
At this point, I felt as though my only chance of getting out of this was to play along as best I could, to try and gain his trust and either escape or find some way of getting help. “You’re right as always, my good friend,” I said, somehow managing to collect myself enough to put on a straight face. Micke looked me up and down, as though he wasn’t sure he believed me. “We’ve always worked well together,” I said. “You’re on to something really important here,” I told him. His attitude toward me changed as though I’d flipped a switch. “You know,” Micke said, “She really would have liked you, really would have.” I just nodded and gave him my best fake smile.
“You know,” I went on, “I think those calibration marks on your shoulders are a bit too far back, I could help you get them in the right spot…” “No no, I’ve measured, they are perfect, don’t worry about that! Don’t worry, there are plenty of things to get ready”He replied. “Actually, we need to get you ready too!” he told me. Micke promptly moved in front of me and started removing my fleece jacket and shirt. “I’ll have to get some measuring tape, this needs to be perfect,” he said and turned away toward the workbench. Without my jacket, the restraints around my hands suddenly felt loose enough that I could probably force my hands out. I bet my life on that as I brought my feet up high enough to direct as forceful a kick as I could muster, right into Micke’s rear. It sent him off balance, and he slipped in my puddle of vomit, sending him head first into the edge of the workbench, knocking him out.
It was more difficult than I had hoped to get my hands free, but I finally managed it. The process loosened the rest of my restraints enough that I could wiggle completely free. Micke began stirring on the floor as I made my way out on unstable legs. I was dizzy, the world felt like it was spinning. I staggered forward, leaning against the walls for support. Frantically, I patted my pockets, trying to locate my cellphone, but it seemed he’d taken it. My heart stopped as I heard a guttural roar behind me. “WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU ARE GOING?!” I heard him scream as the sound of his footsteps echoed behind me. “YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE AFRAID, NOT LIKE SHE WAS, NO RIGHT!” He shouted, just as my shoulder bumped into something on the wall. I looked up and saw that it was a trigger for the fire alarm. I pulled it. The sound of the alarm sent my mind ringing and I lost my balance. Micke caught up to me and hit me over the head once more.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t conscious during the events that followed, so I can only give you a retelling of the events as they were told to me. The fire department arrived about 15 minutes after I triggered the alarm. Imagine their surprise when they found no fire, instead stumbling onto a scene where a man was attempting to strap my limp body into the passenger seat of a car on the test track. Micke attempted to hold them back, shouting that what he was doing was necessary, that safety testing needed to be taken seriously! Finally, two firefighters ended up having to wrestle him onto the ground. Micke had broken down in tears, sobbing that people like them were the reason she was dead.
I woke up in an ambulance with two nurses hovering over me. Even though every part of my body ached, and I couldn’t stand the sound of the sirens or the lights shining in my face, the level of relief I felt at that moment will never be matched.
The police investigation was brief and after a straight forward trial where he was found guilty of aggravated assault and unlawful deprivation of liberty, he was sentenced to indefinite psychiatric care. During the hearing, it was revealed that Micke’s daughter had died in a car crash about a week prior to him attempting to use himself and I as crash test dummies at our facility. The car she had been driving was a new model that had passed testing at our facility. The airbag had deployed correctly, but as she had been significantly shorter than the average man, she was sitting far closer to the steering wheel than intended, and the explosive charge responsible for deploying the airbag ended up killing her. Micke was blaming our coworkers, and the industry at large for her death. It had driven him insane. I just had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.