//------------------------------// // I seriously have no idea what happened // Story: The Roads We Take // by louisxiiv //------------------------------// “Hey Josh, order up! Your table 25 is ready!” “Yeah, yeah no need to yell ya fat old bastard. I’m literally standing 7 feet from you.” I replied with just enough mirth to avoid being insulting. “Ha! I may be fat and old, but I can still run circles around your lazy ass, especially when you’re in one of those day dreaming spells.” Jim retorted with a smile in his usual jovial tone. With a roll of my eyes, I grabbed the two plates and left the kitchen conceding to my minor defeat. Jim was one of the only three cooks working here and held the prestigious title of 'Head Chef', which pretty much meant nothing but he was proud of it all the same. He sported a lumber-jack style beard, a slightly messy and unkempt chef’s attire, and his signature round belly and face. He worked his ass off (figuratively) to provide quality food that, in my opinion, this cheap ass place didn’t deserve. The other two cooks were complete assholes, so I only ever joked around with Jim although we’ve never really hung out together outside of work. Despite his joking though, he was right on both counts. I was definitely lazy. When I did do something, it was because I had to do it. Even then, I would do it with the least amount of effort as possible, and when I wasn’t occupied with something to do, I usually just drifted off in my head and thought about random stuff. Most of which was unimportant like my favorite TV shows or books. Anytime that I’ve tried thinking about politics, religion, or the like, I would just get a bad headache and be forced to come back to reality. Thankfully, it was 2:00 p.m. on a Friday evening, so my shift would be done as soon as I closed out this last table. Hopefully, there wouldn’t be a whole lot more work that I actually needed to do, and I could finally get back to my apartment and relax for a while. I was nearing my table and I already had my most “sincere” smile plastered on my face. However, I noticed something outside the store-front window that slowed my approach and made me screw up my face in deep confusion. Outside the window, there appeared to be a large translucent wall of pink very quickly advancing down the street and headed directly for the store. That was pretty much all I could manage to think of until the wall of energy ran through the establishment and collided with me. Surprisingly, it didn’t hurt and seemed to only knock me on my back before continuing to phase through the back wall. I groaned out of both irritation and confusion for this seemingly crazy and random event and slowly got into a sitting position so I could assess the damage to the place. Okay, now that is weird. Everyone else is completely fine and unperturbed. In fact, everyone is just staring at me with shock and concern like a pink wall of kinetic energy didn’t just pass through the restaurant and probably the rest of the city. My manager must have heard the commotion though because he was already coming up from behind me. “Yo Josh, you alright?” he asked while extending his hand and helping me up. *sigh* “Yeah I’m fine Lenny.” I said while slowly getting back to my feet. Unfortunately, my statement was undermined when I got a strong sense of vertigo as soon as I stood up and stumbled into Leonard, who caught me pretty easily since he’s only 29 and likes to stay in decent shape. He’s a pretty chill guy but he won’t tolerate employees who won’t do their job. He didn’t really mind my ‘lack of initiative’ as long as I got my job done and didn’t fuck anything up too bad. Anyway, we became good friends about eight months ago after I started working here at the beginning of my senior year in high school. “No, you’re not fine, Josh. Look, you’ve been working yourself too hard lately. I’ll get someone to come clean up this mess and I’ll probably let Jess finish out the table.” He said with finality as I righted myself up again. It wasn’t until now that I noticed the shattered plates and food strewn about the floor. Fantastic. I’m not too sure where this ‘working hard lately’ is coming from, but I’m not about to turn away a perfectly good excuse when it’s given to me. “Ugghh, I guess you’re right. Wait, you didn’t see that ginormous wall of pink go through this place?” I questioned with just a bit of concern. “…… Like I said, working too hard. Just go home and get some sleep. I’ll see you on Monday Josh.” And with that he moved on to apologize to the customers and then presumably to find someone to clean up the food and broken dishware. I kinda just stood there for a moment trying to rationalize how Leonard didn’t see that crazy ass pink wall and why everybody else seemed to be ignoring the situation. I decided to head to the bathroom to shake off this dizzy spell and figure out what actually happened. I went straight for the sink and splashed some water onto my face hoping it would clear my head a bit, which of course it didn’t, so I just leaned on the counter and stared at my reflection in the mirror. I was a slightly pale skinned eighteen year old guy with short brown hair and light green eyes standing at a modest 5’11” and weighing only about 170 pounds. I didn’t work out so I didn’t have much in the way of muscle mass, but I didn’t really have anybody to impress either so that didn’t matter too much to me. I would say that my best attribute is my generous smile, or rather that’s what everybody else says. Personally I think it’s my ability to bullshit people and get away with it but who really cares. During my entire time in the bathroom, I couldn’t think of a single explanation for what had occurred except that I had somehow hallucinated the entire event, which is something that I had never done before and seemed incredibly unlikely. Without a clear explanation, I decided that I’d stared long enough and that I wouldn’t ever be able to explain what just happened so I just chalked it up to an extra crazy day in life. I exited the building and began my excruciatingly long 10 minute walk back to my apartment. Okay maybe it wasn’t that long, but this midsummer Mississippi heat wave was making it feel like I was going to melt into a puddle the whole way there. Most days I would envy those that could afford to drive around but for some reason the traffic was going a whole lot of nowhere and fast. ‘Oh well, at least they get to stay in their air conditioned cars while someone clears up whatever’s causing this traffic jam.’ I reasoned as I trudged along towards my destination. I did finally make it home to my one bedroom apartment and managed to swap my work clothes for my typical house wear of mesh shorts and an old worn out t-shirt. I would have took a shower, but quite frankly, I was exhausted by this point and elected to grab a bowl of cereal and then go straight to bed and catch some sleep. I entered my small kitchen area and quickly rummaged through the barren cabinets until I found the objects of my desire. I set the bowl of dry cereal on the counter and fished my milk from the fridge and finished my culinary masterpiece of Fruit Loops and milk. As I languidly ate my cereal, I began to think about how my life had come to this. I asked for this honestly. Living with my parents had become a pain for the last few years of my life and the inevitable confrontation of me wanting my independence happened, so that’s exactly what they gave me. My eyes lingered on my mostly empty apartment with its only notable items being a standard TV that came with the apartment, my PlayStation 3, and my laptop. It may have not been much, but it was mine. Well, some of it is anyway. The apartment is actually owned by my uncle Danny, which is the only reason I am able to afford the rent since he gave me a generous discount. And by that I mean free, so long as I keep the place clean and don’t destroy anything. I always was his favorite and only nephew. I finished the rest of my cereal in short order and managed to drag myself to the bedroom and climbed under my covers. My limbs felt like lead, and I could barely think about anything other than how amazing my pillow felt. ‘Hopefully I can get some sleep and shake this off by tomorrow.’ I wondered as unconsciousness took hold. *Ring Ring. Ring Ring.* “Ugggghhhhhh. Who the hell is calling me on one of my days off?” I groaned with no short amount of irritation. My hand instinctively reached for my iPhone that I keep on my nightstand and silenced the ringer while I looked at whoever it was that wanted to wake me up from my nap. ‘HOLY SHIT, it’s 11 A.M! I literally slept for 20 hours! And why is Leonard calling me? He knows that I’m not gonna fill in for anybody.’ I wondered as I tapped the green circle and held the phone to my ear. “Hello?” “About time you picked up dude. I’ve been calling nonstop for like the past twenty minutes!” he exclaimed. “Oooookay, so why have you been trying to call me?” “What do you mean ‘Why have I been trying to call you’? Do you live under a rock or something?!?” “No, but I sleep like one.” I deadpanned. “Why? What’s happened?” “You mean to tell me that you’ve been asleep since I sent you home yesterday?” “Pretty much.” “Wow, it must be worse than I thought. Anyway, get up and go turn on your TV.” *sigh* “Fine, just gimme a sec.” I’m honestly not sure what Leonard’s going on about, but I’m starting to get legitimately concerned that it had something to do with yesterday. I shuffled my way into my living room and plopped down on my two-person couch and reached for the remote. “Ok, so what am I looking for here Lenny?” “Just turn it on. Every channel is turned to CNN for a public service announcement. It’s actually what we’re watching here on the big screens at the restaurant.” He stated with obvious unease. I hit the power button and sure enough Anderson Cooper appeared with a D.C. backdrop. “-we believe this announcement from Vivek Murthy, the U.S. Surgeon General, is due to the very strange events that occurred yesterday which caused the largest number of vehicular accidents and hospitalizations in U.S. history. Were still waiting for Dr. Murthy to make his address, but it seems the majority of victims claim to have been hit by a pink wall of energy that spanned for as far as the eye could see. And if that wasn’t bizarre enough, they all passed out shortly thereafter. But none of that is what has everybody talking, it’s what happened at around seven o’clock this morning that lit up the internet like a firestorm. Pictures and videos of the victims, who are now being called ‘the afflicted’, show muta-. Hold on. Okay yes, we are now getting word that Dr. Murthy is at the podium and is ready to begin.” I watched as the screen switched to a room in the White House where a very tan skinned man stood making slight adjustments to the podium with no other sounds being heard in the room. “Good evening ladies, gentlemen, and America. I strongly dislike the use of platitudes, and if I had stood there listening to my aids on what to say and how to say it, you would be waiting for quite a bit longer. So let me cut to the reason for all of us being here and make this brief. At approximately 3:00 P.M. eastern standard time, a world-wide event occurred that seems to defy all logic and understanding. It has affected approximately eight percent of the United States’ population and that number is expected to rise as more cases are brought to light, and we are still unsure as to how much of the world’s population has been affected. As you have undoubtedly heard, those that were affected claim to have seen a wall of pink energy and were then briefly impacted by it before it phased through them and continued on its original path. This wall was not seen by anyone who was not affected by it, and for those that were, they immediately felt symptoms of light fatigue and dizziness. These symptoms progressed in severity for about one hour until the victims fell comatose. Many of whom still have not woken up.” His tone became more somber as he took a pause for a sip of water. “Fourteen hours later, at approximately 6:00 A.M. eastern standard time, those that were affected developed instantaneous mutations. These mutations vary in type and severity for each individual. I have read reports of men sprouting feathered wings as well as developing the muscles, tendons, and ligaments to use them. There are also cases of people sprouting a colored spiral horn from their foreheads. Some have developed tails, ears, muzzles and other features similar to equines and other animals. *pause* We do not know how any of this has happened. We do not know if it is a virus, a bacterium, an act of terrorism, or one of God. We have not seen any indication that whatever it is that we are dealing with is contagious, but until we can be sure of the extent of these mutations and whether or not they are transmittable or pose a threat to the population, all of those that have been affected will be placed under quarantine. I would also like to take the time to say that those who have been affected are still considered human and will be treated as such with all the rights that they deserve. If you or someone you know has been affected, please call the local authorities so that the public health isn’t put in any unnecessary danger. That is all that I can say about the matter at this time, and I will be unable to answer any questions. I wish you all the best of this evening.” And just like that he left the podium. The room erupted in reporters screaming for answers, but the screen quickly switched back to Anderson Cooper. Before he could even get a word out, I was already turning off the TV. I just stared dumbly at the blank screen for a while trying to digest what I had just heard, but I couldn’t wrap my head around it. I mean, what the hell am I supposed to think about all this? Finally, Leonard’s voice broke me out of my stupor and I put the phone back up to my ear. “Hello, Earth to Josh. Is anyone home?” “Y-Yeah, I’m here.” Fear now evident in my voice. “Good. Now, are you okay?” “I…don’t know.” I began to frantically look over my own body expecting to find some horrid mutation marking me as one of these ‘afflicted’, but I couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary. “I mean, I don’t see anything wrong with me.” “Go check in a mirror just to be sure.” I got up and went with trepidation to my tiny bathroom and looked in the mirror. At first, I felt a huge amount of relief as I saw nothing wrong with me, however, that relief turned to dread as my slight smile revealed a pair of pointed canines. I opened my mouth as wide as I could and looked at the foreign dental work. They were definitely longer than before and were as sharp as a knife. They actually looked a lot more like fangs than extended canines, and it was at this point that I started to panic. I closed my mouth and looked back into the mirror and found my second change. My eyes had completely changed color. Instead of the usual light green, they now were a bright gray. And when I say bright, I mean they were practically glowing. I began to scrutinize every detail I could in the mirror just to make sure nothing else was wrong with me, but Leonard was getting a bit impatient. “Well?” he asked half concerned and half annoyed. “Ummmm, I-I’m fine. It’s all good.” ‘Why the fuck did I just say that. I mean how could I possibly hide this?’ “Really? Oh, well in that case I’m coming over right now.” He clearly didn’t buy it. “NO! I mean, don’t you have work to do at the restaurant?” “Owner just closed us down for the day. Josh, I’m either coming over, or I’m calling the cops. What’s it gonna be?” “...Okay, you can come. But, I mean, there may be one or two small changes.” I said hesitantly. “Explain.” Leonard practically commanded. “Well, I would rather not say over the phone.” Honestly I was just delaying the inevitable. I seriously doubted that my phone was being tapped and a S.W.A.T. team was going to be busting down my door in a few minutes. I mean, that’s just crazy talk, right? *sigh* “Fine, I’ll see you in a few Josh.” And then he hung up. ‘….’ ‘….’ ‘…..Shit. I am so fucked.’