The World I've Come to Know

It was perfect weather for me go walking. It had gotten the cold outside since it was almost September and the sky was gray. Nobody was really walking around at the time, except for maybe the occasional bystander that had to go to the drug store or some other place. People in this city normally get in their cars instead of walk from place to place. I was in my normal attire; black trench coat, white dress shirt, brown dress pants, red tie, and my brown leather shoes. I have a tendency to dress a bit less casual compared to the other people in this city who wear jeans and a t-shirt.

I kept my hands in my pockets and kept walking along the sidewalk. It's a Wednesday, so, I don't really have anywhere to go. My line of work doesn't have me working on Wednesdays, which I thoroughly enjoy, by the way. A breeze blew my coat in the wind as I walked. It was probably somewhere around 40 degrees out here. Wondering what time it was, I looked down to my gold and leather watch. I probably needed to go back to my house soon. 4:36. Yeah, I should probably start heading back home.

Deciding that it would be a good idea to go home now. It's not that I have anything really to do at home, I just don't really want to be around when it gets dark. The drug dealers and what not show up around then. I don't want any interaction with them. I managed to get back within the next 20 minutes. I took a bit of a shortcut to get home earlier. Normally, it would take around a good 40 minutes for me to get home.

I reached into one of my pockets and opened the door to my apartment and walked in. My apartment was pretty small, but, it had all my essentials; a kitchen, a bedroom, and a living room area. I can afford my living services and still have some money left over. I've been thinking of going back to my hometown and visit some of my old friends. My parents died a long time ago, one died about a year after the other, but, that's not very important.

As I sat down on my couch, I turned on the television and watched the recent news. A teenager has apparently ran from home. City life here is so bleak that I don't necessarily blame him. I'd want to go find a new place to stay, too. Something a bit more...adventurous. I'd want that. Maybe it's got a little bit to do with my lack of a social life.  I don't necessarily go anywhere outside of my apartment unless a friend invites me to go drinking or to come over to a party with him. My cousin will sometimes invite me and a group of friends to go see a movie, but, outside of those few things, I don't go anywhere.

A knock on my door brought me out of my thoughts. I got up, tempted to hide and not answer the door because I had a pretty good idea on who was on the other side, but, I decided to open the door anyways. A slim man with light brown hair stood at my door with his hands behind his back, wearing a sweater-vest and some jeans.

"Hey, Raymond!", he said with quite the enthusiastic grin on his face.

"Hello, Stephen," I groaned, not really wanting to speak with him at the moment. Stephen was the stereotypical happy landlord. He's nice and all to me, but, I just can't stand that sometimes.

"...What do you want?" I asked after a prolonged silence.

"Today's collection day! Did you forget again?", he asked me. Oh yeah, it's the 30th today. I sighed. "I suppose I did. Hold on a second." And with that, I walked to my closet and pulled a box down.

"How much is it?" I asked, unlocking the box.

"$220!" he responded with much vigor in his voice. I looked up and glared at him, knowing that it had gone up a whole $40.

"Sorry, Raymond, it's just the economy," he responded, scratching the back of his head. I sighed once more, pulling out the money and locking the box. At least it isn't the price of some of the apartments around town. As I always tell myself, it could be worse.

I put the box away and walked towards my landlord who was now leaning on my door-frame. As I handed him the money, he regained his normal stance.

"Thanks for your business, Raymond," he said turning around and walking away. I was about to close the door on him until he stopped and turned around.

"Hey, I'm going to be having a bit of a get-together with a few friends of mine tomorrow. Would you like to come?" he asked with a smile plastered on his face.

"Thanks, but, I don't think I can make it. I've got a few things that I need to do," I responded, being unintentionally flat. His smile faded pretty quickly upon my response.

"Raymond, we both know that you don't have anything to do tomorrow. If you don't want to come, just tell me next time," he said before turning around and starting to walk away.

"You need to have a better outlook on life or you'll never be happy," he said, not slowing down his pace.

"I'll have you know that I am happy," I retorted, slightly angered with his statement. How could he just assume I'm not happy? He was walking down the sidewalk away from my house.

"Are you really?" he asked, now unable to hear me. Well, I guess I'm not exactly happy, but I'm content with how I am, I thought to myself.

The rest of my day didn't have much to it. I ate dinner, sat around in my apartment and slept. Being the insomniac that I am, I stayed up until 3 AM or so. I didn't really keep up with the time. The next morning, I looked over to the clock and looked at the time. I'd only gotten a few hours of sleep before I woke up. It was 7 AM at this point. I got up and walked over to my closet, picked out my normal attire, which I have many of, put on my clothes and readied myself for the day. As I looked outside my house, I noticed it was raining, so I took a wide-brimmed rain hat out with me. And with that, I took to the street and walked to my job.

On my way there, I decided to take to the more covered areas so I could avoid the rain as much as possible while I walked. No one paid me much mind while I walked, I just headed for my destination. When I got there, I hung my coat and hat on the rack next to my workstation. I had a small cubicle for processing for a steel company. It was easy work. I get all the orders, make sure the workers completed said orders, and take inventory before shipping off the steel. It's mostly just sit at a desk and, as my area states, process all the steel shipments.

I worked from 7:30 to 3:30, got off my work and started my walk back home. The rain only picked up in those 8 whole hours. I was only half of the way home until I saw a lightning strike hit the road next to me. It wasn't all that much, it was just "ZAP!" and that's it. No thunderclap or anything. None-the-less, it still scared me shitless. I ran to the nearest building and walked inside. It was a coffee shop. In fact, the exact coffee shop where my friend works.

When I entered the place, breathing heavily, I sat down immediately, hoping to calm my nerves. My friend saw my current condition and started busting a gut behind the counter. My only response was a glare. Her name was Brandy, a friend of mine ever since we were partnered up in Primary School. She was a slim young woman, slightly shorter than myself, with long brown hair that dropped to her shoulder-blades. I remember that she used to have it short and in a pony-tail in Primary School. That changed back in Secondary, when she did her hair like it is now. "I'm going on break, boss!" she yelled to the back. I heard someone else yell in response from the kitchen area of the coffee shop, but, I didn't care much for what they said. Brandy walked over to the table I was at and sat down.

"You look like you've seen a ghost," she told me, still smiling and and giggling.

"Yeah, I almost got struck by lightning," I said, shakily.

"You want anything? Coffee? Bread?" She asked. She was a pretty good employee here, on break and still doing service.

"Yeah, a, uh...A white-chocolate mocha will do." I responded, finally getting my nerves to calm down.

"Alright, coming up!" she exclaimed before running to the back and making it.

It wasn't too long until she came back with my order. Luckily, the restaurant was pretty vacant, so, there wasn't anyone for her to take orders from at the time. There was a long moment of my just sitting there sipping from my coffee cup and her just staring out into space. Suddenly, she broke the silence.

"You got a girlfriend yet, Raymond?" she asked me.

"Nah...You know me, Brandy," I said, taking a sip of my coffee, "I'm asexual, remember?" She looked at me with her pale blue eyes and furrowed her brow.

"Oh, right, I forgot. Well, how's life treating you?" she asked. I laughed at her question.

"You still thinking about others, hm? Well, life's doing well enough. Rent went up, but, other than that, it's all really just the same."

"Oh? Is that so?" she asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"Yeah. But, what about you? How's being a coffee-maker working out for you?" I asked, receiving a tired look.

"Oh, God, I hate everyone here," she responded, disgruntled, holding her head with her hands by her forehead.

"So, I take it that it's not working out?" I asked, trying to hold back my laughter.

"No! It really, really isn't. Everything about this place sucks! The floor is sticky, the people are either hipsters of some tired as shit businessman that can't place his order without falling asleep three times! Seriously! I hate it here!" she responded, obviously letting anger slip into her tone.

"Could be worse, Brandy." I said.

"How? How could it POSSIBLY be worse than this?" she asked, not believing my words.

"Well, you could be a garbage-woman." I responded, taking a sip of my coffee.

"Yeah...Yeah, I guess so," she said, defeated.

We sat there for a while again before she decided to speak up again.

"Well, at least you have a scapegoat for not being able to do the jobs like that," she said, leaning back in my chair.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it. Bars in my back from scoliosis," I said, a bit angry, "But, at least it's better than saying "I was lazy", you know?" She looked at me and put a hand on her chin.

"Yeah, I guess so."

I stood and put my coat and hat back on. "Hey, I've gotta go. I'm going to want to my house soon, despite the storm," I said, throwing my cup away, "You should probably get back from your break anyways."

She stood up after that statement, "Oh, right. Well, see you around, Raymond!" I only waved in response as I walked out the door and back down the street.

Hopefully, this storm will let up after a while, I thought to myself. It was only about 10 minutes later that I found out that this storm was not going to let up. It only got worse. I guess I should have expected this from yesterday's weather. Unfortunately, I had to walk through an open part of a street to continue.

"Just my luck," I said to absolutely no one. I took a step onto the street and started to cross it.

ZAP!

Suddenly, I was thrown from the street entirely! I saw a torrent of colors, then I saw a constant strobe of black and white flashing that would be enough to make an man with epilepsy double over into a seizure! I saw many discolored scenes of purple mountains, to red plains, to green skies to black seas! I saw different creatures of large and small flash past me! All while listening to some deafening high-pitched humming noise! It reminded me of the ending of 2001: A Space Odyssey!

I could hardly bear the situation in front of me! I wanted to scream, but, every time I tried, no sound would come out, or none that I could hear! I felt like I couldn't take any more of this and I thought that I was going to die! But, suddenly, everything blurred and I heard screaming. Then, there was only blackness and silence.