Chapter 2: Mirror Changed Chapter 01

Mirror Changed – Chapter 01

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              Through most of the world many people have commented that fast food places are really all the same.  The same basic concept and layout.  Whether it is burgers or tacos or pizza they all share the same formulaic approach.  The same waiting in lines.  The same grease.  Whether inside or out in the car.  The same basic eating areas, and if you are lucky the same indoor children’s play places.  Sitting down to eat in one of them contained so much of the sameness that to eat in one you could feel like you had eaten in them all.

 

              It was this sameness that was what people craved.  Similarity and Conformity.  Comfort.  Not because it was actually comfortable, or for that matter even pleasant.  It was comfortable because it all contained what a person could expect.  The comfort of knowing how the whole process worked without having to learn anything new.

 

              No matter whether the person was a customer or they stood behind the counter.  Or at least that was what I had told myself so that I could deal with the shear drudgery of my job.  There really was a comfort in knowing what to expect I suppose.  Not because it was enjoyable, because it most definitely was not.  No matter how much I smiled or engaged the endless throng of people.  Take my register as an example.  From the customers side it looked new and sparkling clean.  They didn’t see the keypad though.  The buttons worn down from countless repetitive depressions.  Much like the people working here, like myself and my coworkers. 

 

              All smiling façade and attempted pleasantries.

 

              The specific buttons for specials were the worst.  I could never understand why management insisted on keeping the same new combo’s on the same row year after year without replacing the keys.  So that us register monkeys just had to mash the worn down buttons harder and harder until something gave.  The whole set had to be replaced just to fix one button.  So we just prayed that it went out on someone else’s shift because woe be to the person who reported it to management.  It was not our fault to have the technology pushed so far past its service life after all.

 

              Perhaps it was just my lot in life.  To be a register service attendant in whatever service job would have me.  At least until I was replaced by a kiosk or something.  I had barely passed high school.  Not because it was hard, rather it was so very boring.  I wasn’t anything exceptional either.  Just a run of the mill gamer geek.  I had some friends, not many though.  Probably the only thing we had in common was a console or two.

 

              When I looked at myself in the mirror I still saw the same thing I had seen for years.  Light colored complexion, not fully white Anglo Saxon, not exactly the olive tint of the Mediterranean.  Nor any of the darker skins of a person of Hispanic origin.  Just a standard Heinz fifty seven Caucasian mix.  Sandy brown hair that was thick and soft.  It never seemed to take to any styling.  Not even the bed head that seemed to be so popular… again.  So I kept it short…. ish.  I kind of kept forgetting to get it cut so it was usually too long or too short to style.

 

              Right now it was smack dab in the awkward zone.  Just like me.  The only nice thing that my friends, few left that they were, commented on regularly was my eyes.  They told me that they were a deep blue grey, like a deep stormy sea.  I personally just felt that they were a murky blue.

 

              Like the fast food restaurants being all the same, so was my life.  I felt bored.  Today I was bored, yesterday I was bored, tomorrow?  Tomorrow I would likely be bored.  Hell, it seemed that I had become so adept at feeling bored that I could list it on my resume as a job skill. 

 

              There was a comfort in that as well I guess.

 

              Not that today, or this shift was actually boring.  Nope, things were too busy to allow for that.  What with the constant ‘Yes Ma’am, would you like to upsize that sir, how about a combo, and all the Here’s your receipt’.  Then there’s my personal favorite ‘Sorry, we don’t sell that here’.  Whatever ‘that’ turns out to be.  Us register apes sometimes compare notes on the best ones.  We even had a pool going on it until the manager found out and shot it down.

 

              High school graduation was supposed to be the first major door closing on my life to open many bigger and better doors of opportunity.

 

              Not for me.

 

              Instead I end up working the same jobs, having the same friends, still pining for the same things that were always so far beyond my grasp.

 

              I take that back.  There was one MAJOR and Wonderful change.  I had finally been able to move out of my dads place.  The drunken old bastard had given up on life a long time ago.  It had been just the two of us since Mom had up and left.  I don’t know why she left.  There was no note or reason.  Just one day she was there and the next she was not.  She and Dad had never really gotten along.   He told me they had only stayed together because of me.  Dad did the obligatory searching and police reports he was supposed to after she had left.

 

              A couple of years ago he had declared her legally dead so that he could collect the life insurance.

 

              That was when he quit his job.  His alcoholism was at least tolerable when he had to be sober for work.  Without his job he just climbed right down the throat of that damned bottle.  I didn’t understand how someone could do that and still stay alive.  I wished to do things with my life.  To be someone, to do something.  Now just two years later I was beginning to understand.  A few months ago I had finally saved up enough to move into a rund down studio apartment near to where I worked.  The first months, last months, security, and utilities took everything I had.  But I was out of his house.  Gone from underneath his thumb.

 

              I could not have left fast enough.

 

              It was supposed to be the start of a new and prosperous life.

 

              Then the routine had started.

 

              The routine of having to work full time and more just to keep the rent paid.  To keep the utilities on.  I was lucky at the end of each paycheck to have enough to buy a pair of pants or one console game.  At least I still had my friends.  Those that hadn’t moved off to collage at any rate.

 

              Many times when I am working my mind travelled inwards.  Like right now.  It was a way to deal with the tedium.  To go to a place where maybe I had gone off to collage.  Or perhaps played sports.  If I had been able to do so I would have left the area.

 

              Not that living just North of Seattle Washington was such a bad place.  It was a great place for a nineteen year old loser teen to live.  However it was the only place I knew.  I could do with some change.  Any change.

 

              My contemplation was cut short when a pretty girl standing in front of my register didn’t hold to the normal fast food attendant script.

 

              “Jayde.”  She was visibly exasperated.  “Wake Up!  Earth calling Mr. Roboto.”

 

              From her tone I gathered she had repeated herself at least a time or two.

 

              I broke out of my fugue state enough to recognize that number one – she was the last in line, and that number two – it was my friend Suzi.  One of my best, and really only friends.  We had grown up a few houses down from each other.  In her younger years she had been a tomboy, always running around with unkempt hair and skinned knees.  It wasn’t until puberty hit her with a huge bat that I had even known that she was a girl.

 

              Her lack of regular fashion continued to this day.  Suzi dressed up however she wanted to dress.  As often as not in partial cosplay costume or in shockingly counter culture outfits. 

 

              Today her sneakers had seen better times, worn and marker doodled.  Ripped stylish jeans frayed beyond the normal point showing more skin than denim on her left leg.  A tight midriff showing t-shirt with the latest pop band that for the life of me I could not remember emblazoned across the bust.  Tummy showing the nearly obligatory parental defying belly button piercing.  A stylish leather jacket over it all.  Actually current fashion I think, but I could always be wrong.

 

              Suzi’s hair was punked out today.  Spiky jet black with purple and shock pink highlights.  The contrast between her hair and porcelain whit skin made her cornflower blue eyes pop so vibrantly that I felt my breath taken away at just the sight.  A vibrant electricity that never failed to draw me in.

 

              I am sure that I stood there blinking like some kind of special education kid for far too long.  “Sorry… did I ask if you wanted that in a combo again?”

 

              At her nod I cringed.  I hated looking like an idiot in front of her.

 

              “Don’t be such a dumbshit, dumbshit.”  She said in a deadpan tone.  “C’mon, how long till you’re off?”

 

              “Not sure.  I think when I’m scheduled to.”  I know I was usually a clueless literal person, but sometimes I enjoyed playing it up.

 

              Her half lidded stare told me that she did not consider me the smartest protozoa in the petri-dish right now.  After a couple moments of the impasse she let out a sigh through pursed lips.  It puffed her cheeks a bit.  I really enjoyed how even the smallest of her actions were so expressive.

 

              “Sorry, I don’t know what time it is.”  Maybe being too literal right now wasn’t the best idea.

 

              About then, with good sitcom timing, my manager exited his office.  He wore the same outfit I did, though it was a bit cleaner and with a managers tag.  Oh, it also didn’t have the apron.  It really looked like so many of the fast food managers tag and shirt in every place I had ever worked or seen.

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              He looked over at me for a moment before walking back to the prep area without saying a word.  That of course ruined the sitcom moment.  No interaction, just the humdrum of real life.  This wasn’t some type of friendly people episode or apartment bachelor life.  Nope just the standardized cookie cutter of existence I found myself living in.  Nothing more than a fleshy cog in the works of society.

 

              “Jayde….”

 

              Suzi was tapping her foot in annoyance now.  I think I had mentally wandered off again.

 

              “Sorry.  I think I’m supposed to be off at six or so.”

 

              “Why look at that.”  She pointed at a clock on the wall that I seemed to keep forgetting is there whenever I spaced out.  “It’s six p.m. already.”

 

              I looked over feeling a rush of energy.  The type one can only feel when at the end of the daily grind.  Freeing oneself to pursue something much more enjoyable.

 

              Doing my best not to let out a whoop of joy I went back to the rear of the prep area.  A couple of my coworkers were figuring out the latest hybrid concoction that the franchise corporate marketing had thought up.  Some form of burrito pizza thing that we all hoped would fizzle.

 

              The things were a nightmare to put together.  Far to messy.

 

              “Don?  Hey, it’s six.  Can I clock out?”  I asked as soon as I got to where he had gotten off to.

 

              He was in the security and safe room counting out a register.  He looked up from what he was doing for just and without a word went back to his count.

 

              Donald was another of the sameness of fast food places. Nondescript mid thirties man running towards fat with short hair showing the signs of male pattern baldness.  He may have once been physically fit when he was my age.  Now he looked like central castings idea of a failed in life highschool quarterback.

 

              Right now I had to wait him out.  Whenever Don got like this it was best to just be patient.  No matter how irritated I got when my manager acted so dismissive towards me I still had to keep a pleasant smile plastered to my face.  He was the one who authorized my paychecks after all.  Did all managers go to a class on how to optimally irritate their employees or something?

 

              Almost two minutes to the second Don finished the count and recorded the amounts into his computer log.

 

              “Yes.  You may go now.  Tell Becky that she is on register two on your way out.”  His voice was dull, seemingly bereft of any care towards me or the job.  “I will get your register and count it.  You better not be off this time Jim or it will come out of your paycheck.”

 

              Of course.  He got my name wrong… Again…

 

              “It’s Jayde, Don.  Jayde, not Jim.”

 

              “Whatever.  Get out of here.  Don’t be late to your next shift.”  He handed me Becky’s drawer as he talked.

 

              I didn’t bother to reply to his surly nature.  Don’t fee the bears and all that.  I went to the drive window where Becky was spelling someone else for a quick break.  “Hey, Don says to take register two.”

 

              Drawyer places in her hands I quickly punched out before there were any other distractions.  I went out front where Suzi had her smartphone out.  She was avidly involved in some app or another.

 

              “Please tell me you’re playing something normal.”  I sat down across from her.

 

              “Remove the apron.”  She didn’t even bother to look up from her device.

 

              Looking down at myself I saw that I hadn’t’ bothered to even take it off.  I really did not like what these places did to me.  Once the apron was off and placed on the small table Suzi looked up from the phone. Her dark hair and light complexion caught me off guard again.  I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it but I counted myself lucky to have a friend like her.  Even if that was all we could ever be.

 

              When she started to talk it shocked me out of my moment of introspection.

 

              “It’s an augmented reality first person shooter.  I’m just readying my weapons for my next encounter.”

 

              She held up the phone so I could look through the screen.  The camera was on because I could see everything past the phone.  There was a superimposed status and targeting overlays turning it into a sort of heads up display.  Just like many of the first person shooters we played.  It looked like all of reality had been turned into the game.

 

              “The game’s currently entering early Beta testing.  They asked me to review some of its features.”

 

              “Do you ever play a game outside of Beta or Pre-release?”  I knew the answer but in good conscience I still had to ask.

 

              “Why would I ever do that?  By that time I’ve already figured everything out.”  She kicked her legs out and clasped her hands behind and above her head.  The motion popping her chest out and drawing attention to her slim profile.  I was pretty sure she did these things on purpose, or they could be subconscious actions from watching too much anime.  “Booooooorrrrriiiiinnnnnnggggg…….”  She then regained animation and leaned forward placing her hands on the table.  “So, ready to hang out with David and the crowd?”

 

              Definitely on purpose.

 

              “Yes!”  That would lighten my mood considerably.  “What’s tonights agenda?”

 

              “I’ll let that be a surprise.”  Suzi got up and walked to the door.  I gladly fell into step beside her.  “Lets get outta here.”

 

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End Chapter 01

 

Alright!  Two main characters introduced!

 

So, unlike Summoned, Much of this story is told from Jayde’s point of view in first person narrative.  I love to experiment with various styles of writing.  Please feel free to comment back on anything.   I love to find out what beautiful peoples out in the world think. 

 

 

 

 

 

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