Angelo stepped outside of the house, the fog obscuring much of the isolated neighborhood. It was their mother’s idea, to buy farmland a decade ago, in 2026 when the South African real estate market crashed, causing a national crisis. However that in itself was likely spawned off the 2nd great depression which took the world by storm in 2025.
His house was isolated, strangely isolated now that he thought about it, even the neighbors were much closer together than they were. No grocery store for kilometers upon meters–just rural dirt, some trees and the occasional broken road sign. Of course don’t forget the potholes, a perfect representation of their current government.
“Normal,” he said to himself. “Completely normal, nothing out of the ordinary.”
“You’re not normal,” Curie announced from the house. “May I suggest seeking out therapy or paying for AI therapy.”
“Can it rust bucket!” the A.I. made it a concerted effort to annoy him. He often caught her spying on his app activity, and made it issue once to his father because he was using linux which was informally banned worldwide in the year 2028 for ‘security concerns.’
Not that a ban has stopped anyone.
He adjusted his backpack and sighed, starting the long, dreary walk to the nearest grocery store. Usually a walk would make him feel better, but the strange colored purple atmosphere unnerved him like someone put a color filter on the sky.
He made an effort to smell and touch the passing flowers as he walked along the road.
The store, styled after a Japanese konbini called M1raK0n–had a flickering neon sign, a stark reminder to him of the growing dystopian reality he lives in. Every thing was overplastered with neon or oversaturated bright colours.
Entering the store, it seemed eerily empty, a single cashier at a digital till, not a single soul in sight. A sign at the till is displayed. No, metal coins allowed. Lots of camera’s present each one tracking his movements. He held up a middle finger to each of them.
He grabs his usual taste assortment of –chips, energy drinks, exotic ramen noodles. He approaches the cash register, snuck a quick glance at her facial features, his heart beating a little faster, this happened whenever he was near a pretty girl that wasn’t his older sister. He never grew out of his crush phase, and he knew it.
She was casually confident–messy hair but tied in a loose bun, lipstick a tad darker then her skin. Worker cap on her head. Dark sharp eyeliner, that made her face stand out even in the overly bright store lights. She was chewing gum, but the way she had looked at him with her eyes half lidded, sent a jolt through his bolt, made him twitch.
He was too awkward to say anything.
She finally looked up at him, a smile on her face, his eyes on her lips he felt a sudden rise in temperature in his face.
“Hey,” she said. As she was surveying his pickings.
“Hey…” he replied, swallowing.
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“Shouldn’t you be stacking up on cans and beans, you know the doomsday diet, heard the world was ending well within the year, maybe buy some water instead of highly processed oils, sodium, and fats.”
Angelo started stammering, too embarrassed to probably form a response.
“Uh…yeah…you’re right I guess. If only my family will listen to that advice. It’s why I keep my pistol in my left pocket and my alien passes in the other.” he says. His attempt at trying to be partly humorous. Failed
She raised her eyebrow.
“Sure, sure. Gotta blend in if they do show up.” she winked at him, causing him to blush.
Was she teasing him or was she messing with him? And why did he find it attractive? Or was he being childish?
“That’ll be 577 Brico.”
“570, that’s like a 10 percent increase since the last month.”
“I’m sure you know how inflation works.” she giggled.
“Of course.” he put his paycard under the scanner.
“Card declined.” the machine said.
He tried again, and the machine repeated itself.
“You planning on paying for this, or do I need to start a tab? Can you handle credit?” she joked.
He laughs nervously, putting his card back. “Uh… I do have cash…” He takes out a rough worn out 1000 Brico bill and hands it over, avoiding her gaze.
“Right,” she said as she exchanged the money. “Just so you know, and if you already know, the company can’t provide small change, any small change will be converted into store credit.”
He nodded. The whole time she was talking the only thing he could think of was how soft her voice was, he pitied himself knowing he will never have someone like that close to him.
As she hands him the possible notes. Her hands made contact with his, it put him in a state of shock, she had such soft delicate hands. “You okay dude? You look a little out of it, I’d get out of the street if I Awere you, it looks like it's gonna rain.”
“He snapped out of his trance. “Rain, yes, naturally.”
“See you around, i’ll be sure to save you a can of beans if the apocalypse hits.” she saluted him, he didn’t know if she teasing him.
He mumbles a barely discernible “Thank you.” shoving the change into his pockets. But it looked like she didn’t hear, as her attention had turned towards her phone. He glanced back as he walked away.
As he left the store, he could still feel his cheeks burning, and the exciting sensation at the center of his chest. His mind races, he probably would never see her again, the store changes employees like every month and he rarely goes to buy stuff.
Her appearance, her confidence and the way she had looked at him, it was stuck in his head more than it should.
Stuffing everything in his backpack, he hits the road again. His thoughts almost ignored the sudden change in weather still preoccupied by the brief encounter.
His train of thought was broken by frantic barking in the distance. His fight or flight response kicked in as he saw a man get tackled by a malformed-looking dog. It went wild, what were the chances that it had rabies?
Without thinking, he grabs a large broken stick alongside the road and hurls at the dog.
The mad dog snarls at him and growls as if he just ruined its dessert and then he bolts off into who the fuck knows where into the thick woods. He noticed that its eyes were glowing and its pupil didn’t seem to match where it was looking.
He helped the old man up.
“Thank you, young man,” the old man gasps as he attempts to breathe calm air. The man held his hands where the bite mark was. “Damn, everything has been fucking crazy lately. I’m telling you the end is nigh and no man can stop it, it’s time I return to god again.”
He smiled at the old man’s piety, he wasn’t overly religious but he believed as long as man grasped onto something, there was a way forward.
“You may wanna check that wound out, it looks kinda septic, dunno if that dogs had rabies.”
“No worries my boy, my daughter is doctor, in fact on my way there right now,” the old man said joyfully.
“You need an escort.”
“No, I'm quite alright, I'm almost there.”
He nodded, said his goodbyes, and made his way home. Raindrops had started falling, the longer he was on the road, the more ominous everything felt. He knew it was his paranoia kicking in, but some part of him felt like the looming shadows were lurking on the edge of his vision.
The sky opened up as it started to rain, this rain also felt strange. The mist was unnaturally thick, rolling like a carpet laid out, it made an already heavy air feel like it weighed more. A strange smell invaded his nostrils, it smelled metallic, like an electric outlet freshly burned due to an overcharge. He pulled his hoodie up and tightened it.
As he ran back home. He couldn't help but feel like he was being watched. He sped up, his nerves itching with every step he took. His house was finally in view. He couldn’t help but feel like something was holding him back, the rain had slowed him, and the wind had nearly sent him flying back as it howled and mist made it hard to see properly.
He had seen enough, the world had shifted, something was going down, and very few people seemed to care.