“EMERGANCY EXTRACTION EMERGANCY EXTRACTION!!!” a robot voice repeated.
Matthew slapped the headset.
“EMERGAN—” the voice spluttered out, finally stopping.
Matthew let out a deep sigh, his body falling deeper into his father’s chair. Matthew stared into the blank tv screen in front of him. Trying to piece together what had just happened. It had all started when he tried to resist what Karl Benz’s body wanted to do. But he couldn’t resist.
Not until his mother suddenly arrived. Matthew shook his head. He didn’t have the mental capacity to think of his mother right now.
Light suddenly came blaring in from the windows, his hand quickly shielding his eyes. He rose from the chair he had been stuck in for hours. He walked over to the window, leaning his forehead against it.
The sun rising into the sky, and the birds flying, and chirping as normal. Glancing over at the neighbours. Never had he seen all the neighbours’ cars being in the driveway on a Tuesday morning. Matthew looked back at the machine sitting on the table, cursing at himself for trying it. He should have known it wouldn’t have ended great, especially with his disposition. He just hadn’t thought it would end…. Well, that terribly.
Matthew started prepping some food for the day, having eating far too little the day prior. It didn’t take long before Matthew had prepped his food and taken a quick shower. In less than twenty minutes, he was headed out the door. Far too eager to tinker with Mr Daton’s car to get his brain off of yesterday’s experience.
As he began turning the doorknob, the stairs down the corridor began creaking from someone’s weight. Matthew stopped himself from rushing out the door, always wanting to avoid an uncomfortable conversation. He needed to tell his father to be a careful with that game.
His father eventually came down the stairs and into view, his pajama pants almost falling off him, and his dirty tank top fighting for its life not to tear.
“Hey kiddo, have a good day at work alright,” His father said, not even glancing at him. Already headed for the kitchen to get his breakfast of bacon and eggs. And more bacon.
“I—yeah, I will, dad,” Matthew said, sighing to himself as he closed the door behind him. He would tell him when he came back, wasn’t like his dad was going anywhere.
Matthew drove toward his shop, the silence deafening. Having only seen one other car, the entire five-minute ride, he pushed the pedal. The faster he could tinker with a car, the faster these racing thoughts would disappear. Matthew dialed the radio, hoping that it would make the car ride faster.
“CHANNEL FIVE; MARIE IM TELLING YOU SOMETHING ISNT RIGHT WITH THIS; ALL OF MY KIDS ARE ADDICTED; WHAT IS IT DOING TO OU-”
Matthew turned the dial.
“CHANNEL 12; LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING EVERYBODY THIS IS A COUP FROM THE JAPANESE GOVERMENT IM TELLING YOU; THEIR FRYING OUR BRA——”
Matthew turned it again, getting annoyed.
“IVE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS MACHINE IN MY HOUSEHOLD I JUST OUTRIGHT BANNED IT; AND I THINK THE GOVERMENT SHOULD TOO. NOTHIN——”
“For fuck’s sake,” Matthew said to himself, turning off the radio. Silence being his only companion on his way to work.
Matthew pulled and pushed, making minor adjustments to the car. Slowly getting it in-tune with how it should drive.
Hours had flown by since he began working the beautiful thing that was Mr Daton’s car. He had fixed the problem that Mr Daton had wanted to get repaired hours ago. With Daton being one of his most frequent customers, and Matthew having a need for something to take his brain off, he continued to improve the car. He pulled himself out from under the car and dusted off his grimy hands in his pants. Rasing himself and looking at the beauty that was in front of him. Just as Matthew was about to take some other tools, and try to adjust some more “Matthew!!”
The deepness of the voice instantly recognizable.
“Mr Daton,” Matthew replied, turning to look at the man. “Your earlier than expected”
“Well, I was in the neighbourhood anyway, so I just came to check if it was already finished,”
Matthew walked up to Mr Daton’s beautiful car and patted the front. “Actually, just finished it. How about you give it a spin around the block, and see if it is to your satisfaction,” Matthew said, smiling, at the look of relief on Daton’s face.
“HAHA, I knew you worked fast, good I trusted my intuition” Mr daton said, with a smiled and walked toward him. Matthew threw him the keys, and Daton caught them with ease, quickly jumping in the car.
VRRRRRROOOOOOOMMMMMM
“She’s never sounded so good before,”
“Well, I arrived a little early to the shop, so I gave it a little extra love. How about you give it a spin?”
“With pleasure,” Daton said, and zoomed out of the shop. Matthew looked down at his grimy hands and sighed. Knowing it would be awhile before they looked like that again.
VROOOOM VROOOOM
It had been twenty minutes, it shouldn’t have taken over three to go around the block. Matthew felt a swell of pride at that. Daton pulled into the shop, saying nothing as he strolled out of the car and closed it behind him.
He couldn’t make out Mr Daton’s facial expression. His face leaving no clues to what he was feeling. Matthew suddenly felt his stomach drop. Had he made a mistake? If he had ruined the man’s amazing car, he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself.
“Mr Daton, if anything was wr — “
Before Matthew could finish his sentence, the much older man pulled him into a massive hug. Though the man’s frame was much smaller than his own, he felt the old mans strength surround him. Matthew naturally returned the hug.
Mr Daton slowly pulled back from his hug and placed a hand on his shoulder. A single tear straining his face.
“Thank you Matthew, for going the extra mile for something this important to me,”
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Matthew didn’t really know how to respond, so he responded in the only way that felt appropriate.
“Ofcourse Mr Daton, anytime,” Matthew said with a smile. He had never been good at taking sincere thank you’s.
“It means the world,” Daton said, his regular deep voice coming back to him.
His dark green eyes locked with his.
“After that…. Machine became available, well everyone I know has been using it from morning til night. My kids, my wife. Everyone, and well,”
Daton looked back at the car.
“it’s the only thing keeping me sane, and you just returned it back ten times better. Thank you,”
Matthew was happy that he could alleviate some of the man’s trouble’s. Though he doubted they would go away completely.
“You’re welcome, Mr Daton, and well,” Matthew had to stop himself from becoming a little emotional himself.
“you’ve helped me as well, so thank you as well,” Matthew said with a smile, feeling a weight lifted off that someone shared the same experience as himself.
“Tch! That damn machine! No matter what anyone tells me how great or fun it is, ill never try that thing. I wanna live my life, not anyone else’s. “
Mr Daton was in the minority, and sadly for him meant a lot more solitude, Mr Dayton Family probably didn’t think anything of it, other than their husband and father was missing out on something amazing.
The Machine was amazing, Matthew could admit. There were endless use cases. But for people like him and Mister Daton, where given the short end of the stick.
“I’m not the biggest fan either, but look on the bright side. You get to drive that beauty much more.”
“HAHA, damn right you are. Maybe I have been looking at it all wrong.” Mr Daton said, as he was pulling something out of his pocket.
Matthew knew what he was pulling out, but before he could reject, the man had placed a large stack of bills in his palm.
“No, if’s or but’s you deserve it, son. Find a girl not hooked on one of those machines and have some fun.”
Matthew looked at his hand with bills and wanted to open his mouth and decline. But he knew that would be more disrespectful than just taking it, so he took it.
“Thank you so much, and ill see what I can do,” Matthew said with a smile.
“Good, have a great day son,” Daton said, and entered his car.
Matthew waved as the man drove off his property. Matthew looked down at his palm again, filled with what had to be well over three thousand dollars. He shuffled the money in his back pocket and began cleaning shop.
He knew there would be no one else coming today, or for a good while. Maybe if his father hadn’t taken the machine on today, they could do something. It had been years since they had probably talked. And even longer since his father had felt like his father. The image of his mother in the kitchen flashed through his mind. Matthew began cleaning more aggressively.
Matthew drove back home, a slight smile tugging his lips. He tried to be optimistic that his father wouldn’t be on the machine, but even if he was. The next time he would take it off, he would just make sure they did something.
A few more cars were crowding the roads, which were three inside of the single car he had seen driving on his way to work. It still made him hopeful that things could be returning to normal. Matthew didn’t want to turn on the radio to ruin his mood, but he somehow felt compelled to listen to some tunes.
His fingers slowly dialed the radio knob until he hit a channel.
“CHANNEL TWELVE; BREAKING NEWS SOME PEOPLE ARE LEFT IN COMA—”
Matthew quickly turned the nop once more, luckily finding a sweet tone he could listen to on his way home.
Matthew couldn’t shake it, but had the radio host said coma? Curiosity got the best of him, and he turned the dial back.
“SOME PEOPLE ARE IN COMA’S FROM THE GAME, AND THEY HAVE NOT WOKEN UP AFTER TWO DAYS!!,”
Two days?
He knew there were some potential problems with all the dopamine that was possible, and also negative stuff you could experience. But being stuck with the machine on and falling into a permanent coma?
“THE BRAZILIAN GOVERMENT HAVE ALREADY CLAIMED IT TO BE THE WORK OF Hashimoto; AND THEIR GOVERMENT SOURCES TELL US,”
Someone was putting people in comas permanently?
The host continued to talk, but Matthew turned off the radio, not needing to hear more. His feet ramming the pedal as far down as possible, not caring, he broke the speed limit by fifty miles an hour. There were no cars or people to hit. Matthew needed to know his father was ok.
The door creaked open as he turned the knob. He didn’t hear the tv from outside the porch.
He walked into the house, light pulling in from behind him. His eyes looked left. His father was strapped to his chair, the machine protruding out from the chair.
‘He should have expected it,’ he told himself.
Slamming the door behind him, and leaving tools on the floor, he began searching for his computer.
He hadn’t used it in years, ever since he had gotten addicted to a parking game on a website called y8. He had to limit his use after that.
He finally found a computer behind some old books that had been collecting dust for years.
The charger thankfully on top of the computer. He quickly plugged the computer in and waited anxiously, hoping it would turn on.
After five minutes of waiting, a light came from the computer.
Matthew went from news site to news site. Some were claiming people falling into commas by the thousand’s using the machine, and others not even having a single article about it.
But the sites that did have the articles about it all said there were under a million cases. Matthew felt a weight being lifted off his shoulder, the chance of it happening to his father much smaller.
He also tried looking for news on old social media platforms he hadn’t used in forever.
Nothing, no mention of anything.
As he scrolled through the posts, he saw most of them dated further back then two weeks.
Everyone had stopped every other activity other than playing that stupid game. The few posts that there was nothing spoke of people in comas.
Matthew leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms above his head, and exhaling heavily. The tightness of his back, and the soreness of his bottom, suddenly becoming apparent to him after all the time he had spent researching.
He glanced at the clock on the bottom of the screen.
22:47
Eight hours!!
Where had all the time gone?
Matthew raised himself from the chair and began walking toward the kitchen, his stomach vehemently agreeing with him. It calmed his mind to know the chance of his father being stuck in a coma was slim to none, even if it was true. Some of the news sites had been known to post controversial opinions. And it wasn’t like anyone was going to fact check them.
Matthew resigned himself to his bed and didn’t let himself ponder it any further.
No one was falling into a coma.
Matthew slowly let his eyes twinkle awake, the soreness from yesterday still not out of his system. As soon as his eyes adjusted, he realized the room was dark.
Too Dark.
Matthew looked toward the windows and saw no light come through. He searched his pants for his phone, but it was nowhere to be found.
He felt a shiver run up his entire body.
Something was wrong. He could feel it. Was this a side effect of what happened in the game?
His eyes looked for his father’s chair, but it was too dark to make out if he was still sitting in it. He had probably just woken up too early, which explained the immense soreness. He felt his body relax again. Just as he was about to lie back down again, the kitchen light flickered on.
His heart dropped to his stomach.
It wasn’t his mother that stood in the kitchen this time.
Three people
All of them wearing black suits and black sunglasses.
One woman, two men.
Matthew didn’t move, but as the three intruders suddenly began walking toward him, he shouted, “Get out of my house! Now!!!”
Matthew stood up and began feeling rage boil within him. If they wanted something or even worse, kill him and his father for some stupid reason. He would not die like some bitch.
The three intruders continued slowly walking toward him.
“Mister Matthew, you’re going to have to come with us,” The Woman on the right said.
Come with them?
“There is no way I—— wait!” Matthew shouted, as the woman pulled something that looked like a revolver. Matthew saw the woman pull the trigger, but no sound came. He only realized something had happened when he felt a sting in his neck. He quickly plucked it off and looked at it.
‘A Needle?’ was the last thought Matthew could muster before succumbing to darkness.
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Lots of set up this chapter, and the following chapters will hopefully build along nicely. Hopefully, you like the way the Matthew is slowly developing. I had to edit this two separate times because my file got lost after my computer died, so if there is anything you see, or any constructive criticism, then just write it would mean the world. Next chapter is going to be out Saturday, so stay tuned for that. That’s all for this chapter.
Sirrom signing out.