It was honestly stunning to see a pokéball just there. Sure I was a fan of the games, Platinum being my most favorite, but I never had a replica of the mysterious device. I didn't have time to spare though, I had to get to work. I quickly leaned down to pick it up, my injured wrist protesting while I held up the bike. The ball was small enough to fit in the palm of my hand, kind of like the shrunk form from the anime I watched once. I opened my jacket and placed the ball on the left inside pocket, zipped my jacket back up, and sped off down the trail towards my workplace.
With five to ten more minutes of the park trail still left on my journey I had plenty of time to wonder about my spotted memory from the morning, my missing pin, and the strange pokéball replica in my pocket. I was quite upset about losing the pin, it was a gift from the girl I was crushing on, as was the cap I was currently wearing. I hadn't progressed the relationship though, as being over four thousand miles away was a slight hindrance. I would have to go back and search for the pin on my way home tonight, I couldn't lose such an important memento. Keeping my job was a necessity though, I had rent to pay and I was saving up to visit the UK someday.
The pokéball replica was weird, why had it been there? I hadn't had it on my way here, so where did it come from? And why was my memory so bad? Sure I didn't have the best memory, but I should've been able to remember finding such an intricate replica, or better yet, crashing my bike and braining myself on the pavement. ‘I should probably get a helmet while I'm at work, now that I think about it.’
Arriving at the end of the trail and out next to one of the towns main roads, I realized that there were no cars on the road and only a few actually in sight, all of which were not moving. That was weird, especially for a… what day was it? Glancing at my watch again I saw it was Wednesday. Suddenly noticing the pain in my wrist again, I found it aggravated after using it to direct my bike for the past few minutes, ‘That'll surely make things better.’ I'd be at work soon and then I could get that brace. I would just have to ride one handed for the rest of the journey. After ten more minutes and an unusually empty intersection and parking lot, I locked my bike to the metal cage surrounding the lawn and garden section of the store. I walked across the front sidewalk of the store and approached the front door of Walmart. “Well, here we go.” One more glance at my watch showed the time to be 7:24 AM, nearly an hour and a half past my start time. ‘I'm so screwed’.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Walking into the store I didn't see anyone, but heard the overhead store radio chatting along as if all was right with the world, ‘Okay, what the hell is going on today?’ I quickly headed to the service desk nearby to tell my Team leader that I was here and to clarify why I was late to work. Walking up to the service counter I again saw nobody. “Hello?” I called out into the empty store, yet heard no response. Heading to the office door behind the counter I found it to be slightly ajar. I opened the door the rest of the way, with a little bit of resistance, and found my Team leader face down on the ground, not unlike myself nearly thirty minutes ago, one of her feet seemed to have been caught in the door, which seemed to be the reason it had been held ajar.
“Nancy?” I remained cautiously optimistic, hoping that she had only passed out. ‘Thank God for my own experience I guess.’ I glanced around the small office room, looking for a first aid kit for myself and possibly my boss now. However I was not familiar with the space and didn't see anything helpful. The gash on my calf had been slowly bleeding since I woke up and my wrist was relaying a dull throbbing pain, attempting to tell me to stop aggravating my injuries. Luckily my other wounds had thankfully not been bad enough to cause concern.
Wincing and with no other option I crouched down and tried to shake Nancy awake. “Nancy? Are you okay? You need to wake up, something is wrong.” Looking back over the counter and towards the center of the store I thought I noticed someone stumbling around in the clothing section, “Hey! I need some help over here!” And yet there was no response to my call. ‘Well fuck you too. Asshole.’ Looking over under the customer service counter I did see a first aid kit though, ‘Finally, I need to stop this bleeding and help Nancy.’
Stepping over Nancy and rushing over to the first aid kit, I opened it and grabbed out the necessary supplies. A gauze wrap and antiseptic wipes for my leg, along with standard bandages for my cuts and scrapes. I still needed to get a brace for my wrist, but that would have to wait until I figured out what was wrong with Nancy. After cleaning my injuries and covering them with the bandages and gauze, I brought the kit over to Nancy. I rolled her over and checked for breathing and a pulse. Thankfully she was breathing and I could feel a pulse, even if her heart rate seemed to be faster than normal.
I still couldn't tell what was wrong though, and suspected my original hope of unconsciousness was correct. Standing up and testing my leg I was getting ready to head towards sporting goods, and the promise of a wrist brace, when Nancy jolted awake and stared at me with a terrified gaze. “Good morning Ma’am, How are you feeling?”