Isa might have thought she dreamed up the whole thing, except the next morning she had 15 texts from Arjun. Which wasn’t actually that unusual, except instead of a bunch of memes and short comments there was…. a lot.
She blearily skimmed through them, trying to make sense of the nearly incomprehensible mess.
Arjun: so taking into account the idea of a multiverse, some people think that magic is the interactions of us and our alternative selves. Or beings that are from a universe with slightly different physics constants which is why they can do what they can. That makes sense to me, and I read a post by a physics professor that was super convincing. Like, if they differ on the quantum level then maybe they can alter our reality in a way that we don’t understand. But someone else was arguing that it wasn’t possible without like, black holes being made and mutual destruction. And I’m also not sure that the first person was actually a professor because people lie on the internet. Also there are theories that the distinctions between magical beings actually don’t exist, and that they are all the same but our minds craft them into what we want to see based on our cultural perceptions….
She couldn’t keep reading this, not before having coffee at least.
The last text at least was reasonable.
Arjun: Call me when you get up
Isa: After work. I don’t have time right now
Her phone rang. She sighed and picked it up.
“Have you noticed anything change?”
“Hi Arjun, how are you this morning?” she said, and started up her electric kettle.
“Did you read my texts?” His voice sounded odd.
“Only like one, I just got up.”
“It’s okay, you can read them later. But I want you to pay attention to anything weird that happens and let me know, and what time it happens. I want to keep a log and analyze it.”
“Did you sleep dude?”
There was a pause before he replied, “Not really.”
“Are you going to work today?” She asked holding the phone on her shoulder and trying to pour the water into the single cup pour over coffee dripper. Jerri was tangling in her legs, making sure she knew it was breakfast time.
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“I’m quitting my job.”
Isa nearly dropped everything she was holding, “What?”
“Yeah, I need to devote myself to figuring this out.”
Isa didn’t say anything. Arjun loved his job…or at least, he loved the ambition of his job. He was moving up quickly as an investment banking financial analyst. He worked crazy hours but made the most money in their friend group.
“Don’t quit your job yet, okay?” Isa finally said, “But I’ll help you figure this out.”
Arjun was quiet.
“Maybe take a sick day, okay?”
“Okay, yeah.” he was subdued.
“Try to get some sleep.”
“That’s not happening. But I’ll take a sick day. Send me the eBay listing for the mask. And then come over after work.”
Isa didn’t get a chance to reply before he hung up.
She checked her phone. There weren’t any texts from Kassie, so Isa sent her a quick one mentioning she was worried about Arjun.
Then she tried to find the listing. In her purchase history there was one, but it was for $2 (+ $5.50 shipping). It showed the mask exactly they had received it. Cheap gold glitter and everything. The previous images were gone.
She checked her banking app. There was a $7.50 charge from ebay. And then the rest was still in her account. Had it been that way before? She hadn’t checked. She still had both the $50 deposits from Arjun and Kassie.
She sent the listing to Arjun.
Isa: It’s different now. And I was only charged $7.50. I’ll send you your money back.
Arjun didn’t reply. Hopefully he went to sleep.
She sent him and Kassie the money. She didn’t explain to Kassie what happened. She didn’t know how to explain what happened. Maybe she misread the price? But the photos…
Isa went to the table where the packaging was. The ink of the return address was all smudged and illegible. She rummaged through the packaging to see if there were any other clues.
Something seemed off, but it took her a second to realize what it was.
All the glitter was gone.
It had shed absolutely everywhere. She should be finding glitter for the rest of her life. It shouldn’t be just…gone. She felt her heart beat just a little harder.
Jerri meowed at her.
“Sorry sweetie,” Isa put the packaging down and then went to feed her cat. She didn’t want to be late for work.
Isa drove to work, and everything seemed normal. Traffic as usual. The long walk from the parking lot to the lab seemed normal.
She dropped her stuff off at her desk, made some small talk, checked emails, then went to go prepare some samples.
She listened to music while she prepped them, hyper vigilant to anything weird. Was the algorithm playing a few more of her favorites? But then she had to skip two songs she felt meh about.
Lunch with coworkers. More lab work. Standard results. Normal. Normal. Normal.
During her afternoon coffee break, she texted Arjun. She didn’t have any new messages from him.
Isa: I’ll need to stop by my place to feed Jerri, then I’ll come over.
Arjun didn’t respond.
As she was scrolling through social media, she got a text from Kassie.
Kassie: My place was broken into.
Isa called her friend.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, I left to get some groceries. I don’t know what’s missing yet. The place is ransacked. The Police just came… I’ll talk to you later.”
Kassie hung up.
Isa touched her face. All she felt was the slight imprint of her lab goggles. She put them on and went back to work, her mind racing, wondering if something would happen to her.