CH 1 - prolong - the coming storm

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“Bang bang bang!” The door frame shook, jolting Nathan awake and making him sit up as a low voice called out to him loudly. “Yo dude, don’t you got a. sociology test in like an hour?” Nathan’s eyes shot open and he quickly scrambled for his phone. Nathan was not so lucky, hanging over the image of the tornado attacking a barn was a big bright 10:10 and a missed notification of ‘11:00 am text! Wakeupwakeupwakeup!’

“Shit! Note to self: No more going to parties the night before test day…” Nathan groaned and thought back to the night before, dancing, drinking, hitting on hotties. He was quickly pulled back to reality as his phone went off again, breaking his attempt to escape reality. He quickly jumped up and started getting ready, swearing over and over.

He rushed towards the door, hoping to get a quick shower before the test and bumped into the voice that had reminded him of the test. “Dude, you need to put on pants if you are gonna leave the room.” It took a moment and Nathan swore again. “No time Collen!” He darted past his neighbor and almost leaped down the stairs to shave even one second off his showering time.

The apartments he was staying in had five rooms a floor with a small bathroom that only had a toilet and a sink. The rest of the amenities, the kitchen, and shower were all on the first floor. Nathan cursed in his mind once more as he shot into the shower. He missed the world record of the fastest shower by just a few seconds thanks to his mishap with the shampoo. He reached out from the shower, trying to keep his dignity intact, and popped his head out, unable to find his towel.

Nathan’s day was already turning to shit as his towel wasn’t underneath the towel drier. Collen huffed a bit and took a couple of deep breaths. “Geez man calms down a little, anyway what are you looking for?” He frowned and looked out at Collen. “Do you know what happened to my towel?” Collen gave a small shrug. “I had to use yours, mine is in the wash cause I had to shower last night after you threw up on me while I carried your drunk ass home.”

Nathan swore, looking at the damp towel, and swore again. He dried himself off very quickly and rushed back to his room to grab his things. He threw on his clothes and grabbed his bag and rushed out, almost running into Collen who had an evil smirk on his face. “Ok, what am I missing now oh wise ass?” Collen’s smirk widened and he pointed. “First go look out the window, then brush yo damn teeth.”

Nathan glared slightly and laughed it off after smelling his breath with a cuffed hand but finally gave in and walked back to his room to look out the window. Nathan frowned as the once filthy black streets were suddenly turned a dazzling white. Nathan’s breath instantly fogged the window as Collen spoke up once more. “The road snowed up and busses are delayed up to the ass,” Collen smirked and took a pose. “I suppose I’ll volunteer to drive you since I am so nice.”

“Dude that movie came out before you were born.” Nathan was chuckling while he headed back to the bathroom to brush his teeth as Collen nodded. “Hunger games is a classic and you don’t mess with the classics.” Nathan nodded as he began to brush his teeth. “That’s true… I will gladly accept your sacrifice then Katniss.” Collen laughed and patted Nathan’s back. “Just call me the Fairy Godfather.”

As Nathan brushed he looked in the mirror, making sure everything else looked ok as well. He was 6’ 1” (188cm). His hair was short black, going well with the dark skin that his African American side blessed him with and that the Pennsylvania sun has tanned even further. His eyes were a gift of his Scandinavian heritage and were two wide pools of dark sapphire that were currently expressing all the irritation and stress he was currently under. Though his clothes hid it, his body was a slim 240 with just enough muscle definition to make it fit his frame.

“Well, you already made an offer I couldn’t refuse so lead on Godfather.” Nathan rinsed out his mouth and finally, the two of them headed out. They strolled out of the apartment and headed towards Collen’s cherry red 2040 Jeep Wrangler. He called it his ‘classic baby’ but everyone else teased that it was just the only thing he could afford.

“So, Happy Birthday dude! Only two more years and we won’t need the fake I.D.’s.” Nathan chuckled and rolled his eyes, his voice thick with sarcasm. “Oh yes, a hangover and test, that is a wonderful way to start off a birthday.” Collen laughed and started to fiddle with the radio as he nodded. “At least the party was awesome.” Nathan couldn’t argue with that.

“Kaaassshh… Talking about the most popular game on the planet. New-Age has already been out for a year and it is quickly becoming the favorite Full Immersion Media on the market. Everyone from politicians to grandmas has started playing the game and it is currently just beneath the ever famous Royal Road in starting sales. Ever since the game was created almost every other form of entertainment media has taken a hit in sales and the popularity does not seem to be decreasing.”

Nathan quickly stopped Collen’s hand and smirked. “Is it really that great? I mean I haven’t even heard any troll comments about it.” Collen smirked and shrugged. “I don’t know it is a bit too pricey for me. $3000 for a game is ridiculous I don’t care how rich you are.” Nathan nodded and scoffed. “Hell, even the headset they made for it is $1000 dollars. Hell Royal Road is still in the high $600’s just for the game and it is decades old.”

Both of them sighed despondently as the radio continued to drone on. “Unicorn corporation has once more pulled a rabbit out of its endless bag of tricks with this new game. They are already the number one company in the country and, even with some opposition and two outright bans, it does not seem to be weakening at all. With a net gross equal to 30% of the world’s profits they are currently the largest world power. It is a miracle they stay out of politics as much as they do but even then they have branched out to so many different industries that even if they took over the world the people would probably cheer.”

Collen quickly turned off the radio. “Head’s up we almost there.” Nathan gave a sigh of relief as he looked at the time. He had just enough time to make it into class before the bell rang. He looked over the campus to see that everything was blanketed white with groups of people huddling together as they headed to classes, couples trying to have romantic moments while shivering, smokers unable to light their cigarettes thanks to numbed hands.

“Thanks again Collen, gotta run!” Nathan made a mad dash to the psychology building, barging in and rushing to his class. He was panting and heaving as he heard his name being called. He almost dove into the classroom as he cried out at the top of his lungs. “SAAAAAAAFE!” His teacher, Mrs. Duncan, gave a sigh and shook her head. “Just think Mr. Gabriel, just two more late marks and I wouldn’t be able to see you make a buffoon out of yourself. I am still nothing, if not amazed, at how you time your entrances so perfectly.”

Nathan was still panting and wheezing as he gave a weak smile. “I aim to entertain Mrs. Duncan, I would walk over hot coals to make sure not to disappoint you.” Mrs. Duncan sighed again. “Quite so Mr. Gabriel, take your seat before you keel over please.” Nathan gave another weak smiled and hurried to his seat, everyone snickering at him as he slowly caught his breath.

“Alright, class settle down. I want you to begin your tests, make sure to read ALL the directions. That means you Mr. Liones. As always, any cheating will be awarded an instant expulsion from my class.” She glared fiercely at her students who quickly calmed down, trying to avoid eye contact, with the exception of Nathan who was already looking over his test. He quickly flipped through each page, reading the questions, and hoping there were hints to make it easier to complete.

Nathan quietly muttered to himself, looking a little trouble as he started the test. “Humm alright let's get to it... Unintended beneficial consequences of people's actions that's… latent function? Yeah that it. Um, next one... Social interaction, that’s easy that is what people do when they are in one another's presence. Alright, this one is… A german word used by Weber…” He continued to mutter as the teacher watched them all like a hawk.

Nathan continued the test, looking more and more worried the closer to the end he got. After about halfway through the test he looked up, taking a short break to see how everyone else was doing. It was silent except for the scribbles of pencils or erasers attacking the test. The wind outside was moaning as it pushed the snow around.

He gave a small smirk as he saw a few of his classmates start to look a bit desperate. He chuckled as the occasional swear broke the silence and he returned to his test. The questions were quickly getting harder and he was finally reaching the first question to stump him. He stared at the question trying to figure it out. He was getting frustrated and finally started swearing himself. “Shit, skip it let’s try the next.”

He skipped through the questions that were stumping him, intending to come back after he finished the ones he did know. He looked up again and started to distract himself from the questions he was having trouble figuring out.

“...”

Nathan lifted his head and started to look around again, seeing if anyone had already finished or was almost finished. Although a few of the more studious people didn’t look too stressed most of them were straining. Nathan gave a small smirk, glad he wasn’t the only one when he saw Lion, real name Robert Liones, looking like he had just taken a tab of acid. Nathan chuckled mentally and decided to watch for a bit, amusing himself by narrating its golf style.

{Here you see it folks, the infamous struggle for our player Mr.lion. Down 2 tests with a barely passing grade. We’re at the midterm and now we see him take his daring classic, the ‘Sliding Eyes’. It's all or nothing here today ladies and gentlemen, will he be able to finish and land a perfect Ten without being discovered by the professor or will he once more burn, earning himself a bug ugly Zero.}

The lion continued to scan the room, making sure he wasn’t cheating on the tests next to him as he tried to read the answers of the student further away. But Mrs. Duncan continued to scan the room, searching for anyone who might be cheating. She finally glared at poor, poor Lion. “Mr. Lion, eyes one your test.” The lion jumped and immediately lowered his head.

The class gave a small chuckle as Lion blushed from the sudden attention. Nathan smiled and, continuing to comment to himself as he looked back to Mrs. Duncan. {Ooooh! Poor Mr. Lion shot down once more by the ever-watchful Mrs. Duncan. She is a scary one folks, even though she is around forty she doesn’t look a day over 25. She has a huge fan base on campus thanks to her flawless porcelain skin. The class didn’t even know she WAS the teacher until she started passing out the syllabus. If they actually existed I would think she was a vampire.}

“Mr. Gabriel, get back to work.” Nathan jumped and blushed as well, making a wry smile as he looked back down at the impossible questions with a small sigh. {Not even the brilliant Nathan is a match for her ever-watchful eyes.} Nathan sighed and continued to struggle through his Midterm. He was starting to feel like giving up as the questions he had left continued to stump him. “You have until the end of class.”

Mrs. Duncan’s voice called out again and everyone simultaneously spun their heads to checked the clock for the classroom in unison and hurried a little as time slowly started to run out. Nathan gulped a bit and began to panic a little, it did not seem like there would be enough time for him to finish the test as he just began to scribble out answers that made sense. In the span of an hour, people began to slowly leave the class. They were a mix of the confident ones who had studied hard and managed to remember most of it and the ones with a look of intense aggravation as if the test had wronged them deeply. Nathan looked up again and saw the clock only had fifteen minutes left and just began to write down at lightning speed, hoping to get even once more correct answer.

His brain was in shambles as his panic started to set in. {Shit, ShitShit, ShitShit, ShitShit, ShitShit, ShitShit, ShitShit, ShitShit, ShitShit, ShitShit, ShitShit, ShitShit, Shit}. Nathan began to put everything and anything he knew about sociology down into the rest of the answers, praying to whatever god would listen that he passed the Mid-term.

Nathan finally put down the pencil, giving a little whimper. “I have done everything I could possibly do.” He sighed stood as Mrs. Duncan called out for the five-minute mark. The students left were all furiously writing stuff down like Nathan had. Mrs. Duncan was currently sitting at her desk as Nathan walked up to her. It sort of felt the same as the dreaded walk of shame.

“How did you do Mr. Gabriel? You passed I hope?” Mrs. Duncan was looking up at him with a neutral mask with only a glint of what he presumed was a smile that made him shiver. Nathan gave a weak smile, trying to hide the shudder and nodded. “I’ll be seeing you the next time you need some entertainment, Mrs. Duncan.” The teacher sighed and gave Nathan an unamused look. “Have a good day Mr. Gabriel.”

Nathan waved and quickly escaped the scathing look Mrs. Duncan was giving him. He began to stroll out of class with a new sense of calling knowing the most stressful thing in his day was now done with and he could finally have a small break before his next task for the day. {Hmmm its 2 and work starts at 3:30… Let's go see what the boss is up to.}.

Nathan made it to the front door of the building and frowned a bit. It looked very cold outside and he tried to prepare for it. He grits his teeth and opened the door letting a blast of frost immediately hit his face making him gasp and pull his hood tighter to try to block out the frigid cold from sinking into his bones. He took out his phone and headphones to listen to some music while trekking to the bus. The roads were now partly clear with slush covering it. He quickly got to the bus stop and saw a huge line of people shivering and waiting for the soon to be a packed bus.

{Oh great… Another one of THOSE rides. Hopefully, it’ll be a little warmer than waking.} Nathan waited impatiently as the cold started to numb him, he saw the bus coming and gave a sigh of relief. He groaned a bit as everyone had to squeeze into the bus, making the vehicle very cramped, and watched as it took off from the bus stop. He tried to make himself as small as possible to conserve space but it was still a very unpleasant 40-minute ride to his workplace.

He looked up at the sign and gave a small sigh. ‘Total Electric’ in big neon letters hung above the store. Nathan thought it looked tacky but the owner of the store liked it, said it gave the store a ‘retro’ feel. Which is ironic since ‘retro’ electronics are usually called obsolete in the technology world. “Time to start working then.”

Nathan stepped into the store, the familiar bell chime ringing as he stepped past the entry and into the building itself. He looked around and saw the familiar sight of all kinds of different tech from old school Capsules surround sound systems, Holo Screen TVs, and, of course, some of the new-age gaming headsets inside a glass case. It was decked out in tags and lights. One of his co-workers was working at the front desk, tending the register and decided to wave at her but only received a glance and a small, almost unnoticeable, smile.

She decided to act as if she had never even seen him and returned to cleaning the counter glass. Nathan decided to take his shift, quickly slipping into the back to put on his work uniform, a black shirt with the words ‘Total Electric’ in a neon thread, and sat at the repair desk. “Hey, Ginger how has the store been holding up?” She turned and gave him a nod. “... Good… People... Coming to buy New-Age stuff…”

Nathan nodded and grinned at her. “Thanks for the heads up. Almost everyone who can afford one has bought one already. Are you going to get one?” Nathan continued trying to keep the conversation going. He considered Ginger a close friend of his after he spent almost a year trying to get her to open up a bit. She was very introverted, preferring to keep to herself.

That being said she was actually a lot of fun when she opened up and the two of them had quite a few long talks during the empty hours in the store. Right now however she was just looking at the headsets like they were her biggest crush, and they currently might be for all he knew. “You too huh? Well… Maybe a miracle will happen and our War-Monger of a boss might see it in his heart to give us a well-deserved raise.” He was smirking at her when he suddenly felt a dangerous chill down his spine.

Nathan jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see a rather large man. He was of average height but was built like a mountain. “Oh-ho-ho… A warmonger is it? Is that what the recently unemployed are calling me?” Nathan jumped and started to chuckle nervously. He shook a bit and shook his head. “N-not at all Mr. Darwen, who would call such a kind and caring and forgiving boss such as you a warmonger.”

Mr. Darwen, the recently insulted boss had a smirk at his now humble employee. He was not the warmest of bosses and was indeed very, very strict, but other than that it actually took quite a bit for him to actually get mad. He always kept in mind that the most important thing was the bottom line, was the store making money and, more importantly, was he making money. One of his favorite activities though was to keep his more rowdy employees, such as Nathan, from forgetting who exactly the boss was.

Mr. Darwen laughed, giving a very peaceful and gentle smile that was giving Nathan chills. The smile almost always meant that something was coming his way. “Oh! Is that how it was? Well, since you are such a great employee how about I give you the honor of restocking the shelves and managing the inventory list.” Nathan was giving a very cramped smile as he swore and cursed in his head. “O-of course Mr. Darwen I would be happy to…”

Nathan suddenly spoke up, looking over at Ginger. “What should I do about helping Ginger? It might be too much for her to do repairs and work the register…” He gave a weak smile as he continued to try to get out of the extra work. Mr. Darwen’s smile got even wider as he pulled out a small bell with a sign that read ‘Ring and someone will assist’.

“You don’t need to worry I have her covered. You can handle all that can’t you?” Darwen still kept that very scary zen smile on his face and Nathan nodded weakly, trying to keep the smile on his face. The boss set the items on Nathan’s desk and nodded. “Make it snappy, I got you both a one-year employment gift, but if you don’t finish it I’ll just sell them.”

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Mr. Darwen was grinning and both Nathan and Ginger were giving him suspicious stares. Last time he got them a present it was overtime during spring break. “Don’t look at me like that and get back to work.” Nathan sighed and quickly hurried to get the inventory done before he got in even more trouble.

Nathan looked over at Ginger and gave her a wry smile. “Sorry I’ll go take care of it as quick as possible so hold down the fort for me.” Ginger looked over and flashed him an old fashioned peace sign and Nathan went to mark inventory. It was a lot of tedious paperwork and he was quickly groaning in his head as he marked off the items they had. He made sure that all the numbers matched before he moved on to the actual stocking.

He grabbed the very heavy box sighing negatively. {I’ll do the front first, the back is a maze and I don’t need to deal with that right now…} The crate was packed, courtesy of Mr. Darwen trying to save as much space as possible, and he could already tell his back was going to be sore the next day. It was a sucky job that he hated but he needed the job so he kept his mouth shut.

He quickly started to put away the different merchandise in the appropriate shelving as well as marking it properly so the just needed to scan it later. He made sure to do it right, not wanting to have to redo it all over again. He shuddered a bit when he thought of the early days when he would be forced to redo all his worked if he missed something insignificant.

The merch was heavy and unwieldy though so he was glad to lighten up the box with each passing moment coming closer to finishing it. When he was almost halfway done he heard a bell being rung it took him several seconds till he remembered what the bell was and he quickly stood and hurried to his desk.

{That slave driver, he put that in there just to punish me… Not that I have a choice in the matter… Let’s go see the problem.} He carried the significantly lighter crate with him to make sure none of the rest of the goods were stolen. He pulled around the corner and saw a group of teens trying to talk to Ginger. Nathan gave a wry smile as they tried to hit on her.

Nathan shook his head with a small smirk, it happened often that they would hit on her and he enjoyed watching them burn and fail. He turned to the repair desk and walked toward it to set the case down and help the woman who was there. The woman had a look of distress and impatience but was still mixed with a look of confidence as she tapped her fingers on the desk.

Nathan quickly hurried over and set the case down and gave the company greeting, trying his hardest not to get too embarrassed. “Welcome to Total Electric where all our prices are shockingly low how may I help you miss?” The woman looked over at him with indifference in her eyes. “Good, someone is finally here. I have a meeting in less than an hour. My Go-droid phone and my Smartwatch were both hit by the snow and went black. I need them fixed pronto.

Nathan obediently held his hands out for the items. “I’ll see what I can do.” She handed over the items and nodded. “Just make it quick if you could, I have places to be.” Nathan gave her his best customer service smile and went behind the desk to start by charging the items. {Hmmm… One of these types… Whatever, as long as I get paid.} The smartwatch turned on but didn’t respond to the touch commands while the phone merely lit up the black screen.

He started with the simpler watch and gently opened it up to see what was wrong. He nodded and quickly found the problem with some of the wiring breaking loose from the impact. After finding the correct wire in a box of spare parts and a couple of minutes soldering and finally a few small tweaks the watch was once again working well as new. “Here you are Miss, your watch is now fixed. That comes to 56.99”

The woman instantly frowned, looking at him like an idiot. “I want both objects fixed, you can get paid once the full job is done.” Nathan continued to give the woman a polite smile and nodded, all the while imagining all the ways he would like her to jump off a cliff. “Of course Miss.” He looked at the watch once more and decided to distract her. “If you would like, the phone will take me a bit longer to fix. We currently have a sale for cases for this type of watch that will protect it from similar impacts. All the marked items are 20% off.”

Her scowl turned into one of pure agitation as her voice rose a bit. “Fine, which section are they in?” Nathan ignored the annoyance and the condescension in her voice and nodded. “Section five Miss, I hope you find something pleasant.” Nathan continued to give her his best ‘understanding’ smile. {My first suggestion would be your personality, perhaps you’ll find something to pull that stick out of your ass.}

As she stomped away with barely, if at all, concealed irritation he opened the phone. He froze a bit and ground his teeth a little, his smile quickly becoming stiff. {I really hate it when people don’t take care of electronics that would cost me two months worth of my salary and then leave me broke.} The phone had obviously never been properly maintained and he was shocked it had lasted as long as it had.

It had missing connectors, faulty wires, there were even some food stains. He carefully went through the box of spare parts and fished out all the pieces that would immediately need replacing. After he had them all sorted he started to take the phone apart. He cleaned the pieces that were still good, replaced the worn-out pieces, and just gave the phone an overhaul.

It had taken him thirty minutes to fully repair the phone and his patience was beginning to reach its limit. He continued to keep on his business smile though an ‘aura’ of frustration was spreading from him and even Ginger gave him a sympathetic look while the boys kept trying to hit on her.

{How the hell did she even get it this worn out! How the hell is it even still working!} He was fully letting out all his frustration in his head as he cursed and swore and raged at idiots with electronics. Mr. Darwen even gave a small nod of respect, though Nathan couldn’t see it. Nathan gave a quick check on Ginger and saw her waving at the teens who were leaving with their items.

Nathan quickly finished up the phone and, just as he was attaching the screen, the woman returned with a veritable mountain of product perched precariously in her arms. She set it down, slightly glaring at him. “Oh thank god you are done.” Nathan nodded and handed over the phone with a small smile. “Your total is $250 if you would like I can carry your items over to the register.”

The woman frowned at him once more. “I can’t just pay for it here?” Nathan shook his head, giving her a sympathetic frown. “Unfortunately no, the repair desk does not have a scanner so we are unable to ring up the items.” She gave an obnoxious huff and thrust the money at him. “Fine, help me take my items to the register then.” Nathan nodded and quickly stood, lifting up all the items. “Of course Miss it would be my pleasure.”

He gave a small smile to Ginger who nodded back and started to ring up the items. He looked to the woman and gave a small bow. “Thank you for bringing your broken items to Total Electric.” He then headed back to the repair desk where the stocking crate was. {Dammit, it is almost 7 and I still don’t have the blasted inventory done.} Nathan quickly lifted the crate and sped up a little to try to hurry before work ended.

Nathan quickly started to put stuff away, working faster than before as desperation pushed him. He still had to do the back and he did not want to have to work late. He finished and brought the crate to the back room and groaned in his head. He checked on Ginger once more and she was still dealing with the rowdy woman. He gave a small smile and slipped into the back.

Nathan almost gave a small sob. He had to inventory everything in the back room but it was a disorganized wreck. Boxes haphazardly stacked, stuff tossed around wherever it would fit. Nathan grabbed the clipboard and sighed deeper. He started to inventory everything and, because the disorganized mess was too much for him, also straightened it up a bit. {That ‘special’ gift better be damn worth it, though it is probably just a day or two off… Freaking cheapskate}

The only perk of working in the back as he was allowed to listen to his own music. He quickly put in his earphones and got to work while grumbling about his boss in his head. Nathan counted the items and quickly wrote them down before bringing them to their proper places to be stored. There was everything from 4D TVs, Playstation Virtual Headsets, and even some extra merchandise that never got sold.

Nathan put all the items that were no longer on sale in the ‘dismantling’ department in the back where they took them apart for the spare parts. It was affectionately, not really, referred to as ‘The Deathtrap Department’ thanks to how haphazardly it was put together. It was legitimately dangerous to go in there.

Nathan was very distracted when a hand suddenly grabbed his shoulder and he let out a shrill scream and almost lept out of his skin, turning around in a small panic. “Don’t wet yourself, boy, it is just little old me.” Nathan’s heart was beating heavily in his chest as Mr. Darwen chuckled with amusement. Nathan took a couple of seconds to calm himself and nodded. “Mhmm, of course, boss… Don’t you think you are using the word ‘little’ a bit too loosely?”

Mr. Darwen patted Nathan’s back rather hard, almost knocking him over as he looked around, seeing the slightly cleaner back room. Mr. Darwen nodded and looked at Nathan. Once more. “Hmph, you did well today boy, probably the first time ever. Come out and get your gift.” Nathan nodded, not wanting to ruin it by making a smart comment and followed the old man.

As Nathan came out he saw Ginger holding her head, looking like she was exhausted and Nathan gave her a sympathetic smile. “You did a good job too Ginger.” Ginger looked up at him with a sarcastic look and gave a small groan. “Rude… I don’t… like her…” Nathan just nodded and the boss gave a grin.

Somehow during their brief exchange, Mr. Darwen had slipped from their sight and came back with two boxes. One of the boxes was wrapped extremely well and even had a nice bow on it. The other was a show box that had the letter N and several very crude drawings on it. “Since you, two were able to tough out the year I got you these. Before I give them to you I want you to know right now. If these start to interfere with your work I will fire you faster than you can even think.”

Mr. Darwen was giving them both his sternest face but most of it was pointed at Nathan who was smiling wryly, he couldn’t even complain because he knew that Mr. Darwen was right. The old man nodded at the two and continued. “Alright, don’t say I never gave you nothing.” He handed Ginger her box first. It was, of course, the much nicer box and she delicately opened it.

Ginger’s face lit up like a Christmas tree and her eyes were almost literally sparkling. She gasped and just stared at the gift. Nathan had never seen her this excited over anything so he was getting really interested in seeing what the gifts were. Nathan looks at Mr. Darwen expectantly and suddenly, with a flash of white, Nathan was fumbling something that Mr. Darwen had tossed him. Nathan’s face froze as he looked at the roll of toilet paper in his hands.

“There’s your gift. Now clean up your shit.” Mr. Darwen laughed at his own joke and Nathan just stood there blankly, unsure what just happened. He stared at the toilet paper roll than at Mr. Darwen. “Thank… you?” Mr. Darwen laughed again and handed over the shoebox. “Alright alright don’t get your panties in a twisted boy.

Nathan looked at the box and his boss continued to grin. “Stop standing there with that stupid look on your face and open the box boy.” Nathan jumped and set down the toilet paper and opened the box. Nathan’s eyes went wide with shock. Inside was a matte white helmet. It didn’t look like it could be thick enough to hold any important electronic pieces and, except for the earpieces which were really simple, it just looked moderately decorative.

“That game is expensive so you both got half. We still have an old capsule that works, girl you can come to play before or after work. I’ll also allow you to go in if it is empty in the store and someone is working with you, I already have a kill switch added to the machine so we can pull you out if we need you.” He gave her a stern glare before reminding her to not let it interfere with her work.

“I promise, this is great I can’t wait to play! Oh, this is so exciting! Thank you so much boss you are the greatest!!!” Nathan looked up with a bit of surprise, he had never heard her talk that much in one day much less half a minute. “She is the right boss you are the greatest.” The old man was surprised at their sudden change of opinion and smirked.

“Boy, yours is a bit worn out and broken but it is much cheaper to repair than it is to buy new.” Nathan nodded and examined it closer. There were some cracks in the casing and the padding in the earphones were worn out, it would take a bit of work to get it into working shape but he didn’t have the game yet anyway so he had the time. He couldn’t stop his smiling.

“Boss can I…” Before he could finish his sentence his Boss gives him a glare. “This is still a business if you wanna use the parts it will come out of your paycheck.” Nathan quickly shut his mouth and nodded. “Thanks, boss!” He had never thought that he would get the parts for free but he got permission to use them and that was good enough. “Alright, you two I’ll be closing up shop early today. I have a meeting out of state so I’ll be gone four or five days. Ginger while I am gone I want you to make sure the store is clean, afterward, you can play your game.”

Ginger’s eyes were sparkling once more and she looked like she just got the best present in the entire world… which she kinda did. Nathan, however, looked shocked. “So we are getting time off? Does it count towards our vacation days?” Mr. Darwen glared at him. “No, it doesn’t… legally… pisses me off.” He grumbled about labor laws for a bit and clapped his hands. “Alright, Ginger, don’t mess up the back room since the boy just started to organize it.” He gave Nathan ‘the look’ and Nathan groaned inwardly.

Nathan nodded and looked at the old man. “Alright, can I make some small repairs to it now than to get it working and running properly?” He finally nodded after several seconds. “Alright fine.” Nathan quickly ran to the repairs desk and started to make a note of everything that was currently broke in the headset.

{Taste replicators are fried… Color visuals are currently messed up… The left ear is damaged… the power supply has somehow been cut… The pain limiter is… completely gone… Damn this thing is really messed up… everything is either busted or damaged except the main casing.}

Nathan gave a wry smile and decided to prioritize what needed fixing. The power supply, the virtual interface, and the programming. The third one was easiest and would cost him nothing, the virtual interface only needed a single part, but the power supply would need to be replaced. He would have to fix the rest later.

He sighed and went to find the proper parts. He was still super excited even if it was half broken. It took him an hour to fix everything as it was a lot more complex then he gave it credit for. He finally tried it again and Mr. Darwen gave a smirk. “Excellent I’ll be relying on you to repair the headsets as well then.” Nathan froze as he realized that he had just been tricked twice, once to clean the back room and once more as he would now be given even more responsibility in the repair department. He sighed as the helmet hummed to life and a monochrome virtual space greeted him.

Unicorp

Welcome to New-Age Helmet.

Nathan sighed a bit as even the system messages were in black and white. They were actually really hard to read since the letters were flat black and the background was a dark grey. He quickly went into the options and changed the background to white so he could actually read the messages.

After fixing that he pulled off the helmet and sighed, looking both excited and disappointed. “Are you done yet?” Nathan looked to Mr. Darwen and gave a weak smile. “Yeah, I’ve done all I could with this week’s paycheck. I definitely need to fix the display it is all black and white.”

Mr. Darwen nodded and looked at the clock. “Alright well everything is all locked up and it is just about midnight so you go ahead and get out of her. Ginger will probably be staying the night…” He gave a small chuckle and Nathan nodded. “Damn, already midnight? I need to hurry then, thanks again for the headset, Mr. Darwen.”

Mr. Darwen nodded with a smirk and Nathan almost sprinted out of the store after packing the headset back up. On the way back to the apartments all he could think about was how much longer he would have to save up for the game. He was so absorbed in trying to think up ways to make more money when he realized he had made it back home. He quickly stepped inside and headed towards his room when he heard a voice in the hall.

Nathan quickly spun and saw Collen standing there looking a bit tired. “Hey, man are you just getting in? Did your boss give you a hard time again?” Collen rubbed some of the sleep out of his eyes and saw that Nathan looked a lot more excited than normal. Collen frowned a bit and looked him over suspiciously.

“What’s up, man? You seem on edge…” Nathan looked confused as he continued to stare at Collen. “Come on man you look like someone fed you some super happy {} and it gave you a rapist smile so spit it out.” Nathan tried to object but he started to touch his lips and found he did indeed have a massive smile on his face.

“Where is everyone? Are they all out?” Nathan started to look around as if he was suspicious that people were gonna be listening in on their conversation. “Yeah, they are all out except me. Dude just tell me what has you so hyped up, you weren’t even this excited the first time you got laid.”

Nathan couldn’t hide his excitement as he hurried started to whisper to Collen. “Just don’t scream, I have huge news.” Collen rolled his eyes. “The only thing I scream at you for is when you run around the apartments in your underwear dude.” Nathan rolled his eyes back, the grin still not leaving his face.

“I warned you.” Nathan lifted the box and opened it slowly, revealing the prize inside of it. Collen’s eyes shot open. “Holy shit man! For real?! Who did you have to kill to get that?!” Nathan started to try to calm Collen down enough and explained what happened.

“For real?! That cheapskate gave you the holy grail?! That is even more unbelievable than you mugging it from some poor kid!” Collen looked at Nathan like he was suddenly turning into some sort of evil monster. Nathan spat out a discontented sigh though. “It is partly busted though, I’ll have trade parts of my paycheck for parts to fix it.”

Collen smirked at that, glad there was at least a little fairness in the world. “That sounds much more like the old man. He had a broken helmet so you pay to fix it, he gets money from the second-hand helmet and you get experience fixing them… Crafty old bugger.” Nathan nodded with a wry smile. “Dude you have to tell me when you start playing, that shit is too good to miss out on.”

Nathan gave a smirk and nodded. “Hurry and sell one of your livers and kidneys so you can join me, dude.” Collen snorted. “You forgot lung and heart as well man.” He shook his head with a disgruntled scowl. “Fucking expensive man. Anyway, I’m off to the gym…” Collen started to walk away muttering to himself. Just as Nathan started to turn to head into his room Collen called out again.

“Oh shit! I almost forgot, your mom sent a big old present for the big old’ birthday baby.” Collen laughed as he said it in his best baby voice, smirking as Nathan cringed. He remembered when he first got to college and his mom was sobbing as she didn’t want to lose her ‘baby’ no one was going to let him live it down of course.

He looked over to Collen and flipped him the bird as he walked away laughing. Nathan looked a bit surprised though. He hadn’t been expecting any gifts. He wondered if she had got him some of those tacky sweaters she loved so much. He cringed and hoped it wasn’t that, that would be disastrous blackmail for his friends.

He sighed and stepped into his room and set down the box he was holding and saw the gift in front of his desk. He walked over and picked up the card on it. It was one of the recording cards. Nathan was glad no one was around to hear it as he opened it up.

The much softer voice of his mother came on, sounding a little nervous. “Test test. Ok, it’s on. Hey, baby, it’s your mom! Happy 19th birthday my handsome little man. We know you have been working hard so we decided to get you something.” His dad was next with a deeper, more serious voice.

“Hey son, you have been doing well in college and we are proud of you. Grades are important but you can’t rely on them for everything, work hard to get what you want. Finally, you are smart but don’t forget to think things through, I was in college too you know.” Nathan smiled a bit as they finally spoke together. “Open the box, buy the helmet, and find us later! See you soon! We love you!”

Nathan was grinning as he set the cards to the side and began to open the box. He froze as he saw the contents and that same creepy smile slowly split his face. “When the hell did they become psychics?” He couldn’t even think properly as he pulled the second half of his good luck out of the box. Inside was the game he and his friends had been longing for months now. He completely ignored that his helmet was still completely busted and sprinted to his bed, setting everything up and laying down.

unicorp presents.

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 NEW AGE

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" pave your path"

The system detects you are a New user

would you like to create an account? YES? NO?

Nathan couldn’t stop his smile or his, manly giggling, as he spoke. “Yes! Definitely yes!”