My drive to work takes exactly 15 minutes, every morning. The cars in front of and behind me are the same as every day. Everybody leaves their house at a set time to guarantee maximal efficiency. It’s a solid system, there are never any traffic jams.
I arrive at my work and clock in at 8:00. On my desk, a stack of documents awaits me, reports from the other branches of the company I work at. I need to compare them with our data in the system. I sit down and get to work.
At 12:00 I go out for my lunch break. The cafeteria is in the building right across the street. Inside, I’m handed a bowl of gray purée which has been tailored to my personal nutritional needs. I leave the building half an hour later. I cross the street when somebody bumps into me.
”My apologies”, I say, when I suddenly feel a sting in my right arm. I look down in confusion and see a needle sticking out of my arm.
That fucking bastard stuck a needle in me!
”Hey!” I shout after him but he’s already running away. Suddenly, I feel dizzy. And I feel … weird. My heart is pounding in my chest, so fast as if I was on a morning run. What is this? I feel hot and cold at the same time. I feel …
I feel.
My eyes grow wide as the realization hits me. I’m experiencing emotions.
I struggle to calm my breathing but it just won’t work it just becomes more and more hectic. I think I’m … I’m … hyperventilating!
”Miss, is something wrong?” A man has approached me and looks down at me. Only now I notice that I dropped to the ground and am sitting in the middle of the street, clutching my legs and pressing them tightly against my body.
I can feel something wet on my face but it’s not raining.
”I don’t know. I don’t feel so well. This man, he attacked me. He injected me with something!” I barely recognize my own voice, it’s so high-pitched! My whole body is shaking. The man tilts his head slightly.
”Miss, it seems like your emotion blocker is malfunctioning. I will call an ambulance for you. Please try to remain calm.”
Still shaking I finally manage to get my breathing under control but the tears are still flowing. My stomach feels weird as if I need to throw up my lunch.
My lunch. That disgusting, gray mass. How had I been able to eat that shit? Just the thought of it makes me so sick I could just …
”Miss! Those shoes were expensive! Please control yourself.”
”I’m sorry. I’m sorry”, I whimper and wipe the vomit off my mouth. I’ve never felt so sick In my life. I’ve never felt …
”The ambulance will be here shortly. I must now return to my workplace. Please leave the street, you are disturbing the flow of traffic”, the man says, turns away from me and leaves. It feels like he just pushed a knife through my heart. Does he not care? How can he leave me here alone?
But it’s proper protocol, you are supposed to call an ambulance and then leave everything to the professionals. He’s doing exactly what he’s supposed to do.
Why does it make me feel so bad then?
”Can I help you up?” A hand appears in my field of vision and without thinking much about it, I grab it. The moment I stand safely on my feet again, I turn to thank the person who had just helped me. It’s the man who just injected me with that stuff.
”You!” I hiss. ”What did you do to me? Reverse it!” He looks … apologetic?
”I’m sorry but this is not reversible. In fact, it doesn’t even work for everybody, that’s why I had to wait for some time and see if you’d show any reactions. I’m sorry I’ve caused you emotional distress, that wasn’t my intention. But I can’t foresee how exactly the awakening will happen.”
”The awakening?” That rings a bell. Something I heard about in the news. The awakening …
”You’re part of the rebellion”, I whisper when the memory stops avoiding me. ”You’re infecting people with feelings to recruit them.”
”You can’t infect someone with feelings.” The man seems offended. ”Feelings are natural for humans! They just suppress them now as soon as we’re born.”
”Feelings are a sign of imperfection!” I object. ”They lead to irrational actions, violence, and war! We have achieved world peace since feelings have been eradicated!”
”You really believe that, don’t you? You’re really all the same.” The man shakes his head. He seems … sad. I think.
Sirens grow loud in the distance. The ambulance. The man’s eyes grow wide.
”We need to leave, now! They can’t catch you.”
”No thank you”, I say. ”I want to go to the hospital and have them reverse whatever you did to me.”
”I just told you, it’s not reversible! And if they notice that, they will kill you!”
I wrinkle my nose and give him a look that I hope counts as condescending.
”I won’t believe any of your lies.”
”Fine then. Let them take you. If by any chance you don’t end up dead, try to find me. Ask for Lucifer.”
”Lucifer? Like the devil?”
”Like the bringer of light.” Without further explanation, he zips up the hoodie he’s wearing, pulls the hood over his head and walks away quickly, just before the ambulance arrives.
Two paramedics get out.
”What is your emergency, Miss?” One of them asks.
”I’ve been injected with something that infected me with emotions”, I reply truthfully. ”Would you please take me to the hospital to reverse this?”
”Of course, Miss.”
The paramedics approach me and grab my arms.
”Hey, that’s a bit tight. You’re hurting me!”
They don’t react to my complaints and just grab me a bit tighter. While they’re dragging me to the ambulance, I start to question my decision to not follow Lucifer.
Picture taken from pixabay.com
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