Suddenly, as my screen reloads the page I spot it. Rows upon rows of boxes each with a small description of the item on offer. Somewhere deeper in the system had the full descriptions, maybe even a blurb written by the person looking to swap, but not a soul in the room would ever take the time to read them.
Before long I notice items vanishing, my blood growing cold as my heart races at the thought of missing out and failing once more. I panic, tapping a box and quickly purchasing it.
My screen lags for a moment, the website seeming to struggle for just a second before I'm met with a delighted chime and a pop-up
Congratulations
You have agreed to a Life Swap with Toshiko Sato*
*Immigrant Offer
My moment of elation at getting one of the rarefied swaps soon begins to simmer down as I stare at the name, my eyes narrowing into a squint as I try to make out the small text beneath the pop up. The name leaves my heart racing and my blood growing cold, the obviously foreign name leaving me unsure just what sort of person would be on the other side of the swap.
"That's... Japanese right?" I mutter, quickly minimizing the pop up as I try to back out in order to try and search for the name elsewhere. However, as soon as the window disappears another quickly replaces it.
Please attend the Johnson St Swap Clinic as soon as possible
Estimated time for arrival: < 1 Minute
"Mr Hughes!?" Calls a voice in the crowd, the deep booming voice quickly stealing my attention from my phone. Whipping my head up I spot a towering man towards the back of the waiting room, a small tablet clutched in one of his caramel toned hands as he looks down again with a small adjustment to his small reading glasses. "Mr Jordan Hu..."
"Uh..." I croak out, lurching up to my feet and causing the man to silence himself as his gaze meets my own. "I'm..." I begin to mutter, my voice catching in my throat as the man gestures to the room behind and slips back inside before waving for me to follow.
Hunching down I race towards the small back office, bumping and nudging my way through the crowd. Many grumble in frustration at having missed yet another chance to get one of the heavily discounted items on offer, others seems to sit in shock as they read their screens, while some sit with a giddy grin as they eagerly await their chance to be called up.
With each step I feel their eyes on me, my head swimming and stomach sinking as I struggle to even remember the name I had read mere moments ago. Before long I practically shamble into the small back room, the tall Hispanic man in his late thirties beside the door quickly pulling it closed as he returns his gaze to the tablet.
"Mr Jordan Hughes, correct?" he asks, walking around past me and towards a small desk at the back of the room. It looks positively squeezed into the tiny space, the plain white walls almost closing in around us as he shifts to his side to creep over to the draws of the desk.
"Uh... Yes..." I mutter, watching as the man quickly fishes around inside the draw for something. I stare as he produces three small objects, a small black headband lined with metal plates, a large bundle of colorful cables, and lastly a strange wand covered in LEDs.
"Can I grab your ID?" he huffs, turning back towards me before gesturing to the small plastic fit in front of the desk. "Please, take a seat."
Moving towards him I begin to fish around in my pocket, quickly producing my wallet before passing the whole thing to him rather than fumbling with my nervous and clammy hands. I drop into the seat with a creaking thud, the plastic flexing under the sudden impact as I hunch over slightly. Before I can say a word I feel the sharp chill of the metal plates around my forehead, the man quickly snapping it into place before looking at the ID inside my wallet.
Without so much as a nod of acknowledgement he quickly tosses the brown leather wallet into my lap before grabbing the cables, racing behind me to plug them in somewhere out of sight.
"Um..." I mutter, prodding at the headband as I find the plates sticking to my skin as though affixed with some sort of glue. "I think... can I change my mind about..." I begin to mumble, my mind racing a mile a minute as I try to wrap my head around what I had just done.
"Don't worry" the man chuckles, a loud click soon reaching me from the other side of the room only to be quickly followed by his footsteps growing closer. "Your mind will be changed in just... a... moment..."
"That not what..." I begin to chime, my jaw falling ope and my tongue suddenly growing heavy as I hear a closer click snap in behind my ears. The plates suddenly grow warm, my arms and legs going limp as I feel the man hold my shoulders in order to keep me in my seat.
Static fills my ears, a low hum and crackling that vibrates throughout my skull as the man begins to tap at his tablet.
"There... we... are..." he mutters under his breath, giving one last tap at the screen before placing it on the table. I would cringe if I could move even an inch, the static sensation growing to a point before worming its way around my skull and deep into my supple brain tissue.
My eyes water and twitch as I feel the buzzing inside my skull latch onto something, the alien force tugging at its prize over and over as my whole body begins to writhe and twitch. Suddenly, with a pain grunt slipping from my lips I begin to feel the static win. With each pull I feel something come loose inside my head, a long series of threads pulling free or simply snapping under the constant pressure.
My sensations begin to dim, limb by limb suddenly growing numb to the world at large one after the other. My panicked howls inside my head suddenly loose all sense of intelligibility, my grasp of English quickly and harshly severing from my mind with one of the more painful tugs. The long strand of consciousness dims and quiets itself as I feel it grow further and further from my mind, the once coiled and integrated thoughts growing silent as it slips down into the wires and to parts unknown.
Before long my senses begin to shut off one by one, my animalistic howls inside my mind suddenly vanishing along with my sight as the world is suddenly snuffed out.
Gasping loudly I find myself breathing once more, my heart hammering inside my chest and fluttering like a hummingbird. The world is still dark and imperceptible, my senses remaining beyond my grasp aside from those keeping me alive.
The long strands of thoughts rattle inside my head, the strands loose and flailing wildly as I find myself unable to grasp even simple concepts. The static buzz inside my head slowly fans out, turning from the grasping point and shifting to feel more like a blanket as it layers atop the loose tendrils that make up my consciousness. Pressure builds inside my skull, the rapid shift causing me to weakly gasp and gurgle in response.
Suddenly I can hear the notice the sound of someone else moving around me, the tapping of finger nails against some plastic surface becoming my entire world for just a moment. She says something, musing to herself in a language that sounds completely alien. My eyes twitch as I feel the pressure reach a breaking point, a series of threads slipping back into place with a painful snap and crackle.
"..ould have picked this one. Should be done soon" the squeaky feminine voice mutters, my mind struggling for a moment to understand just what she was saying as the language feels almost distant in my mind.
More and more crackling fills my head, the cold morning air soon prickling at my exposed skin and hair tickling at my neck. A long wheeze escapes my throat as my sight is suddenly returned, the bright fluorescent lights stinging at my watering eyes as I find myself staring at a set of short slender legs covered in a set of loose jeans. The clattering on the desk suddenly stops, the woman sitting on the desk suddenly hoping down as she guides my head up to look at her.
The young woman appears to be in her mid-twenties, her pale face dotted with slight acne scars around her nose. Her long red hair rests bundled into a ponytail behind her, her dark brown eyes inspecting me as she fiddles with the small LED covered plastic wand in her other hand.
"Almost there..." she mutters to herself, slowly shifting the LEDs closer to my face as she looks away and towards the tablet. "Don't worry, I just gotta read this an you'll be free to..." she begins to explain, my mind racing as more and more painful clicks and snaps fill my brain.
"Anatahadare?" I blurt out, blinking rapidly as I feel my tongue fumble through the seemingly foreign words. "Son'na koto o iu tsumori wa nakatta..."
As my panic builds I suddenly find my vision filled with a painful series of strobbing lights, train of thought suddenly crumbling as I quickly find myself unable to form so much as a singular thought. The snapping inside my head feels more like a gentle squeezing, a warmth soon filling my head as more and more of my mind settles in.
"You... are... Toshiko Sato" the woman coos, her words echoing inside my head over and over as the strobes cycle over and over. "You about to go home... You are about to rest..." she continues, her words overlapping more and more as they bounce around inside my head.
My panic slowly dulls, my heart rate and panicked breathes growing slower and more relaxed by the second.
"You... are... Toshiko Sato" she repeats, my lips quivering as I try to rebut her to no avail. "You about to go home... You are about to rest..." she adds once again, my vision slowly beginning to tunnel as she continues. With each repetition my senses dim, not disappearing but simply falling into the back of my mind as her words begin to take up the entirety of my mental focus.
The woman's words bounce around inside my skull more and more with each of her chants, my senses soon completely overcome as I soon find myself almost floating on a cloud of those softly spoken phrases. Somewhere I get some vague sense of moment, of lurching around before collapsing somewhere soft as I begin to drift off to sleep.
Try as I might I can't fight back the encroaching sleep, my mind merely repeating "You are about to rest" as the darkness takes me.
No comments:
Post a Comment