'Man, I finally get to start my career tomorrow and I am super excited.'
The year is 2028 and blue collar work has become extremely popular and now super strict. It used to be lenient and allow new workers to join unions l, but after a series of incidents that lead to major loss in profit and numerous injuries and death, that all stopped.
I got lucky even though I was new, being 18 now is extremely rough for careers that can set you up for life.
"Yo max!" I shouted across the house to my roommate.
"Yeah Mike!" He shouted back.
"You, want to go to the bar?" I asked as I walked to where he was so I didn't have to yell again.
"Sure, let me just throw on some clothes" max replied.
5 mins later we were out the door and heading to a communal bar, more for locals than travelers and tourists.
"Yo, bro, check her out. She's definitely checking you out," Max said with a sly grin while nudging me expectantly.
I did wined up looking over and checking her out, she was very pretty but other than that, I just didn't feel that connection. I wound up just smiling and giving her a small wave.
Max noticed my disinterest in the women and sighed heavily, "How come every women that is drop-dead gorgeous shows interest in you but you don't act upon your opportunities?!"
Knowing this was coming, I sighed just as heavily, if not more so before responding, " Again, I will tell you that I am not a horn dog. I don't find going after every woman that finds me attractive, that doesn't interest me. If they wanted me, then they would come to me and pursue me, life is gonna bend to me and not me to it."
"Your what now, 28? And you still haven't been with a woman, but I can't say you haven't been on a date or had a relationship though.... Damn, sorry bro, I didn't mean to bring that up." Max caught his mistake too late, and tried to erase it before is ruined his buddy's mood.
"It's alright, its in the past, and it's always better to forget about the past and move on. She wanted her cake and eat it too, but life doesn't work like that for everyone." I responded to Max in a down tone, my mood ruined with the memories of betrayal.
We walked for another 20 minutes before getting to the bar. It was quite outside, the night wasn't always this quiet, crickets and the yaps of coyotes could be heard along with the swaying trees, but tonight, tonight just felt off.
We made it to the bar and the feeling still hasn't left yet, I slid it to the back of my mind but didn't dismiss it.
"Max," I whispered to my friend, "isn't it weird that we can't hear anything being active tonight?"
He looked back, left and right, pausing for a brief second to try and hear anything.... Anything at all, but nothing was heard.
Wide eyes and clearly starting to freak out from the lack of ambient noise from the wildlife at night.
"I don't like this at all man, look, there's the bar," Max pointed out and sped up to try and distract himself from this feeling.
From a casual and relaxing walk, to a brisk jog to almost a dead sprint upon reaching the bar, we burst through the door and slammed it behind us. While doing that, we had drawn the attention of all the patrons in the bar and looking at us with confusion and worry.
"Yo Mike! What's got you and your buddy as white as snow?" Jean, one of the local regulars, and my godfather asked.
Jean was one of those fuck around and find out guys, it only happened once with a group of hooligans, but once is enough. He was also a well respected man in the town, always helping out where he can and who he can, he was a very virtuous and giving man.
"It's everything Jean! I haven't ever experienced a night of such utter silence covered in foreboding. It's extremely eerie, you can't hear the nightlife, ambient noises of animals or even the trees rustling." I said in a distant voice showing my fear.
I was known around town for not really being very expressive with my emotions, so when everyone saw and heard me, they all got up and went outside to see if what I said was true.
Some minutes later, all except for the bartender walked back in and all were pale and looking paranoid.
They didn't say a word, but their expressions said all they needed too.
"Nother'," I said slamming another shot down.
"Damn honey, was it that bad?" The bartender asked. She was cute and very southern, she definitely hit all the points for me.
"You don't want to go out there and check, better to be ignorant than knowledgeable right now." I said this in a rather grave tone as what was going on outside wasn't normal.
"Then... Can you explain it to me?" She asked, her big brown eyes glimmered in bar light. My resistance to her kept dwindling as I kept looking into those beautiful brown eyes of her.
'Damn!' I thought to myself, "Fine," I said aloud to her in resignation. Her reaction to my defeat was so adorable with her excitement, that I even smiled a little.
*Sigh*
"It's nothing pretty out there. No crickets, rustling leaves, passing wind, no yappin coyotes, nuttin'," I said in a creeped out voice.
"It's a creepy experience, there is just nothin', all ambient sounds are gone, even the sounds of walking on gravel are gone," as I spoke the last bit, she bolted out to see if what I said was true.
"Soooo... Kasey?" Max nudged me with his elbow and a mischievous smile grew on his face. That smile has been the brain of our roommate ship, able to bring over girls all the time at the cost of my sleep.
That stupid smile and his confidence are some things I wish I had. Don't get me wrong, I've caught the eyes of some women but my childhood has been holding my self confidence hostage. Kase though, I don't know, maybe she likes me, or maybe she just wants me as a friend. This is something I just can't get past, it's rooted deep, deep down, but maybe one day I can be set free from my turmoil.
The western style bar doors swung open as Kasey bolted back to her previous position, except now more of her cleavage has been exposed, and before I could say anything, her desperate and frantic expression fades from my view as her hand that has been holding my forearm vanished as well.
Then the world went white.