Cappuccino

Fwip..Thip Thip

            Gento sat by his dining room table and took a hearty sip of his freshly brewed coffee. He liked his coffee in many different styles, and today it happened to be a cappuccino type of day. He began to sigh at the fact that it was the beginning of the week. Yes it was indeed Monday, a day of mourning the loss of Sunday. As Gento sipped, faint conversations could be heard on the tv. It was quite common for him to sip his coffee and have some random 90’s sitcom on in the background, or occasionally the local morning news. It really just depended on the day, and on a Monday, Gento needed the relaxing conversation and ambience, to set his mood for the day.

             He slowly drank his coffee and watched the clock tick in a lethargic manner. To him, the clock seemed to be going at a rate so slow, he felt as if time was stopping. But he attributed this to his high attention span. Or rather, his ability to overly focus on something or even daydream. Gento assumed he had some form of ADHD, but he had never thought to get tested for it. It was just something that he’s always dealt with, and never gave it a second thought. This was his attitude towards life as well. Just cruising by without giving things too much thought. It wasn’t necessarily a bad way of living, but it was definitely not an attitude that could last forever. Little inconveniences may seem huge to you, but to your benefit it's best to do those little things. Procrastination can be a person's biggest weakness. You will have to do something with your life, and I believe even doing the slightest thing is good, and it's better than doing nothing.

             Before Gento knew it, it was time for work. “Oh shoot!”, he said. In a great hurry, he rushed upstairs and looked for the work clothes that he thought he remembered laying out the previous night. He typically liked to have his clothes ready the night before, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case this time. In an impressive 1 minute time, a new record of his, Gento thrust his clothes upon his body, and he was fully dressed. He dashed out his room and out the front entrance making sure to not dirty his clean work clothes. Once he was outside he looked around, and took a quick glance at the vibrant green landscape he would call his neighborhood.

            It was a fairly technologically advanced city, the city of Shizuoka, but the specific area Gento lived in, resembled the countryside a little more. Fresh weeds, sprouting out the concrete, and towering trees like walls used to keep enemies off of friendly territory. It was a great plus to Gento, to live in such a vibrant area, and sometimes he took it for granted, like many other things in his life. After taking brief admiration to the scenery he quickly remembered that he was in a rush. To be late 5-10 minutes was one thing, but to be 1 hour late was something utterly different. And an hour late he was, but by the time he’d arrive at work, it would be another 30 minutes. Rapidly, he trekked along the concrete path eventually making it to the train station. He made it onto the train and let out a sigh of slight relief, but it was an undeserved sigh, because he was not at work yet.

                        Many thoughts raced through Gento’s mind. Things like, “What will my boss do to me?” or “Man, being this late could get me fired.” These were the kinds of thoughts that now consumed him—thoughts he probably should’ve considered earlier. But, true to his nature, they had never even crossed his mind until now. After zoning-out, his mind now focused on the train slowly coming to a complete stop. “Now stopping at Shizuoka Station”, said a robotic female voice on an intercom. Gento liked to relate voices to faces-and body types. To him, the voice resembled a young Japanese woman , with a small stature, soft frail hands, and a dull gray dress with black flowers seemingly sprouting from all over. This image played in his head as he made his way down to his place of work. It was just a 5 minute walk, and Gento was truly grateful for that fact. Upon arriving, Gento stared down the large glass doors, which were the only thing separating him from walking in. He took a light gasp, and stepped inside, expecting the worst.

                        As he opened the doors and took his first couple steps, he noticed something very peculiar . The whole building was completely empty. Not a single person in sight. Gento worked for a sort of writing company, publishing anything from local news, to manga panels, to even stories submitted from random people. The name of the company was Yumo Publishing and it was at the peak of the entertainment industry in Japan, so it took Gento by surprise to find not a single soul in the lobby. The front of the building was typically very busy, with people walking in and out. They were usually just employees or publishers, waiting for their big chance. This building was 20 stories high, standing at about 300 feet, with dozens of offices able to hold hundreds of employees. With all this in mind, the lack of foot traffic came very alarming to Gento. He looked around for the lady at the front desk, but couldn’t find her. He never got her name but it wasn’t because she was insignificant or anything of the sort. She was quite the opposite actually. She was a middle aged woman , above average height , pale white skin , and the most prominent green eyes Gento has ever seen on a human. In fact those eyes seemed unhuman-like to him. She also always wore a long silk dress , which was typically some cool color , and she rarely switched it up. He respected her choice of wardrobe  as his was simple as well.

                   Gento sighed and took another glance around , before heading to his office on the 2nd floor. He hesitantly glided his fingers over the elevator button but eventually pressed it with a light pressure. He now stood in this elevator pondering the whereabouts of-well everyone. The elevator let out a loud ding and with that , out walked Gento. He took 10 steps before stopping in his tracks. He was now met with a sight he never expected to see. All the employees and strangers crammed onto this floor ,bodies stacked on top of each other like pyramids seemingly unconscious. “ What the-“ said Gento. He examined some of the bodies and recognized most of the people , as he’s seen them walk into the building before, but there were some unfamiliar faces as well.

                He continued searching the room for clues as to why this strange phenomenon is happening, and how serious this situation could truly be. Gento was a huge movie guy so this kind of thing felt surreal to see in person. In his search Gento stumbled upon a shiny gold coffee mug, and in it , seemed to be a freshly made Cappuccino . Under the mug was a note, which read “In order to save these people’s lives ,you must drink this coffee in its entirety. Only once you have done that- these people can be freed”. Gento read this and froze up. He then said “This is probably a bad idea , but what could go wrong ?” And so he drank from the mug. And to his surprise, nothing happened—not immediately of course. But a minute passed and Gento felt lethargic, yawning countless times until he felt his eyelid's weight overpowering his instincts. He was now asleep.