Going Nowhere

Another day, another customer enraged, and another brief respite from the drudgery. Andy sighed as he lit his cigarette. Of course it was pouring outside. The tedium was also getting to him more than usual today. It didn’t matter. Any day now the boss was going to fire him. At least that’s what Suzie told him. She was privy to the higher echelons of upper management.

He walked to his car. Already the disgruntled customer was whining about him to someone else, and he didn’t want to stick around to deal with the day’s fallout. Save that for after the weekend. It would finally be the day, he reckoned. How long had he managed to be here? Four months? Five? One of the longer tenures, but it didn’t feel like it. Time flies whether you’re having fun or not. As he pulled out of the store’s parking lot, his ringtone drowned out the hammering rain. It was Suzie.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Andy,” she said. “You just getting off?”

“Yep.” He couldn’t be bothered to hide his frustrations, or anything else.

She paused. “Oh. Well, do you at least still have a job or did Jackson fire you?”

“Hasn’t yet,” he sighed. “Joy all around.”

“Well, that’s good, isn’t it? Besides, maybe I just misheard things last week.”

“I doubt it. Jackson’s hated me since day one, and we both know it. I’m certain I only got the job because no one else wanted it, and who can blame them? Retail is bad enough without someone like him in charge.” Suzie told him when he started that she vouched for him, but since then he came to the conclusion Jackson didn’t really listen to his employees. He lost count how many times someone tried to tell him something only for them to be completely ignored.

“Oh, I think you’re just being too hard on him. He’s a bit intense, but once you get to know him a bit better, he’s actually alright.”

“That’s the problem, Suzie. You have to be willing to know him better.”

Silence on the other end.

“Suzie? You still there?”

“Yeah, I’m... yeah, I’m still here. Listen, did you have any plans for tomorrow?”

Stay home, play video games. That was always his plan on days off. “No.”

“Great!” She practically shouted the word. In an immediate course correction, she continued, “I mean, cool. Cool. Would you like to meet up over by the lake? Y’know, to hang out or whatever?”

He shrugged. What did he have to lose? “Sure. We are going into summer. Was there a time you were thinking of?”

“Morning work for you?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright. I’ll see you then.”

The downpour continued to hammer on his car as he made his way home. Yeah, he thought, it’s summer, alright.

*

Mornings were the best part of the warmer months. Especially the crisp mornings like this. The coolness most likely had something to do with the rain. Gray clouds polluted the sky, but it didn’t bother Andy. He liked the colder mornings, before the unbearable Midwest heat came beating down. The setting was only complimented by the lake, still and serene. An hour was already gone, happily spent in exchange for this peace of mind. Suzie had met him there, and with her came pleasant conversation. Possessing a distaste for shoes, she abandoned hers near a rock. She slowly walked along the edge of the bank. Andy could tell she was savoring the feel of the grass, but he couldn’t understand what felt so nice about wet grass. He followed her along her chosen path, tracing the outline of the lake and then the river feeding it. She admired the chaos of the current. Her effortless balancing on the edge while keeping the conversation going impressed him.

Eventually, she asked, “You ever wonder where you’re going?”

“Forward,” he answered. “I know it’s a bit confusing when you’re gazing off to the side.”

Without taking her eyes off the river, she punched his arm. “You know what I meant.”

He chuckled. “I don’t know. At this point, does it really matter?”

“Wow.” She stepped onto an outcropping rock. “Spoken like a true job-hopper.”

Andy said nothing. He’d been through this with her before. He didn’t like wasting his own time, and so far all these jobs were just a waste of time.

“Whatever happened to that high school kid who was getting ready to do great things?”

Where did that come from? he thought. “He grew up.”

“In only three years?” She now stood at the very edge of the outcrop.

“Then life got in the way.” It came out harsher than he intended.

“Boo.” She looked back at him, then yelped. Her eyes shot down to her feet. “I’m okay. The rock’s still a bit wet from the rain.” She looked back in the direction of the lake. “The river has a destination.”

“The river has no choice,” Andy said.

Suzie adjusted her footing. “You’re hopeless.”

“I live in the real world. You might want to try it sometime.”

“The ‘real world’ is too dull for my liking.”

He watched her stance. All her weight seemed to be on one foot. “Maybe you should get away from the edge a little bit,” he cautioned.

“Oh, I’ll be fi—”

It happened in a heartbeat. Andy saw Suzie start to fall toward the water. His movements were instant, instinctual. A hand shot out to her, taking a firm hold of her shirt. For some reason his mind decided then to take in what was on it; a tree, with deep roots morphing into the phrase “Thy Flesh Consumed”, and the branches spread into a single word, “Metatron”. Her favorite band, and her favorite album. Stepping forward, he pulled her back to land. Only after she was safe did he realize his own problem: his foot was still moving. He was falling.

Panic set in when he hit the water. He never did learn how to swim, but even if he did it wouldn’t help. These were not swimming waters. His lungs filled, and he was helpless to stop it. As his vision darkened, only one thought pervaded his mind.

I don’t want to die.

*

Sun. Heat. Prickling of dry grass. Voices, muffled and disjointed at first, but clearer and more concise as seconds passed.

“He has to be a deserter, Sarge, look at him.”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe nothing, look at his clothes!”

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen a shirt like that before. Think he could be a spy? I mean, they got funny clothes out east.”

“Nothing like that. Besides, he doesn’t look like he’s Eastern. Not much good of a spy in that case.”

“What if he was sent to spy on us, Sarge?”

“We’ll bring him back to base. Figure out what to do there.”

Who are these people? Andy fought to open his eyes, but the sun was directly overhead, blinding him. He could make out four silhouettes, all standing over him. His arm came up to shield his eyes. One of the silhouettes pointed.

“Hey, look! He’s awake!”

“I can see that, Coulson.”

Andy felt himself being pulled up to his feet. His vision cleared and he observed the silhouettes were men. He squinted at them. Are those military uniforms? Some LARPers down the river from where me and Suzie were? A few feet away were backpacks and rifles. The man who pulled him up had a dirtied, bearded face.

“Alright, boy,” he said. “Where do you suppose you’re going?”