A Weird Thirst

Summer, 8:00;
Location: Victor's house, Earth;

New Day, new world, new everything. Technically, that should be true, yet it seemed it would be the same for everyone— or maybe not.

Victor woke up groggy and disoriented; he found his body sluggish and uncooperative. When he tried to move his head, his hand twitched instead. Then he tried to stop his hand, but the leg jerked. It took him more than thirty minutes before he was even able to open his eyes and sit upright. ‘Ugh… hmm… when did she come?’

He felt weirdly energetic but at the same time exhausted and with a thirst that was scratching at his throat, a combination that he had never thought possible. He ignored his discomfort and grabbed his phone to check the time… and he immediately regretted it. ‘OH NO… oh no... oh no no no no’

“Shit… not today”, Victor cussed as he ran desperately to freshen up to go to college. Today was a practical class that he couldn’t miss.

He might not have noticed the subtle changes in him, but his body had become a little slimmer, his height had stretched slightly, and his responsiveness and reflexes were faster than normal.

***

Summer, 8:00
location: Leo's house;

Leo was still asleep at this moment, which was perfectly normal, if one ignored his phone, which was ringing constantly, the screen flashing the caller ID "Mom." He seemed to have 11 missed calls.

It seemed like… It was going to be his last peaceful sleep.

Leo's changes were far from subtle. Unlike Victor's barely noticeable ones. He seemed to have grown taller and become buffed up like someone who spent 8 hours in the gym daily. His skin was lined with red marks all over, which looked like some sort of tattoo— an incomplete one.

“Mmm… Mona, you are looking pretty today...” Leo murmured while adjusting his body for better comfort.

Ring…Ring…

His phone buzzed again. The caller seemed to have changed, and this time it flashed the ID “Dad”.

Looks like his life would never be the same again

***
Summer, 9:00
Location: Theo's house;

Theo usually woke up early in the morning, and this time was no different. Yet, it seemed he was too hungry to even move. He had been crawling towards his fridge for over an hour and was midway through his journey.

After over an hour of slow-motion struggle, he finally reached the fridge. With sheer willpower, he opened the door and ate some snacks and drinks, resisting his urge to eat anything raw. After another 30 minutes of recovery, he was able to move again.

Crack…crack…crack…er

“I didn’t know I was this stiff… I should check the clock. Wonderful… It’s good that today I don’t have any classes … so thirsty… sigh,” Theo stretched, producing some audible cracking noise, and sighed. “So, what was that… a new kind of mutant mosquito?”

“Sigh… I feel so exhausted…”

He went to sleep once again. After 30 minutes, he woke up once again because of his hunger and the thirst that he had previously been feeling. But this time at least, he had the energy to move. He stretched once again and went to get some water and make some food.

After downing four litres of water, his thirst hadn’t eased one bit. His kidneys, however, seemed very satisfied— he had already hit the washroom ten times. He stopped himself from drinking more and sat on the sofa to relax and observe himself.

‘So, what happened last night…?’ Theo wondered, ‘Did any mutant mosquito bite me? … although the possibilities are low, it’s not like it’s none… let’s check myself for any anomalies or superpowers.’

After that, he went to take a shower, measured his height, reflexes, skin, muscles, and everything he could think of, and wrote it in a new diary.

[Note 1. Increased height, skin lightened, weight dropped, fitness improved]

He discovered that his height had increased, although it was not that obvious; his skin color had become lighter, and his body weight had somehow decreased, but his total fitness was still intact. His health had somehow improved, like his lungs had become robust, and his skin was free of rashes.

Overall, he would say it was all good if it weren’t for his hair color, which had become a little bit light, faded would be the correct word, although it looked normal, with careful notice, it was obvious the rich black color was fading.

"It seems I have to start eating non-veg again. I was walking towards Buddhism unknowingly, and now my hair is losing color. After that, it may fall someday, and I might become bald, which is not good.” Theo mumbled as he touched his hair.

Although his other changes excited him a lot, like the fact that his stomach problem, which he had suffered from for so long, had been cured. Although his tests are not precise, he felt that he could now eat food that was previously restricted; the fact that he might become bald someday is still slightly unnerving.

"Let's ask others if something similar happened to them too, or is it just me ... but first let’s check the news and internet for any similar cases...” Theo spoke as he picked up the remote.

Theo quickly made his decision and checked the news, which only gave him some fake stories, like aliens invading or aliens manipulating the Earth, because last night was a little cooler than usual for this season, with no major signs like storms or winds.

"What the… these news channels are getting out of hand these days, what do you mean by aliens making the night cold, don’t they have better things to do?” Theo switched it off.

Theo grumbled a few more times before calling Leo and Victor, but got no response, which was a little unexpected. He dialled a few more times before he gave up.

Left with nothing to do, he retreated to a quiet corner in his apartment, not that he needed it, as only 6 families were living in this apartment complex in total, so there is no chaos at all, just peace, which is why he still lives here.

He then began to meditate, which pointed out the thirst again, which he was ignoring subconsciously. And it seemed that the meditation he learned from the website with a fake premium membership worked as he began to calm down, and sensed that his thirst was becoming less and less, but at the rate at which it is going, it will take a lot of time.

He quietly estimated the time… eight hours.

Theo thought internally, ‘Tsk, the meditation costs are getting ridiculous, too.’

In this world, where the entertainment business was more popular than ever because of unemployment and automation, most people have headaches and more mental diseases these days.

With the rise of these issues, new types of gyms started, not new, but the category was just separated, meditation gyms. Here, people go, listen to zen music which always plays, and meditate according to the postures patented by the gym.

What’s more ridiculous is that some meditation postures are taken as a patent by some gyms, and there are competitions too.

Left with nothing to do, he just meditated for more than 5 hours continuously; at one point in time, he was so immersed that he fell asleep. He then woke up again and decided to do something productive… so he went to play a video game,

Again, after playing for more than 5 minutes, he once again called Leo and Victor and again got no response.

‘If only I had more friends…’, he thought internally.

Left with nothing to do, he made a new entry in his diary. He wrote what happened yesterday in detail, noting every detail and hypothesis, so he could be prepared for everything.

[Entry 1: Date: 15.04.2377; I was doing my daily ritual of killing mosquitoes as usual…]

It can be said that it was in Theo’s nature to be prepared for everything as much as possible. After all, who in their right mind would get land in a rural area, build a house with a big bunker, and store over a year’s worth of food… just to be prepared for apocalypses that might never happen?

During his recollection, he performed some more crucial tests, such as those for his senses, which he hadn’t previously considered. He tested all five senses, skin, taste, vision, ears, and smell, and the result he got was quite shocking.

[Note 2: all senses have been enhanced.]

He noticed that the sense of smell seemed to be more active than all the others, and it caused him some problems when he accidentally knocked himself out by the chloroform in his laboratory.

He had a laboratory in his house, and it was illegal to own one without a license at his age, too. One more reason why he stayed here alone.

“This test shows some obvious things that are not natural but also acceptable to some extent, after all, these are not too ridiculous … did I get bitten by a mosquito… I should think of it as a spider for my better mental health… but no webs and six abs… It's concerning… weak spider, I guess.”

After getting bored again, he did something pretty common nowadays… he slept once again and didn’t bother setting an alarm, as it never worked anyway.

***
Summer, 16:00

Location: Leo's house;

Somewhat around 16:00, Leo finally stirred. He was slowly blinking when last night’s event rushed back, and immediately his whole body tensed up.

After a few quiet minutes when nothing seemed to happen, he slowly opened his eyes and sat up.

He then checked himself thoroughly and, after confirming that nothing serious had happened to him. Aside from the obvious red marks all over his body, which seemed to be fading, ‘it seemed everything was a’right uh’.

He got up from his bed feeling somewhat excited to survive such an ordeal.

He suddenly tensed up as he remembered something and immediately checked his pants as if to confirm whether something precious was still there or not.

Phew…

Grinning, he picked up his phone, thinking about how to brag about this to his friends when they notice his biceps this time.

kekeke…, let’s see what kind of faces a human can make…

Then he saw the time, which immediately caused his brain to stop working properly, and then his eyes went to the notification bar and saw the missed call notifications, which made him regret surviving the calamity even more.

‘2 missed calls from mom, huh… It’s still managab—,’ he muttered as he dragged his finger across the screen and got immediately scared when he saw there was a zero beside that two and the number didn't seem to end there.

He removed another finger and saw the one beside zero, which immediately made his soul leave his body.

"201 missed calls and even one from Dad"

“What should I do now?”

“I am fucked!”

He broke down in a cold sweat, “I should calm down…”

Calm…down…calm…down… take a deep breath…

“…”

“Deep breath, my ass…”

He sprinted to the shower, turned it on at full blast, stood under the spray, and began to calm down and think about how to avoid this calamity. After all, every second was now precious; his brain began to work in overdrive, but nothing seemed to work.

***

Summer, 9:00

Location: 1E platform, Nil Station.

Victor today left home in a hurry, too rushed to reflect on yesterday’s situation, but immediately noticed something different about himself. So, on the way, he began to take note of the changes he felt and noted them in his mind.

He liked some of the changes that he had discovered so far, like his improved strength, faster reflexes, and heightened senses, especially eyesight. He felt as if he focused, he could see quite a distance, but what made him regret it was his sense of smell, which he felt was more active than usual.

The enhanced sense of smell had become a disaster. It was overwhelming him; every breath he took was either repulsive enough to cause nausea or too fragrant to knock him out. He was already straining under the bizarre combination of exhaustion and liveliness, plus this never-ending thirst, and now with the added nausea.

The air felt so bad that he sometimes found himself subconsciously holding himself from breathing after a few intervals, but he suppressed his discomfort and tried to distract himself by thinking about how unbearable this would have been if this were 150 years ago, when locomotives still ran on combustible fuel.

Nowadays, with the success of the APES nuclear power generator, every vehicle runs on electricity. Almost every city had one power core and a united power supply, which provided sufficient energy that was previously used to run a whole country.

‘Technology is truly a wonderful thing.’ Victor sighed as he looked at the increasing number of passengers, with no train in sight. ‘Oh god!’

The train journey was nauseating, but he eventually reached his college without fainting, which he was somehow proud of.

He spent most of his time in the classroom, avoiding his classmates and friends a little, not that he had many friends, but all of them are good ones. They figured Victor might be upset because he got ditched again, so they would leave him today, but from the next day, they would make fake female accounts and would send him requests.

Victor felt relieved that his melancholic drama and pale look successfully made his friend give up for today, as he didn’t want to smell sweat anymore, so he looked outside the classroom window and tried to see if he could see someone in the nearest apartment if he focused.

Tsk… this thirst is truly persistent… did I get cursed or something?

By 19:00, he made it home and had never felt so relieved. He ate, checked up on his cat, crashed into bed, and let sleep take over him. After all, the day might be over, but the night certainly isn’t.