Twice Removed | 5 | Whispers
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Despite the quick walk from their car, the three of them managed to work up a sweat before reaching the food market’s doors. To their right, two men were screaming at security guards, “Blind! You’re all blind! Get your hands off me! Censorship! Censorship!”
Their mom tried to get them away from the scene as soon as possible and thrust them in front of her towards the automatic doors. The doors shot open, and the vortex of cold air momentarily stunned them. Chip could see one of the security guards removing something from his belt as he moved toward the screaming man. The doors snapped shut, and a shiver ran up his spine from the rapidly cooling sweat.
Looking over her shoulder, their mother ushered the two brothers into the store. “Okay. Are you two ready to help out your mom?”
Isaac replied slowly, “Yea… yes, but what’s going on outside?”
She pushed him forward by the head. “Just a crazy person, but don’t worry, the cops are taking him to get some rest.”
The brothers exchanged a confused glance, and Isaac whispered, “That guy needs to shut up. He’s about to get arrested.”
The market was on the smaller side, not the sprawling indoor bazaars that had become all the rage in larger cities. Behind the facade of one or two items along the front of every shelf, the majority of the space on the shelves was empty. People were scattered throughout the aisles of the store, holding holographic shopping bags that gave off a faint glow at all times.
Chip looked at the bag of an older gentleman passing in front of them, and the contents of the bag transformed into pints of ice cream encircled by a pulsating ring with an arrow emanating from its side, with the number 4 pulsating out of phase with the ring. As Isaac’s eyes fell on the bag, images and videos of scantily clad women on the covers of magazines appeared in their own arrowed ring pointing in the opposite direction emblazoned with the number 7.
Isaac nodded to his brother and pulled on their mother’s sleeve. “Hey Mom, can Chip and I help out? We can go get the frozen items since we know what to get.”
She looked everyone over for a quick second and gave an affirmative nod and a stern, “We are in a hurry. Fine, just stay together and behave.”
Isaac led Chip down towards the frozen section and directed him, “Bagels there, waffles there, then grab the pizza. I’ll get the vegetables and ice cream.” Isaac went to the next aisle and left Chip to collect his items.
Chip finished quickly, ready to move on to the ice cream section; otherwise, his brother would rush him while he looked through all the flavors. “Isaac’s tastes never seem to change,” he thought to himself. “I wish he would try new things or at least give me some time to find a flavor I’m in the mood for.” Cherry, Vanilla, Chocolate, Molten Lava Cake, Peanut Butter and Pickles, the choices were endless. A hologram popped up with a symbol noting his interaction with the shopping bag earlier, and the prices of the advertised brand grew slightly smaller and glowed green as he looked through their flavors.
His ice cream-induced trance was interrupted by a middle-aged couple looking for items on the aisle opposite. “I’d rather not buy those today, honey. You should still get your dessert, but I’m just not in the mood.”
“Why Charlie, don’t do that to yourself. You’re going to want some later.”
“I’m not being silly, and don’t patronize me. He’s my third friend in as many years. It just doesn’t make sense. I’m not in the mood, and I certainly won’t be in the mood after the funeral, so there is no reason to get it.” The man turned to walk away, and his wife silently grabbed a hologram sitting in front of the row and placed it in her bag, which began to glow. She chased after him as he started again, “I just don’t ever remember hearing about this as a kid. Sure, higher altitudes like Everest, but down here? We don’t even live at a mile. Cerebral edema doesn’t just happen; I don’t care what those doctors say. They can shove their statistics up their asses!”
“Charlie! There are kids around. But, I know how you feel. Elaine was saying the other day that things feel like they change when you really just haven’t paid attention to them before. We are getting to that age where weird things start to slow you down.”
He waved her off as they rounded the edge of the aisle. “Yea, yea, yea… This world’s spinning out of control is all. Well, I’m just about ready to step off and let it keep spinning without me.” Chip watched them disappear.
Isaac scared him as he approached from the other side. “Damn selector was out at the veggies. I had to actually grab the individual bags and run them to a kiosk. Took forever. Whatever. Have you picked something new, or do you just want to get the good vanilla?”
Chip shuddered. “You get whatever you want. I’m getting this one.” He reached and grabbed a coffee with chocolate-swirled flavor. As they turned to leave the aisle, Chip asked, “Did you hear what that old couple was talking about?”
“No.”
“I think the guy’s friend just died.” Chip grew quiet and sunk his head. “He said he didn’t remember this happening when he was a kid.”
“That sucks for him, but come on, I’m sure he doesn’t remember that much on a good day, let alone a day when his friend died.”
“Maybe. He said he didn’t believe the doctors. It sounded like what they always say about my breathing. They say it’s getting worse when they don’t think I can hear. Then they say everything is going to be alright to my face.” Chip’s eyes welled up with tears, and he looked at Isaac. “You don’t think I’m going to die for a long time, do you? I’ve had some close calls! Am I going to die like that guy’s friend?” He could hardly hold back the tears.
Isaac saw what was happening and dreaded the thought of his brother having another episode, especially under his watch. He knelt down to comfort his brother. “Don’t be crazy. That’s what old people do. They die. Are you old?” Chip sniffed as he shook his head in the negative. “No, you aren’t. You’re young. Besides, you just have some strong asthma, but you will grow out of it. Look at Turner Williamson. He had asthma at your age, and now look at him.” Isaac pointed to the basketball player’s picture on an ice cream sandwich box. “He’s the best player in the league, and he’s always helping people get over their asthma.” Their mother turned the corner as they hugged.
“Is everything alright?” she asked in a slightly panicked voice, seeing the fresh tears on Chip’s face.
Chip replied, “Yeah, I got worked up, but Isaac helped me out.” She bent down to console him and gave an approving nod to Isaac.
They walked up to the kiosk at the front of the store, and their mother waved her hand over the pad sticking up from the counter. The vibrations from machinery under the floor started to build, and the top of the counter in front of them disappeared. A new countertop surface rose up the box like an elevator and stopped once it reached the top of the waist-level kiosk. The new surface was covered in clear bags containing all the items they selected in the store, and she looked through everything to verify it was all there.
At the next kiosk, a pair of men in their early twenties were speaking in hushed tones. “Dude, did you hear about Minot? Literally, nobody has heard from the people there in like two weeks.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean exactly what I said. The town, the entire town hasn’t been in contact with the outside world for almost two weeks.”
“So, what? Everyone died? And also, where is this?”
“It’s a small town in the middle of nowhere. But no, everyone is still alive, dumbass. They just haven’t been able to communicate. No text, video, email, not even like those old school phone lines or radio is working there. They have to drive almost two hours to the nearest town just to communicate.”
“What?! They haven’t sent anyone there to check it out in two weeks?”
“Apparently, they’ve been trying to find out what’s going on since like the first morning or something like that, but they haven’t been able to figure anything out.”
“That’s crazy. What are they going to do?”
“How the hell do I know?”
“Boys! Let’s go, everything is here.” Isaac and Chip were entranced with what they overheard and stumbled behind their mom. Their groceries remained on the countertop, which slid away from the shell of the kiosk, rolling away on an automated rolling car that ejected from the side of the kiosk.
“Mom, where is Minot?”
“Minot, is that an island? A city? Doesn’t matter, I don’t know. Why?”
“The guys next to us were talking about how it was cut off, and no phones-”
“I wouldn’t put any stock into what those boys were talking about. Did you see them with their long hair and the way they were dressed? They almost certainly were homeless or living in a shelter on handouts from people like your father and me. People that look like that are usually into nasty and dangerous things.”
They exited the store and were greeted by a blast of dry, hot air. The boys looked to the spot where the old men were shouting when they arrived, but there was nothing to see but a worker from the store washing a stain from the sidewalk with a hose. Chip struggled to remember if the stain was there when they walked in.
“Those boys in there are the very people that the devil works through. Now enough of this talk. It’s hot out here. Let’s get in the auto.” The three of them climbed in and turned on the air conditioning. Their groceries trailed behind them on the drone. It opened the trunk, loaded the groceries, and returned to the store in under a minute. Their mother uttered under her breath, “Ugh, finally,” as she placed the white light on her temple and blissed out.
You can find the next chapter here.
