"…And then, I kid you not, the mechanic told me it would be another four hundred dollars. Can you believe my luck? It's like the universe just has it out for me, Alex. It's always something!"
As Alex listened to his co-worker blather on about how unfair her life had been lately, and how bad things happened to her for no reason at all, only one thought formed in his mind.
'I just want to go home.'
His eyes were already heavy with dark circles from a week of overtime, and his feet ached, both from standing and from the sound of Sarah's voice.
Of course, he knew that she was only talking because she probably needed someone to vent her frustration to, but a full shift as a salesperson was already tiring enough for Alex. The last thing an exhausted introvert like him needed right now was to act as an unpaid therapist.
After a while, his brain checked out, and the only thing he could actually hear from Sarah was:
"Blah, blah, blah… So, the mechanic blah blah… then my ex blah..."
And it just went on and on.
'God…'
His eyes darted to the digital clock on the wall behind the checkout counter that for some reason seemed to be moving really slowly today. Luckily, it was almost 5:00 PM, with only two minutes left before his shift was finally over.
'Two more minutes of this torture and I'm out of here.'
He could already imagine the softness of his bed and the blissful quiet of his apartment. He just had to survive one hundred and twenty more seconds of Sarah's monologue before he could finally disappear.
'Ah… though I know that when I get home, I won't be able to sleep and will just spend the night flicking through my phone.'
He sighed, lost in his head.
'I really should work on my non-existent sleep routine.'
Well, that was a nice thought while it lasted. Except hardly three seconds later, he was already thinking about the next show to binge throughout the night.
Way to go, Alex.
The seconds went by at an agonizingly slow pace.
Then, after what felt like an eternity, the digital clock finally flicked over, and Alex's nine-hour shift finally came to an end. He didn't even look at the clock. It was as if he had some kind of internal alarm that told him it was time to get the fuck out of there.
He turned to Sarah, forced a fake, wide smile, then finally spoke.
"That's my cue. I'd love to hear the rest, Sarah, really, but if I don't leave right now, I'm going to fall asleep standing up. Anyway… good luck with the mechanic."
He didn't wait for her to respond. He just grabbed his bag from under the counter and started heading for the exit before she could find a way to trap him in another story.
But just before he exited, he tossed a quick wave over his shoulder. "Don't forget to lock up before you leave!"
Then he exited the doors of the convenience store.
Today, the parking lot didn't have its usual late-afternoon glow. Instead of the stifling heat and golden light he usually walked out into, the air felt strangely thin and chilly. This was because of the solar eclipse that was currently casting a heavy, dim shadow over the city.
All around the lot and even on the streets, people had stopped and were now looking at the sky. Some people even had their phones out, trying to line up the perfect shot of the eclipse on their phones.
Alex tilted his head back tiredly to see what all the fuss was about, but after only a few seconds, he looked away from the blinding sliver of light and muttered to himself.
"Don't people know that looking at the sun during an eclipse is bad for the eyes?"
He blinked a few times.
"I'd rather not look at that anyway. I'm too broke to afford eye surgery."
He turned to the corner of the building where his bicycle was chained to a rusted metal railing. Then he walked over to it and crouched down, letting out a tired sigh as he reached for the heavy chain. As he fumbled with the combination lock, the temperature seemed to drop another few degrees.
Then suddenly, a random male voice called out from the street, sounding a bit shaken.
"Uhm… guys? What the hell is that?"
Alex looked over at the man who spoke, then followed his finger up toward the sky again, only to see a truly strange phenomenon.
From the sky above, thousands of what looked like white cards the size of playing cards were falling slowly, drifting through the air like oversized snowflakes.
'What are those?' Alex thought as he shielded his eyes with his hand, squinting against the glare from the sun.
The cards were so bright and numerous that they seemed to catch every bit of light, making it hard to focus on where they were actually coming from.
Everyone seemed to have the same question. All along the road, car doors were hanging open and people were standing in the middle of the lanes, ignoring the traffic jam entirely. The solar eclipse was supposed to be the main event, but now, no one was looking at the sun anymore. Everyone was focused on the cards that were falling.
"What are those?" a woman's voice asked, sounding more confused than scared.
"Are they… papers?" a man replied, his voice trailing off as he squinted upward.
"Look at the size of them," another voice added. "They look more like business cards."
"Is this some sort of publicity stunt or something?" someone shouted from further down the street.
The murmurs from the crowd of bewildered people grew even louder as the cards continued to fall in a slow rhythm, finally hitting the floor with metallic clinks.
The first detail that Alex noticed as he looked around was that, including him, everyone had only one card fall neatly directly in front of them. Then the next thing he noticed was that, for some reason, children did not have cards fall in front of them.
It was just the adults.
Alex bent over and picked up the white card in front of him, then studied it.
The card was somewhat metallic and a bit heavy, but smooth to the touch. On one side was a writing in black:
[Hold on to this card if you want power.]
"Hold on to this card if you want power? What joke is this?"
He turned the card over, and his eyes widened slightly in disbelief at what he saw. On the back, there was a countdown number glowing in a faint, pulse-like red. It was ticking down rapidly, the seconds bleeding away right in front of him.
[01:59]
[01:58]
[01:57]
'A timer?'
Honestly, Alex was more impressed with the high-end, tech-like quality of the slim card than the messages.
At that moment, he could hear the reactions of the others who had also picked up a card.
"Is this some kind of joke?" a man barked, sounding annoyed. He stared at his card for a second before tossing it onto the pavement. "I don't have time for some viral marketing crap."
"Wait, don't throw it!" a woman nearby shouted with her eyes glued to the red numbers on her own card. She was holding it with both hands. "The front says we have to keep it."
"It's just for some marketing campaign, Brenda," someone else muttered, though they didn't drop theirs. She shook her card in between her fingers. "Still, these look expensive don't you think?"
The people around continued to murmur among themselves. Some threw the cards away thinking it was just some marketing gimmick, others held their cards tightly as if they were afraid of what might happen if the timer hit zero, while many returned their attention to the solar eclipse that was still slowly eating away at the last sliver of the sun.
Alex looked back at the card in his hand, and as he watched the timer, one question began to take root in his mind.
'What will happen when the timer reaches zero?'
For some reason, he began to feel a bad premonition.
[00:05]
[00:04]
[00:03]
[00:02]
Alex swallowed, and a bead of sweat rolled down the side of his head.
[00:01]
[00:00]
The moment the countdown hit zero, the message changed.
[Beginning Initiation.]
'Initiation…?'
[Good Luck.]
Before Alex could even process that thought, all the cards around shone with a blinding white light, and then everyone still holding a card suddenly vanished without a trace.