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Agony Day

The end of an era

By Rosy C. HowardPublished 3 years ago 5 min read
1

Agony Day

“Day what? What day?” asked Heather ducking a bit while Helen, her mother, stood right behind trying to surprise her with a heart-shaped locket necklace. “Oh my silly girl, not agony day but Agnus Dei (Latin), Lamb of God, pendant.”

“Oh mom, your gold pendant? You don’t need to give it to me! You’ve had it saved in your box for years.” “I know” said Helen. “I want you to have it and I know you always liked the look of it. When your father comes back from work I bet he will be happy to see you wearing it. Also, it reminds me of the time when he looked at the golden, chunky heart and jokingly asked me if that heart was solid or hollow.”

Theo, Heather’s father, has been working as a janitor for fourteen years in an offshoot Physics lab in the Boston, MA metropolitan area. One day as he was ready to use the floor scrubber machine on one of the rooms, he removed all the chairs from the room and pilled them outside in the hallway. He rounded the corner just four feet from the room’s door to pick up the scrubber machine which took about five seconds and he was ready to enter the room. All the chairs were back in place in the room! No one was there… Theo was blanketed in disbelief and rushed in the direction of a room where he knew a meeting was taking place that afternoon.

When he got close to the door his heart was still uncontrollable, uneasy and his face looked distraught. The meeting room had a stage with small curtains in the back and access to service areas. The meeting was attended by a group of physicists, biologists and a couple of philosophers to which he was familiar within his fourteen years of tenure. Not only were his peers in that meeting but also a plasmatic humanoid figure who was talking. Theo laid down on the floor behind the curtain and tried to calm down. He thought a heart attack would be on the way and silently tried to make sense of everything that had happened to him that day. The plasmatic entity seemed pleased and said it never felt so welcomed during the many eras it had been around. The scientists and philosophers were a little agitated and mesmerized as the figure seemed sometimes incomprehensible or uncoherent.

At that point in time humans on earth had exhausted some of the most stringent efforts to curtail plastics accumulation in landfills which had grown to an intolerable amount for decades, even after the introduction of a small number of successful solutions. Many activists have lived and new ones have been born. Brain implants of a wide variety have been used and others abandoned. Not all in society benefited from the existence of these implants. People developed mental health issues and a few have benefited from them lightly. The world was still messy and it was often common to see people running and screaming in the streets. The outside world was unrelatable to the focus minded. Personal computers still existed in a holographic form and the masses still used them at will. A few years back a scientific publication gave a glimpse of an early project using a cyber virus to transform the human body in a plasmatic form to facilitate the advances in space and inter dimensional travel. The full process wasn’t explained in the article. The story was well received by the general pop culture as high advancement for a new era.

Theo came back home that evening and said hello to Helen and Heather. He noticed the chubby heart locket on Heather’s neck and complimented her with brightness. Theo was still shaken and Helen asked if he was ok. Theo answered, “Talk about hearts… I thought I was about to loose mine today!” Both looked at Theo with a worried feeling and Theo told them the story. “Remember that article about ‘Getting rid of the body?’” They looked at Theo with even more worry.” It’s on!” continued Theo, “I saw an entity just like the one they described! It’s happening!” He then told them about the ordeal with the room’s chairs which happened early on in his day and that he couldn’t understand what’s was going on. They sat down slowly in doom and disbelief. Helen asked Theo “I don’t understand this; can you explain it?” “I don’t either” Theo answered with sadness. Their night went on as usual and the next day Theo was back at work, worried but there.

Theo was sweeping the hallway and saw one of the physicists running out of the front door of the meeting lab very quickly, then he saw another member of their group running out. The second one had a very frightened face but he was running slower than the first so Theo caught up with him and asked if he was ok and everything was safe and if he should be leaving as well. The man looked at Theo desperately, but didn’t say a thing. Theo took a deep breath and went to the lab, walking slowly. There was a meeting happening there with several people, but no one was there in the room when he arrived. When he walked in the room his heart rate accelerated and his arms and back had goose bumps. He questioned himself whether he should stay or go home to his family. Suddenly he saw some text on the screen.

At home Helen rushed to Heather and told her,” My friends George and Doris… got taken! They disappeared right in their living room! It’s our time! It’s the time! We are finally being taken!” Heather was frightened and confused. She tried to calm her mother and explained that it’s not the time, it’s just a science experiment and everything is going to be alright.

Theo made it home, spoke briefly with Helen and Heather, “Listen! Nobody is coming back, there is no life, humans have been invaded by this cyber virus and dissolved and consumed by the entities, they have been consuming us dead or alive for eras and now with the virus facilitating these transitions… everybody will be gone and the work undone. Some people are confused and running toward these entities even with their pets. There’s no escape.” Shortly after, Theo got pulled up violently and disappeared. Helen was pulled back against the wall and also disappeared. Heather looked out through the window as she listened to a starling’s long and beautiful song and wished wholeheartedly she could fly out of her reality and join that bird.

Rosy C. Howard

Sci Fi
1

About the Creator

Rosy C. Howard

Art │Design │Illustration

Rosy Design Studio

RosyDesignStudio.com

https://www.ebay.com/str/rosydesignstudio

Poetry + Visual Arts

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