Flames of Apathy by Adam J Smith

Author:Adam J Smith [Smith, Adam J]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-12-05T22:00:00+00:00

Fear

“Have you heard from Clarisse?”

Misty smiled at him over the hotplate. “No, but then I never expect to, dear.”

“Hmm.”

“You eating?”

“I’m not really hungry,” he answered.

“Alright then. Everything okay?”

A draught of cold air blew across the nape of his neck, despite the high collar on his coat. Must’ve blown down from the air vents above Misty’s head. He was tired and his eyes kept defocusing, and he’d found himself sniffing at the synth rather than drinking it, these last forty-eight hours, whenever he needed to quell the still-stinging headaches.

“I saw her, a couple days ago, in the link.”

Misty pointed her spatula at him. “Ah, I see – that’s why you look like a pile of rat droppings been stepped in and smeared across the pavement, eh?”

“Well aren’t you the charmer. You wanna watch that talk around your customers,” he said, stepping aside as a young couple ducked beneath the narrow awning, taking seats.

“Oh, don’t mind him, my dears,” said Misty. “What can I get ya?”

“Two of your finest, sugary pancakes, please!” said the boy. He wore a baseball cap, but removed it to comb his fingers through his long hair. Face so smooth it made Rylan count his years.

He groaned, rubbing his neck. “So you’ve definitely not seen her?”

“Answer’s still nope.” Batter landed on the hotplate with a steamy sizzle. “You want me to call her?”

“I’ve tried. No answer.”

“Well, that’s not that strange. You know what she’s like. I’ll leave her a message if you like: ‘You’re ex is desperate to catch up.’”

“Thank you, Misty. Helpful as always.”

“Be good now,” she called after him, but he had already turned away. He went in search of a general store further up the street, feeling heavy footed, very much planted in the real world. He was all feet and legs and head, unlike the link, unlike his dreams; if this too was another layer upon another layer, they’d coded it with too much pain and gravity. And reality.

He was so focused on himself though, that those around were blurs emerging from the mist and the lights and the shadows, and vanishing just as quickly.

Someone called his name, but he heard it too late, and was too far gone to go back.

He pushed open the door to the general store and its little bell rattled.

“Aspirin,” he said to the woman behind the counter. She turned and grabbed a pack from the shelf behind her, and he scanned his hand across the reader. Before heading back out he chewed three tablets, all grit between tongue and teeth. Then added one more for good luck. For a speedy recovery.

Too late for that.

He pulled his coat across his chest and rattled the little bell once more.

If he was hoping something had changed, he’d been hoping in vain.

The evening was warm and clammy but he shivered beneath his layers of clothing.

He brought up his comm unit and went online. Earlier, Clarisse’s name had had a grey circle next to it, indicating she was offline. Now her name had gone altogether.

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