Chapter 8 #2
In the vision, I grabbed the woman by the shoulders and shook her and shouted at her. Suddenly, the woman was tiny, like a little doll, and I shook her and shook her, then I picked up a brick and threw it?—
Cecil barked sharply.
I blinked. Reality slammed back into me—too vivid, too bright.
What the hell? I’d been sitting down, and now I stood over the kid’s mom with my arms outstretched. She stared up at me with wide eyes. Even her kid had stopped whining and was looking at me.
“Sorry,” I mumbled. I shuffled back to my seat. For some reason, I didn’t want to sit down. It almost felt like I’d fallen asleep and started to immediately dream.
I could still feel the dream-state tugging at me, pulling me under. Despite the violence of my mini dream, the cozy sleepy feeling was so tempting.
“What the hell are you doing, Chosen?” Cecil thudded his body against mine, forcing me back to my chair. “You looked like you were about to kill that woman.”
My heart thudded in my chest. “I don’t know,” I whispered, clenching my fists. My fingers felt grainy, like I still had brick-dust on them.
“Not that I really blame you. That kid is a menace.” Cecil turned to look at the toddler, who was now ramming a toy car into the bench seats in front of us. The people who sat there stiffened.
“I think we might have bitten off more than we can chew here, Cecil. I thought at worst, I’d get a bit irritated. This… this feels…”
The little baby started wailing again. Several people in the waiting room put their heads in their hands and audibly groaned.
Cecil rested his head in my lap for a second and stared up at me with big puppy dog eyes. “Do you want to leave?”
“No. Yes. I don’t know.” I shook my head. “There’s something not quite right about all this.”
That wasn’t it. This plan was a good one. If Connor wasn’t hunting the brethren and their stone right now, he soon would be. But I should’ve talked this over with Donovan and the others, come up with a better plan to find them.
There was something not quite right about me. Ever since I’d returned from lunch, I felt like I’d been snapping in and out of reality.
“Maybe we should leave.” Cecil frowned. “Connor’s not here. There are obviously brethren feeding here somewhere, because this whole place looks like it’s been specially designed by masters of incompetence in order to provoke the most frustration out of humans.”
“It doesn’t make sense though. Don’t they have to be close to feed?
There are only two people working on the service desk.
We’ve already established that Ramen Noodle Hair Lady is probably human, since she’s not staying still long enough to feed.
The others are behind a plastic security partition.
I think we jumped into this idea because it was something to do?—”
“You jumped into it.”
I exhaled roughly. “And I didn’t think it through.
You’re right, Cecil. I jumped into it because I needed to keep moving forward.
” An unpleasant thought barreled its way into my head.
“I think part of it is that I feel like I’m racing Connor to get to the stones.
I don’t want him to get his hands on any more power, especially not the power of knowing exactly how to push someone’s buttons.
” I clenched my fists again, trying to get control of myself.
Oh, yeah, this was a great idea. Get an already frustrated woman who has nothing better to do with her day and take her to the Den of Eternal Frustration so she can witness the worst of all bureaucratic processes playing out in front of her, but make sure she’s got absolutely no power to do anything about them.
What I wouldn’t do with this place… I ground my teeth, looking around.
For starters, I’d make sure the staff were paid more.
I’d streamline all the processes and redesign all the comms so every customer showed up with exactly what they needed to get what they wanted, reducing wait times and service times.
I’d prioritize the tech so it was fixed immediately so there were no delays. I’d… I’d…
My eyes flicked sideways. That toddler was the icing on the cake. Her mom, sitting right next to me, had gone back to staring into space.
Just then, I noticed the older couple, still standing awkwardly in the middle of the waiting room.
They were blocking the view of the service desk monitor, ignoring the handful of people behind them who were trying to see what number was being called.
The teen started another video; this one sounded like a bunch of people playing games and squealing in high-pitched voices. It was unbearably irritating.
“The brethren aren’t employees.” Suddenly, I could see them all, lit up like beacons. “They’re not DMV employees, Cecil. They’re here in the waiting room with us.”
“Huh?” He shook his head. “What, Chosen? I think I blacked out there for a second.”
I nudged the toddler’s mom next to me. “Brethren.”
She twitched. “What?”
I smiled, finally looking at her properly.
Bushy brown hair—conveniently covering her whole forehead— brown eyes, brown trousers, beige shirt.
It was strange; normally I’d notice an all-brown outfit in the same way you’d see an all-denim outfit and point out the Canadian Tuxedo.
But my eyes had slipped past her, only noticing her kid. Because her toddler was annoying.
It was all so deliberate. “You’re brethren,” I said to her. “You’re feeding off my frustration.”
She stared back at me dully. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Buzz.
Oh, thank goodness, I was right. I pointed at her.
“Ha. Liar.” I turned and gestured to the older couple, standing absolutely still, blocking the view of the monitor.
The people behind them craned their necks every time the monitor chimed and muttered to themselves angrily.
“Those guys are, too. You’re brethren.” I pointed to the teenager.
“And, uh, that one is, too. This whole place is their nest, Cecil. It’s not the employees. ”
The woman stared at me. “Who the hell are you?”
I smiled at her. “Hi. I’m Susan, and I’m the Chosen One.”
She sighed. “Ugh. Well, I suppose we all knew this day was coming.” She stood up and hauled her kid up by the arm. “Come on. Let’s go to the back.”