Omegle

I don't know what to say; I'm really at a loss here. I looked at my phone with awe as I put both my thumbs hanging above the screen, wanting to say something, but also thinking about the many possibilities this conversation would turn into. All of such possibilities are naught but, well, negative, really. I tried to play it cool by not answering his chat and saying whatever that would first come into my mind instead.

"Hello there."

Hey, it ain't much, but it really took a long time for me to think about that crap. A part of me wants him to reply, "General Kenobi," but that's all wishful thinking.

"asl" The person on the other side of the chat sent once more, not wanting to budge unless I give him what he wants.

"im not really sure if im comfortable giving all that to a stranger." I sent along with a smug-looking emoji to make him speak up more words other than just "asl."

"You're not a member?" He briefly replied. I am at a loss once more. What does he mean by "member"? I'm not really sure if I'm diving into something safe just by reading that reply alone.

"Well?" The Twitter user chatted after a few moments of me not uttering anything. Perhaps he saw that I am reading his chats but deliberately avoiding it. In my defense, he's not really giving me enough time to think, and I can see that he's probably not accustomed to confused people like me. That means there are people out there who would reply swiftly amid all these confusion and are all calling themselves a "member" of this wacky code-loving group.

"Timewaster"

That is the last time I heard anything from that Twitter account. I mean that literally because he blocked me seconds after sending me that word. I went around and searched "Plural Heights" again on Twitter and saw that no such tweet or anything remotely similar to it is popping up anymore. Heck, earlier, when I searched for those two words, I was only greeted by either those cryptic posts or a blank search result. This time, however, the Twitter search result is showing me many other tweets that have both the words "Plural" and "Heights" in it, but none of them are really about the mall or whatever membership-only shit they're posting.

After almost an hour of painstakingly searching and researching the term "Plural Heights" over and over in hopes that I would see more of those tweets, I finally gave up. I threw my phone on the side and opened my PC instead, to play some games or watch some videos or whatever. This is usually what I would do in my day-offs anyway, meeting a friend or leaving my house at all during these times are rarer than the occurrence of a red moon.

After three hours of pointless "leisure" time, I finally got bored of whatever the fuck I'm doing and just stared at my ceiling for a good two minutes before admitting to myself that the Twitter user is right for calling me a "timewaster."

I sighed while thinking about what I should do for the entirety of the day since, seeing that there is light penetrating through the small space around my window, it's still very much early in the afternoon. I haven't done anything that I would consider as "fun" yet.

"Maybe I should do that again today..."

I like meeting people. Okay, don't get me wrong, I hate going outside, but I still like talking to people. It makes me learn a lot about life and discover the many--you know what, I'm just fooling myself at this point. I want to meet hot girls online, talk to them momentarily, maybe call them for a quick wank, and stop speaking to them once they start talking about their feelings and their stupid life complaints. I hate dealing with all those people, but I do love seeing hot strangers.

And that's why, with a resigning sigh, I typed "omegle.com" and entered a chat room without tags. I would usually use some kind of stupid tags to narrow down my choices, but since I have a lot of time right now, I decided to take it slow for now.

The first thing that greeted me is a bot, which disconnected after sending me their programmed messages.

Then, there's this person who sent "M," which immediately made me tap the escape button twice with the swift of a thousand furious breeze.

Then the next one didn't speak at all, no matter how much greeting messages I sent, so I just said, "fuck it" and went on the next chat.

It's pretty much the same stale shit for about a hundred of these people, something I already expected, but it still very much disappoints me regardless. I was about to refresh the page to add some tags if this new guy I'm chatting is one of those stale chats again.

"plural heights?"

Huh...?

The Stranger I'm talking with right now just blurted two words that I never expected to see again for today; heck, I didn't expect to see it on this site at all! Just what... Is this Plural Heights, really?

I was about to ask about this Plural Heights thing when the Stranger suddenly disconnected.

I was frantic. I wanted to see that person again, and since he sent that chat with a question mark, that means he's finding a fellow "member" in Omegle.

IN OMEGLE!

I can't believe it!

I refreshed my feed and went through one chat after another to see if someone else is looking for Plural Heights members like that Stranger I encountered earlier. It took a while, but...

I didn't find him...

I was in that chat room for so long that the sun was already setting when I was done. It made me feel like shit. Nevertheless, a seething competitiveness and a growing curiosity finally took the better of me. This Plural Heights thing started when I was jacking off that one time to some weird BDSM shit, and now, I'm here seeing it all the random places on the internet? As if it's not random enough to see an ad for a mall below a porn video!

Besides, I have nothing else to do anyway!

That was when an idea popped in my head, why don't I just put "Plural Heights" as a tag to see other people who want to meet with their fellow "members"?

That I did. At first, the system told me that no other people had the same tag that I'm using, which made me think that maybe I'm the only one using it, but I did not give up. I disconnected tag-less chats over and over, hoping for some miracle that someone would be dumb enough to use the tag to find a fellow member.

And then...

"You're now chatting with a random stranger. 

"You both like Plural Heights.

"Stranger: Good day, brother! (or sister, do forgive me if I got it wrong!) Greetings and may the glory of the Mother shine through you!"

Holy shit! 

I found one! This is so fucking freaky! I didn't know what to say, so I just sent a nonchalant "Hey" and hoped to god that the Stranger wouldn't disconnect from me. 

"Stranger: Ah! Forgive me for my impudence, but are you perhaps not a member of our fellowship? 

I wiped the sweat trickling through my forehead with my collar after reading through the Stranger's reply. I heaved a deep sigh with my eyes closed as I deliberated to myself if I am doing the right thing or not. 

But, well...

What's the worst that could happen? 

"yeah hope you won't disconnect tho just wanna learn about plural heights" It didn't take me a long time to think about this reply, but it did require a whole lot of coaxing within me to muster the courage to send it. 

"Stranger: That is wonderful, brother! I'm guessing you're a 'brother'?" 

"ya im a dude" 

"Stranger: Excellent! Do not be afraid! Plural Heights is not Illuminati (we receive a lot of feedback calling us that). We are a group of people who wish to attain a higher sense of spiritual enlightenment through various community exercises with our members and our amazing mentors who want nothing but the best from all of us!"

I frowned after reading that vague reply, but oddly enough, I can understand what he's trying to say. "that sounds cool" 

"Stranger: It is beyond 'cool,' brother! It is godly, almost heavenly! It has been a long time since I denounced my belief in a higher power, and Plural Heights opened my eyes to the truth that there is no one true god, and we can all attain true godhood by unlocking our spiritual potential!" 

"word i also dont believe in god" 

"Stranger: The church is evil, brother. It only wants nothing but to use you and steal your money! Religion is all but a sham, and the Mother told me all about it in our one-on-one session where she told me all about the true villains in the world and the real owners of our great USA! That was the day when I started telling myself that I will devote myself to what the Mother envisioned the world to be: a utopia where humans like you and me can live with no reservation and without the need of the material." 

There are all starting to be so fucking exciting. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's wacky as shit, but I can't stop smiling while the Stranger sends all these goofy ass paragraphs! It's so funny. It makes me want to see what he has more to say ironically. 

"i heard it jhas membership tho smh smh" 

"Stranger: I see that you have done your research. Don't worry, brother! You can always come and watch our sessions every weekend to understand our cause more on an intimate level! When you're already willing to be a part of our growing community of spiritually strong and morally upright fellowship, then you can talk to one of our members. They will send you to the Mother to make you an official member of our cause!" 

I tried probing for more since he keeps blabbing about their group. I thought that this will be some kind of creepy secret society, but it's actually just a bunch of nerds roleplaying. "who's this mother btw?" 

"Stranger: Mother is the Truth. Mother is the Way. Mother is the Door. Mother is Hope itself. BLESSED BE OUR MOTHER TILL THE VERY END OF OUR DAYS! BLESSED BE HER WHO GIVES US OUR PURPOSE IN LIFE! Brother, if you wish to know more about us, I can tell you more about it in one of our sessions held tomorrow, if it's not too much of a bother to you, of course." 

I chuckled. Well, I won't do anything tomorrow anyway. Why not? "sure. when and where?" 

"Stranger: May I know where you live, brother? Since you heard about us, that probably means that you've seen our ads somehow! Then I can guess you're an American living in the United States of America, yes?" 

"ya LA" 

"Stranger: Wonderful! I am from Iowa, but I will travel there to meet you and give you the proper welcoming gift that Man, such as yourself, deserves! I will be in LA around noon tomorrow. Please meet me inside our Plural Heights branch in LA. You won't miss it since there's only one such place in your state!" 

"nice so just go there and ill see you?" 

"Stranger: Hmm... I am not allowed to give my contact details as of this moment since we just met under such an unusual circumstance, Omegle and all, but we can meet somewhere in Level 4, go to the right side of the escalator, and you will instantly see Room 3. It's a clock store, but tell the clerk that you're meeting with Jimmy, and they will definitely give you the accommodation that you deserve, brother!" 

I smiled as I continued to chat more with this Stranger, who called himself Jimmy to know how I could recognize him. Whelp, I guess I have another appointment tomorrow. Heh. I don't really wanna meet with him, but I guess since he looks like he's practically begging for it, then why the hell not? 

"Stranger: I'm looking forward to seeing you, brother. Glory be to the Mother!" 

That was the last thing I heard from Jimmy before he disconnected.