Bloody Pavement

A full white room, a fire, an operation. I was running from somewhere with no windows, hallways that never end, a burning feeling in my bones. Going past people that won't even look at me. someone screaming at me. The exit is right there I can see it. My head hurts, my body aches, my muscles scream in pain as I change places. Opening that door I find a stairway, all I can see is darkness. Is it finally over? The stairway is a long way down, my legs start to give out. 

? "Just stay in place boy, this won't take a minute, we will just put this over your head." 

I can see another door. 

? " Why don't you listen to me... you will never learn... at this pace."

The lights are aggressive, the air is bad, the rain is black, I continue running down the street. I can't feel my legs anymore, my head is heavy, I'm blacking out. Help me, please, no matter how loud I scream no one looks at me. Am I invisible to these people? Or do they simply not care about me? Look at me, help me, save me, I beg of you, any of you. I can't walk anymore, my headache is unbearable as if my head is getting split open, rearranged and forcibly put back together. I can't stay awake anymore. As my mind starts to shut down, I can hear faint sirens in the distance, am I saved? The rain is so loud and cold… Why do I like it?

*Step* "Sigh… that dream again..."

*Step* "Look at the bright side, you can finally take a break."

*Step* "Yawn… how am I going to survive the night shift?"

*Step* "My sleeping schedule is not recovering anytime soon…"

Reaching for the door to the rooftop I ready my mask and open the locked door.

My eyes get attacked by the blinding lights of the dark city, I put my hands up as if to guard against it.

"I still can't really tell if it's really night or not without checking the time in this city, can I?" 

This place is constant nighttime after all.

With rain greeting me like usual, I put my mask on, close the door and get closer to the rails.

"I like the rain, but I can't help but feel bummed out about its toxic traits. I would've loved to open my mouth for some drops but that will end up with me sick and with even more debt."

I try to look above me, but the view is obscured by both the rain clouds and the tall buildings that go above them.

"I don't see why they still refuse to introduce air purifiers to the city already, I'm tired of wearing this mask anytime I want 'to get fresh air' ironically enough…"

Ranting, complaining, unhappy with this situation all I see is concrete buildings so tall they pierce the clouds, cars flying by at high speeds, colourful neon lights trying to distract me from the city's darkness and ads that fill every corner and every street.

"Ugh, the constant recollections are making my head hurt, and here I thought that using my observer skills was going to be an easy job, this type of work is best suited for machines they've been able to do this sort of thing for millennia now, oh wait I should be thankful that they reserved jobs for humans they 'did it for us' after all, hahahaha that always cracks me up."

I went on and on ranting to the city on whatever was on my mind and insulting everything I hated about the city, the government, the people and even myself until an hour passed.

 "Sigh, that took a load off of me, if the air was breathable this roof would've been the best place for me to unwind, I still have around an hour left on my break then to the 8 to 5 I go."

I lean on the rails looking down at the street below me, even if the building I'm in is not tall in comparison to the others around it, it is still a considerable distance away from the ground.

"Falling from here would end with my death, that is a certainty."

Bad karma E stop thinking about that stuff.

Taking a step back I was heading

 back

 insi

 d

 e

 .

"...What?" 

 "Why...?"

 "…I'm falling?"

I did not understand.

With the wind violently brushing past me. 

 And the pavement below me getting closer to my face.

My mind goes blank.

But it's going into overdrive too. 

A tingling sensation overwhelms my muscles. 

"Who…?" 

I remember the feeling of being pushed by someone.

"But that's impossible."

"I had the only key."

"And the door was closed when I came here."

"And I closed it after entering." 

"I don't get it." "I don't get it." "I don't get it."

 "I don't get it." "I don't get it."

 "I don't get it." "I don't get it."

"I don't get it." "I don't get it." "I don't get it."

 "I don't get it." "I don't get it."

 "I don't get it." "I don't get it." "I don't get it."

 "I don't get it." "I don't get it." 

 "I don't get it." "I don't get it." "I don't get it."

*splat* 

? "E? hey E what are you doing? Wake up!"

*Gasp*

Opening my eyes, I look around the room to find myself sitting at my desk, breathing heavily and confused. I ask the man that awoke me.

"Where am I?"

? "Stop your nonsense, you slept so hard you forgot where you were?"

"Huh?"

? "Sigh… just go take your break man."

The clock on the wall says 18:07 looking at it I recollect myself.

That dream was too real…

"Sorry Denzel, I don't even remember when I slept."

Denzel "I don't care man, just make sure you don't do that often."

"I know, I'll try my best."

Denzel "Anyway, you go on and have your break I'm off, are you going to the roof as usual?"

"That was the plan."

Denzel "See you tomorrow then."

"Y-yeah see ya."

After exchanging goodbyes, we separate. Denzel off home and me to the roof.

What was that dream? It felt so real, my body is still shaking and pumping adrenaline in my veins from fear and anxiety, and I was having déjà vu the entire time I was talking to Denzel except the beginning.

Going through the hallway to the staircase, lights flickering, body trembling, eyes unfocused, reaching the end and coming face to face with the door to the stairway I hesitate before opening it.

I have a bad feeling about this.

I touch the door to open it, my hands shaking, my brow sweating and then-

"The sound of the rain always calms me down."

Denzel "Yeah it does have that effect, doesn't it?"

Layers of cars fill the streets, cars on top of each other going up to 10 layers of cars floating on top one another, the evening rush is real around these hours.

Denzel "Forget the rain, what are you doing here?"

"Me?"

Denzel "You have the night shift today, around now in fact."

"I'm not doing it."

Denzel "Why?"

"Too scared."

Denzel "???"

"Don't look at me like that, I had a nightmare that was too realistic, I was pushed from the rooftop in it."

Denzel "So you sacked off the entire night shift? Even if you got scared you could have just not gone to the roof you know."

"Nah it's not worth it."

Denzel "I hope you had a good excuse."

"I just called in sick, we have 3 call ins remember?"

Denzel "And you just wasted one of yours for a nightmare, idiot."

"Eh I didn't use any of them before though, so I don't really care, they still take it off of your paycheque anyway that's why no one uses them."

Denzel "And if you do use all of them you don't get paid that month or worse."

"Just forget about work, I'm literally escaping it right now."

Denzel "We all hate working there, you're not alone."

"I wish I could've found a better job but that would've taken too long..."

Denzel "True and I was desperate on top of it."

"Of all people you should have been in a better job Denzel. And I don't get why you work so hard in this one."

Denzel "You know that my sister needs my support, and I can't waste time either, with our abilities and diplomas our searching time is cut in half."

Denzel has an older sister that had triplets. She wanted to keep all her children because that's what a mother does, but her financial situation is not that stable like the rest of us but on top of that and having children to provide for, she must pay the tax. So, Denzel the amazing brother he is, is helping her out, they live together, and both work to provide for one another.

"… I sometimes wish I was born in a different time, a time without the need of a job."

Denzel "There isn't a time like that E, every single point in our timeline needed jobs, had stress and depression you can't escape it."

"That's not what I meant Denzel, yes those times needed jobs and the people had hardships. However, those jobs weren't the reason they were alive, well they were technically but our situation is not comparable to that."

Denzel "One must imagine Sisyphus happy."

"YOU KNOW THAT'S PROPAGANDA, man do you want me to go on another five-hour rant?"

Denzel "Please don't."

"Then don't bring that stupid quote up again."

Denzel "E, you have to understand that people need purpose to live happily."

"And you have to understand that if that purpose is something they despise then they will be even more miserable."

Denzel "I know but that quote is the only reason some people are still going."

"And don't you think that's because they have been taught it since birth? The original quote was supposed to be absurd. Now, it's some people's reality."

Denzel "Sigh… and we can't do anything about it."

"You can start by dropping that quote from your memory."

Denzel "Haha, I know you hate it man but chill out."

"Oh, I don't just hate it, I despised it since I was young."

That quote has some significance in philosophy I won't deny it but it's meaning has been twisted to fit what the governments want from us, perpetual human machines that never stop working, and they dare dangle the fact that our jobs can just be automated, that we are replaceable by five lines of code, at this point if they truly can get rid of human jobs why not give people stable incomes? Most people won't demand much, just enough for a comfortable living. An ideal reality that has this much technological advancements would just have people focus on creation, on artistry, their hobbies, and research. But what do we have? The same systems as the 2000s a millennium later. People working slave jobs that are literally useless just to escape the government's methods to keep the population numbers in check. Absolute insanity. If you are not useful to society in the period of 6 months you "Will be disposed of" whatever that means, with the ambiguity of those laws and their menacing nature nobody wants to know what they entail.

Before the inevitable merge of the continents to form Novopangea after the 2354 meteor that hit earth which led to the expansion of the Pacific Ocean to hasten, resulting in a new supercontinent formally forming in the year 2876, with the UN all the governments decided on a single united government that is on top of every other government, The Earthly Union is the government that rules over the entire world this does not give a single person power but it is a council made up of 7 representatives of each continent.

The continents have the same names but the borders have been agreed upon later, each continent has a Continental Union in which all that continent's countries' leaders are part of a vote, to pass the usual laws and debate big changes in a country, these presidents can then vote for a single representative in the Earthly Union each president can elect themselves and present a speech for why they should be chosen they can also refrain from both voting and electing themselves to be a representative.

So, from most powerful to least we have the Earthly Union then the Continental Union and last the individual countries' governments.

The Earthly Union has a set number of laws that dictate how all countries should operate and population control laws as well. All of which have been drilled into my mind.

The population's control laws go as follows: 

-A family cannot be composed of more than three members.

*Exceptions: twins.

*Punishment: if the parent(s) is financially capable they will be fined monthly for the child's existence with each child costing more than the last, if the parent(s) is not financially capable the child will be disposed of.

-You cannot be homeless for more than 6 months (this period can be decreased or increased with the circumstances.)

*Punishment: the homeless person will be disposed of.

-You cannot be jobless for more than 6 months (this period can be decreased or increased with the circumstances.)

*Exceptions: creatives, the disabled.

*Punishment: the jobless person will be disposed of.

As an example of this, me and Denzel both have diplomas and we're time benders on top of that, so we are pressured to apply to jobs that need our supernatural abilities because they pretty much hire you on the spot, our job search time instead of the normal six months was just two.

Urgh that chart got really burned in my memory…

Being disposed of can mean a plethora of things besides death, with the only certainty being the disappearance of the disposed of, but what that entails is confidential information apparently.

If you presented these laws in the 21st century they will be 100% think it cruel and dystopian, yet they are "very necessary" for the world to function it keeps the population in check and almost guarantees the population's search for a job no matter what it is, urgency is a great motivator according to them.

Of course, I don't agree with any of this, but most people live their lives normally because it is all they know, the only reason that I don't see it that way is because I haven't really been brought up like that at least I don't think so…

Denzel "The Faxy came."

"Oh" I kinda forgot I was with Denzel for a second there.

"Let's get in then."

Denzel "Let's? Are you getting in with me."

"Brother we've been waiting half an hour for that Faxy, I'm not gonna wait more than that."

Denzel "Haha, sure come on before it gets tired of waiting."

We got inside the Faxy it's the usual model round with a small table in-between the seats.

News "Population decline have been on a rise for a last month, the number of deaths has almost doubled with the leading reasons being substance abuse and suicides, the age group most affected by these reasons are young adults and teenagers. On the contrary, people aged between 70 and 150 have a higher life expectancy…"

Denzel "This too miserable. Faxy turn the radio off."

Faxy Driver "It is our reality though."

"Oh? an actual Faxy driver? When was the last time you've seen one Denzel?"

Denzel "I actually don't remember a single time I was driven by an actual person."

Faxy Driver "Haha, I guess I am a rare breed these days."

"I actually thought they didn't employ people for centuries now."

Faxy Driver "No, no we still exist, it's just that we really are like one percent of all Faxy Drivers, you might go your entire lifetime without being driven by an actual person. Some people outright refuse to be driven by a human because the Faxy intelligent assistant is in their words safer."

Denzel "Thinking that assistant is safer is fair enough, I mean pretty much all recorded crashes are caused by humans. I think there were only around 1000 crashes caused by AI last year and all of them were because of car malfunctions not the AI itself."

"Well of course that's the case. Humans have been behind AI for centuries. But even so I would like to see a human driver once in a while."

Faxy Driver "Thank you, young man. It means a lot to me."

News "...On other news war on Mars has not stopped it seems that the Martian coup d'état has only gotten worse with the involvement of Jupiter..."

"Martians and their problems, for the first colonised planet you'd think it would be at least better than Earth."

Denzel "Can you close the radio driver sir?"

Faxy Driver "Sure. You don't like the news?"

Denzel "Well not really, I don't have the privilege to care about what doesn't affect me or the people close to me directly."

"Wow, you're so cold Denzel. How could you not care about the problems of a planet light years away from us?"

Denzel "Haha, you can start talking like that when you start caring about your own wellbeing E."

Faxy Driver "It does affect you though young man. Those statistics are real in today's time young people like you die more frequently than people well above the hundreds, life expectancy rates have been quite consistent over the years not because peoples' life spans have stayed the same but it's because the people that die in their 150s are averaged out by those who die at 20."

"That is true. if I were to consider peoples' financial situations it would be obvious that the wealthy on average live way longer than a person of stable income and by way longer, I mean 70 years more."

Denzel "Ha, and we're not even close to a stable income."

Faxy Driver "Well don't let that get you down young men your entire lives are ahead of you."

"I'll try. Anyways this should be enough for me grandpa."

Denzel "Your apartment complex is still ways away, no?"

"Nah it's not that far I'll just walk it. How much do I owe you gramps?"

Faxy Driver "50 DEPs please."

"There you go. Goodnight, Denzel."

Denzel "You didn't have to pay E."

"I pay my fare, you pay your fare, it's only fair."

Denzel "You paid for half of mine though."

"Don't sweat the details, just go home."

Denzel "Haha, thank you. Goodnight, E."

I nodded, put my mask on and left the Faxy.

I lied. The walk home from here would take around half an hour, I just needed to settle down a bit. I was still feeling uneasy with whatever that dream was. I've never had anything like it before. I can still feel the wind blowing against my face and the tingling feeling in my bones. For some reason it didn't feel that strange to me but I don't remember ever feeling like that.

Wait, did I develop future sight? No, that can't be right. I was barely able to awaken my observer ability at 22 which is pretty late. Usually a bearer is able to use their ability by 15 but for me it was around the time I was in college. It is very rare for someone to have future sight let alone future sight on top of being an observer being a double bearer is extremely unlikely, so no I probably didn't gain future sight and that was an actual dream.

*sigh* "I'm more exhausted than usual. When I get back, I won't even eat. I will jump straight to b— Huh?"

I couldn't help but feel watched by someone just now, but I can't see anybody around. Am I going psychotic from that dream? I'm not this anxious most of the time.

"Urgh, I should hurry. This walk is not doing its desired effects."

After an arduous fast walk to my complex, I am greeted by the familiar sight of the automatic door in its sorry state. After waiting what felt like a decade for this thing to open, I hastily entered and headed straight to the elevator.

"IT'S BROKEN?? ARGHH."

(DOWN FOR MAINTENANCE) was written on it which meant…

"The stairs… *sigh* 42 floors…"

1 floor 2 floors 5 floors 10 floors 21 floors 33 floors 41 floors

"Haah…The 42nd floor, finally."

After that I don't think I need to workout at all this year. Anyways, I take my keycard out of my pocket and open my front door. To be greeted with the usual sight.

"Home sweet home."

That was the first time I said those words in that order but from all of the exhaustion I didn't care if I acted a bit clichéd or corny. All I care about now is sleeping like a log on top of a nice and soft bed.

I jumped on my bed and looked outside my window. I have it transparent all the time so I can be entranced by the rain as it gently locks onto it making random forms and sounds that put me right to sleep.

But I couldn't, my stomach wouldn't let me sleep before I satisfied its desires, so I succumbed to my gluttony and dragged myself to the kitchen.

Trying to come up with something fast and easy to make, I empty out my fridge and drawers; flour, milk, oil, meat, eggs... In the end I decided to cook a simple pasta, as simple as I can get to be. And as soon as I finished, I took the pan straight from the stove put it on top of the coffee table in my living room and started eating like I was running out of time, it tasted great for something I cooked in 15 minutes, the kitchen is a mess though, eh I'll deal with that tomorrow I can't be asked now.

Licking the pan clean, it's 19:49, I sigh, look outside the window again and try to sleep…

I'm an amnesiac, I don't remember anything past 10 years ago. The first thing I remember is me on the street side surrounded by medical drones, my clothes tattered and my body aching, with zero recollection of who I am or what happened to me except my name.

After being treated at the emergency hospital and asking me general questions, they figured out pretty quickly that I suffered memory loss, so they searched my face and my blood on the governmental database but came up with nothing. According to them the first instance of my face appearing in any surveillance cameras was that day, which is practically impossible in any city with the same obscene number of cameras around.

They questioned my existence but determined that I wasn't lying after a while, they gave me a new identity with the name I gave them, with the body type of a 15-year-old.

They gave me a choice either to live by myself with a special licence that acts the same as an adult's so I will be able to work or to be put in an orphanage. I chose the former, for some reason I liked independence, the feeling of being free even if not completely so.

And ever since then I've been living on my own, not in the same places of course, at first they "provided" and I use that word generously a 20 by 20-metre apartment. And all the providing the government did wasn't for free, no.

Since the moment I woke up in the hospital I've had debt to my name, all the hospital expenses and the small apartment I resided in and the loan they gave me, I spent all of my teenage years or at least what I thought were my teenage years working my way out of debt and trying to study all the while.

Working odd jobs with anyone that would accept me, most people that run shops or businesses tend to just buy an android that does what they want them to do because it's a better investment in the long term. An android capable of doing anything you order it to better than any human can. However, my circumstances were deserving of pity and pitied I was, all the jobs that I worked for hired me while not really needing to. I didn't mind the pity as long as I was working, and I did my best knowing that.

I didn't think I would make it this far… all that working left me with no relationships but now I have a friend, a job, an acceptable flat, I like how things are, as much as I seemed to like my independence I hated the uncertainty, and even if I hate the routine and office work too at least I don't have to worry about tomorrow's dinner and I'm making some serious moves on my debt too, which is going to be a huge weight off my shoulders…

I just hope luck is on my side.

*yawn* "Ugh, that wasn't comfortable at all. I should go to bed. What time is it?"

23:21 Three hours of sleep is not bad but not nearly the amount I need so let's migrate to the bed shall we.

"VIA, turn off all alarms for tomorrow please."

VIA "All alarms set for tomorrow have been disabled."

"Thank you."

"It felt like I was reliving my life there."

I've been having all kinds of dreams lately, especially the one with me running away from something. That one in particular is one that I don't think is just a dream, the imagery of me collapsing matches the first thing I remember.

That dream has been a kind of constant in my life, it usually comes around when I'm anxious or concerned about something which is probably what I felt in that dream, so I relive it when I evoke those feelings.

But it is still a mystery to me, I don't know what I was running from in that dream nor do I remember any of the places or people in it, which is what you would expect from an amnesiac.

"Thinking about it just makes me frustrated…"

It's no use every time I try to understand that dream, I come up with nothing, I even went to the place where I was first found to try and retrace my steps but with no luck, I wasn't exactly focused on the street details in that dream.

So, I just live with it. That dream will keep coming up in my mind to warn me about my mental state I guess.

VIA "Sleeping mode has been activated."

"I should probably go to sle---" *CRASH*

Cut off by the sound of my windows shattering, I jumped back and guarded against the flying shards of glass.

"What the...?"

Noticing the shadow of the man standing before me I tense up.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?"

Standing there the man with a white mask didn't move or speak. He seemed to be looking around my room, then focused his gaze back on me.

"You're more of a nuisance than we first thought." He said with a deep and commanding voice.

*THUNK* he started coming closer to me and I couldn't help but back up, my heartbeat is going at a 100km an hour *THUNK* all of my senses are screaming at me to not go anywhere near him *THUNK* with every step he takes I get a shill running down my spine.

"W-What do you want from me?" That was all I could muster.

Masked Man "I want your life." A cold tone, no emotion in his voice.

That was my cue to run. I tried to run out of the room, but he threw a short sword right in front of me.

Masked Man "Don't do anything unnecessary or do you rather die a slow and painful death?"

I froze. He could have easily hit me straight through my head if he wanted to. I backed away from the door slowly and put my hands up to signal resignation.

Masked Man "Good. Now tell me what your objective is?"

"What?"

Masked Man "Don't waste my time. You know what I'm talking about? So, speak."

"I-I really don't though, my objective? Like my future?"

Masked Man "You're either uncooperative or you actually don't possess any information. Either way you are of no use to me."

The Masked Man unsheathed another short sword and started stepping closer to me again.

"W-wait what are you going to do?"

He doesn't speak, still walking closer to me. At this point I have nothing to lose. He won't listen to me, so I turn back and head to the kitchen.

I reach the counter and pick up a knife.

"Don't come any closer! I'm warning you!"

He doesn't stop. So, I muster up all the strength in my body and go for his kidney.

The Masked Man "Pathetic."

With ease The Masked Man evades my strike and stabs me in the kidney.

"ARGHH haah ugh…"

It hurts.

The blade sliced through me without any difficulty. Then he removed the sword

from my body leaving me losing blood on the floor.

I can't see clearly; my body is cold, but my blood is boiling hot.

Wait I can feel that tingly sensation again, was that just a side effect of death?

The Masked Man "Hm? Wait, what? But that should be impossible. Hey! Wh—"

I can't hear him anymore… this doesn't feel the same way it did when I was falling, I guess different kinds of death have different feels to them.

I wasn't lucky in the end then…