Once Upon a Daydream

Cloudy with a Chance of Dystopia

500-word max flash fiction written for Coffee on a Porch Contest

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Do you ever get that feeling?

The one where you've spent so many days at your job and you can't even recognize the sun or remember the last time you could complete a task at your own pace?

I had that feeling - full to the brim. Just like my mug of coffee this morning.

I carefully cradle the steaming mug between my hands, switching the weight to my right hand around the handle so I can open the porch door of my high-rise apartment. I need fresh air and sunlight. Recycled laboratory air and fluorescent lights are starting to make me feel like some of the fastidious microorganisms at work.

Leaning into my porch chair, I ease the coffee mug onto the glass table next to me, then pull out my phone. Might as well catch up on the happenings of the real world, eh?

I scroll absentmindedly until I find a video of today's weather forecast. That should be useful. I want to see if I can take my weakening muscles for a run or bike ride.

The blonde statuesque woman that I don't believe is a scientist of any kind starts circling around the map of our city and I watch her every move, not at all ashamed of how my eyes roam her body. It's my day off, I can do what I want.

"So today, we're looking at cloudy with a chance of thunderstorms in the late afternoon..."

Good, I can go for a hike or something. Thanks, hot weather lady. In more ways than one...

I lift the mug to my lips and take a long sip of the glorious dark brew. Ahhh... I love when I can just enjoy my caffeine, not slam it like an addict. Usually, I go through at least three cups of the noxious brew at the lab's office, between meticulous record-keeping and organism identification. One precious glass slide after the next, with only a ridiculously thin glass sheet protecting me from some of the deadliest pathogens known - and unknown - to man.

But that's not today's problem. I have a bike in storage with an insane amount of dust clinging to it. There's a trail a little way out of the city, so I can stretch my gangly frame and try to get a smidgen of exercise before disappearing back into the lair.

Before I can even sip down to half of my beloved caffeine, my phone vibrates and I feel the violent shake pulse through my bones and nerves. I look down.

God damn it.

"This is Dailey," I answer.

"Dailey - you have to get back here." The voice is panicked on the other end. Oh, Mischa. What now?

"It's my day off," I state nonchalantly.

"And there's been a breach," he pants on the other end. "Who knows how many samples - in the water system."

I sit up, tracing the edge of the mug with my fingers. Well, now it's definitely today's problem.