Unreadable: A Phan AU

Where to start...

Where to start...hmmm, I suppose I'll give you a little backstory to explain what got me to this point. I left for college 2 years ago. I was majoring in law. I hadn't quite known what I was doing with my life so I decided to take something that would help me financially in the futute. Little did I know that I'd brutally hate every second of it. After a few months, I decided that I couldn't do 3 1/2 more years of law, let alone for the rest of my life, and dropped out. I used all my saved up money from my disastrious former jobs to get a small flat on my own and began working at a little shop a block away so I wouldn't need a car or to take a cab for my daily shift. It wasn't my ideal future but I was content.

My job at the shop was to walk around and try to get people to buy things. The owner was trying it as a consumer technique but I brought him a lot more customers which meant a whole lot more money. He hired me full time and I made a decent amount for just casually taking to people as if I was another customer. Luckily, I could see exactly what they were looking for so it didn't require much effort.

After another month, the shop had become popular. The manager asked me to interview new employees and choose whichever one I thought was best since I had "such good people skills." Although I did what the man asked and after dozens had come in, I was ready to call it a day. The sun was setting and I was so very ready to go home. For staying overtime and working harder than usual, my boss let me have the next day off and all I could think about was sleeping in late and not doing anything. As I was packing up, I reviewed the candidates in my head. Sure, there were some good ones, even a good looking person came in every now and then but if I was going to have to see them each day, I wanted it to be someone I wouldn't have to be fake around. No one fit the descriptive as I watched their lives play out.

"Am I too late?" I still remember how out of breath and worried the mystery voice was.

"Oh, well I was just about to leave so yea-" I stopped. I froze. I went completely blank and my limbs nearly gave out. Here I was, walking out the door, exhausted beyond belief, when someone last minute wants to be interviewed. I held myself back from laughing in their face. There was no way I would sit through another boring interview with an annoying teen or monotone business man. I turned around to see the clearest blue eyes. They were icy oceans. I instantly prepared myself for the flood (no pun intended) of images from making eye contact, but to my udder shock, none came. This stranger stood in the doorway, still panting while looking straight into my eyes, drilling into them with the ice in his eyes. It wasn't the kind of ice from a harsh blizzard, but rather the ice you put in your drink on a warm summer afternoon. They were refreshing. I realized I had just been staring at him the last minute before allowing him to sit.

"Uh, um, n-no. You're f-fine. Please t-take a seat. I have to go ch-check on something so you may get comfortable. Sh-shouldn't take more than a few minutes." I slowly and carefully walked out of the room. Once I was and the corner and out of ear-shot, I ran faster than I had in years...in my life maybe, to the employee restroom. I locked myself in a stall to recollect myself.

"What just happened?" I asked myself. I was losing my already-drained energy but I couldn't help it. For the first time in half a decade, I hadn't seen the images. I probably sounde insane, mumbling things to myself and pacing around in a stall at night. "Maybe I wore it out? I saw so many new people today, and maybe it just has a limited amount per day?" I don't remember how long I had stayed in that stall but before my mind could rationalize my actions, I practically leaped out of the stall. I ran outside and grabbed the first person I saw, making direct eye-contact.

Now before you begin judging me, if you haven't already, this was the very first time it hasn't happened since I was sixteen. At the time, so many thoughts were rushing in my head, I didn't even know what I was doing. I realize that doesn't make my actions okay, but do you understand why? I'll tell you one thing, that woman from the street sure didn't. She slapped me across the face and nearly ran away, but I didn't care. I didn't even feel it really, because I knew why she did it. She was a mother of three, her youngest was sick, her husband was currently on a business trip in Greenland and she thought she would never see her kids again. I knew it because I lived her life. All right down to the panic that filled her in that moment. I was relieved that I hadn't lost my ability.

The stress and anxiety from the previous few moments leaving me as I breathed in the cold air. It was the beginning of winter and the air was just starting to chill. My worries melted away until I remembered the boy.