Parallel

Chapter 1

Hugo opened his eyes. He sat up. He could feel it. Something was off. He clenched his fists, he looked around, and he couldn't seem to figure it out. He stood up. Out of his bed, and beginning his day, he felt the ring in his pocket. Maybe it had all been a dream? Just a compression of his anxiety. He did up his hair, fixed himself an outfit, and stepped outside.

Many people are passing. Hugo pulls one to the side.

"Where are we?" He asked,

"We're where we've always been Hugo. New York." The man says. Hugo looks visibly confused.

"You'd better get ready for work Hugo. Today's not the day to be late." The man says. He gives Hugo a nice pat on the back as he walks off.

Hugo is confused, more so than before. He looks around, for some sort of sign. Any sign.

And he got what he was after. A towering skyscraper. If it wasn't obvious where "he" worked by now, you could tell by taking one look at the giant billboard with his face on it. He began getting closer, it was certainly him. He looked strange in the photo. He looked deep-pocketed, he looked wealthy. His expression hadn't changed. He slowly stepped through the door. Happy faces greeted him, high fives, smiles. He hadn't gotten that from anyone but Sophia for years. Was this all some sort of prank? He continued toward the elevator. And the trend of happy people, glad to see him continued. He finally made it to the top. A single room, a single desk. And one nameplate caught his eye. "Hugo Carter." Was this some kind of sick joke? He'd never been in this building. He didn't know it existed until this morning. A figure steps into the office behind him.

"Hugo, your four O'clock is on line six."

The figure steps out of the room and the phone begins ringing behind him.

He turns and picks up the phone.

"Hello?"

"This is Mr. C, are we still on for our big project?" A voice asks from the other line.

"Um... Yes, we are, can you just remind me again, what that project was? From your perspective." Hugo asks,

"Very funny Mr. Carter, but this isn't exactly a laughing matter. With the combined power of your software production and our code writing, we'll create the perfect console." Mr. C explains "We'll control the country- no - the world's money."

"Well, I can't wait to sign off on that." Hugo declares in an attempt to act professionally.

"Ha, buddy, you signed off on this project about a year ago, I'm calling to tell you that the prototype was adored by a few concentrated groups of people. So, we've started work on the actual project." Mr. C says.

"Yeah, that's great, can I call you back later?" Hugo responds in a panicked tone.

"Oh, sure, I'm free at 5 if that works." Mr. C says,

"Yep, that's great, gotta go," Hugo says before hanging up and slowly sinking into his chair.

"How did he know who I was?" He thought, "It sounds like I've been doing this for years, I had no clue this existed. What's happening?" He wondered. His mind just needed a minute to rest.

He stood up and pushed his chair aside. He felt his legs collapse beneath him. This wasn't his reality, what was happening? He crawled up into a ball. Like he normally would have done. He felt like he needed to cry. Sophia would know what to do in a situation like this... Sophia. That was it, he should go see her. He crawled out from beneath his desk. And began to walk out. He walked over to the elevator, and as he prepared to walk out, a man walked in. "Ah, Hugo, I caught you just in time." Hugo had no clue who this man was, but his teeth. Now, as with many remarks about teeth, this one is going to be strange, but his teeth were perfect, they twinkled like stars. He was caught off guard by his tremendous smile, his smile was a sudden beam of light illuminating all dark corners of the office. But that was enough about teeth, it was time to get down to business.