A New World #Wattys2016

Chapter 20

Years later

I park my car and hop out. I look up at the gray sky, making my mood more gloomy. I continue to walk to the entrance of the coffee shop, the place I work.

When I walk inside, my coworker greets me.

"Hello, Alex." Janine says.

I force a fake smile. I mean, I can't really say Janine is my best friend, maybe a friend, I'm not sure. Maybe someone who just keeps me company at the coffee shop. I'm not really sure about friend stuff now, since I have lost everyone I love.

I join her behind the counter.

"Man, it's pretty gloomy today." Janine says.

"So is everyday in New York." I reply.

Once I got moved out of the hospital, I have realized I have been moved from Washington to New York. I don't know why they did that, probably because I needed to go to a good hospital. They kept so many things from me...

I hate it here. People... Everywhere. I hate people. I have always been pretty antisocial, but now, I hate people even more. It's so busy, and I have to live in a cheap apartment. I want to leave, but I don't have enough money. Well, obviously not. I work at a coffee shop, the hospital didn't provide me with much money when they dumped me out. Once I have recovered.

They said it was a miracle that I lived. They said I shouldn't have lived. But I did, don't ask me why. Not that it matters, my life has been pretty crappy anyway.

Now, you may think that everyone would love me, since I saved the world and everything. Well, people are cruel. They forget about things at the snap of a finger. And ever since the crash, I haven't been able to socialize, so that made people forget even more. And everyone though I was gonna die.

Well that's just prof that my life is pretty crappy now, but hey? What can you do?

I wipe the tables and clean off used napkins at the recently used tables, while Janine served costumers. I was just fine with that, people didn't seem to like my attitude.

I sigh as I scrub at the piece of chewed gum stuck on the top of the table that won't come off. I mean, people will put their gum under tables, I understand that. Some people are just too lazy to walk over to a trash can and throw it in there. I understand that, too. But, who puts it on top of the table. I mean, that's just plain rude. I could definitely pass not cleaning gum under tables. Boss would usually not notice that. But this jerk had to put their gum on top of the table. Now I have to try to scrub it off. I swear, I would take this gum to the FBI, make them use the spit particles on it or whatever to find out who's gum it is, find them, and make them sorry for whatever they did. I mean, I would do it, not like I have anything else to do with my life.

I finally get the gum off the table, and toss it in the trash. Scratch all that FBI stuff, I'm too lazy to do things like that. Things aren't like they used to be.

********************************

My shift is finally over. I wave goodbye to Janine and drive away. I swear I have the worst job ever. I try to pay attention to the cars and traffic lights, but I just can't. I have never been a good driver. I would keep drifting off into thought while driving.

I think about my life before everything horrible happened. I remember my mom, dad, sister, my best friend. I remember everything, and I yearn for it back. I yearn for it so badly. I remember when the disease came out, and everyone lost hope. But then I remember meeting Zach. I remember all of my moments with him.

Why do I still want Zach back? After everything he has done to me? He has left me, and for what? Sometimes I wonder where he is, and what he is doing right now. Sometimes I wonder...

"HONK!!!" The noise of some jerk landing on their horn snaps me out of my daze. I realize that I have slightly gone through a red light. Hope no one calls the police for that.

When I arrive home, I put my key into my apartment door and open it. The musty smell washes over me. I walk inside and pop a microwave meal into the microwave and press start. I watch the meal spin around, seeing the heat waves go off of it.

When it's done I sit at the counter and peel off the cover. The smell of processed chicken, corn, and baked beans flies throughout the room, making it smell like a family dinner. Only I will never have that. As the package says, Dinner for one.

I squish my fork into the chicken, bringing it up to my mouth. Thinking, always thinking, about the past. A lot of people may think about the future, look forward to it. But not me. I have no future to look forward to.

I try to hold in the everyday tears that start to fill up the insides of my eyes, threatening to spill out. I could cry here, I'm all alone, but I don't want to look like a wreck tomorrow for work.

Well, don't I always look like that?

I taste the baked beans. They taste like plastic, just like me. Before I left the hospital, I looked like a wreck. They had to sorta kinda give me plastic surgery to make my face look normal. I mean, I look a little weird and different, but not like much. They tried to make my face look as close to before as possible, and I have to say, they did a pretty good job. I just don't like that feeling of having plastic in my face.

When I finish my meal, I sit on my couch, turn on the tv, and read a book. I really start to get into it, until I am interrupted by a phone call. It is Janine.

"Heeeeeeeeey Alex!" Janine says, her voice sounding stuffed up.

"Hi."

"Just letting you know, I won't be at work tomorrow, I got a cold."

"That's why your voice sounds stuffy."

"Yeah."

"Why don't you just come to work with a cold?" I ask. "Boss doesn't tolerate things as stupid as colds."

"I just don't feel up to it."

"Me everyday." I respond.

Janine and I start laughing.

"Ok, I gotta go." I say.

"See ya."

Janine hangs up. I place my phone down and continue to read. I read for several hours until I get tired and decide to go to bed.