The Dark Beyond

On a whim

"Nah man," Nelson replied.

    Samuel frowned, seeming a bit disappointed. "I was hoping you could join us." Nelson shook his head once more. "I'm sorry man. I'll even try get a job and get an apartment or something so I don't have to bum off of you." "I'm friends with a guy at a GameStop within walking distance from here. I can probably get you on there to get you started." Nelson nodded, feeling a bit bad. But he knew he couldn't do anything about it. He was terrified to be honest. Actual extraterrestrials? Sure he felt pretty fast and strong, but he hadn't done anything in four years. And he was maybe just the third best at that. Not alien fighting level by any means, in he thought. He asked Kelly about where the bathroom was so he could attempt to groom himself before getting a job. He groomed himself a bit, showering, cutting his dreads back to were they were, and cutting off most of his beard and leaving just stubble and a goatee. "Man this shit is crazy," He kept mumbling to himself. Even as a week passed, and he eventually got interviewed and hired, as he would walk to and from work, he found himself fearfully glancing up at the sky. What if they came here?

    At his job, he was just stocking and cleaning during the day, mostly out of sight of the customers. Though one day his boss - for the life of him he still didn't remember his name - told him he had to handle some sort of business and needed him to run the cash register. After some breif training he was there the following week.

   It was dead, and he and his two coworkers - who had happened to keep to themselves mostly - were just passing time on their phones. Nelson had just gotten paid and bought some new cologne and other necessities along with a phone. On the news it said rumors of some sort of uprising in Sacramento, California. He was about read more about it when he heard the door open. He quickly got off his phone to address the customer, and the other two coworkers pretended to be busy. A woman came in and inquired to both of the other coworkers, neither of whom  could assist her. He didn't recognize her, and he didn't really care at first until he started being nosey trying to hear what she was asking. I'll probably just tell I can't do anything about it either, He thought, Especially since it is the end of my shift. She is kinda cute though.  As she got closer he suddenly recognized her, although he could tell she didn't recognize him at first. She was clearly annoyed at the other two guys, and he heard her cursing them out to herself as she approached. "Hey, can YOU at least help me," Dr. Anora asked, annoyed, "I've been trying to fix this damn thing all day and neither of them know what the hell they're doing. I know I can get refunds my warranty isn't even over yet!" He found himself surprised. She looked different dressed casually, and she had the aroma of sweet vanilla, which quickly finessed his senses.   It was intoxicating. All he managed to say was "Da...dr...  Anora..?" She raised a curious eyebrow, her deep green eyes looked him up and down. He found himself both intimidated and flustered. "You do look familiar," She said, brushing her pearly black hair out of her face to get a better look at him. Then her eyes lit up. "Ohhh I remember you," She said slowly. She observed him closely. "Nelson, was it?" He merely nodded, and smiled shyly. She hinted at a smile back. "Still quite the interesting guy, aren't you? I didn't recognize you with the new hairstyle. It looks.. good on you." "Thanks," he replied meekly. Come on dude,  He thought to himself, Quit being so weird!  "So I uh, heard you have some sort of pr-problem?" Damnit why am I stuttering?!  Dr. Anora nodded, then asked with an amused tone, "You alright? I notice you're stuttering quite a bit." "Ah yeah," He quickly replied. He noticed just now that she was almost his same height, just barely a bit shorter. "Uhm, you smell good and it uh, kinda distracted me," He muttered. "Oh?" She replied, "Thank you. It's made from that plant you said you liked." "Y-yes," He continued, awkwardly trying to carry the conversation, "So uh what brings you here?" "Well," She began, "It's kinda embarrassing. I was playing Destiny 3 and I finally beat this raid boss, and," She chuckled to herself, "I jumped up in celebration. But I had my controller in my hand. So the Xbox came with me, but it landed on the floor. Luckily the Xbox is fine, but the disc is kinda messed up." She showed him the disc in her hand. It had circular scratches all around the disk, and it was clear where she tried to fix it with toothpaste residue and other strange cleaning residue on it. "Oooh that's kinda fucked up," he muttered, "I mean messed up," He corrected himself. Dr. Anora smiled, "Yeah. Could I have another one?" Nelson nodded, awkwardly giving her another one, and forgetting the procedure he was supposed to go by for this sort of situation. "Thank you," She said, eyeing her new game disc with excitement. "Worst part is that I knocked the whole counter over.  I'm not looking forward to picking that up when I get home." On a whim, he suddenly said, "You know I could help?" Dr. Anora looked at him, clearly not expected that response. "I uhm," He stammered, "I mean it's been a while, what with everything that happened"- He lifted up his arm and flexed to look and see if his biceps were still there, which he should have waited in case they were all gone - luckily he still had a decent amount left over. "You know, everything that happened, I want to test out how strong I still am. And uhm.. yeah. I'm off anyways." Dr. Anora smiled, intrigued. Her eyes looked him up and down once more. "Oh?" She merely asked, her voice suddenly adding that deep feminine edge to it. He suddenly felt butterflies in his stomach, and he couldn't think straight. "I might could use some help," She eventually said, "It could be good for you to use those muscles again." Nelson nodded. "Shall we?" She gestured for him to follow her. Nelson clocked out and followed her out the door, ignoring the surprised look on his coworkers' faces.