A/N While this short story has a few minor edits, it is for the most part, the same way it was when I wrote it almost two year ago. My writing, as you can see from my previous short stories has greatly improved since then.
Intro:
A tall, lanky man, in his mid to late forties, pushed his way past security and swiped his key card to begin his dull 9-5 job. The man's name was Hank Gibbons and he worked at a conveyor belt in a minting factory, the job he'd least wanted, even as a kid. He'd always felt that a desk job was more his speed, but nevertheless, he walked over to his workstation and assisted his coworker, Mandy, in sifting through all of the quarters and picking out the imperfections, like he did every day, all day, Monday through Saturday.
He hadn't been standing there, sifting, for very long, maybe about half an hour when one unusual coin stood out from the rest. Mandy didn't notice it, but it was as if it had called out to him, to an inner part of his unconscious. He couldn't resist the coin's pull. Compelled, he reached out for it, and the moment the metal came into contact with his skin, he felt himself begin to fade...
Main:
The strap of my backpack slipped off my shoulder and landed with a thud on the floor of my bedroom as I collapsed onto the foot of my bed. I hugged the bed tightly, breathing in its comfort and warmth. This was it. This was the exact moment where I knew officially hated school. It was only the second day and I had homework in six of my seven classes. This was ridiculous. I yawned, yearning to take a nap that lasted the rest of the day and into the night, but against my will, I pulled out the first depraved paper and began working on it.
A half-hour of uninterrupted time passed before there was the loud slam of a car door. I assumed it was from the neighbors, my dad would never allow anyone to treat his precious car like that. But, as I heard the jingle of keys and a door creak open, I realized that he must have finally either quit his job or been fired.
I set aside my papers and decided to procrastinate a little bit by asking my dad what had happened. I walked down the stairs but quickly discovered that he was not in the mood to talk. Instead, he was currently tearing apart his office as if he were looking for something. "Hey... dad? Are you okay? You're acting kind of... weird."
"I'm not in the mood to talk to anyone currently. Please leave my presence or I may need to use force." My father replied, coldly. He didn't even take a second to look up from what he was doing to look at me. Confused, I turned back and headed back up to my room.
When I reached the top of the stairs, my phone buzzed in my pocket. The screen illuminated and I read the breaking news alert: 'WORKER AT MINTING FACTORY "WENT PSYCHO" AND CAUSED MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN DAMAGES'. I clicked into the article, and sure enough, my father that was their suspect. Something was definitely wrong with him. He would never cause that much damage to a place, regardless of how angry he was.
But if he caused that much damage, then why would his immediate reaction be to come home and look through some old documents? Not knowing what to do with a dad who's, essentially, a criminal on the run, I packed up my homework into my bag and returned back downstairs, making sure not to disturb my dad.
Sirens were heard in the distance and from across the house, I hear my dad shout, "Crap!" and trip over his own feet carrying what looked to be maps of all different sorts. He ran over to the kitchen table and glanced over them until he found the one he wanted, one that displayed what looked to be the National Park.
I didn't see what he had done next, as I walked out of the house. Police cars skidded into the cul-de-sac as I had finally reached my car. They jumped out, guns at the ready. One made their way over to me, keeping an eye on the house. "Hello, Ms., we ask of you to remain calm and tell us everything we need to know."
He waited for me to nod before asking me my name. "Sarah Gibbons, the guy you're looking for is my father, and the last time I checked, he was in the house. However, he may have already left because he began rushing when he heard the sounds of the sirens. If he did, I think he may have gone to the National Park for some reason."
"Why do you think he's going to the National Park?" He asked.
"He was looking at some maps and he grabbed that one. I have no idea why he would go there, but I do know he has been acting strange ever since he got home from work, early too. Which, I assume is because he evaded arrest trashing the place."
"You say you think he's acting strange?" He asked, and I nodded. "Almost as if he's not himself?" Again, I nodded. "There's been a certain, well, let's just call it a virus, that was mistakenly leaked from an esoteric federal department. It seduces men, such as himself, into thinking that it can give them anything they've ever wanted by doing it a simple favor. It was last seen making its way into the Minting Factory where your father works. So, we suspect that your father contains this virus and we must remove it from his property."
"A simple favor? What is this simple favor?" I asked.
"Well, we're not exactly sure, but we believe it to be freeing an element of mass destruction. If your father is to succeed, you must understand that this could jeopardize the safety and well-being of every single person on the entire planet." What he said sounded preposterous, a canard, but he wasn't smiling or even remotely looked as if he were joking.
"Why are you telling me any of this? This sounds like the kind of information you don't tell the general public, and the last time I checked, I'm the general public."
"You were taken out of the 'general public' when your father came into possession of this virus. Now, that you know what's going on, would you like to help us in removing this 'virus' from his protection?"
I didn't know what to say, I had no idea how I could possibly help them, but nevertheless, I agreed anyway. Seconds later, a man shouted, "ALL CLEAR!" Apparently, while I was talking to him, they had circled the perimeter of the house. The man then came up to the two of us and explained, "Screen door in the back that leads to what appears to be the basement, is open, and the target seems to have fled. Do we have any idea where he's going?"
"The National Park, begin heading there now," Then he looked back towards me, waiting for my answer. I stood there for a moment, confused, but I came to the realization that if I ever wanted my father back, I would need to help them, so hesitantly, I agreed. He smiled, "Good, my name is James Caldwell. Come along." He gestured to the passenger seat of the police car and I hopped in.
It took all of twenty minutes to reach the National Park. There were people lined up to get in, as usual on the beautiful spring evening such as this. With Mr. Caldwell's badge, we were not only able to jump the line but disperse of it altogether. Everyone, including the people inside the park, was asked to clear the area, to make sure that no civilians were hurt in the process of reprimanding this 'virus'.
One of Mr. Caldwell's partners tracked down my father to an abject cave, out in the middle of nowhere. It was so out of range from everything that even the National Park's map hadn't shown the cave to be there. Inside, it was dimly lit, even with strips of sunlight pouring in through cracks, and the flashlights that people had on them. Stalactites rained down from the cave's ceiling, some stopping only a few feet from the ground. After walking for some time, tracking my father half a mile into the ever-narrowing cave, we had reached the murky waters of which my father was in the midst of recovering something from its shallow depths.
He laughed fatuously, "You're too late, now. It has already begun, with the release of this." He held up a dark liquid with a thick consistency. Once exposed to air, the thick substance slowly transformed from liquid to gas and dispersed throughout the air, around the cave, one by one, the people nearest to him fell unconscious.
Mr. Caldwell and I attempted to get out of the substance's way, but with no such luck. We fell to the floor of the cave and slipped into darkness.
The events you have just read occurred on the night of November the 7th, 2016. They sent all of America into chaos, turmoil, and mockery, a debacle we are still strenuously trying to get ourselves out from underneath. Will we survive? Only time will tell.
