Echo CoLocation

It started on Friday.

My job isn’t difficult but it’s stressful. The boss had been pushing us to “do more with less”. Which is code for work tons of overtime but don’t expect a raise for fifteen years. So after a seventy hour minimum wage week I was wiped.

Stepping in I heard the television. I guessed I left it on after checking the traffic that morning. Might as well start the weekend with some mindless me time. I zombied into front room and about wet myself. I saw some thief sitting and watching my TV.

Things just got worse when I realized it was me, remote in hand, staring blankly at the screen. I knew I must be losing it when I cleared my throat and said hello. I just continued to sit there, frozen.

Having never hallucinated before I decided the best cure was a cup of coffee with a slug of whiskey. I stepped into the kitchen there I was again, pouring myself a mug. Not only was this me frozen but so was the stream of brown nectar sliding into the cup. Right down to that one splash that always jumps and scalds my left wrist, hanging a fraction of an inch from my flesh.

Knowing I was completely mad I decided to sleep it off. In the bed I caught myself napping. Next to me, in the spot my girlfriend occupies when she stays over was another me. I did not look sexy in her lingerie.

I went to get a neighbor. Just to see if they saw it too. Where Mrs. Roberts was stepping out with that yappy mutt of hers was another me, midstride with a bonnet on my head and plastic bag in hand.

Now convinced I was nuts I walked to the store. You can guess what I saw. Cars not moving, me behind the wheel, cashiers and customers all with my face frozen in one interminable moment, I know you know because you, like everyone else, are me which means you’re brighter than average.

I tried finding someone other than me all weekend. I even swung by my therapist’s office. While I was waiting to see me, and I was manning the phones the me who shrinks heads had stepped out to lunch. I slept in the empty office.

I spent the rest of the weekend wandering, trying to get me to respond. I never did. Eventually I got tired of looking at my face. Those haunted eyes staring back at me started to spook me. I guess that’s why I took drastic measures.

Monday morning when it was just me at work, all of me staring blankly at me I sat down at my desk. Driven by an unexplainable urge I dug both middle fingers into my eyes. The pain was intense as I felt a double liquid pop and felt something warm and squishy sliding down my cheeks.

Then all of me started to talk.

#dark #shortstory #socialcommentary