I want to be suave and cool and respond with something like ‘No, thank you. You make the world a brighter place when you smile like that. Can I take you out sometime?’ Instead, I croak out something that sounds suspiciously like, ‘Will you have my babies?’ as she walks out the door. My face pressed against the window behind the front counter, I’m trying to get one last glimpse of the gorgeous redhead, when I hear a voice say, “Uh, hello. Can I get some customer service here? Or is your attention only for people you want to have your babies?”
I turn around slowly to see a girl my age with dirty blonde hair waiting. I feel embarrassed; the girl must have been waiting right behind the redhead I had focused on. I gulp once to swallow the drool that was pooling in my mouth, straighten my back, put on my best customer service smile, and address the young lady in front of me, “Good morning. How may I help you?”
The young woman tilts her head slightly and raises an eyebrow inquisitively, “Really? Are you just going to pretend none of that just happened? Ok. I can go along with that.” Smirking, she continues, “I’m here to talk about some other stuff anyway, Anthony.”
The casual use of my name sends warning signals to my brain. Do I know this girl? Did we hook up at a party or something? I rack my brain, but I don’t think that I’ve ever met her before. Then the question is, where did she get my name? She couldn’t have gotten my name from my name tag; it reads ‘A. Tinoco.’ My first name isn’t on it. I use Inspect on the girl.
Lillian Coke
Level 7
But just like with those rich kids, all I get is her name and something about level seven. I take a good look at the girl and see that she has a black backpack whose straps she’s holding in her hands over a dark blue jacket with a hoodie sticking out of the back. She has a graphic t-shirt on underneath the jacket and is also wearing wrinkled blue jeans and black converse high tops. Now that I get a good look at her, she’s kind of cute too. She has blue eyes, a round face, a button nose, and a light sprinkling of freckles along her cheeks.
I try to keep a calm demeanor. There could be any number of reasons that this chick knows my name. Besides, two can play the ‘I know your name game.’ “Ok, you need to talk to me about something? Fine. First tell me how you know my name, Lillian.”
Lillian smiles and responds, “The same way you now know mine. I used Inspect.”
When she uses the term for the skill I’ve been practicing all night, the room starts to spin a little. I put both my hands on the counter in front of me to steady myself. All night I’ve felt special, thinking that I had some cool superpower or something. Now, this girl is telling me she knows about it too? Nope. Nope. Nope. Time for some denial.
I shake my head, avoiding her gaze. “Uh, sorry, miss. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Her arms cross in front of her chest, and she asks, “Oh? Have you recently had a bout of severe headaches and body pains? That was the System making adjustments to your body and mind. The first skill you probably learned was Inspect, right? It usually is. One moment you’re looking at something and the next you’ve got some blue screen popping up telling you new information.”
Oh my god. She does know. Can she read my mind? Has she been spying on me? How does she know so much?
She must see the panic I suddenly feel because she puts both her hands up and explains, “Don’t look at me that way. I went through the same stuff. Admittedly, I was much younger and had the guidance of my parents and the community to help me. You don’t though. So, that’s why I’m here. To help you understand what’s happening to you and how you can use it. For someone like you, it’s the gift of a lifetime.”
Ok. There are other people with this stuff happening to them? Why don’t more people know about it? What does she mean, ‘someone like me?’
Trying not to give anything away, I straighten up and cross my arms across my chest. “I’ll admit, you’ve made me curious. But what proof do you have about all this stuff you’re talking about?”
She smiles as if she was just waiting for me to ask that question. “Follow me, and you’ll have all the proof that you could ever want.”
Not waiting for a reply, she turns around and walks to the back of the store. Despite the cynical part of me screaming that I shouldn’t trust this girl, I follow her past all the snacks and cold drinks. She stops at the door to the storage room. My first instinct is to tell her that she’s not allowed in there and that the door is locked, but from the mischievous look on her face, I don’t think either statement would matter. This girl looks used to going just about anywhere she pleases.
Lillian’s hand reaches into her pants pocket and produces a silver key which she inserts into the storage room lock. I laugh, thinking that she has a bump key or something similar that lets her break into cheap door locks. Mr. Smith invests in good locks that prevent that kind of stuff. However, when she turns the silver key, I hear a click and the entire door changes colors from white to green. I take an involuntary step back, knock over a few bags of chips, and stare in wonder at the color change. I touch the door to make sure she just didn’t pull some magic trick. Nope, it’s real.
Lillian giggles at my reaction. “If you’re impressed by that, I can only imagine what you’ll do when we go inside.”
Quickly getting over my awe of the color changing door, I respond, “Inside the storage room? I’ve been in there before and the only surprising thing you’ll find there are some of the expiration dates on the energy drinks. I think some don’t expire for a decade.”
She shakes her head and smiles as if she knows a secret and I don’t. “Come inside, and you’ll see what I mean.”
Lillian turns the now unlocked doorknob and opens the green door. The space beyond is dark, but I think I can hear music coming from somewhere beyond. Did Samantha leave something on back there?
Lillian’s already walked through the green door and is holding it open for me with her hand outstretched, waiting for me to take hold of it. I look at her outstretched hand and for some reason start to reach out for it.
However, my hand stops just shy of her fingertips as I hear the store’s door chime. I turn my head and see Mr. Smith walk in the door. He hasn’t seen me yet, but it won’t take him long to notice I’m not at the front counter. My hand still outstretched, I turn back to Lillian. “Look, you’re cute, and normally I’d be thrilled to spend some time with you in a dark storage room. But my boss just came in, and I need to head home.”
The still smirking Lillian grabs my hand gently. “Don’t worry; it’ll only take a minute. He won’t even notice you're gone. I promise.” Then before I can respond, her grip on my hand tightens and I feel her weight shift. She pulls down on my hand hard. The move catches me off guard, and I feel myself falling forward through the green doorway into the darkness beyond.
Chapter 11
I hear the door close and find myself fumbling around in the dark. I wave my hands around, searching for the switch on the wall. The heck with the switch, where’s the wall? My outstretched hands brush against something soft and squishy. I pause for a moment to try and figure out what it is. I squeeze the object, and I hear Lillian cry out, “Hey, keep your hands to yourself! You don’t get to second base till at least the third date.”
I pull my hands back, glad that the darkness hides my red face. I hear Lillian fumble with something, and then a light appears in the darkness. It takes a second for my eyes to adjust, but I see that Lillian has pulled her phone out of her pocket and the meager light from her screen illuminates part of the room. She swings the phone left, then right, searching for something in the dark. I hear her say, “There it is.” I hear a click, and the room lights up.