"...Some kind of flu virus going around, John. I'll tell ya, I'm seeing it happen first hand and it is not pretty."
"How on earth are you seeing it firsthand, Andy? You're not sick, are you? Hiding a box of Kleenex under your chair there?"
John the radio D.J let out a laugh that sounded like it came from his belly. "No, man, my wife's got it. Don't worry though; I've been carrying around hand sanitizer for the past few days!"
"Well, tell Anna we here at the station want her to get better." Andy the host of the morning radio show said, and the station's theme song started playing. Andy continued, "I took in the requests for this morning's top three songs and they'll be coming to you right here on 'Andy and John In The Morning'! Enjoy these ten minutes commercial free!" A new pop song I hadn't heard before started to play, and I ended up drumming my fingers along to it as I drove into my neighborhood.
The movie theater I worked at had pulled an all-nighter, playing a series of movies back-to-back until the whole series was finished. My theater does it about once every month, sometimes twice if the night proves to be popular. One of the employees, a peppy high schooler named Cathy, is trying to get the owner to do one of these nights every week. A few of my coworkers and I had scoffed at this, especially since Cathy herself wouldn't be the one to work those long shifts. Only employees over eighteen could work the shifts that went well into the morning.
I parked my car on the curb in front of my house, bringing my empty coffee cup and solitary doughnut in with me. One of the guys-Jacob-had taken a break around five and had returned with coffee and doughnuts for everyone. I walked the length of my front yard in a few strides and quickly unlocked the door to get in. Only when the door was closed, did I let out a loud sigh of tiredness.
Mom was already up and making breakfast for herself, which consisted of a bowl of fruit salad and a bottle of water. "How was it?" She asked me as I walked into the kitchen.
"Tiring." I replied, lifting my arms to stretch. "We showed the Lord of the Rings trilogy."
"I haven't seen those movies since you were little." Mom said thoughtfully. "Was it you or Jared who loved them more."
I snorted. "Definitely Jared; he named our cat Frodo, remember?" Mom laughed quietly, that sad expression on her face. I had grown used to this expression; she only got it whenever she thought about my older brother.
Jared had left the day after he turned eighteen. He had packed his bags in the dead of night, taken Frodo the cat, and had disappeared leaving only a goodbye note, telling my mom, dad, and me that he was off to get away from his parents. At the time, I hadn't fully understood why Jared had wanted to leave so badly. But then I had looked at my parents, and the answer smacked me hard in the face.
Mom had been very good at hiding the bruises, but after I had decided to pay close attention, I had noticed the black and purple splotches on her upper arms and shoulders. No wonder she had never worn short sleeves or tank tops. Now Mom and I were living in Los Angeles, leaving my dad to do whatever he wanted now.
I handed Mom the doughnut, getting the thoughts about Jared and Dad out of my head. That's when I noticed the tight bandage on Mom's arm. "What the hell is that?" I asked, pointing at it.
Mom gave me a hard look. "Language, young lady. You may be an adult, but you still live under my roof." She paused. "And for your information, a patient bit me last night."
"Is it infected?" I asked.
"I'm sure it's fine." Mom said dismissively. "I'll get it looked over when I get to the hospital, okay?" She turned to the stove to look at the digital clock there. "Speaking of which, if I don't leave soon, then I'll hit the worse part of traffic." She hurried around the kitchen counter and grabbed her purse. "I'll see you tonight, Jojo. Do you work tonight?"
"I'm off until tomorrow." I said, letting her kiss my cheek.
"Good; I'll stop by the store on my way home then. There's leftovers in the fridge if you want lunch."
"Thanks, Mom."
And with that, Mom turned around and walked out the door. I didn't think much of it except for that bite on her arm. She seemed to have a tired glow to her face so I assumed that was the 'd get the bite checked out though and it'd be gone in a few weeks.
I locked the front door behind Mom and went into my room, determined to go to bed. My shift last night had started around eleven, and the clock on my phone told me that it was just now seven. I entered my room and briefly took in the several posters from movies and T.V shows and bands; very little wall was actually left. Instead I had the faces of my favorites characters and celebrities looking back at me. I had two shelves side by side in here, both containing a vast amount of DVDs. I was a cinema junkie and I, despite the shrinking need to own physical copies of media, kept buying more for my collection. Among my top shelves were my favorites like The Shining, A Clockwork Orange. Jared had shown me the Stanley Kubrick movies back when we were younger and we were both traumatized into having nightmares, but it had been worth it.
I stripped out of my uniform that smelled of artificial popcorn and soda syrup and got into a pair of short shorts and an oversized tee shirt that probably needed to be washed soon. "I'll do that when I wake up." I promised myself, feeling the effects of coffee wear off as I crawled underneath my covers. I used the app on my phone to play the sound of a waterfall, and after about ten minutes of listening to it, I fell asleep.
My cell phone ringing woke me up from the dream I was having. In the dream, I had been playing trumpet really badly while a bunch of people I didn't know applauded. I blinked a few times before picking up the phone and seeing that Kara, a coworker of mine, was calling.
"Hello?" I answered in a groggy voice.
"Have you seen the news yet?" Kara's voice came out in a loud rush. "Look it up now! Some people are calling it a prank, some people are saying it's some new drug-" I hung up. I had learned long ago that Kara could talk for hours without stopping to take a breath. Without leaving my cocoon of blankets, I searched for the video that Kara had been yelling about.
When I found the video, I didn't really believe what I was seeing.
The man was getting shot at, and he kept getting back up. It wasn't until a cop fired at his head did the man finally fall still. I rewatched the video quite a few times, scanning to see if there was some sort of elaborate special effects going into this prank. That's all it could be, right?