R. Bao
The Pull
She sat on the slotted bench in front of her locker a long time before opening it. She pulled out the water bottle and drained it then slipped it into the nearly empty backpack.
Annie’s skin stung like she’s shaved her whole body in a hurry and could feel cuts that hadn’t started bleeding yet. She pulled out a tube of healing lotion and put it on her hands and face. Then she rubbed the lotion on thoroughly. All over, the stinging feeling doubled in volume.
She took shoes from the backpack that thumped to the floor. She woozily tugged out the backpack. Stumbling, she checked that the locker was completely empty before closing it.
Her clothes were hunched in a pile next to her on the bench. She gingerly pulled them back on and everywhere the fabric touched her skin, the cuts curtly reminded her that they were still there.
She eased into her shoes and walked.
She opened a door and was bathed in red light.
After about 10 steps, she walked into another dark room.
Everything blurred again.
Annie walked down a hallway with a very low ceiling. She opened a door that just barely cleared her head. A light beeped and turned green. It closed by itself behind her.
She lifted a hinge like an extra large piano cover. It wheezed like a hatchback, opening and slowing down by. itself. She tucked her shoes into a little shelf and sat on her bed. her bag and jacket went into a drawer.
Soon enough she had the cover whooshing down to wrap in her complete silence and darkness. It was also perfectly form fitting. Her custom bed kept every bone aligned and massaged every muscle.
Quietly, the bed monitored everything about her that could be measured and analyzed. It knew what she needed to eat and drink. It knew what supplements she needed. It regulated temperature and humidity.
some hours later, the lid phooz-ed up and open again and she sat up. She reached and pulled up a water unit and drank it all. The bed was now playing a song it had written. The volume was increasing slowly.
She was standing in front of a square of light that said.
User MOM has withdrawn 413,000.00 from savings 12 hours ago
You deposited 4,000.00 to savings 3 days ago
You deposited 4,500.00 to savings 10 days ago
You deposited 3,000.00 to savings 2 weeks ago
You deposited 3,000.00 to savings 3 weeks ago
And it continued.
Then she was crying on the phone with her credit union.
"She’s not authorized.
***
I specifically listed her as forbidden from accessing my account.
Financial guardian? No I didn’t have that set up for me.
I wasn’t. I wasn’t incapacitated, I was working. My job was in dream synthesis.
well, not exactly. That’s sleepers. I’m classified as a drxxmxrs. I can be asleep for over 24 hrs at a time.
I will. I’ll cite the drxxmxr protection laws."
Then she was crying.
Then she was sitting on cover of the bed, talking to a person in uniform, and crying.
Then she was crying and eating a salad alone. She poured a blue and purple supplement onto the salad. It was called Razzle Dazzle Dressing
Then she was back in the bed, but not sleeping. The bed was up to the challenge. A comedienne’s voice rose from the darkness. The foot massagers started. She knew it was going to turn the temperature down so she got up and put on her fluffy jams. They were light purple with little black dog heads.
She knew she’s need to take a pill, so she did. Then she got back in the bed.
She was as well rested as one could hope for her last day of work.
Reports
Annie was wavering, struggling to sit up as she finished talking to the new uniformed person in her dark room. He was keying in his report. She chugged a water right in front of him and spilled plenty of water on her purple jams.
"Maybe you should get some rest," he said.
"I did. I have another shift soon."
"Can you request it off?"
"Not really. It’s my last one."
"Oh, ok. Then you can rest after that."
Her eyelids pulled her down and she didn’t notice when he left.
She recognized a notification that "Interview tomorrow 10:00 am."