Engines and faulty neon-lit signs hummed and crackled as Rachel stood in the parking lot. A crisp summer breeze swept across Rachel's face. Rain and industrial waste lingered in the air, mingling with the scent of nature. Dark gray clouds splotched the sky, casting long shadows across the pavement. Rachel stared at the large oak trees across the street, then at the cars driving on the road. Customers stared at her with perplexed eyes as they walked towards Mel's Diner.
Rachel bit her fingernails as she gazed around the parking lot, avoiding the stares of strangers. She felt naked, like her internal compass was shattered into a million pieces. Her mind pondered being stuck in a lucid dream, but she circled that thought a dozen times. No amount of pinching or lighting her fingers on fire with a lighter woke her up. She went to the bathroom six times and tried to flick the light switch till it glowed mulberry, but it never happened again.
Her body felt light, and her skin tingled with static electricity. A crackling sensation built in her spine, crawling downwards like a centipede. She scratched the palm of her hand as she stared at Mel's Diner. Customers and hostesses side-eyed her while they ate their breakfast. Rachel was too busy avoiding eye contact; she didn't notice that her shadow and reflection moved with latency like dial-up internet.
"Hey aint you supposed to be in school?" A man asked as he walked towards his car.
"What?" Rachel asked with a raised eyebrow.
The man shook his head. "You are a teenager, right? Why are you not at Corwood High right now?"
Rachel blinked. "I don't attend there?"
The man's eyes narrowed as he leaned on the driver's side door. "I don't think I ever seen you before. You moved here recently? Who are your parents?"
Rachel rubbed her neck. "My name is Rachel Ailuo Lianza of the Augustine Empire."
"The what!?" The man cackled. "Are you one of those dungeon and daimons nerds? I asked you who your parents are and if you're from around here. Not your nerd campaign, whatever you call it."
Rachel's eyes widened. "I'm sorry, I have no idea what you're talking about," she muttered, then pointed at her black mask on the right side of her face. "Sir, do you know what this is?"
"No, and I don't wanna know whatever your devil-worshipping nerd club gets into," the man grumbled as he got into his vehicle."You'd better find our lord and savior before something bad happens to you," he threatened as he put his car in reverse and drove out of the parking lot.
Rachel blinked slowly. "Devil-worshipping nerd club?" She mumbled to herself, then gazed around the parking lot. "I am so confused," she said outloud as she started walking down the sidewalk.
Gray clouds loomed overhead as Rachel walked down the road. Mobile homes and rusty trucks zipped past her, filling the air with gasoline and dirt. She watched an addict stumble into a plaza complex as she came to an intersection. Brick and Victorian-style homes stretched up the country roads leading to suburban neighborhoods. Rachel's eyes fixated on a gas station as a car pulled up. The local news played on the car's radio as she walked over.
"That's what I was saying, Chuck. If we want to put Corwood on the map, we gotta get that reactor built. It's going to bring in people and investors."
Fluorescent lights flicker like angry wasps in a jar as Rachel entered the gas station. Rachel picked up a candy bar, then a bag of chips. She eyeballed the packaging with a raised eyebrow when she didnt understand the currency on the price tag. Her skin crawled as she felt the stare of the clerk behind the service desk. Static crackled on the radio as the clerk ate peanuts.
"Can I help you, miss?" The clerk asked as he discarded peanut shells into a trash can.
"Do you honor chosen tradition?" Rachel asked as she held up a candy bar. "If not, what currency do you accept?"
The clerk raised an eyebrow as he wiped the peanut shell shavings out of his beard. "What the hell are you talking about, kid?"
Rachel pointed to her mask. "Do you not know what chosen and the ENGINE?"
The clerk chuckled. "Kid, you need to lay off the drugs. Where the fuck are your parents?"
"I am asking a serious question."
The clerk waved Rachel off as he fixated on the radio. "Just grab something and scram. Don't loiter around the parking lot."
"What the fuck is going on!?" Rachel whispered to herself as she looked at the candy bar. Her eyes jolt open as she listens to what's on the clerk's radio.
"Thanks for tuning into Star FM. Where you get the freshest tracks of the cosmos. Up next is a song called the ENGINE. It's one of my personal favorites from my own private collection."
Rachel's heart thumped in her chest as her eyes dilated. She watched the clerk smacking the radio when static cut out the transmission for a few seconds. Her chestnut eyes glanced around the gas station. A cloud of unease lingered in her mind as the gnawing sensation that she was being watched flared like a boiling kettle on the back of her neck.
She looked out the window, watching the car at the fuel pump drive off. Her eyes fixated on the mulberry eye sticker on the rear bumper of the car. Industrial bass, analog Moog, and distorted 808's pulsated from the clerk's radio. Rachel then glanced at the cooler at the back of the gas station. An energy drink called Engine Fuel caught her attention.
"Excuse me, sir, can I use your bathroom?" Rachel asked as she approached the counter again.
The clerk rolled his eyes as static crackled from the radio. "Sure, knock yourself out. Try not to overdose," he mocked as he fiddled with the radio antenna.
Rachel hurried over to the gas station bathroom. She glanced up at the fluorescent light above the bathroom sink. Urine, musk, and disinfectant lingered in the air as Rachel located the light switch. The light flickered off as she flipped the light switch. Dim white light struggled to glow as she turned on the light switch again. She paused and took a deep breath as she clicked the light switch off. Shadows danced across the floor as Rachel stood in the dark for several seconds before flipping the lights back on.
Static crackled in Rachel's earlobes as mulberry ominously glowed from the fluorescent light above the sink. Rachel's eyes widened as she leaned on the bathroom wall. The bathroom mirror rippled like water as the mulberry light glowed brighter. Her reflection in the mirror glitched, desyncing with Rachel's movements by milliseconds. For a brief second, her reflection stared at her with glowing mulberry eyes.
Mulberry faded to black before the fluorescent light flickered back to the same dull white once more. Her reflection synced with her movements once more. Rachel rubbed her mask and then looked down at the bathroom floor as she heard voices on the opposite side of the bathroom door. Rachel breathed a sigh of relief as the smell of smoked barbecue lingered in the air. She breathed deeply as she gripped the door handle, then opened the door.
Laminated wood flooring creaked under Rachel's shoes as she exited the bathroom. Blues played from a jukebox nearby. The jukebox glitched and crackled with static as Rachel walked past it. Liquor and beer lined the small mahogany wood bar while customers drank and watched television. Their eyes widened in recognition as they noticed Rachel's black mask.
"There you are, I was just about to check on you," Emily said as she noticed Rachel approaching her booth. She then looked at Rachel's outfit with a raised eyebrow. "Wow...that's loud."
"I'm back," Rachel mumbled with wild eyes and then chuckled. "Holy shit....what the fuck."
Elijah raised an eyebrow as he lit a cigarette. "You okay, kid?"
Rachel rubbed her neck. "Define okay?" She asked as she took a seat next to Emily. "Hey, can I get one of those?"
"I thought you didn't like them?" Elijah asked as he handed Rachel a cigarette.
"I changed my mind," Rachel replied as she lit the cigarette. She stared at the Mel's Smokehouse sign hanging above the hostess desk.
Her attention drifted towards a customer who walked towards the bathroom. Cigarette smoke swirled towards the ceiling fan as she watched the customer enter the same bathroom she just left. Rachel's eyes narrowed as the customer exited the bathroom two minutes later and then returned to the bar. Reality felt uneasy, malleable as Rachel rubbed her hand across the table. She stared at the cigarette in her hand, then glanced at her reflection in the window.
The same somber expression on Rachel's face synced with her reflection. Cigarette smoke swirled past her face towards the ceiling. Emily, Arthur, Elijah, Amos, and Alice's reflections all in perfect synchronization as they ate. Dezerea reflection smiled warmly as she refilled everyone's drinks. Rachel stared intensely at her reflection, half expecting mulberry eyes to stare back at her, but no such thing occurred.
Rachel closed her eyes as she breathed deeply. She tried to bury the memory of Corwood in the back of her mind, but it refused to be sealed. Her eyes drifted around the restaurant before fixating on the news broadcast on television. A throbbing headache forced her to rub her temples.
"Well, we'd better get back, big day tomorrow," Elijah suggested as he burped. "And don't worry, Dez. I will check on your brother."
"Thanks, Elijah, that means a lot to me. I know it's every chosen for themselves, but I really wish there was another way," Dezerea replied as she grabbed their plates.
Rachel stood up and glanced at the bathroom as everyone started walking towards the entrance. She closed her eyes as memories of Corwood flooded her mind. Her head throbbed and pierced like a thousand tiny needles. Her shadow lingered on the floor as Rachel left Mel's Smokehouse before glitching to the parking lot, where Rachel now was.