“I need two cheeseburgers stat!” A fast food manager yelled out at the cooks. “We’re way behind on orders, pick up the pace!” He was borderline screaming.
They didn’t respond but only complied with his commands. Squishing the meat onto the heated grill with the smell of it coasting up into their nostrils along with just filling the area with that juicy scent. A fry cook dropped a huge batch of french fries into the basket and plunged it into the oil of the deep fryer.
The manager hastily jaunted to the window, sliding it open to greet the next customer. When he looked their way his face just turned into pure shock. There wasn’t a car, just two people standing there patiently. It was Kyle and Greg.
Kyle was already holding out a credit card, waiting for the employee to take it. “I had four burgers, and fries.” He said as he playfully shook the card. “And don’t forget the water cups.”
The manager was just dumbfounded but he looked at the long line piling up. He just rolled his eyes and took the card. Swiping it and giving it back in one swift motion. “Would you like your receipt?” He begrudgingly asked.
“No need.” He responded.
They were handed their food and drink, making way out of view. They were in another bustling city but more densely populated. They were scouting for a place to lay low while eating. While they were wandering around they were just munching on frys and didn’t care if some of them littered the ground behind them, leaving a trail.
In between some apartment buildings was a tiny little alleyway where a dumpster was, they decided to just settle for that. Leaning against the dirty brick wall and began munching on their meals.
It was silence between them with the sound of meat being squished between their teeth. Greg glanced over at Kyle who was just staring blankly at the ground. He refocused his gaze back at his half eaten burger, feeling his hunger in his stomach slowly twist into a nauseating sensation. The patty was kind of pink in the middle which made him not desire eating it.
He made sure Kyle wasn’t looking and tossed the burger straight into the dumpster. He hit the edge of it making the meat splatter over the side making a sloppy wet sound on the ground.
“If you didn’t like it you could’ve just said so.” Kyle said with his mouth still full. “It’s not like we’re tight on money or anything.”
“Oh no it’s just my appetite disappeared all of a sudden.” Greg nervously responded.
“I would’ve finished it.”
“Oh I’m sorry I thought you would’ve already been full after the other two-”
“Greg we’ve been walking for three days straight, my stomach has been rumbling ever since we left the diner.”
“Same, just man there was some pink in the burger. I didn't realize it until I was almost finished.” He took some sips of water from his cup.
“It’s fast food that’s always going to happen.” He waved the patty to him before taking another chomp.
“I’m going to find a bathroom that I can use.” He looked around the corner. “Maybe that grocery store?” He pointed at it, spotting it up the street.
“Go ahead man, don’t need my permission.” He shrugged.
Greg awkwardly stepped away and headed over to the store. Kyle completely finished his burger, getting the wrapper and placing it inside the greasy fast food bag with crazy colors and a wacky character that resembled a tube man flailing his arms. He cracked a smile at it before throwing it into the dumpster.
After doing so he just leaned against the wall and closed his eyes feeling relaxed. Even with the horrendous stench of garbage clouding the area he was still able to just rest a little bit.
Breathing in and breathing out like he was in a meditation class. Honking cars alongside a slight chill breeze and filtered through a numerous amount of other sounds that are commonplace in a city environment.
A blasting noise of a can skirting along the ground after getting knocked over alerted him to snap his neck to face the direction of where it generated from. Catching a glimpse of what appeared to be a wide brown cylinder on the floor.
His eyebrows raised and he propelled himself off the wall, hands in his pockets, wandering over behind the dumpster curious. The brown object on the ground then suddenly shifted directly behind it. When he came closer he noticed the texture of it was more shiny and smooth.
Piecing it together in his mind that it had to be an animal. “Come out. I’m not going to hurt you.” He announced as he was slowly creeping around to discover what it was. “Come on out little guy, or girl, actually you wouldn’t care.” He was babbling to himself.
Peering around the corner he spotted an absolute beast of a four foot tall copperhead snake. It was hunkered down in the shadow of the dumpster. Their eyes were mainly a black pupil surrounded by a brown color.
Kyle was completely taken aback by the appearance of it. “When did snakes become-”
The snake came leaping out of the darkness and latched its sharp pointy jaws into his face. The teeth weren’t sinking into him, only bounced off and scraped along like he was made of rubber. It kept continuing to do this until he finally grabbed it’s neck and slowly pulled it away.
“Stop it already.” He swatted at it.
“I’m sorry, please, don’t kill me!” A female voice came out from the snake.
“Wha-I-You can talk?” He raised a singular brow.
It didn’t respond, only looked at him with puppy dog eyes. He also recognized that it had eyelashes which he’s never seen before.
“What are you?” He was able to ask.
“A snake.” It responded with a whimper.
“I know that but how can you talk?”
“Please just let me go, I'll go away and-” It began to actually start crying.
“Calm down, I’m not going to kill you.” He gently laid it on the ground and it curled up into a ball. “See? I won’t cause any harm.”
With teary eyes it peeked out from its ball and darted its gaze all around his body. He knelt down and put his hand out to pet it. He glided his hand smoothly down the glossy scales, coursing through the body and repeating it over and over.
The snake shivered around their body feeling a comforting pleasure of his hand. It slowly started to warm up to him after a straight minute of it, coiling around his wrist and closing its eyes. It rubbed its head against him, giving a slight growl and rattle.
“There you go.” He said proudly. “I just want to understand you.”
“I’m sorry, I’ve never met another human that was actually nice.” It responded.
“Really? Well it’s understandable you’re enormous. I’m not making fun of you, that just makes you cool. I’m interested.” He rubbed his chin.
“I’m cool? Interesting?”
“Yeah of course.”
It hid its face away from him, constantly flickering its eyes to look at him. “No one has ever said that about me.” It turned back to face him. “What do you want to know, specifically?” It was stuttering when it was pronouncing the words.
“Ok, where do I start?” He quickly ran through a bunch of questions. “I guess I’ll repeat what I said already. How are you able to speak english? Or just speak any language at all that I can understand would be the way that could be worded better.”
“Um, where can I put it that won’t take long.”
“I honestly have all day.”
“Oh? Well, the short of it is being specifically tested by people called sci-en-tists? I think that’s how they put it? Everyone else can explain it better than I can honestly.”
“Everyone? There’s more than one of you in this place?”
“A whole society.”
“Curious. Where is this exactly? Do you live in the sewers like little mole rats or teenage mutant ninja turtles?”
“We don’t have any turtles.” It was hesitant to respond. “What’s a nin-ni-ninja?”
“Don’t worry I wasn’t being serious.”
“Oh? Ok.” It looked confused. “But weren’t you interested?”
“Yeah but I was just joking.”
“Joking? What’s that?”
“Do you seriously-Actually I forget you’re a snake.” He quickly corrected himself. “I was just trying to give you some laughter, tell a little joke that can amuse you. I constantly do it.”
“Oh it’s for laughing.” Its eyebrows perked up. “I’ll take note of that.”
“Yeah, yeah.” He followed up awkwardly. “Oh that reminds me, what's your name?”
“You can call me Resta.” It slithered up near him.
“Resta? That’s a kind of cute name, I like it.”
“Oh thank you.” It seemed flustered.
“Is that a boy or girl name?”
“I think you mean male or female. But it’s female.”
“Oh, I should've figured it out from your voice.” He gave a slight chuckle.
“I never caught yours though?”
“Right!” His face brightened up. “It’s Kyle Kyldrip.”
“Kyle Killdrip?”
“It’s pronounced Kyldrip.”
“Why do you have two names?” She was curious.
“Man, I never knew I needed to explain this, no offense it’s not your fault that you don’t know.” He gave her a little pat before continuing on. “We have so many people here on earth and many legal systems where we have to keep people documented so we give a first, middle, and last name so we can differentiate each other. Though by coincidence some people have the same name but then there’s the social security numbers for that. It’s also for personality and flair.”
She was super captivated with his nerdy spiel not even realizing the lesson was over.
“Nevermind all of that. Where are all of your friends you have?”
“Hmmm.” She curled up her tail so she could rest her scaly chin. “I was told to let no human ever go there.” She eyed Kyle up and down. “But I’ve taken a liking to you. I think it’s going to be fine. I can explain everything to them, don't worry.”
She started to slither away on the ground but Kyle wasn’t immediately trailing right behind her. Noticing the lack of footsteps she whipped her whole body around to face him, looking out onto the streets.
“Are you coming or what?” She asked.
“I’m waiting for my friend to return. Then we can go.”
7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQmCkygVrXP
Greg walked into the crosswalk nervously passing along hustling civilians, one of them was a man in a business suit talking unintelligibly quickly into a cell phone, another was a mother with her daughter who was misbehaving but was pulled along anyways. Some teens bumped into him and gave him the middle finger before scuttling off into a side street with a soccer ball.
He tried to give them no mind while also trying his best to obscure his face. He reached the parking lot and faced right in front of the store. He was hesitant to take any steps forward as his eyes refused to remove his gaze from the store's logo.
His view started to widen with his heart accelerating with rapid beating, the store looked to be extending away from him like the whole world around him tried to escape from his vision.
“Get out of the way asshole!” A random guy with a stained wife beater shirt in his beat up mustang yelled.
Greg was blocking his way standing in the crosswalk. He put his hands up as a way to say sorry without verbalizing it before hastily entering the store. It was as busy as a shopping center will be in the middle of the day. The supermarket rush with mothers, fathers, and families getting their fix of what they need.
Constant beeping from scanners and conversations overlapping each other created an uncomfortable blend of white noise penetrating his ears as he covered them to move along.
He had no sense of direction for where to go, wandering aimlessly down aisles without looking up. A sense of dread that fell upon him that someone could identify him or recognize him. Accidently bumping into fellow shoppers as he just covered his face without ever looking up.
With the few glances he was able to slip through the slits in his fingers, he swore he saw people having a terrified expression on their face. Before he knew it through brief flashes and an increased volume of the background noise of the store overflowed his senses he somehow ended up in the bathroom.
When he processed his surroundings he immediately fled to a stall and slammed it shut. Locking it in all one swift motion, trying to give himself some breathing room to actually think. Before he can rationalize his thoughts he quickly relieves himself in the toilet.
As soon as he pressed down the lever to flush the door opened. Like a natural instinct possessed him he grabbed onto the walls of the stall and held himself up to hide. It was an unidentified person as he just saw some boots walk to the urinal, urinate, walk to the sink to wash up and then leave.
All of that transpired in just a matter of a minute but to Greg it felt like it took a whole hour. Holding his breath and keeping his body steady between the stalls above the ground. When he left he dropped himself back down and took in a deep breath to calm himself.
Immediately busted out of the bathroom stall and hopped over to the sink. Looking at himself in the mirror for the first time in days. His face was absolutely filthy, covered in dirt and sand from the situation with the underground facility. His hair was all frizzled and he stunk of horrendous body odor.
When he absorbed the images of himself he started to feel gross and he almost gagged, hurling himself over the sink like he was about to throw up. He turned on the faucet and cupped his hands to collect water before splashing his face. He did this a few times before he shut it off.
Checking back at the mirror he looked a little cleaner but he still felt repulsed by his image. He then went back to dousing his face and even his hair to fix it. It took a good minute or two before he looked back up at himself.
But no matter how hard he tried to fix his looks it didn’t make the feeling go away. He palmed his whole face, slowly dragging his skin down as he just watched himself do so.
“It was just a trip to the bathroom.” He mumbled. “Why the fuck is it so difficult. The fuck is-” He paused to look in the mirror. Stopping himself from spitting out the next few words, he started to smile. Then it turned into full blown laughter.
Being loud enough to be overheard outside of the bathroom. He then had to forcibly stop himself by slapping his face. “That was so obvious I couldn't believe I was going to say that out loud.” Lunging forward to be face to face with himself in the mirror. “You’re going to be better. You’re going to be the change. You have to show everyone that you’re different.”
“I’m going to be better.” His reflection started speaking. “I’m going to be the change. I’ll show everyone that I’m different.”
He stumbled backwards, being absolutely horrified at what just happened. Taken aback he hit his head on the wall behind him, setting off the motion sensor in an air blower right beside him. He stared down the mirror while grasping onto his shirt.
Calming himself down with closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. He got straight back up in a stable stance and opened his eyelids to stare right back at the mirror.
“That’s right.” He nodded as he spoke. With his worries slowly drained out, he collected himself together and left the bathroom.
7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD945pAOVcb
“Where’s this friend of yours?” Resta looked impatient.
“He’s gonna come back. Soon.” Kyle responded, stretching out his arms and cracking his knuckles.
He peered around the corner and spotted Greg coming back. Even to Kyle he can tell that he was in a really chipper mood. He waved at him but he didn’t even seem to recognize it.
Greg came right around the corner, striding into the area more confidently with his arm supporting his weight as he leaned against the hard brick wall. “Hey.” He said.
“Hey, man.” He drew out the pronunciation of that. “What’s with the new hip attitude?”
“Oh nothing.” He realized what he was doing and corrected himself to be sort of normal again. “Just feel refreshed. I finally washed my face.” He pointed at it.
“Nice man. Seems you also went and did your hair. You found a date or something?”
“No. It just feels nice to…Feel nice.”
“Ah, I guess so.”
“Hello!” Resta came whipping around the dumpster.
“Woah!” Greg stumbled backwards and reached inside his pocket. Grabbing the pill sized disc and unleashing it to reveal the bat.
Kyle immediately darted in front of Resta who hid right behind the dumpster after seeing all of that unfold. “Hold up! She’s friendly, put that away.” He commanded.
He did exactly as he was told. “What the hell is that thing?”
“Ok let’s get all of this over with quickly so you’re on track.” He began. “It’s not a thing, it’s a her. Her name is Resta. Resta this is Greg, Greg this is Resta. Great first meeting everyone.”
She slightly slithered out behind her cover to give Greg a smile. “Hello.” She spoke out faintly.
“Hi.” He gave a half-assed wave. “What-”
“She’s a talking snake. Yes, she can speak English, and yes there’s more of them. I know, it’s a lot to take in at once.” Kyle interjected.
“That doesn’t explain-How in the fuck is there a talking snake!?” He pointed at her with both arms.
“To be fair I don’t know that either. She said something to do with scientists. Which wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for us.”
“I can explain everything. I can take you to my friends.” Resta spoke up. “I was told you were going to be chill. But I don’t know anymore.”
“Ok you did jump from right behind the dumpster. Which would scare the crap out of anyone. Just don’t do that next time you’re going to greet someone, ok.” He knelt down to her.
“Sorry. I guess I need to get accustomed to human manners.” Her head drooped down.
“Let’s get going now.” He tried to brighten the mood.
“Oh, yes!” Her head perked up and she started to slither away. “Just follow me.”
“Come on now.” He motioned Greg to come over.
He just stood there dumbfounded. “Can’t get a rest this week can I?”7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKK9zChrsou
