DEAFLOPIST'S PROFILE

I've been here every day, without leaving, for years. Not that I'm complaining, I wouldn't rather be anywhere else. I have access to everything I need here. I can talk to my friends, I can see the world, order all the food I need. All from this small box.

Sometimes I wonder if I should leave. But that doesn't really make any sense. As much as I thought that it would hurt to stay here for too long, leaving might bring on even more pain. It has before. Regardless of everything, too, I can't think of anything out there that I can't access right here. Home is where the heart is, right?

I'll linger around here, just for a bit longer.

I was feeling the heat.

There was sweat covering my body- and the feeling of exhaustion and stress was consuming me. How long could I keep doing this? Not for very long, that's for sure. Summer was coming to a close- I would have kids to teach soon, and I couldn't give attention to this and them at the same time. How am I expected to educate people on chemistry if it was the very thing destroying me?

I checked the time. An hour had passed when I began those thoughts. A different kind of exhaustion came over me- this had to end, one way or another. It was something I had sought to resolve in myself many times before, but time was running out.

There was one week of Summer left, and I prayed that the heat would fade.

I entered the restaurant, wondering if this gathering would truly go how I expect it to. The stress of social anxiety filled my body- would this truly work out? We were seated, and immediately I realized my mistake.

My groupon was expired. I screamed out in the middle of the restaurant, my friends, judging me. But this is where I misunderstood our friendship. They suggested to fold the area of the groupon with the expiration date, as to possibly hide it from the employee. Would this truly work? Would we get our $10 off our meal for 4? Most of all, would they forgive me if it didn't?

When the employee arrives, I ask for a pancake and eggs.

"How would you like your eggs?"

Oh no. I had spent the last 5 minutes obsessing over the groupon, I was not prepared for this.

"Well-done" I say, in a panic.

After a blank stare from the employee, I correct myself.

"Uhhh, I mean, over-easy."

What the hell was wrong with me? My friends would remember this for years. I was the laughing stock of the group. I would never be respected again.

I hand in the paper, and amazingly, nobody stops me. We get our $10 off, but at the cost of embarrassing myself there. I turn to my friends as we walk out and apologize for almost messing everything up.

"It was a well-done gathering of a group of friends!" one says. We all laugh- and I realize how rare it is to have great friends like these.

He wakes up.

A yawn was followed by the rubbing of eyes, followed by a stinging sensation. His hands were covered in ash. His room was burning around him. The boy smiled- his recurring dream occurred again. He hadn't woken up at all- this was all part of it.

His heart was beating fast, but he knew that too much excitement would result in waking up. Calm, he rose from bed to see the other rooms of his house. Despite his efforts, his heart rate slowly rose. The hall was in a blaze, with nobody occupying it. One by one, he checked the rooms. One by one, he became more excited and eager.

Each room he checked was empty of what he was looking for- but there was a single room left. The boy laughed, walked to the door, the handle blisteringly hot to the touch as he grabbed it, and when he turned it-

He woke up laughing. This was cut short by realizing that the dream was over. Now annoyed, he threw his covers off, and strolled right over to the room he had just attempted to enter.

The figure was built up to demonstrate their devotion. Despite being made extremely quickly by only a few people, it was intensely detailed and incredible in size. It was unbelievable, science could barely explain it.

Rivaling the wonders of the world, the structure became a massive tourist attraction. When the makers realized they could charge any price for admission, an absurdly high entry fee. Only the most wealthy could see it. Celebrities talked about the wonder of it all, the sheer magnitude of it annihilating their brain.

A few months after this, the cost of admittance was severely cut. Anybody of the middle class could now view the new peak of construction. It was the most popular tourist attraction, with the ground around it looking more like a sea of people than solid ground. People visited, multiple times a year, every year.

As the size of the constant never ending mob of people grew around the monument, a surprising decision was made, one that made no sense. The admission price was changed.

Not to nothing, but even less. A person would be paid to witness the structure. By all means, it made no sense, but it didn't matter. There was now no reason to spend all available time fawning over the monument.

Soon enough, the entirety of the world's population gathered. People were trampled over, it was mass hysteria and a flood of people for miles. Families were separated, people were starving from not focusing on anything but the memorial, and any sense of self or individuality was lost.

Until, finally, they all realized the true magnitude of what they were looking at.

As I left the small shack I called home, I saw the sky was on fire.

Well, not really. It was unbelievably hot, though, with the distortion waves caused by heat covering most of my vision. It was so hot, in fact, that to survive for a reasonable amount of time outside, some sort of full-body suit was needed to protect a person from overheating.

I couldn't really afford anything fancy- I had a few layers of normal clothes with a trench coat on top, and a bunch of rags wrapped around my head. My entire body was covered in sweat, but it was still better than getting burned all over.

The heat began a few years ago- not from global warning, like most people thought would end the earth hundreds of years ago, but from an absolutely insane lad who claimed he could make a second sun in the sky. After headlines came out with titles such as "Absolute mad scientist claims he can make a 'Second Sun'" and the like, he was seen as a complete joke. Out of spite, though, he pursued his ambitions, and actually created it, with it orbiting right our main sun between Jupiter and Saturn.

Days were sporadic now, not really following any sort of pattern. It threw off earth's ecosystem and left humanity in shambles. Most people live near the poles of the earth, but I didn't really have money to do that, so I'm still here. In Florida. Right beside the equator, where it's hottest. Not the most desirable life.

I've been managing though. There's new rules of life in these conditions- black pavement is a danger zone that'll burn through shoes, fire or stoves aren't necessary for food due to the outside being a suitable cooking area, and abandoned supermarkets and stores were safe havens.

While thinking about all this, I heard some popping from my hands. Looking down at the bag I clutched in my glove, I saw it slowly expand. There was a slight smile under the rags covered my face.

The popcorn was ready.

A morning coffee is, for some people, the highlight of their day.

Joe was one of those people. He drank it every day, the same way, in the same cup, at the same time- and this practice never got stale. It was a controllable constant in this world of chaos and unexpected things.

That said, Joe went through a lot of shady business that involved a lot of chaos, and, of course, unexpected events. He was the middle man in deals concerning packages of unspecified drug material between unspecified important individuals. It was a stressful job, but his morning coffee helped him through the day.

Today was different, though. As Joe prepared for his coffee, something was off. His coffee creamer container was empty.

Joe began sweating intensely. He looked at the time. 7:20 AM. There were packages on his counter that needed moved to a nonspecific new destination at 8:00 AM- but he couldn't do this without his coffee. He had enough time to run to the store to buy more coffee creamer.

Frantically, Joe drove to the store, going twice the speed limit. In record time, he used the self-check-out to buy the coffee creamer and drove home as if he were a bat out of hell.

Busting through the door and ready to start his day, he prepared his coffee, poured the coffee creamer, and ripped open a package of sugar to pour into his coffee.

Within 30 seconds, the coffee was finished, drank like a man who had just escaped a desert. Finally Joe could go about his day normally- but something felt off. That didn't taste like his normal coffee at all. It was as if he didn't add sugar at all to his coffee- because he didn't.

Oh no.

That was cocaine.