It was a bright and early morning in the Rotherham town center as Caleb stepped out into the storefront to assume his duty for the day. Extending his arms up toward the clear sky to stretch, Caleb smiled in the radiant sunshine. It was a nice start to another typical day at Wilkos.
An old man, who was just getting out of his silver Toyota, tripped and fell on the asphalt. His accident prompted Caleb to come to him.
"Are you OK?" Caleb asked, as he steadied the senior as he got to his feet. Besides some minor cuts and bruises, he luckily didn't sustain other injuries.
"Yes, thank you, good sir," the old man replied. His voice sounded just as frail as his appearance.
With Caleb's help, the man hobbled his way back into his car. When Caleb wanted to ask if he need more attention to treat his wounds, the old man simply waved him off, stating that he had sustained worse in his life.
As the man settled back into his seat, he gestured to Caleb toward the vehicle interior, as if he wanted help with the seat.
Calen leaned in, expecting further instruction, when he felt a strong shock to the neck. As he felt his consciousness fade, Caleb's last glimpse was a wicked smile strung across the old man's face with a taser-like device in his hand.
When Caleb next woke, he felt.. light, as if all burden was lifted. In reality though, that was far from the truth as if he found his body to be translucent. In front of him, he saw the old man's collapsed body, lying flat across the car seat. If he was not unconscious, he might be dead. Of course, he was probably the least of Caleb's concern right now. "What happened...to me? Did I die?" Caleb could only ask himself as he tried to make sense his current situation. Frantically looking around, he thought he saw himself, fitted with the same uniform he wore, walking through the entrance to Wilkos before disappearing behind the automatic glass doors.
"Wait!" Caleb tried to chase his 'double' before feeling a strong force tethering him. Looking back, he saw his ethereal form attached to a chain of sorts linked to the car, the site of his own collapse.
With a limit to how far he could float, Caleb lacked many options to save himself. Additionally, the parking lot was relatively early, given the early time of day. Even if there were people, Caleb feared that they would not be able to hear his pleas, should his worst suspicions hold true.
But hope was not lost, as Caleb saw a car entering the lot. Actually, there were two cars, as they parked near the Wilkos storefront.
First, a silver Nissan parked, and out came Rashid, the Arab student employee at Wilkos. A little bit on the quiet side, but Caleb could tell that he was friendly and hardworking from the few conversations they had. Because he worked part time, his schedule was somewhat irregular. He seemed to be free from classes today, as Rashid rarely took morning shifts. Young and athletic, Rashid seemed to have just woken up, given his unkempt hair and disheveled clothes.
The other car was a red Mercedes, which Caleb quickly recognized as Gemma's car. The HR rep's arrival usually spelled doom for Caleb because of her numerous 'repetitive' trainings and her sharp tongue, worsening with her more regular visits. As expected, she was dressed to the nines in her professional outfit with nary an imperfection.
Both would walk into Caleb's zone of travel on their way to Wilkos. The question was who should Caleb try to contact for the best shot in understanding his situation.
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