Sisohpromatem (standard:other, 2095 words)
Author: Reid Laurence	Added: Jan 09 2007	Views/Reads: 3225/2203	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Suddenly, a frightening future becomes all too clear as a man who expects another drab working day gets the surprise of his life.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

could find no just cause and responded only by saying, “maybe all you 
need is a rest Mary. You take it easy and when I get back we'll talk, 
how does that sound. Fair enough?” 

“N-n-no way,” she replied. “Go away... don't come back... ever!” 

“But sugar plum, I thought you loved me? What happened? How did
everything change in one night?” But all she responded with was the 
rustling of sheets and blankets, and for the first time in our long 
marriage together, I knew I'd been left totally and utterly, alone. 

Getting into my car, I started up the engine, but never for a moment
could I take my mind off what had happened. Through thick and thin, 
through good times and bad we'd stuck together like two peas in a pod, 
but this, this was something unexplainable to me. Something I just 
couldn't figure out, unless of course, it was some kind of practical 
joke she was playing. Sure, I thought, like an April fools day joke, 
that must be what it is. I bet when I get home she'll be standing there 
laughing as if nothing ever happened and all this will have passed like 
a bad dream. That's all it is, I thought... just a joke, and pulling up 
to the usual space I parked in, I put my car in park and headed for the 
office door. 

On my way to my desk, I couldn't help noticing Lisa standing at a
counter we used for our coffee machine. A smart girl I'd gone to school 
with, she was an excellent drafter and was well on her way to the 
architectural license she'd been working toward. A good friend of mine, 
I decided to surprise her and walked up quietly while her back was 
turned - just to play a little practical joke of my own and start the 
day off with some of the laughter we sadly lacked at times, working 
under the daily pressure of building schedules and deadlines. “Boo!” I 
shouted, and watched some of the coffee she balanced in her hand spill 
to the counter as my voice reverberated in the small hallway around us. 


“Oh Reid,” she said, still facing the coffee machine. “Would you cut the
crap? That builder's house you've been working on isn't gonna draw 
itself ya know.” 

But even as she turned, I could see her expression change from the
familiar calm she generally radiated to one of complete fear and angst. 
Screaming and dropping her cup to the floor, she ran to the nearby 
bathroom and slammed the door loudly enough to cause concern all over 
the office. Knocking on the door, left to wonder again what it was I'd 
done to cause such a reaction, I questioned her through the barrier 
she'd so literally drawn between us. 

“What is it Lisa?” I asked innocuously. “What the heck did I do? I was
just joking around, I swear.” 

But “Go away!” was the only response she had to offer, and when others
in the office came to find out what all the noise was about, two other 
co-workers I'd known for at least three years took one look at me, ran 
to the janitor's closet, armed themselves with brooms - oddly enough - 
and came straight at me, swinging them and hammering me with blows that 
were obviously, no joke. “Mike, Jerry,” I pleaded. “It's me, Reid. What 
the heck's go'in on here? Put those down wouldya? Hey that hurts!” 

“Get outta here ya stink'in bug,” yelled one of them to my utter
surprise. 

“That's the biggest fuck'in roach I've ever seen! Get the hell outta
here!” screamed my other so-called friend and co-worker. And all that 
was left for me to do was to openly scurry for the door and run for my 
life, never turning to look back, or to wonder what had gone wrong. 

Driving home - as by now it was the only course of action I could think
of taking - I reached my familiar address, but couldn't believe my eyes 
as I pulled up the driveway. An insect exterminator's truck stood 
parked on the street nearby and in front of that were three police 
squad cars, solemnly lined up in a neat row almost as the procession of 
some funeral, or the awful scene of some terrible crime. “Now what?” I 
said to myself, as I pulled up the driveway and parked. “What other 
surprises are in store for me today? Nearly got beat up at work, an my 
own wife didn't even recognize me. Now what? Shit, what if someone 
broke in? But what's with the exterminator? I didn't know we had bugs.” 
Letting myself in, I was on my way to comfort Mary if I could and to 
find out what was going on when three policemen with guns drawn, 
pointing in my direction began yelling like the house was on fire... 
“Stand still you ugly bug or I'll send you're ass straight ta bug 
hell!” 

“You heard ‘im!” shouted another. “Freeze!” 

“Shit!” exclaimed the first officer. “That's the biggest roach I ever
seen! Man... get a wiff a that thing wouldya. Stinks like hell warmed 
over. Cuff ‘im Tim.” 

“But I can't,” remarked the third officer. “I only got one set a cuffs
an he's got four arms an two legs. Damn, I never knew they could stand 
up like that neither. Whaddaya want me ta do?” 

“Well, let's see... hmm. How about you guys cover me an I'll put my set
on ‘im, then we'll switch an Tim can put his set on ‘im too, okay?” 

“Good enough,” they agreed. “But what then?” asked an officer with the
letters ‘Lieutenant Kafka' plainly written over his left shirt pocket. 

“Whaddaya mean, ‘what then?'” said the first. “It's plain as hell ta me.
This is one for the boys in the lab. If they can't figure it out, we're 
in deep shit. Can you imagine more a these damn things runn'in around? 
All hell would break loose, ya follow me now?” 

“I follow, but I ain't sitt'in in the same car with it. You want it,”
replied one of the men, “you take ‘im in your squad. If it was up ta 
me, I'd end this right here an now.” But as the three men stood 
bickering about who would do what and when, I quickly seized the 
opportunity, popped open the door latch that had closed behind me and 
ran straight to my car. Stepping on the gas, with the pedal to the 
metal as they say, I didn't stop my car until the oddest sensation came 
over me. Pulling over, as night had fallen and my eyes seemed to be not 
quite as good as they once had been, I parked my car and noticed the 
blinking neon lights of a sign. Must be a hotel, I thought to myself as 
I walked into what appeared to be an open door, with one of the best 
smells coming from it that I possibly could've imagined. Stepping 
inside, I hadn't walked very far when all at once I became aware that 
my feet were stuck to the ground. In fact, I was nearly frozen in place 
when I noticed all around me that there were others also in the same 
predicament as I, and as I wondered what in the world was going on, I 
finally read the blinking sign that I'd neglected in my haste. It read, 
“Reid's Roach Motel” in large, red, flashing lights and all at once, 
any question I had about who I was or where I was going became 
strangely, all too clear.


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