by Andrew Reise
They both confirmed yes.
“Tomorrow will be a good day.” Alan smiled to himself as he poured a cup of coffee and carried it back out to Tom.
The sun rose on the next day and Alan stretched his arms as he got up and got ready to face the day.
He went into the bathroom and looked at his reflection as he brushed his teeth. He still felt strange about who he had become. In some ways he felt no different from when he had graduated from college, but in others he had completely changed.
At the very least he felt like he had the confidence to face whatever the world threw at him.
He reached to the mirror and pulled at it. It opened revealing a cabinet. He pulled out some mouthwash and gargled it before bending down to spit.
As he lifted his head he banged it on the open cabinet.
He grabbed his head in pain, scowling as he did. He shook his head and slapped his cheeks as he felt the fading sharp pain on the top of his head. “Need to wake up.” He murmured, closing the cabinet.
Finishing getting ready, he went downstairs to the cafe. He checked his phone and noticed some messages waiting for him. His parents had confirmed they’d come to the party tonight. This would also be their first time seeing the cafe, and they were excited.
Gerald and Claire had confirmed the time they’d be coming.
He had a couple messages from his other regulars too.
All in all, it would be a small get together, but filled with people that Alan was happy to know. He prepared himself a cup of coffee and decided to open the cafe a bit early. As he did, he thought of something. He hadn’t heard from the system in a little while.
“System, what’s the deal with the mission? Haven’t I accomplished it yet?”
Alan waited expectantly for a response, but he didn’t receive one. He sighed. This system was truly too finicky. It spoke when it wanted to and maintained radio silence the rest of the time.
The bell on the door chimed and Alan focused on the task at hand, greeting his customer.
Throughout the day, he received a few different questions about the article in the paper. He told them to pay attention to the newspaper in the next few days, as they would receive a satisfactory answer then.
Most of them accepted his answer at face value, though some seemed to be confused. People trusted the news so implicitly that when they read something in the paper or saw it on television, they would often doubt their own judgment about things.
Alan sighed helplessly, noticing the reticence among his customers. He hoped the settlement agreement would proceed smoothly.
The day passed quickly. Around 5:00 PM, Alan notified the customers still in the cafe that the cafe would be closing early for a private event. There was some grumbling, but ultimately they finished their coffee and left shortly thereafter.
Alan cleaned up after them, putting the cups and plates in the dishwasher. Then he went upstairs, washed up, and changed into a fresh set of clothes.
As he was walking back downstairs, he got a call from Claire.
“Hello?” He answered.
“Alan, it’s Claire. I just wanted to update you on the settlement agreement.” Claire’s voice came over the phone.
“Okay, so how is it going?” Alan asked, feeling slightly nervous.
“It’s already gone.” Claire replied.
“Huh?”
“I sent the agreement over to them this morning based on what we had already discussed. They immediately signed it and notarized it, then sent it back. It’s all done. They wrote a check for $2,000,000 and sent it over with the agreement.”
Alan dropped the phone as it felt like his fingers suddenly lost all strength.
“They already signed it?” Alan murmured. “It’s over?”
“Alan? Alan?” Claire’s voice could still be heard from the phone on the ground, and Alan snapped out of his stupor as he bent to pick the phone up.
“Sorry,” He apologized. “I was so surprised I dropped the phone. That’s great news.”
Claire laughed. “Like I said, we had them over a barrel, so it’s not that surprising. They also wanted me to let you know that they fired Anaiya.”
“I see.” Alan replied, not surprised. He’d seen it coming back at the deposition.
“In any case, I wanted to let you know now as we won’t be alone at the party later, and I wasn’t sure if you wanted to share the details with everyone. Someone from my office should be coming over soon to give you the check and a copy of the agreement. Congratulations, I’m glad it worked out.”
“Thank you so much, Claire,” Alan said genuinely. “I really don’t know what I would have done with you this time.”
She laughed it off. “I already said, if you want to thank me figure out a way to get some to-go cups for your coffee!”
Alan laughed and chatted with her for a bit before hanging up. He felt as though a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.
“I’m a millionaire?” He thought to himself dazedly. What a strange turn of events.
He now had the money to completely pay off the loan he’d taken out to buy this place, not to mention a great deal leftover.
“Do I buy a boat or something?” Alan mused to himself before shaking his head. He’d have to put more thought into what to do with the money. For now, he was more focused on developing his business.
Someone came over with the check which Alan quickly locked in his desk drawer. He’d deposit it at the bank the next morning.
The bell on the door rang and he went back to the cafe to check to make sure it wasn’t just a random customer who had missed the closed sign.
He saw his parents had arrived. He smiled and said hello, showing them around the cafe, at what he had built. It was a proud moment.
As he bragged about the various aspects of the cafe, Tom arrived. He had a couple of bottles of champagne with him.
Alan introduced him to his parents, and the four of them began chatting. Alan took the champagne back to the kitchen and put the bottles on ice to keep them chilled.
When he came back out Gerald had joined them. Alan smiled and joined back into the conversation.
People continued to trickle in, with Claire being the last to appear.
After they had all mingled for a while and gotten to chat, Alan went back to the kitchen and grabbed the champagne. He didn’t have champagne flutes, so he brought out coffee cups.
Tom let out a laugh when he saw Alan pouring champagne into coffee cups.
“You need to get some champagne flutes and wine glasses!” He laughed to Alan.
Alan grinned. “Well, now that I’ve won the case, I can afford it. Who knows, maybe I’ll open a bar?”
Tom looked surprised. “You won?”
Alan nodded. “That’s right. The settlement has been finalized. The paper payed me an agreed amount and agreed to print a retraction.”
A chorus of cheers sounded out. Tom suddenly realized what Alan had said previously. “Do you know anything about wine or alcohol? You wouldn’t close the cafe to open a bar right?”
The regulars grew tense at this question.
Alan laughed. “Relax, I’m not talking about closing the cafe. But since I don’t do late night hours, I could open a bar. I could even make it a basement bar right here in the cafe. I don’t really know anything about alcohol, but I didn’t know anything about coffee before this either.”
Alan had a relaxed confidence as he said this. Honestly, the more he thought of it the more this idea appealed to him. He finally had an idea of what to do next. Of course, the system would have to play along, which wasn’t a given. Still it was something to work towards.
The tension eased as the regulars realized their caffeine intake wouldn’t be threatened.
Tom smiled and then banged a spoon on his cup. “Alright everyone, we’re here tonight to celebrate Alan. Since it all worked out in the end, let’s have a toast: to Alan! May you increase the opening hours!”
Laugh
ter rang out at this toast, and they echoed it. Alan’s parents seemed amused at the enthusiasm of these customers.
Gerald shook his head. “Enough out of you. Let’s hear from the man himself. Speech!”
Calls for a speech came from the partygoers, and Alan smiled as he raised his glass.
“The bear is jelly. He couldn’t raise a crop without the bees.” Alan said, still smiling.
People looked at him in confusion.
Alan looked around at them. “Who?”
Something felt off, but he couldn’t place what it was. His hand went to his head. “This-” He muttered before collapsing to the ground. Everything seemed hazy, as darkness encroached on his vision. He thought he heard people calling his name, but the voices seemed far away.
Everything faded to black.
Chapter 23
“Alan.” The voices seemed to call to him.
“Alan.” It was the sound of his name that brought him out of the darkness.
“What?” He looked around blearily. He couldn’t see much yet, as his vision was still blurry. Sounds hit him. The voice of his mom. It sounded like she was crying. Beeping sounds.
As his vision came back he saw his mom sitting next to him crying. She smiled through the tears.
“Welcome back, Alan.” A voice said. Alan looked around, disoriented. He saw machines. Monitors.
“I’m in the hospital?” He realized aloud.
“Yes. You had collapsed at your cafe. Your guests and your parents called an ambulance that rushed you over to the hospital.” The man in front of him explained.
“My name is Dr. Smith. Do you know your name?”
“What?” Alan asked, confused.
The doctor smiled patiently. “I know everything is confusing right now, but please answer. Do you know your name?”
Alan was confused, but understood if he didn’t answer the conversation wouldn’t go forward. “My name is Alan Pender. I live in City A. I’m 23 years old. I own a cafe. I just won a lawsuit. And now I’m apparently in the hospital.”
His mom let out a sob of relief next to him. He looked at her confused then looked at the doctor.
“Let me explain,” The doctor began. “When you collapsed at your cafe, they rushed you over here. They mentioned that you had been speaking funny before you collapsed, which is something we call aphasia. It’s often a sign of brain injury. We did some scans and discovered you had suffered a serious brain injury. It had been slowly bleeding, increasing the pressure on your brain all this time. We operated and stopped the bleeding and repaired the damage. Can you remember if you had hurt your head?”
Alan thought back.
“Well, the most significant head injury I had was almost a year ago. A potted plant fell off a third story window sill and landed on my head. But I had gone to the hospital at that time and they didn’t tell me any of this.”
Doctor Smith grumbled to himself. Alan caught something about “hack doctors”, but didn’t hear the rest of it.
“Well, Mr. Pender, from what we can tell, you had suffered a traumatic brain injury at that time. It had formed a bubble of ever-growing fluid over that spot on your brain. Then something happened to cause that bubble to burst.”
Alan thought back to that day. “I hit my head on the cabinet when I was brushing my teeth that morning.”
Doctor Smith nodded. “That could be it. As a result, everything escalated quickly. Before that did you notice any other symptoms?”
Alan thought about it. “Well, what sort of symptoms? I had headaches I guess, some lethargy, and an occasional nosebleed, but that sort of thing can happen even without anything being wrong.”
The doctor nodded again. “While it’s true those can be symptoms of a brain injury, they’re more commonly associated with other things, such as the common flu, or other small illnesses. Anything else?”
Alan couldn’t think of anything.
The doctor cleared his throat. “Based on the location of the injury, it’s possible you may have experienced certain symptoms without realizing what they were. Specifically...hallucinations. Have you experienced anything out of the ordinary since the injury?”
Alan felt as though he’d been struck by lightning. “Out of the ordinary?” He thought. “Like the system?”
The doctor seemed to read something on Alan’s face. “Well, it seems you might have.”
Alan hesitated. “Is it possible to have both visual and auditory hallucinations?”
The doctor nodded. “That’s very possible. You can hallucinate anything from any sense.”
Alan hesitated. “Wait, one of the things that has happened is that I started a cafe. And I suddenly discovered I had knowledge about things related to a cafe, things like how to expertly brew coffee and operate machines that I hadn’t ever been trained in.”
The doctor seemed stumped momentarily. “Well, I suppose it’s possible that the brain injury forced your brain to access other parts of your memory. It could be something as simple as seeing someone operate those machines, reading a book or magazine article, or watching a TV show that had some information about any of those. The brain is an amazing thing and we don’t fully understand how it works. However, it’s likely that everything we see is stored somewhere in our minds. Perhaps, this injury made you access a certain part of your mind.”
Alan couldn’t believe it. The system was so real. It had affected the things around him. Hadn’t it?
As Alan thought about it, he realized it hadn’t. The knowledge could be explained as things he had picked up from TV. He had always enjoyed watching cooking channels and shows about how machines work.
As for the other things the system had done? He thought back to when he had entered “design mode” at that time, he had thought the furniture around him was real, so much so he sat on it, but then it wasn’t there. Wasn’t that obviously a hallucination?
Then there were the effects of the coffee. Were they really there? He had never experienced them himself, even though he made the coffee for himself every day. People liked it enough, and it gave them a boosted concentration level, but wasn’t that just a side effect of caffeine? The coffee he used had a higher amount of caffeine in it due to its higher quality as well.
He felt as though everything was unraveling around him.
Seeing the panic in his eyes, the doctor quickly put a hand on his shoulder and looked him in the eye. “Don’t worry. Everything is alright now. You’ve regained your health. You have your family and friends here. That was all real. It’s okay.”
Alan calmed down a bit, and took a deep breath. “Thank you,” he said to the doctor.
Doctor Smith nodded. “Speaking of friends you have some visitors who would like to see you if you’re ready.”
Alan looked surprised but nodded. Doctor Smith opened the door and Alan was surprised to see all his regulars coming in. They smiled, happy to see him awake. They had been very worried over the past few days.
The hospital room quickly filled with laughter and smiles. Tom made some jokes about Alan’s newly bald head. Alan felt slightly embarrassed, but getting his head shaved was pretty minor in comparison to fixing what was wrong in his head. If that was the worst thing that happened he could stand it. His hair would grow back.
He quickly grew tired, and an authoritative looking nurse urged everyone out of the room.
“He needs to rest,” The nurse said firmly.
Everyone said goodbye. His parents also left after he told them he was fine now, and he just needed to get some sleep. They looked exhausted too. Apparently they had been taking shifts at his bedside in the couple of days he had been in a coma after the surgery.
Alan sat in the now silent hospital room.
Maybe it was the sudden quiet, or the sudden withdrawal of all of their energy, but he felt tired and empty.
“Was it all a hallucination?” He wondered, still having a hard time believing. Then another thought occurred to him. “What am I going to do
going forward?”
Could he even make coffee like he used to anymore? He didn’t know. In the past he’d never really thought about what he was doing, so much of it seemed instinctive. He’d attributed that to the system.
He felt uneasy as he closed his eyes, his eyelids to heavy for him to keep open. And like that, he drifted off to sleep.
The next week passed quickly. Alan recovered well from surgery, and the doctor gave him a clean bill of health before authorizing him to be discharged.
Luckily he had health insurance, or else his medical bills might have taken up all of the money he’d earned from the settlement.
Thinking of the large sum of money he had, he felt himself relaxing about the future. Even if he couldn’t run the cafe anymore, he had enough money that he could at least pursue something else. Maybe he could run a bar. He wouldn’t need to make alcohol to do that.
His parents had come to see him off from the hospital but he waved them off.
“I’ve had people waiting on me all the time for a week now. I’d like some time to myself.”
They seemed worried but ultimately agreed to let him go off on the condition he called them when he got back to the cafe.
Alan hailed a cab and went back to the cafe. The sun seemed to gleam off his head. The past week had let him grow some stubble on his head, but it wasn’t enough to hide his skin from sight.
As the cab pulled up to the cafe, Alan experienced a weird nostalgic feeling. He looked at the cafe fondly.
He took out his keys and opened the door. He expected to find the cafe full of dust, but it looked spotless. He saw a note on the counter from Tom saying he had hired someone to clean it while Alan was out.
Alan shook his head. For all that Tom joked he really was a considerate guy.
Alan went to the kitchen and looked for the check first. Finding it still in the drawer where he had left it he let out a sigh of relief.
He looked at the time on his watch, and then went back to the front of the cafe.
As he did, the bell on the door rang. Alan looked up expecting to see one of his regulars. Instead he saw a man he wasn’t familiar with.
“Can I help you?” Alan asked.
