The Chaos Theory
A story that never ends
He rolled his cart down the desolate aisle at 1 a.m. while listening to the hum of music buzzing around this ghostly hour. As he aimlessly wandered through each aisle, he was vexed about the deadline his boss had given him. He pictured the paperwork piled on his desk, the unpaid bills, his beat-up car, the court hearing for the divorce, the —
He was slammed into a shelf by a pink-haired young lady who dashed past him. She hurriedly scanned the aisle ahead. Her eyes roved over different brands of pregnancy tests while she anxiously whispered into her phone.
Irritated, he simply wheeled his cart away.
His thoughts strayed back to the divorce, his ex-wife’s stupid china, and—
Obnoxious laughter boomed behind him. He frowned and looked over his shoulder. A man was chattering on about his “unforgettable” Bora Bora vacation while wriggling his eyebrows at the man next to him. The man next to him was dressed in a ratty coat and staring at an assortment of energy drinks. He nodded absentmindedly while his sunken eyes ravaged a pack of Red Bull like it was his last meal.
He sighed, wheeled his cart to his right, and hopped back onto his train of thoughts.
Besides her precious china, she loved her set of Louboutin heels, his money, his —
He lurched forward and almost crashed into a tower of tomato soup. A middle-aged lady donning a faded blue cardigan had bumped into him with a cart overflowing with a week’s worth of groceries. She quickly apologized and wheeled it away with her. She kept glancing around her with a harried expression and baggy eyes when he noticed that she was tightly holding onto a taser.
He snorted to himself.
She’d probably need it if she was out shopping at this ungodly hour. He then realized that he was just roaming around the place in circles — wait, what was he here for?
Oh, yes, ramen and coke.
An easy and quick meal before hitting the hay. Cheap too.
He quickly grabbed what he needed and arrived at the cash register. After paying for his dinner, he started walking towards the sliding doors when the lady with the blue cardigan bumped into him. Again.
She apologized profusely and exited the store with a handful of groceries. He sighed, walked back to his ramshackle Toyota Camry, and drove away. He sang the Big Bang Theory TV show’s theme song to himself while driving. He thought of having a Big Bang Theory marathon but remembered that his ex-wife changed the Netflix password.
Pftt, rude.
He sighed in frustration. Suddenly, he saw two huge bright lights coming rapidly towards him, and before he could comprehend the situation, his vision went black.
“Jason, you’re late again.”
“Jason, shut up!”
“Can you please listen to me for once Jason?”
“Oh please! You said you were going to pay up two weeks ago. What do you have to say now?
“Another ‘family emergency’?”
“Jason!”
He couldn’t move his body. That was his first thought when he slightly gained consciousness. His whole body felt like jello and the lights above were blinding him. He heard voices around him and someone screaming, but he couldn’t seem to get his eyes to focus. When he tried to lift his arms, his vision was enveloped in darkness again.
When he came to this time, he spotted someone sitting at the foot of his bed. It was the lady wearing the blue cardigan. She looked at him with a bored expression. A door opened behind her, and the man in the ratty coat walked in with a similar expression.
What the actual hell?…
“Hello.” He jumped at a voice that came from behind him.
He was even more perplexed when he saw that it was the same pink haired girl at the grocery store. She briskly walked towards the rest of the creeps in front of him.
He gingerly sat up and demanded, “What happened?”
Suddenly, all three of them smiled at him at the same time.
His heart started to beat out of his chest so loudly that he wondered if they could hear it too.
“You’ve been very busy, haven’t you, Mr. Langham?” said the woman in the blue cardigan.
“Very very busy”, said the ratty coat guy.
He finally replied hoarsely, “Well, yeah, unlike you lunatics who keep smiling at me like…that. Listen, I have no idea what you folks want, so an explanation would be quite helpful, right? Also, the room seems to be getting smaller. Man, it is hot in here. Is the AC broken? Wait, am I claustrophobic? Hold on, do you like ANTM? Because I don’t. I think its —
“Shut up.”
His jaw dropped to the floor when he saw the cardigan lady pulling a gun out of her purse.
Before he could say anything, he heard a gunshot and sank into darkness again.
…the drugs are working for now. How’re we doing today?
There isn’t much improvement compared to last week’s test results.
…hallucinations are mainly based around his immediate family. His sister, Miss Carla Langham, visited two weeks ago.
Since then, he has been fixated on the blue cardigan that she wore during her visit.
…keeps mentioning the coat that his late brother, Bryce, had given him before he died too. We thought it would improve his condition when he mentioned it last month, but that’s all he said about his brother.
His daughter, Felicity Harper, still refuses to visit him or talk with us in private… she is firm on her decision to never have any contact with him.
…his condition isn’t going to improve any sooner.
Other than that, the rest of the reports indicate that his wife had given….
He woke up and found himself sitting in his car. He looked at the backseat and found Felicity watching him intently. She was quite calm for a 3 year old. His face broke into a smile as he reached over and pinched her nose.
He said, “Excited for the big day?”
She simply nodded and turned to look at a flock of pigeons circling the McDonald’s parking lot.
He was more than excited to spend the day with her. He had received a call from his wife yesterday. She wanted to talk about getting back together. Thank God…
She said, “I think we just weren’t in a good place to make such a decision. Let’s talk this out. For us. For Felicity.”
He had never been happier.
