11:00 am

The coffee shop’s double glass door was swung open. “What do you mean we have to change it?” Drienne yelled into her cellphone, much louder than what she had expected.

The customers near the entrance fell silent in unison, their attention flickering towards the woman that had entered. Drienne’s medium fair complexion fell into a washed out white in an instant. A painful awareness washed over her as she took in all the awkward stares directed to her, all while trying her best to hide behind a curtain of long brown hair. “What do you mean we have to change it?” she whispered this time as she continued her entrance.

“I know we agreed on Fisher’s idea, and it’s a great idea,” a female voice sounded from the other end as Drienne fell deeper into the shop, the onlooker’s attention not on her anymore. “But I think this will really up our game for this project, I know it.”

With everyone having returned to their own business, Drienne draped her hair back and was gifted a sigh of relief as she stepped into the waiting line. “Isn’t that the same thing we said with Fisher’s?”

“Yes, but Fisher’s theory alone won’t be enough for this. But if we combine it-”

Drienne pinched the bridge of her nose at the sound of this, “Oh God now you wanna combine it.”

“Just listen!”

Drienne exhaled as the woman on the phone began her ramble, a small smile not failing to appear on the corner of her lips. The beginning of her last year of university so far had been anything but also everything of what she had expected. One month in and already one of her project partners was suggesting they make a last-minute change to their capstone pitch. It was true it had only been three weeks since the assignment had been given, and that most groups were still in the beginning stages of their projects, but Drienne couldn’t help but feel how this sudden change would surely rob them of those three precious weeks they had as a head start.

“You’re overreacting,” the woman said as Drienne picked up on the conversation again.

“Tina, I’m not overreacting. We-we just have to think about how it’d be quite a few weeks we’d be losing out on.”

“We’re not losing them completely,” Tina drew out the last word, “like I said we’d just combine it with what we have already, fill in a few nooks and crannies, and boom, a work worthy of one of Mr. Woodfords red penned A’s.”

Drienne chuckled as she fondled with the belt railing at her side, “I guess that would be nice I must say.”

“Then you agree!?”

Already feeling the excitement brewing in her partner’s voice, Drienne halted. She took a deep breath, the coffee laden air invading her senses as she began to survey the area, her partner’s proposition dancing in her subconscious.

The coffee shop her family had decided on today was a lot smaller than the one’s they were used to when they visited the city. No wonder they agreed on sending only one person inside. It housed around five to ten small round tables, with the rest of the space being occupied by other coffee displays and chair-less counters. A little too cozy for that matter her uncle would have said. Beyond the customer line two young males worked behind the counter taking orders. A stressful excitement filled their faces as new customers walked in.

Having pondered on the idea long enough, Drienne let out a deep exhale and answered, “Ah screw it, fine, let’s do it.”

A small cheer came through, “You’re not gonna regret this. We’re gonna be fine, trust me.”

“Okay, but you’re telling Mark though.”

An audible grunt now followed, “Fair enough.”

“I gotta go now, we’ll go over everything later then.”

A few minutes passed after hanging up and without a conversation to keep her distracted, Drienne was made aware of just how long the line really was. She had flickered her gaze up to the TV screen mounted behind the counter many times, but none of the day’s recent events being broadcasted on the morning news had been enough to aid in her wait. Instead, she took this chance to turn around and grab quick note of where her family was seated outside, but just when she was about to face the line again, a peculiar scene caught her attention. A puzzled look took over her as she tried to figure out what exactly her father seemed to be doing.

Abrielle shook her head as she stared at the strange movements being made by her father’s hands. Bewilderment filled her face, “I can’t believe I agreed to this three-day weekend with you guys.”

Nicholas let his hands drop, “Honey, you’re not even trying.”

“Are you even trying?” she waved a hand to him. “Because I’m pretty sure I’m not supposed to be this confused.”

“Just concentrate. Now, again, what am I?” He slowed his movements this time, hoping this would help her. His attempts however only made things worse judging by the perplexed look still on the brunette’s face.

“Oh my God,” she said as she slumped into her chair.

Her older brother, André, sat in a fit of laughter across the table as he watched the scene unfold. He had tried many times in the past few minutes to help his father make himself more clear in that round of charades, but every time he calmed himself enough to sit straight and look up, he was met again with another one of his sister’s puzzled faces, each one more ridiculous than the one before.

Abrille slammed her hands onto the table and got up, “This is unbelievable. I give up.”

“Ah baby come on,” her mother called out this time to her but was pulled back into the same fit of laugher her eldest son was in.

A pained expression played out on Drienne’s face. “Ah, dad no, that’s not how you do the fish,” she said as she crossed her arms.

After taking in the scene outside for a few more seconds, Drienne shook her head as she let out the last bits of giggles inside of her and turned her attention back to the line. She had submerged herself so much into the moment she hadn’t noticed the line had already moved by the time she turned around. Before she knew it, the cashier at the counter was calling out to her.

“Next!”

Drienne hurried to the front of the line and got ready to voice her order, but her mouth only opened mid-way, the words stuck to her lips when a loud static noise fell in the room.

Everyone went silent. It was almost as if the entire city fell into it in unison. The only noise left in the air was the harsh static coming from the shop’s TV screens. The confused clientele looked back and forth at each other, trying to assess the situation, when another sudden wave of static invaded. A high-pitched noise now sounded in this one. The piercing tone drilled into everyone’s ears in such a way they couldn’t help but fight to cover them. Right on cue, the sound of phone’s ringing filled everyone’s pockets. A mirage of colored glitches and static filled the device’s as they were brought out.

Soon enough, Drienne’s own cellphone buzzed in her pocket. She stood frozen in place, hands still covering her ears, as she tried to figure out if her phone really was ringing or if it was something her mind had fabricated. Her phoned buzzed and buzzed, the vibrations traveling through her thigh as she looked down and confirmed that she was, indeed, much to her misfortune, a part of whatever seemed to be happening. She blinked a few times before she reached down and fished out the device from her front pocket. However, when she finally brought the screen into view, rather than being met with a fit of static and glitches, she found instead an incoming call from an unknown number.

Drienne let the phone ring for a few seconds before answering. Her face knotted in confusion as a hesitant hand brought the phone up to her face.

“Hello?”

Silence, at first, for the first few seconds, nothing but the static of the room and the coffee goer’s complaints making their way to her, but that was quick to change when from the other end a voice spoke.

“Have you ever wanted recognition?”

The rest of Drienne’s outside world stopped. Each sound and interruption drowned out as she fought to figure out if she really had heard a voice answer back.

“I’m sorry, what?” she said.

“Recognition. Tell me, have you ever wanted it?”

Drienne stumbled over her lips as she tried to answer. “Who is this?”

“You haven’t answered the question.”

The calmness and monotone laced into his voice froze her. She wanted to believe this wasn’t real, she really did, it couldn’t be. It was too big of a coincidence for it to be real, especially with the madness surrounding her. Drienne stayed in place as her other hand made the slow descent away from covering her ear. Her eyes flickered around the room, landing first on the counter where the shop’s employees where smacking the glitching TV’s, to the side where a flustered man fought his laptop trying to stop its static fit, to the other side where a cluster of people argued amongst themselves trying to figure out their strange situation, and that’s when she laughed.

Drienne shook her head, “Listen, I don’t know what kind of sick joke this is, but you got us. I’ll admit it.” She chuckled once more, “I really have no idea how you did it but I gotta give it to you.”

She was met with silence.

“You can stop now you know.”

Yet again, she received no answer. Already growing tired of the mystery caller’s antics, Drienne let out a stiff sigh and said, “I’m gonna hang up.”

However, when she brought her phone down and hit the button to finish her call, it didn’t work. She touched the screen again thinking she had missed it the first time, but once more, the phone didn’t respond to her command. A sudden weight dropped in her chest. Drienne fought her phone’s screen over and over again, her fingers vigorously tapping at the display to hang up, but it never did. The numbers at the top of her screen counting the minutes of her still ongoing call taunted her as they continued to add up. She shot her phone up to her cheek again once she noticed this.