monochromegalaxy
Lord of the Fries
“Through the eyes of a high-flying night bird, we take in the scene from midair. In our broad sweep, the city looks like a single gigantic creature or more like a single collective entity created by many intertwining organisms. Countless arteries stretch to the ends of its elusive body, circulating a continuous supply of fresh blood cells, sending out new data and collecting the old, sending out new consumables and collecting the old, sending out new contradictions and collecting the old. To the rhythm of its pulsing, all parts of the body flicker and fare up and squirm. Midnight is approaching, and while the peak of activity has passed, the basal metabolism that maintains life continues undiminished, producing the basso continuo of the city's moan, a monotonous sound that neither rises nor falls but is pregnant with foreboding.”
— After Dark, Haruki Murakami
11:46pm, Littlecreek City
Zeiss & Sons Laundrette
The silver grin of the moon taunted the city from the inky void of the night sky. No cloud was to be seen. A cold breeze rushed through the streets of the city that still thrummed with life even in the late hours of the night.
The steam of the lone cup noodles at the booth table unfurled, twisting and dancing before vanishing. A young woman sat before it, legs stretched out and taking up the entire booth seat. Her head rested on her palm, supported by her elbow on the table. Her eyes watched the rain pelted onto the glass facade of the laundromat, water running down in neon rivulets as it caught the ‘Zeiss & Sons Laundrette’s sign glow above. On the opposite bench was a young man, sitting with shoes flat to the ground and his attention engrossed in a book. Next to his book was a paper cup with black coffee that had gone cold under the lack of attention.
The radio in the corner of the laundromat flickered to life as its lone employee switched it on, the voice resonating throughout the room and mingling with the hum of the dryers and washing machines.
'—missing in the last few days. His family are calling for anyone with leads regarding his whereabouts—'
"Just watch, he'll come back next week," the young man muttered, breaking the young woman across from him out out of her thoughts. "What's his name again? Andy Jones?"
"Somerville's Golden Boy," the woman sang sarcastically, stirring through her cup noodles with a plastic fork. "They didn't send out a missing person's notice when that other girl went missing."
"I went to the Littlecreek Library archives and guess what? There's a whole bunch of missing persons reports since the 60s, possibly even more further back. Crazier thing is, I checked some registries and it looked like they were safe and sound. They returned just like our own missing people. Maybe that Doe guy is right. Something's off about this place and we need to find out why."
This seemed to his a nerve with the young woman. She paused her stirring and glanced up at the man, saying, "...I swear Roger, if this is about your sister—"
She was interrupted by a sharp glare from Roger.
"Stop, Wren," Roger hissed.
"Roger, it's been two years..."
"I know... But if the rest returned, she will too, right?"
"The rest only went missing for a few days. She's been gone longer than that, Roger. You can't accept some shady guy's money to play detective when there's clearly more qualified people to do the job."
"The police do jack shit, Wren. And besides, the money's not so bad. We can actually afford food instead of that cup noodle crap," he replied, gesturing to the instant noodles Wren had in front of her. "Plus, Doe said it himself. We're... different. We can tell those who did return aren't normal, Wren. You can too, but everyone else thinks everything's fine. We can't ignore this."
Wren shook her head, and leaned back in the booth seat. She sighed and said, "none of this is normal, Roger. It's all weird."
"Until we find out what exactly is going on, Doe is the only guy we can rely on right now. Let's do as he says and who knows, we can find out what exactly is going on in Littlecreek and maybe more about him too."
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