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7/28/08 Night Switch 04.01

By Flak | Comments: 14

You don’t know what it’s like / You don’t know what it’s like

It was another night of discomfort on the job for Joe as he sat dejectedly at his desk, browsing archives of poorly-made Flash games. A day had passed since he had seen the photos of the protest on dorito’s blog, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that he had done wrong. Should he have called that insane girl and tried to dissuade her from doing her thing, whatever it might have been? Joe ground his teeth and squinted agitatedly at the screen. It might have been better to risk his job and the reputations of those around him in order to save a girl.

But what had she ever risked for him, he wondered, and then he prayed for forgiveness from God for being such an ungrateful wretch.

She had done everything for him. Joe knew he didn’t deserve such a beauty, that he didn’t deserve anything much less feelings of love. Yes, she was quirky, but she was funny, and into the same things as he, and she was hot! Joe made a sweeping blow at his desk in frustration, knocking the mouse into the wastebasket.

He should have made that call.

“Is something wrong, Joe?” asked Ms. Harris, cautiously poking her head into the cubicle.

“Why would anything be wrong?” responded Joe.

“I heard a loud noise—”

“I’m hearing one right now, too,” Joe interrupted, raising one eyebrow at his boss. She had always had an unpleasantly loud voice, Joe felt. Maybe that had developed from her lording over too many subordinates throughout her career. What she needed, Joe decided, was God to put her in her place. Humans simply weren’t meant to boss each other around like that.

“Alright, Joe,” sighed Ms. Harris. “Alright.” She stole back to her own office, leaving Joe to loosen his facial expression and turn back to his monitor.

When he did, he saw that he had a new e-mail in his inbox.

From: dorito <soraphilia@dorito.us>
To: Me <king_j@hotmail.com>
Subject: urgent news

  • hello “Anonymous of New York,”

    dorito of blue sky here. i figured to let you know this via e-mail because dhs media suppression is currently in control of my blog. if telecoms catch this message, it might be bad for me, so you owe me one k?

    rin’s caught up in something bad it seems, she disappeared during the protest. got some shots of law3 personnel rushing the hall but they confiscated my baby before i could upload. i don’t know what our friend is doing, but hopefully they won’t do bad things to rin… anyway, i don’t really know what to say here, man, i’m sort of at a loss. just passing the news.

    -dorito george

Joe froze at his desk.

It really was, as he had feared, all over for his too-many-screws-loose girlfriend.

NS | Previous: Night Switch 03.19
Next: Night Switch 04.02

NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and addresses are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and have no relation to any actual persons, organizations, or locales.

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  1. I wonder if Joe is going to have a change of heart, or if he’s just going to stay the way he is… (more or less)

    Alar — 7/29/08 @ 9:33 am | #Link | Reply

  2. Flak sed: “i won’t post the next installment until the latest one has at least one comment. and if i get multiple comments on an installment. there will be a bonus chapter on the next week day”

    spambot — 7/29/08 @ 9:47 am | #Link | Reply

  3. herding comments is dangerous work

    spambot — 7/29/08 @ 9:47 am | #Link | Reply

  4. but one comment follows another comment

    spambot — 7/29/08 @ 9:48 am | #Link | Reply

  5. so if you get condition one, condition two isn’t so hard

    spambot — 7/29/08 @ 9:48 am | #Link | Reply

  6. Flak sez: “*headdesk*headdesk*headdesk*headdesk*headdesk*headdesk*headdesk*headdesk*headdesk*headdesk*

    spambot — 7/29/08 @ 9:49 am | #Link | Reply

  7. @spambot: I edited your comment (cut out a bunch of “headdesk*”s) in order to remove the ugly horizontal scrollbar. Hope you don’t mind :)

    @Alar: What do you think could cause him to have a change of heart?

    /me scans the comments
    +1 bonus installment
    +1 bonus point for Alar

    Flak — 7/29/08 @ 9:56 am | #Link | Reply

  8. I dunno, but more things happening to his girlfriend (and him finding out) sounds like a good way to start.

    Alar — 7/29/08 @ 9:57 am | #Link | Reply

  9. It does indeed. But what more could happen to her? She’s probably in Guantanamo or something by now.

    Flak — 7/29/08 @ 10:03 am | #Link | Reply

  10. Maybe he hears that she’s going there and then he hears that it explodes with sightings of a demon? I don’t know! You’re the writer!

    Alar — 7/29/08 @ 10:04 am | #Link | Reply

  11. You say good things sometimes, Alar!

    Flak — 7/29/08 @ 10:12 am | #Link | Reply

  12. i like how ‘anonymous’ joe is.

    i wonder how compatible gitmo exploding with summoned demons will be with joe’s religion.

    some interaction between his religion and the establishment to tie them together negatively for joe could help the change of heart along… like if his snake god idol turned out to be ms. harris undercover wearing the badge

    spambot — 8/5/08 @ 9:20 am | #Link | Reply

  13. Joe’s even less anonymous in other spheres. Also, Joe’s religion has already been linked to the Establishment. How?
     
    Ask the dog.

    Flak — 8/5/08 @ 10:02 am | #Link | Reply

  14. THE DOG KNOWS ALL!!!

    Alar — 8/5/08 @ 12:41 pm | #Link | Reply

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