Evercity : Chapter 1 - Hellooooooooooooooooooo

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Jason Ormez was never a religious man, despite the fact he studied it every day. History was his passion, his vice, his love. Jason had always said that if one wanted to know the future, one would only have to look to the past. That, of course, was parroted from an old professor of his; the man was a genius in his field, but couldn’t find his car keys to save his life.

Images began to play back in his head, like an old record that skipped whole sections of a song. He could see himself in his Infiniti, shouting at his assistant about a budget cut to his main project. He was so enthralled in the conversation that he missed a red light he should’ve seen. The semi didn’t have time to brake, the intersection was too small. But when the truck finally crashed into his car, the vision cut off, replaced this the all-too clichéd darkness.

Eventually, after what felt like years, but may have been only seconds, he could hear a loud sound; it’s piercing vibrations painful to his ears. Soon, his vision returned, although he couldn’t see much. A man was staring down at him, his face blurred beyond recognition. He was apparently speaking to Jason, a useless effort, since the ambulance siren drowned out anything the man had to say. Suddenly, a wave of exhaustion came over him, and his eyelids became very heavy. Jason knew he was on the edge of death. He had never feared his inevitable passing, but he felt disappointed that he would never complete his research. But…he took the plunge.

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Which is why it was so surprising when he woke up on the ground in a back alley, drenched in a cold sweat, as if he had escaped a horrible nightmare. His short brown hair was a mess, and he was still wearing his white shirt-khaki pants and blue windbreaker combo. He checked his pockets, but all he could find was his wallet, his credit cards, driver’s license, and twelve dollars in cash and change still firmly in their place.

For a minute, Jason considered that all he could see was the color gray; it’s oppressive nature surrounding him. Until he heard voices. It was a mix of all known languages: Spanish, Chinese, Portuguese, English, Jason heard them all. Following the trail of spoken words, he came to a large bazaar, the likes of which he had never seen before. All races and nationalities were represented on this well-worn road, paralyzing Jason in a flabbergasted pose of awe and curiosity.