Joey was an ordinary guy, as ordinary as they come. Nothing special. No amazing talents, no strange quirks, nothing.
He lived day by day, breathing, eating, and sleeping. No different than any other person.
His work hours consisted of the ordinary life of leaving to work by 8:30 AM and leaving by 5:30 PM. Fortunately enough, he didn’t live too far from his job in San Francisco. A hop on the bus takes him straight over to his office.
For some reason, Joey one day decides to skip the bus. Being this was quite out of the ordinary for him, Joey immediately starts to shiver in fear.
“What if I run into a homeless person and he asks for some money? What if, I trip and fall into a hole that suddenly opened up? What if…”
Thoughts ran through Joey’s head like it was a route in the city’s annual marathon.
On his first step, he nervously glanced to his right and began his journey to the other side of town. One step after the other, Joey’s fear grew as he approached an unfamiliar part of town.
A few strangers walked and nodded at him directly as a way to greet him on his trek towards work.
About halfway, Joey turns a corner. Sweat shoots down his brow and his hands start to uncontrollably shake.
“No fear, no fear!” He puts on his sunglasses to seem stoic. There’s no reason to hop on the bus this time, he’s already halfway there. It’s time for Joey Joe Joseph the fifth to face his fears!
He puts on his iHover Pods. Sticks his hands out to his sides, and walks in stride with his chest up and eyes directly facing forward.
“Stronger Part Three” by JayKay West was playing in his headphones. The great-grandson of Kayne West.
Time. To. Go.
“Get him!” a policeman yells in the distance. A robbery had been taking place at a local virtual reality magazine store.
“Wanna have good time honey?” said a blind one-hundred-year-old Asian prostitute as she flashed her tentacle-like breasts.
“Hey kid, wanna buy some crack?” Crack? That drug was so 2019. Drug dealers had quit manufacturing that in 2030. Old drugs don’t affect us like they used to. He must have been just starting out.
On his last stretch, Joey felt excited. He’s almost there, just a few more minutes. At this point, his back was drenched in sweat, but with his backpack on, no one would have noticed.
“Hey kid, you got the time?” Joey pulls out his earphone.
“Excuse me?”
“You got the time?” given how nice he is, Joey began to pull out his iPhone30 XL 550.
“Hand it over buddy, hurry up with it. I got no time as you can see. I’m going to need yours for later”.
Wonderful.
Not sure what to do, Joey slowly began stepping back and reaching for his pepper spray from his back pocket. He knew that would be useful.
“Watch it ki…” A loud explosion in the sky erupted, followed by shots of beams going back and forth between two cars. There was an accident and a drive by all happening at the same time above us.
This was his chance.
Immediately Joey pepper sprayed and shoved the Yakamani out of the way. His hands slipped a little given how strange their skins were.
He always thought they kind of looked like the Octopus species he learned about in high school.
Joey ran without looking back, faster than he ever thought he could. His heart thumped faster than he ever thought possible until finally, he made it past the guard shields of his building.
Miraculously, Joey made it back to his job at Musk Robotics. Time to start his work designing and manufacturing intelligent, artificial robots.
Aside from going back to his ordinary job. Joey thought about all the events that had transpired.
He would definitely do it again.
The Quiet Onez 