Psycher Chronicles

Chapter 40

Repairs

(Two Days Later)

Darren Hallsprings

To say that Darren was devastated by the power outage that ravaged the world would be an understatement. For over two weeks his entire life, as he knew it, was over. No online stalking, no viewing the wonders of the world through the safety of his room from his own laptop and drone monitor feed, and worst of all, he had no clue what others thought of his statements about supernatural entities living among them.

When he was able to talk to others online, he felt at home, that he could find at least one other person in the over eight billion online users who would take a moment to acknowledge him as a human being.

Granted, he was well aware of the fact that most of his reasons for not being acknowledged by others of his age was due to his own inadequacies. Social anxiety was tough for Darren to deal with on a normal day where he could hide himself in the sanctity of cyberspace, all while trying to appear as a productive member of society. Now being forced to go out and actually immerse himself in society was grading on him in ways he did not know existed.

Knock, knock.

His mother was at the door. Darren knew it was his mother due to the gentle sounding of the wrapping of her knuckles. It almost sounded like she desperately wanted to interrupt whatever Darren was working on at the moment, but to do so in the least obtrusive way possible. A way of acting that was completely different from his father who most often just open the door and barge in, or do the knock once and immediately enter.

The fact that there was also a moment of pause also let Darren know that his mother wanted something from him.

“Yes?” Darren finally asked, wishing that he could listen to his music or anything really, but all of his electronics had been fried during the blast. Power had just gotten back to their neighborhood last week, but that did little to comfort him as it would still be a while before they could get a new functional router. And then he would need a computer and other equipment as well. Even his phone would need to be replaced, his life was truly dead. Along with the world around him.

“Dear, good news.” His mother began speaking. Darren thought about trying to stop her before she got started, but honestly there was nothing he could do, as there was no way he could fake doing school work, as school had been cancelled for the week while everything was getting brought back online.

Raising an eyebrow and not sighing loudly was about all Darren could do at the moment, now that his mother had invaded his personal sanctum and saw him staring at the open laptop, the obsidian black screen of his phone, and the way his UAV and charger just sat on the charger.

“Oh good, you’re not busy.” She teased.

Eye roll.

This time Darren couldn’t hold back the involuntary reaction.

“What is it, ma?”

“I just heard from the Waltons next door that there is a local garage that is open to the public and fixing anything electronic. Just ten-dollars cash per item fixed, you take it in, no questions asked. Ten minutes later you get to test out your equipment and boom it is as good as new.”

“What? How is that possible?” Darren asked.

“I don’t know, but look what I found?” Ms. Hallsprings said, holding up a crisp bill with the old guy who was never a president on the cover.

“Wait? How can we get there?”

“In my car.”

“When did you get it fixed?”

“Yesterday, at the same place where we are going today. So come on grab the computer, your electronic gizmos and my router. I was told I needed to bring the router if we were going to get the internet back up.” Ms. Hallsprings said, then before Darren could protest, she left.

Darren was left dumbfounded for a moment, before he got out a bug out bag and then quickly began taking each and every item of note with him. At ten dollars a piece, plus the router, that set him at nine, no likely eight or less items. By the end, Darren cut it down to the basics, his laptop computer, his phone, his e-reader, his UAV drone, his blue tooth speakers and headphones. Yes, that would be enough.

Then grabbing the router, he also helped his mother grab her computer and his father’s to also be fixed. Then with that, and the phones, he figured they were at everything.

Only once they were on the road, did Darren pause to hear the car.

“Hey, is the air conditioning running?” Darren found himself asking.

“Isn’t that wonderful, the people that fixed the car are really magic with all things mechanical.” At least that is what old man Tulley says about his granddaughter.

“Granddaughter?”

“Yeah, a cute little thing. I think she is about your age.”

“Wait, this isn’t one of your attempts to try to set me up with someone, is it mom?”

“What? Why would I ever think about setting you up with someone who is smart, pretty, intelligent, has a set of skills that can survive the apocalypse, and from all accounts is incredibly talented. No, if I tried to hook her up with you, I think you would just be dead weight.” Ms. Hallsprings said in her faux-ironic tone.

Hearing her speak, Darren could only sigh to himself as he realized this would be a rather long day. If everything went well, hopefully there would be no chance that his mother could do anything to embarrass him. For Darren knew that despite his mother’s protests, she would try to either drop not so subtle hints to either the girl in question, or to Darren himself about making a move.

That was his mother’s way of course, as she always had that extroverted tendency, but part of why Darren felt so insecure is by how hard his mother pushed him, or at least tried to push him out of his comfort zone.

“Oh look, there it is.” Ms. Hallsprings said, pointing up ahead to the long line of cars that were waiting to either enter or leave the property.

Only after seeing the location that all the cars were going did the area begin to seem familiar, but Darren for the life of him couldn’t remember exactly why the place looked familiar.

“What is this, a remake of the Shining?” Darren asked, suddenly feeling extremely creeped out.

“The Shining was about a man with alcoholism being snowed into a hotel that didn’t have any guests. This would likely be the setting for The Ring, or some other edgy cult horror movie, where everyone dies horribly by going to the shed. Oh look, there’s one right over there.” Ms. Hallsprings replied, the pointed to the giant converted cow shed that now had a giant sign saying Phil’s Rustbucket Garage in giant neon letters.

“Not helping mom.”

With that his mother just shrugged her shoulders, “nothing I say ever does.”

It wasn’t until Darren saw the sign that suddenly everything began to make sense about why the whole place looked so familiar. Of course, he had seen the place before, but when he had it had been from a lot higher altitude, and he had only managed to get the edge of the fields here.

Cold sweat.

Suddenly Darren remembered his last time here, where he biked in through the corn fields and found his drone at the center of a crop circle. Then he remembered being scarred off by the giant shape.

Closing his eyes, he could even see the girl standing in the center of a giant circular ring of fire, then he remembered the bright flash of light, from when she looked up, saw the drone and the caused the drone to drop to the ground.

With that realization, it was clear why this was the only spot where people could get their items fixed. The girl had apparently knocked out his drone with her mind. At least that is what Darren could think up.

Aliens.

That was the other word that came to mind. An extraterrestrial being who could create crop circles of fire around themselves, while knocking out mundane aircraft from the sky with a glance, and were now seen as a sort of messiah for repair work when the world came to an end.

Knock, knock.

Darren jumped out of his skin at the sound of someone knocking on his window. Rolling down the window, Darren was surprised to see “Michelle?”

With that the girl paused, and then tilted her head to the side as she looked at Darren. “Yeah, do I know you?”

“Maybe, we are in French three together.”

At that, the girl seemed to have a look of recognition on her eyes. “Yeah, the weird kid in the corner, Dave right?”

“Darren.”

“Oh, right. Well, welcome to the women’s basketball team’s fundraiser. All funds donated today will go towards helping the high school women’s basketball team.” Michelle said, holding up a clear container with a cut out hole in the top.

“Well hand this to the nice girl.” Ms. Hallsprings said, nudging Darren and giving him a quick wink once he looked at her.

“Right,” Darren replied taking the bill and unceremoniously shoving it into the container.

“All right, that is for ten items.” Michelle said, pulling out a packet of stickers, and placing ten on a post-it note that were then given to Darren. “Just give that to Jasmine when it is your turn and hand over the items that you want to have working.”

With that, Michelle pointed forward to see a girl guiding cars into the garage with bags of electronic equipment that were then taken out of the vehicle, taken to another working bay, where lights would flash every so often, only for the items to be returned a few minutes later apparently in working order.

As the two watched, it was clear that the entire basketball team was involved in the operation. Two were going out getting donations, two were in the garage bay either staying with the driver or helping with the electronic devices. Then seemingly two others would take the electronic devices back.

No, that wasn’t true, there must have been a rotation of some kind. As the two that were working the line were replaced every so often by others who came from the garage. The two working the line for donations would go back, to the bay take items then seemingly disappear, while another girl would come back with ‘fixed’ items.

“Honestly, seeing how hard these girls are working, I don’t mind supporting this team. A lot better than having to buy fatty bars.” Ms. Hallsprings said.

“Hey, I like those fatty bars.” Darren protested, and he meant it. As those were one of the few times when candies were allowed in the house, when teams would come to sell different products to raise money for their different organizations.

“Well, what would you rather have fatty bars, or working electronics?”

“Can’t I have both?”

“Apparently not.” Mother replied, gesturing to the services before them.

Finally, it was their car’s turn. With that a girl that Darren only knew as Two-Tone waved the car forward, and then getting them into the bay gestured for them to stop. At which point, the large girl came to the side window.

“Tickets?”

“Uh…” was all Darren could say, before his mother reached into his hands, pulling out the now worn post-it note with cat stickers and handed it to Two-Tone, reaching over Darren to do so.

“Sorry, my son has a hard time talking to pretty girls, it’s a phase.”

“Mom.”

Chuckle.

With that Two-Tone laughed.

“Thank you for your donation today. As part of our effort to give back, we are willing to work on ten electronic items that are all smaller than a briefcase.” Two-Tone said in a voice that sounded like she had made this same speech countless times.

“They are in the backseat, Darren why don’t you help the nice lady get them?”

“Okay.” Darren responded, now thoroughly embarrassed from this whole operation. Getting out, he noticed how Two-Tone easily side-stepped the opening door and managed to be at the exact right spot to help carry the two backpacks that held all ten items. Given the items and their weight Darren had a hard time lifting one, but Two-Tone managed to lift both like they were nothing.

Seeing the display, Darren’s eyes bulged out slightly, before he managed to regain himself. With that he watched as Two-Tone carried the bags to the back, while another girl came out and asked, “can you please get back into your vehicle? This is for your own safety.”

“Uh, right.” Darren said, embarrassed.

“Excuse me ma’am.” Ms. Hallsprings began.

Hearing his mother call Amoni, the star of the basketball team ma’am was embarrassing, well nothing more than what he had been subjected to so far, but it was getting up there.

“Yes?”

“Is this still the Tulley’s?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Oh, is it Mr. Phil who is back there?” Darren’s mother asked.

“No, it is his granddaughter, Misha.” Amoni answered.

“Huh.” Was all Ms. Hallsprings could say, before another girl came out with the bags.

“Here you go, please take a moment to check everything.” Another girl that Darren thought was named Heather, spoke.

“Oh, my phone, it actually works.” Ms. Hallsprings said, a note of joy filling her words. Darren would almost be embarrassed had he not had nearly the exact same response himself from seeing his phone once again connect to the internet. Of course, most of the internet sites he wanted to go to were still down, but he could get there.

“Yes, all of these should be in working order. If there are any questions you can always bring them back, but for now, can I ask that you pull forward over there, towards K-Bar and thoroughly check out your equipment before leaving.” Amoni said, gesturing to yet another member of the team who was standing in front of spots that seemed to be in front of a fully functional basketball court.

“I did not know that they had such a place here.” Darren’s mother said, as she pulled forward to the spot.

“Neither did I.” Darren said, then paused as he remembered seeing aerial surveillance from Google maps that showed the basketball court. Of course, Darren wanted to avoid making that clarification as it might show that he had been cyber stalking Misha or that he had at least attempted to do so, attempted and failed.

Pulling out his laptop Darren fired it up and was relieved to see that it quickly came to life and showed the loading background.

Just seeing the loading image was enough to cause Darren to get excited as this was a lot further than it had ever gotten in its boot sequence recently.

Then while his computer was loading, he paused to see his pride and joy, with a smile that he was unable to hide, he found the UAV and watched it spark to life.

Knock, knock.

With that Darren found his heart pounding in his chest for the second time in less than an hour as he saw a tall figure standing over the side of his window.

Before Darren could react, his window started to roll down on its own, thanks to his mother’s controls.

“That looks mighty familiar.” A male voice called out, and with a start, Darren realized who the voice belonged to, as it was the same voice from his nightmares. The same voice that called out to him when he went to get this very UAV from this same set of fields.

Gulp.

Darren felt a lump form in his throat, as he tried to come up with a random excuse, but couldn’t. Fortunately, his mother came to save him.

“Mr. Tulley, is that you?”

“Yes, though someone as pretty as you can just call me Phil.” The old man said.

Is he hitting on my mother? Darren thought to himself as he turned from the old man to his mother and then back.

“Oh Phil, you never change. I’m Dana, Dana Hallsprings, well you would have known me as Dana Agnew back when I went to school with Andrea.”

Pausing, the old man stared at his mother for a moment, then paused as recognition filled his face.

“Blah-blah-blah?” Phil asked.

Chuckle.

“You do remember.” His mother, Dana, said, as she quickly unbuckled her seatbelt then went out to hug the old man.

At that Darren really didn’t want to get involved in the acts of his mother, but couldn’t help but hear her say somethings that were sort of confusing.

“I’m so sorry to hear about Julie.”

With that there were a few more words that were said a lot quieter, but all Darren could do was run through all the electronic devices and check to make sure they were all up and operational. He went through all of his items first, even logging in to make sure no data had been lost. Especially as he had been in the middle of an assignment when the power went out.

Once he was certain everything was roughly the same way as before the solar flare, he checked his mother and father’s computers all to find that they too were fine.

Click.

By the time he was done, his mother climbed back into the car, a few tear streaks easily seen on her face. Seeing her in this state, Darren didn’t know what to say. Fortunately, his mother took over the conversation in her normal fashion, by avoiding talking about anything awkward, like why she was crying.

“Right, so are you happy with everything?”

“Yeah, everything works.”

“Okay.” Dana said, nodding to herself, before putting her laptop back in her bag and then taking a deep calming breath looked behind her and began driving away.

Silence.

Not that Darren wanted to talk to his mother, but being in a car with her when she was normally the center of everything social seemed to hit Darren harder than he had expected, so finally he broke down and asked.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah.”

Darren paused, waiting for more, then realizing that nothing else was coming, he could only wonder what the old man had told her that caused her to appear so flustered. For a moment, he wondered if the old man spoke about his spying on them, and what he saw the weeks before the solar flare. He thought about that, then decided to keep quiet as stalking was a serious offense.

With that the two just had an awkward ride home, before they got back and his mother went to her room, while Darren went about setting up the router and other electronic devices around the house.

On the one hand he was happy to get everything back, but now with his mother in her mood, the house seemed a lot more depressing than ever.