Perspective

“Psalms 146:8, The Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous.” This was the last verse discussed on tonight's bible study which the bookstore owner Alexander held for the religious folks in the small town because it was too small for an actual church and even if it was big enough it didn't have too many roads so making one would either make it to far away from people or the local police station. The only place for one to be made was his little bookstore which he couldn't part ways with.
While putting away the chairs and wishing everyone a great week he remembered the argument he had with a local businessman. He stated that since the junkyard used to be, there was government property, and they have full ownership to destroy it and replace it with a skyscraper or as they say a church. Alexander knew their real intentions because the town over was once a nice villa where he lived until the suits came by and paid everyone to leave and replace it with housing. They finally got him when he heard of his niece Tina's passing and ended up selling his house to go live and keep up his niece's work. They came from him again but Alexander wouldn't go down again so he rebuilt the junkyard into a bookstore and explained to them in not-so-nice words to go away.
Some court dates later and the junkyard was his to do as he pleased but he had to pay an extra sum of money to the government for about twenty-four months and then never again. The nerve of these guys was unreal but understandable because after a short while the newly renovated bookstore or as the people of the town have called it Tinas Books and Junk although the sign above the store just said Tina's Library. Some kids have even gone and given the name the librarby because of some inside joke that he never truly understood. Anyways none of these names have been said in a while cause people rarely come on by.
The new litter of people are stuck on phones and will end up being like the bigwigs that wanna turn this place into another parking lot which he won't allow. But some good ones like a small child and his father sometimes come in wearing matching neon green tank tops. The dad is kind and rather funny, the kind of guy you can talk to for hours and hours at a time and never get bored. The kid was quiet and only answered to his father as boss when called upon. This kid by the way was looking around the store, never missing a book and picking some as he walked. He was what Alexander called an observer which in other terms was a type of person who loved books and would one day be fantastic at whatever he did. After they left and the dad paid extra because in his words “You never see book stores now adays so take this as thanks for keeping this alive” left and wasn't seen since.
The joy of people like this made Alexander forget that he was putting away his small foldable table into his cramped and somewhat dirty closet and as such made him bump into the Christmas decorations box and had a plethora effect of the other boxes fall on him at the same time. After the “grand kerfuffle he put himself in” as Tina used to say. He smiled at this memory and laughed off his fall looking for his glasses. Although while looking for them all he found was his hand filled with a prickly sensation and he didn't need to see to understand that he was bleeding. He stood up and slowly walked his way to the front desk hoping that there wasn't too much blood on the carpet and slowly but painfully pulled out the glass and bandaged himself up.
He then grabbed his extra lens from the drawer and held it in front of his face until he could grab his glasses and clean up all of the now broken ornaments. What he found though was his glasses broken in two and pieces of glass scattered nearby. After painstakingly shoving all of the boxes back he looked at his glasses and wondered if they could be fixed but after some searching he found that a part of the outer lens seemed to up and disappear. He didn't question and instead went to the back door which led to a staircase up the bookstore that Alexander called home.
There was some nice stuff about living where you work, like if you cut your hands at work you don't have to drive home and properly bandage yourself there you can just bandage yourself which is what Alexander did as soon as he stepped inside his small home. There of course was some bad that came with living where you work like the cleaning of your work being one of many newer chores and the occasional big wig that comes by with an offer of a lifetime.
After washing his hand and properly sterilizing it he walked to his small kitchenette and grabbed himself a can of potato and bacon bite soup, poured it into a saucepan, and then after bringing it to a boil put it into a bowl and walked to his bed. The hand did give him the occasional pinch of pain but he was able to watch a show on his TV, eat his soup, throw his bowl to his sink, and go to bed.
Before or maybe after he slept he lay there and wondered what he would do about his glasses, when he was younger he didn't see a need for glasses although the occasional blurriness did force him to wear them while he drove a car or worked in school but know he couldn't see the broadside of a barn, whatever that was, let alone a barn at all. He then realized that maybe he was owed an eye doctor visit after all it had been more than a year, maybe two since he went. He then got up, got a good shower, grabbed some toast, and left on his bike.
He did own a car but preferred his bike because it was such a small town and his eye doctor was only a block or two away. He only used his car for trips outside of town rarely ever did cause the town had almost every essential besides a proper hospital but they did have a drug store and a small Emergency room that was always in contact with the hospital in the town over.
After riding towards the building he grabbed the extra lens in his pocket and put it to his eye. Here he saw that he arrived in front of a small blue and white building with a bike rail which he then chained the bike to. He then walked inside and found an empty waiting room with two couches that surrounded a small coffee table and looked in the direction of a small TV hung in the corner of the room that was currently playing a movie about a blond girl wearing a blue striped shirt trying to go to some type of building. A bell then rang and a door across the room opened to show a tall man who looked to be in his fifties wearing a white lab coat and smiling at Alexander.
“Good afternoon Mr. Skopein, how may I help you” the doctor said with a scratchy yet smooth voice while reaching for Alexander's shoulder to rush him into his office.
“Just here for my yearly eye checkup doc” He then sat down on a small chair against the wall that faced big machines that he expected were meant for eyes and a small standup bed for examination.
“So how's business?”
“Not the best” The doctor groaned as he checked Alexander's eyes and wrote down information on a checklist. The doctor then grabbed one of his many instruments and held it in a threatening manner to Alexander's eye.
“Maybe it's because of people believing in only yearly checks” The doctor grumbled then laughed.
“Kidding of course but please do sit down on the stool please.”
Alexander then sat on a stool in front of one of the machines seeing that from the stool he could see what seemed to be futuristic glasses built into the machine. Alexander then laughed cause he couldn't imagine himself wearing it although it wouldn't have been the weirdest thing he had ever worn.
“Something funny?” Alexander then shook his head and smiled
“Anyways I'm going to need you to look into the machine and hold his” Alexander then apologized and grabbed a small wire that had a button on top of it and after putting the lens back into his pocket, looked into the machine which showed a large bright room and sometimes something red.
“Ok, you'll see a red dot at certain points and every time you see one press the button on top” After agreeing, the machine then started. Alexander then wondered what he looked like looking into this machine and then remembered one of Tina's birthdays where he dressed up as a bouchie vampire from one of her favorite book series which ended up having him wear some weird makeup, yellow eye contacts, and a lot of black which embarrassed everyone including Tina.
“Alright, you can back away while I write down the results”
Alexander then moved away and found adjusting the lighting in this room was somewhat difficult but soon was successful.
“Ok, now turn around and look to the wall” Alexander then listened and saw a chart filled with an assortment of letters decreasing in size which seemed like forever.
“You should know what this is Mr Skopien so when I point at a line you read it until I tell you to stop”
“Alright let's get this over with,” Alexander said while blinking to regain his sight from the bright light from before
“Agreed” The doctor then pointed to line 1
“A” Alexander then looked at the doctor with a look of judging and the doctor then pointed to line 2
“S Y” Alexander then covered both eyes to taunt the doctor who then pointed to line 5
“T J P O S” The doctor then pointed to line 8 seeing that Alexander did it with ease
“I E B T I J L R” The doctor then pointed back up to line 4
“L O V E” love, something Alexander never thought was possible with his old age Tina thought otherwise and tried to get him on a multitude of dates some being blind and some which made the women wish they were blind cause again Alexander was a old man. Tina never did give up however saying that love is for everyone until that day when her constant cupid games weren't the only thing that stopped her. With that Alexander still to this day never wants to date or find love cause he had books at home.
The doctor heard Alexander correct the final four words then smiled and sat down.
“Not bad although you read the last letter of line eight as R instead of P but besides that it wasn't too bad” The doctor then changed machines and brought over a new machine that was grey instead of white.
“When you look into this machine you see a picture of ice cream All you have to do is tell me the color” This new machine confused Alexander but he shrugged off the suspicion and looked into the machine but didn't see any ice cream-
A large flashing light then exploded in front of Alexander and when he regained his vision from the light he turned to see the doctor smiling at him and beside him a computer that showed two gigantic domes that were infected with cuts and gashs on the walls. If colored Alexander would assume it would be a dirty cream color that was invaded by green vines and brush, damaging the foundation and becoming the new wall holders.
“As you can see Mr Skopein, no pun intended, of course, your eyeball scans here seem healthier than your last visit.” The doctor then shows the picture of his eyes from now and before which were exposed to show a difference but they both seemed to be the same image with just a few color differences.
“With that said Mr Skopein where are your glasses today?” The doctor asked crossing his legs as if he was interviewing Alexander on some type of talk show.
“Well, I kind of broke them and decided before I get some more I should get an eye exam first and see if I need a new prescription.” Alexander didn't know if he needed a new prescription but did notice that his eyes were getting blurry while wearing the glasses instead of crystal vision.
“Well, as your eye doctor that was a smart move but as your neighbor how do you expect to pay for this?” Alexander, surprised by this responded quickly and carefully
“What makes you think I can't pay for my own eyes?”
“Well, honestly Alex I don't get a lot of customers myself anymore but when I do it's always kids who are forced to wear glasses and they're always on their phones” Alexander pondered at this because he hadn't been called Alex in a long time.
“Looking at how many kids and frankly adults that read I'm sorry to say this but, I don't believe you make enough to pay for food let alone your eye doctor” Alexander knew this himself and has been fighting this realization for months at this point but he always pushes on a cause that's what Tina would want. He remembered the days and nights he spent with that girl to fight for her small four-acre junkyard how she would name it after herself and how every couple of days she would do something fun and make her makeshift machines and show them to the town.
“Yeah I know, but I always get back on my feet and look” Alexander pulled out the necessary payment.
“Here is the proper amount of money and a little extra for your services doc since I know the town over has that expensive and big eye doctor building”
The doctor smiled at this but pushed away the money and started to walk Alexander out the door.
“You see ale- Mr Skopien you never actually signed in with my assistant at the front desk” He then pointed at the front desk which housed no one except a little dust.
“And as such I have no records of you being here besides the scans that I may lose later today in some files somewhere” The doctor opened the front door and waved for Alexander to leave quickly like a child on Christmas morning.
Alexander laughed at this, thanking the doctor but before he fully made it out of the door the doctor did stop him one final time.
“Across the street, there's the glasses shop which has some cheap pairs, I already sent them your prescription so go talk to them and they should give u a good pair, but just remember this.” The doctor's face turned to stone
“Under any circumstances do not get the glasses in the light, they may be easier to see but the darkness is a colder safer place” With that the doctor closed his shop and retreated to the back of his office.
With a new sense of worry, he walked to the other side of the street and found the small building. Its roof was small and slated and had a flat top, the wall's paint has died over time and has been poorly repainted several times throughout its life. Entering the building the front room invaded his nostrils with the smell of dusty lemon and a mixture of old and new chemicals training the inner walls leaving stains.
Inside this building were a few poorly built tables that shined with wood cleaner and other chemicals, on the tables were stands that held glasses, and near each of them were mirrors and cases. The only thing that differentiates this pattern is a large table that holds a register and behind it is a cheery man with big rosy cheeks, three freckles on his face, and a fluffy head.
The man smiled and waved at Alexander and on closer examination they wore a surprisingly clean nametag that said, Asher. Everything about this person was clean and had a somewhat glow to it but that could've been the dust messing with his eyes. Speaking of eyes this man had one white eye and one blue eye and Alexander must have been looking too closely cause the man spoke in a somewhat joking mode.
“My doctor always said beauty is in the eye of the beholder” Saying this he pointed at his eyeball and smiled.
“If you need help with anything then please go ahead and ask.” The man then went back to standing straight but this time his head creepily watched Alexander. He assumed maybe it was because of one of his eyes going blind but never did ask. Alexander then looked and tried on several pairs of glasses but finally landed on a small pair that sat alone next to all of the other stands. The pair was sitting next to a window which made it look as if there was no dust in the rays of sun that shone above it.
While observing the glasses Alexander felt a small gust of wind move past his arm and his senses all seemed to shut down with a void filling his heart and mind all at once. He then carefully turned to his side but was quickly confronted by a gigantic man who looked down at Alexander as a person does to an ant. His two different eyes worked different parts of his soul, destroying then collecting the fragments till there was nothing left but void. That's when what he was met with was met with was a jolly giant.
“Those glasses are personally made by the doctor so they are free as long as you return them when you are done” The giant man-child named Asher smiled at this and put on a plastic glove and grabbed the glasses then a case and put them in a bag. Alexander was gonna question the whole plastic glove thing but free was free, especially with Alexander's wallet and bank account that in total had about a hundred dollars. When he was about to grab the bag Asher seemed to look inside almost having his entire head inside.
“Cya later alligator” The giant whispered like a child and then grabbed the bag and gave it to Alexander. Alexander was kind of off-put by this smiled at the giant and deemed it something to do with a mental defect and decided to not be mean about it. He then left and waved at the giant as he opened the front door and heard the bell kick him out of the door.
When he got home that day he put his bag into his small apartment of a house and made himself some early lunch before he finally went to his table and finally started to see what that jolly not-so-green giant put inside his bag. Inside he found who would guessed a pair of glasses in a case, the glasses looked like any other pair of glasses with the only difference being a small indent that had the initials DST which could be the initials of the store.
He then opened the case but quickly pulled away cause as soon as he did he felt a type of radiance, like putting your hand near a campfire and feeling a mixture of force and human instinct telling him to not put his hand near it. He then slowly moved his hand near it trying to see if it would burn him. After quickly touching it and backing away he didn't feel any type of heat but he did feel a type of coldness like ice or old bath water you forgot to drain from the night before. After realising he was looking too much into glasses he then grabbed them and put them on. When he put them on he found that they were a little blurry at first but seemed to sort of adjust after this he then felt the glasses get colder as he wore them and as such he went down into a deep dark void.
“When falling you get to think about your past and present a lot.” A scratchy yet smooth voice said at the top of the void.
“Like your life flashing before your eyes, how did you fall so far down you got to see your entire life flash before your eyes and why did you watch the same show or movie so many times.”
“People don't usually think positively about their past when we have a negative mindset.
“Like how a mistake they made was all their fault and how whatever they do will never be good enough,” The voice said in a grouchy tone like you would as if you imitating a bear for a kid's book.
“Some people rarely look at their past in a positive light, but when they do they seem to be the saddest”
“Here making a mistake is ok cause all mistakes can be fixed and you are doing your best and you're doing a great job. The same voice said but in a high-pitched voice, you would give to a princess in a book.
“The thing about how you see things though is no one ever sees both of these things at the same time so know whoever wears these can”
The top of the void then seemed to close and it didn't feel like he was falling anymore.
When he awoke he noticed that the glasses were still on his face and his head sort of hurt. He then stood up stretched his back and looked back to his bed.
“Man this bed is a mess,” He thought but as he thought this the left lens seemed to become more clear on his left eye.
“What's happening?”
“Ya, it's disgusting, especially the colors,” A deep raspy voice said. The glasses then seemed to switch sides with his right lens becoming less blurry.
“Who was that??”
“It's fine, although a little cleaning wouldn't hurt, Of course, if you have the time don't stress yourself out.” A high-pitched feminine voice said gently. With this, both of his eyes readjusted.
“Who is saying this??” Alexander then closed his eyes to try and readjust his eyes but what he found was that inside the middle both of his lenses were the colors pink and purple. The normal darkness still filled the majority of his inner lens so he didn't think much of it except that the colors stayed blurred in his vision when he reopened them, the strange thing is the blurs of the colors were the first to focus. Alexander then tried to take off his glasses to check if they were broken from passing out but he quickly realised he was unable to remove them from his face. He quickly ran to the mirror to see if they were melted to his skin and made him look like a monster with glass for eyes, maybe even two new colored eyes that could be used for magic.
“That would be awful”
“Truly awful, horribly awful, you would never be able to show your face ever again”
“A lot of people like monsters, you be seen as the beautiful person you are”
When Alexander heard this the glasses again blurred and focused in their respective eyes which made Alexander almost bump into the bathroom's doorframe and cost him about five minutes of big toe pain. He then closed his eyes to quickly check the spots of pink and purple which both grew in size a little bit and this gave Alexander the answer of the voices being these two specs. He then wondered if he could see these specs and as he slowly walked and felt the cool marble under his feet he faced the direction of the mirror and opened his eyes. He saw himself wearing the same glasses he saw in the bag before with no clear signs of any glue or whatever he was thinking while he was waking up.
The strange thing however was he couldn't get the glasses off of him at all, not that he normally did take off his normal glasses before they broke but the freedom of taking off the glasses was a nice thing to have.
“I need to find a way to take off these glasses”
“Ya these things stink and feel weird on our ears we should destroy them for good”
“These glasses are nice for right now later we can get some better ones but for now we need to keep them”
For once Alexander thought the high-pitched voice was right and decided to just carry on with his day. Once he went back to his bed he looked over to his bedside table and saw that it was about twelve thirty and the store wasn't open. He then rushed downstairs and then ran to the front door. When he arrived at said door he noticed that no one was outside. With this, he then flipped the sign to open and walked to his desk. He knew that business was slow and that people rarely came but for thirty minutes he expected at least one person.
“What to do while I wait for people”
“Why wait at all? Maybe you should just close the store down and give up on this place”
“Or a nicer thing to do is count how many books or maybe see how many pages you can read in ten minutes”
Alexander then decided to close his eyes hoping he didn't look like he was sleeping on the job. His boss would kill him, after that awful joke he sat there and thought about all the things he used to have and how many people came into his store every day. He remembered the fact he had to put up a no running sign cause of all the kids who used to run through here which now sits in the back of the storage closet, there are even cameras in every corner of the building because people used to steal the books he put up, but know not even common thieves want his books which is fine because it does save a lot of money on windows.
The day went on like any other day with only a few customers coming by and buying books of their respective genres. The occasional person would come in and make some type of mess, bully the kids who liked to read, or make fun of book names as if no one knew the humor of a book named She's Gone and then make fun of the friend who had love, unlike the others. Now the only thing he loved was when some famous bookseller wanted to sign books in his store and Alexander had to set up a small area for them to make a booth which then brought a lot of people to his store although that's only once a blue moon.
After a long day filled with questions the glasses seemed to have small bitter arguments about Alex then flipped the sign for the night and counted the money he made swell as clean the almost nonexistent messes of his small shop. He then turned in for the day and after a small dinner went to lie down but he was once again met with the problem from the morning. When he tried to remove the glasses he was unable to with the worst part being the pink and purple spots seeming to get bigger and bigger as the day went on which now were almost one-fourth of his visible vision. Alexander then shrugged it off and decided that it could be fixed like every type of sadness in the world with a little sleep.
Alexander slept like any other night but with the glasses being stuck to his face he faced the problem of a sleeping arrangement. He normally slept on his chest with the pillow covering his face and his back to the ceiling which was of course impossible to do in this circumstance. Although he shrugged it off he remembered the reason why he did it was his fear of looking up and seeing some monster barely in the darkness looking back on him or seeing something moving outside his window that he shouldn't see. Of course, he designed this impregnable defense when he was just ten years old and after 43 years never once tried to change or fix it. So with this Alexander shrugged off the childish fears of some type of impossible monster inside his home while he slept behind him.
That was of course before he heard noises from all around him. Not noises like a voice but noises like the walls were slowly moving like a ship on the open sea. A constant creaking yet no movement, small bits of movement sounding around the bookstore owner making it almost impossible for Alexander to think in any way that wasn't one of fear or turmoil.
The noises then seemed to cease to a minor disturbance but what accompanied it was a new noise that Alexander could live without hearing. Whispers now started to fill the room all asking different questions of natural occurrence. He heard one man question how much a haircut was while another questioned the time of the day. Some questioned morality with a girl of high standing questioning if murder is truly good or if a character in a book should truly die all because of their standing as a character. Through all of this Alexander only ever heard one voice just one that held significance to his current situation. This person or persons were talking in monologue about something that can help the human mind make moral and immoral decisions and how it could be made into a physical being instead of being a hypothesis. As soon as this finished however all the voices seemed to stop.
Silence filled the room and with it, Alexander tried his hardest to fall asleep and forget about tonight as a whole that was before something about a mile from Alexander's building seemed to explode in a small rhythm in a distant “Tap Tap Bap”. The noise then stopped for a moment and then started again this time not sounding so distant “Tap Tap Bap” This pattern happened over and over again until the noise was constant. No, it was worse, the rhythm of this was getting faster and sounding closer yet ever so closer to the outside door of Alexanders' small apartment. Tap Tap Bap” “Tap Tap Bap” Alexander then realized the problem and his legs started to buckle and sting as if he was numbed for surgery, he wanted to run or possibly hide from the creature but his legs wouldn't let him. Tap Tap Bap Tap Tap Bap Tap Tap Bap. The noise it made outside his door was something you never would wish to hear in your final moments. He hid under his blankets listening to the creature of the night creep closer and yet ever so closer until silence filled the room for the final time.
Alexander was then quickly awoken in his bed by the sound of his alarm clock blaring right beside him. It seemed to be later than usual so he may need to skip on his famous piece of toast and maybe a cup of assorted fruit jello breakfast he has been having. He finally stood up and started his day and as he did his mundane tasks not questioning the night he just had because anyone at any age could have had what he had honesty the one night he changed his routine, of course, it would change how he would wake up or perceive how he slept or dream. Although Alexander never did learn about dream theory he did read books about fictional characters who had so it was good enough. With that, Alexander continued his day as normal with the books and the children and the normal day-to-day and the next day was the same as well. These dreams were ever occurring with new problems appearing and the dots expanding ever wider.
One day while on the register Alexander wondered what was happening to him, well he first understood the idea of insanity but he also knew that only he had ever had glasses that thought with him so maybe insanity isn't the best solution.
“Were insane now?? Oh no, how are we ever going to find someone for us?? We're going to be even more alone forever!!”
“Insanity can't be all that bad though right? We could be one of those cool insane people that make paintings or ideas about how the world works”
Alexander could see their point but no one had ever heard of an insane bookstore owner before or at least he couldn't figure out a way to make it profitable so he went beach to check people out that day.
Besides the early mornings the only day Alexander ever closed his shop was Thursdays so he could get some books for the store, food for his small apartment, and some personal time to catch up on books that were turned into movies and judge how they were portrayed incorrectly or if the producers were given to much liberty in the storyboard or not enough.
Today however he decided to go shopping for some more cans of potato and bacon bit soup and wheat bread which was Alexander's favorite snack while reading books in the late afternoon hours before he went to bed. Before he went however he took some medicine for the headache he had when he woke up that day. He then got on his bike and started to ride to the store which made him pass by the doctor's shop Alexander decided to use this to his advantage and pop in and ask him if his eyes blurring and if he had headaches while wearing the new prescription were normal and if they meant he could get a better prescription or not but what he found was the doctor's shop behind some fences that had a big yellow sign on it that read Kinential Demolition, Demolition in process and underneath the number 248-434-5508.
I wonder what happened to the doctor?
“The old man is finally dead thank god. This is so sad we just talked to him recently we could've helped him or saved him.”
“I'm still going to miss him. He lived a good life if that's true but hey maybe he's just moving away or something.”
Alexander then tried to look through the fence to see if he could see maybe a sign of a break-in or maybe blood that could be a murder but what he found was the same building he went to a week ago just surrounded by a fence and consequently blocking the sidewalk. He then decided to get to the bottom of what happened to the doctor and walked onto the road he stood next to the fence to right down the number on his phone and call the company but as soon as he did a siren went off behind him which made him jump and drop his phone onto the pavement. When he went to grab his phone he found that he was beaten to the punch as he saw Sherrif Dutch and his small PT cruiser.
He doesn't normally drive around these parts of the town at this hour why is he here? Alexander thought as he and everyone else in town knew the sheriff route due to him being the only sheriff and barbeque master as he said he was.
“It doesn't matter why, he a cop, and were near an illegal area were gonna be arrested and put into a jail cell to live for the rest of our lives old and shriveled”
“If everyone knows this sheriff then maybe he will go easy on us and not arrest us at all after all cops are good people no matter what he used to say and hey look he has a cross so he must be good just like Mom”
Dutch then gave Alexander his phone back and smiled his big goofy smile that, made everyone like the guy. He then looked at the fence and back to Alexander and his bike which was parked on the sidewalk.
“What are you doing here Alex?” Dutch said fidgeting with his body cam and grabbing his waist showing how calm he is on the job versus how competitive he is off duty.
“Oh just trying to go to the store and I saw well” Alex pointed at the area of the fences. “This”
“Yeah, well after what happened the other day between him and a man that we have in custody the building has been foreclosed and the local government seemed to want this place destroyed and in its place well…” He seemed to wonder for a moment seeing the future hole in the wall that is the docs shop.
“Honestly I don't know but what I do know is I can let you through but next time go around please” Dutch then grabbed a small set of keys and after walking to the sidewalk opened a small gate on their side and then again on the other when they walked through.
“You have a safe trip Alex and try to make it to one of my famous barbeques ya big old nerd” The Sheriff chuckled as he walked toward his cruiser”
“Only if you go to one of my bible studies” Smiled Alexander as Dutch got in his cruiser.
Should I have asked about the doctor?
“Nah he's probably dead as dirt in a dinosaur cage”
“I wish I could pet a dinosaur”
A siren then cut the thoughts which made Alexander jump and angrily look towards Dutch's cruiser where a megaphone from the top imitated Dutch which then screamed “Nice contacts by the way” And with that the cruiser drove off.
Contacts? Alexander thought as he looked at his newly cracked phone and after wiping away the dirt saw that both of his eyes had changed to pink and purple. Alexander never wore contacts he disliked the idea of contacts entirely cause to him they were cheater glasses and thought that it was too customizable to the point where doctors would prescribe them like a fashion sense instead of the want of vision, glasses were good enough.
Alexander then went on his phone and searched on Stookle -What to do if your eyes change color randomly?- Which showed the simple answer that he should go to an eye doctor which as he looked to his right knew wasn't happening soon. After digging some more he found little answers like how the sun's rays can affect eye color but they only affect if it goes darker or brighter not go full disco party on him.
He then decided although against his better judgment and reasoning to look up the eye doctor in the other town and dial him up. The ringing of the phone annoyed Alexander enough to start riding his bike to the store as he was on the phone after a stop sign finally stopped and in its stead was the sound of a girl with a calm but somewhat pitched tone of voice who to Alexander's mind sounded pretty.
“Thank you for calling Kinetical Optometrists. How may I help you?”
“Wow the Kinetical company owns a lot of businesses” Alexander laughed as he saw a car stop behind the stop sign and wave to the old man who's riding a bike with one hand across it.
“That's right sir we are one of the biggest companies in the United States and soon to be the world”
“I wonder how much they pay you to say that line, sounds kind of evil.”
“Well, every penny counts” The lady laughed on the phone.
“Anyways would you like to open an appointment, sir?”
“Yes I” Alexander barely dodges a light pole “Would mam”
“Wonderful, now are you a new customer or returning?”
“I am a new customer although I may look old as dirt” Smooth Alex smooth
“That's alright sir” Then the sound of some mechanical clicking of a keyboard filled the sort of pleasant call.
“I can fit you in tomorrow at either Nine AM, Twelfth AM, or 3 PM does that sound fine?”
“Tomorrow? I'm surprised you have an open spot tomorrow let alone three of them”
“Well sir our facility is pretty massive but yeah which one can I put you for”
“Put me down at Nine but don't expect me back home till after dark”
Really?? Don't wait up a joke on a secretary? Lame.
“OK sir, well make sure you come a little earlier than that to fill in some paperwork because of you being a new customer and all. You're scheduled for floor eight door two but yeah my name is Samantha and welcome to the kinetical family” The line then went dead.
What a nice girl. Alexander thought as he locked up his bike and helmet and entered the store.
“Yeah, whatever girls are lame and all they do is break your heart”
“Or she could be pretty and make us the happiest ever cause girls are the coolest”
Alexander could never figure them out but decided to agree with the pink side cause she did sound pretty cute and hey he was a young enough man to date so why not try again like he did in his youth? After grabbing his soups and bread went to the checkout where he saw a small bouquet of different colors after grabbing the overly priced ten-dollar flowers bought all his food for the week and went to grab his bike.
Back home he looked to the clock noticing that it was barely late afternoon and decided to go out to the back of his building and grab his red chair. The lawn chair was nothing special however, it had no pillows no type of cup holder, or anything but this chair was special to him because it was a gift from someone on one of his many birthdays. A girl named…. What was her name, Tiffany? Tiana? Tulip? What was her name?
“First we go insane and know were forgetting things maybe we should go into a dark room and be forgotten”
“Not to be mean of course but if we can't remember her maybe we shouldn't stress about it”
Well, arguing with yourself isn't healthy so Alexander went down the stairs dusted off his red lawn chair, and went inside to grab a book to read. After looking through the different fiction and drama types that he sold in his store he stopped seeing an old book that he enjoyed titled Flight #116 is down. He then grabbed his book, got a bowl of soup and a piece of toasted bread, and went back outside to read his book.
As Alexander read he laughed at the simple little jokes, but then after the plane went down started to read about the decisions they had to make in the story. The quick decision-making and the love for helping was one of the reasons why Alexander loved this story more than others but then the word kept hitting him in his head. Decisions, he had a decision to clean up that day and break his glasses, he made the decision of glasses and got a certain one instead of the many others, so will these decisions change anything? Well thought Alexander smiling, that what stories are for, to exaggerate the smallest decisions and make them seem like they are life or death. And with that, he continued to read.
That night he had a new type of nightmare where instead of it being some type of noise or song playing in his room it was fairly bright. In the beginning, he found himself in the back of a car driving through a void of sorts, he tried to look out the window and to the floor just to see they were floating above and under a set of green eyes. When he looked back to the front seats he found that the driver was one of the visions of a person that he's been dreaming about the past couple of nights but this one had something on his face. Alexander then watched the figure for a moment as the sound of a song came on the radio which had a familiar ring to it. The song then stated in a calm tone with beautiful background lyrics “Goodbye everybody's got to go” repeating just enough times to have him want to change the channel himself yet he couldn't reach the radio so with his breathing steady he looked towards the driver and calmly said
“Excuse me can you change the s-” The figure then shrieked the sound of a thousand chalkboards looking into Alexander's soul with the two purple and pink orbs on his face and with that a loud horn blarred in the distance and Alexander was thrown to his side.
Alexander then woke up with his left arm and right leg in a tense strain but it quickly went away as he started to move around which was when he saw that it was about seven am and in two hours he had to be in the other town. After an hour of taking a shower and washing a show, he goes downstairs and to the side of the building to find his little car. The car was barely standing with a rough, dirty inside, a rusty red outside, and a radio that did pick up stations but Alexander wasn't in the mood to listen to any music cause it was only a ten-minute trip and the radio hurt the battery. He then got into his car and drove to the one-way road that took him to the other town. He watched the flat fields beside the road to ease his mind of his nightmares and after passing an abandoned stone building with two large broken garage doors he saw a green rectangle sign that read Leaving Napkin a mile later he found a new sign reading Welcome to Urey and a new town than he left. This one had skyscrapers and buildings that were taller than the perfectly trimmed trees, the sidewalks were mostly clean with no trash on them and the roads looked brand new. The few buildings Alex did see however showed the same kinetical blah sign on each which made the place have an eerie look to it.
Pushing that fear aside he arrived at the doctor's office and after driving up a car park to get to one of the many floors he found floor eight and after driving around found door number two. He never did ask the young lady about the floor or door situation but I guess her voice distracted him from doing so. He then felt a prick of panic as he quickly looked around for the flowers he bought for her but realized he left them at home. After being angry with himself for a moment he locked his car and walked to the second door where he found a pure white room. The room had white walls, marble flooring, and a white built-in desk like the ones in Banks it was so bright it made Alexander have to blink a few times just to adjust to the new lighting. A new red light then turned on and blarred a loud buzzer sound which had a young woman sitting under it. The woman looked like she just got out of college and had a fully clear face, she had long brown hair that was freshly combed and a white shirt with a blue kinetical Optometrists logo stitched on.
“Welcome to Kinetical Optometrists. Do you have a meeting?” That same voice from his phone.
“Uh yes, I was the one who called in yesterday for a checkup.”
“Ah yes, well here's some paperwork for you to fill out and you can have a seat over there as you do so, ill be here to collect it and a doctor will be out shortly for your checkup sir.”
“Oh alright” Alexander then moved to a small glass table that was surrounded by two strangely grey couches. Sitting on them was uncomfortable because of how stiff they were but he digressed as he filled out his paperwork with quick precision. With his name and date of birth being the first then came the question Have you had any other Optometrists? This made him think but checkmark no because he's had his glasses since he was a young boy. The next and final question of the first paper was Family who has worked with us which Alexander quickly put down as no. After filling out more things like liability papers he gave the paperwork back to the young lady and went to sit down. The second he sat down however he had to stand as the doctor entered the room.
“Hello there sir my name is Doctor Richards but you may call me Mr Richards” The tall broad-shoulder man opened his hand to shake.
“My name is Alexander um Mr. Richards and I believe I'm your patient”
“That's good to know 'cause if you weren't I probably would have to ask you to leave” The man laughed a gut-filled laugh. He then walked him into a long almost endless hallway with many identical plants next to benches next to paintings of the letter I with a magnifying glass looking at someone on a table.
”So what seems to be the problem Mr” The man checked the paperwork
“Skopien”
“Well as you can see my eyes have changed color but there are also some other things”
“Mhmm mhmm” he agreed writing down on some papers behind a clipboard as he listened.
“I keep having these night terrors and believe it or not these glasses are stuck to my face and I think wearing them so much is giving me these problems”
“Well I don't know how to say this but I'm not your therapist Mr. Skopien” The tall man jokingly said.
“I'm many things, an Optometrists, a Surgeon, a Manager, and even a part-time carpenter and real estate agent but sadly not a therapist,” the tall man said showing off his talents.
“I understand but... look try and take these glasses off” The tall man then shrugged and after jokingly stretching his arms and making his knuckles crack gently grabbed the glasses and took them off Alexander's head. Alexander was surprised by this because they'd been stuck on him for weeks, he touched his face and behind his ear in amazement before realizing he must look crazy.
“They're all better, so how do you feel?”
“ Honestly I'm shocked”
“Well, you welcome sir while watching ur eyes seem to have changed shape according to our machine that you saw outside in the waiting room. Your eyes seem to have just changed and there doesn't seem to be any damage so maybe just take the glasses off once in a while unless you need them for driving of course.”
“Yes of course thank you”
“Oh and While you're here I'm gonna write down your information into our database so you won't have as much trouble when ur here again” While he typed at incredible speed into his computer Alexander got curious and decided to budge in.
“Uhh well since I have you for time how can you have so many talents and jobs at once.” The man then looked at Alexander and laughed smiling to himself.
“Well, it is difficult at times but the Kinetical company helps all its workers have time to enjoy their work while getting paid in the process. I love talking to people and making jokes as you can see so they got me into real estate and manager of many different areas of work such as construction and the learning facilities but they noticed how gentle I am with things and turned me into a surgeon and Optometrists.” Alexander was truly shocked by this, seeing someone or many people happy with their job and doing what they want while getting paid was a sort of dream to him so then without thinking Alexander asked the man.
“ Do you know of a small bookstore in the town over called Tina's Library?” The man then grinned.
“Why yes I do, their owner there actually has fought with us in the past but I hope one day we can get his property.”
“Well..” Alexander kinda quietly said “I am that man” The tall man then widened his eyes at this and started to sweat.
“I-I apologize for my use of wording there sir uhh and take your time with that decision”
“No no, it's fine I have something to ask about my store”
“And that is?”
“How much is it worth?” With this question, the man laughed and smiled at Alexander which made him a little defensive.
“Your property is worth the world to us sir, and honestly what we were gonna do is offer you a job as one of the librarians at our library located just a few blocks from here” Alexander was excited but needed to stay composed.
“Well sadly I live in my library above the building roof where there is a small apartment”
“Don't worry sir we have dormitories for all of our residents who work here in the Kinetical company so there is no need for housing arrangements or secondary taxes”
“Oh wow,” Alexander then thought about how he would pay for this eye doctor's help and generosity.
“Yes, well I've just got done writing down your information for the examination of your eye, and like I said you just need to take them off to avoid headaches and such things.” He handed back the glasses to Alex who mistakenly put them on as a common move. He then felt his heart skip a beat as he quickly reached for the glasses only to find they were able to take them off and on again and again. He then walked to the lobby from the hall and before he left was grabbed by the tall man.
“Before you go I want you to take a look at this” The tall man then showed Alexander a video of people, young and old going into a small wood wood-furnished clean library and checking out books as a man from the other side gladly greets them and points them to there respected book genre areas.
“This is the life footage of yesterday morning at the city's library cause were always packed.” Alexander couldn't believe the amount of people that were there as he was at the store getting flowers. The tall man then gave Alexander some papers and a pen prompting Alexander to wonder.
“What's this?”
“In short Mr. Skopien, I'm asking you face to face man to man to sell your property to us, and in exchange, I can have you get a job as a librarian here in the city and your very own room”
Alexander couldn't believe this, this life-changing opportunity dangling in front of him. He then closed his eyes as he saw the tall man reach his hand up.
“What do ya say?”
What does Alexander say? I mean he's been fighting for the bookstore for so long, enjoying the small moments of people coming in and then barely getting through the moments without. Do I really wanna leave behind my small library in my small town just so I can have a successful library?
“No don't do it if you do ill have to do this again just refuse and tell the guy that you need your sad little building”
“If you do we will all be happy and be successful, we will get paid to do what we love and be able to have so much time for our books.”
After some careful thought after hearing both sides, Alexander smiled and raised his hand to shake the men.
“Let's do it”
“Perfect well with that settled and as your new boss you are to go to the buildings built in home units and sign yourself in, you'll be working the library as said previously and you have till next month to move in and please contact us for free help in shipping anything you need shipped and as company quota Welcome to the Kinetical Family.” After writing down his signature a thousand and one times the tall man then handed Alexander a keycard and walked back to the hallways with the papers in tow.
With the keycard Mr Richards placed in his pocket to his dorm room on floor three room five he walked to his car and got inside looking to see the secretary smiling back at him and waving. Alexander felt good that day with his answers given to him and his life truly starting again. He was so happy that he even turned on his radio to listen to some music and relax. He got onto the long black road that took him back to his small little town thinking about his new life and a new job where he could work in a new bookstore and all he had to do was just sign a paper with no extra cost. Wow, how exciting Alexander thought as he realized what he was going to do. Could he? I mean he fought tooth and nail for his little bookstore all because of… something, maybe it was the aura of the building or his love of reading books he never truly knew so maybe letting them win is just what he needed. To start again and be happy.
It's time for me to start my new life and live like I did in my youth Alexander thought a smile being the final cut into his face.
“Danggit well this isn't gonna end well it never does but at least we will be ok”
“Yay I won again, I can't wait for the next time where ill beat your butt again”
Not listening to the craziness that was his inner conscience he turned up the radio as a new song came on. The song talked about how no matter what happens to a poor boy he can never catch a break but to him, it doesn't matter cause it'll just happen anyway. Like Alexander giving up on his store, there was nothing that could stop them cause in the end Alexander would've died and they would've got the store so why not just give it to him and live a happy life instead?
His left arm tightened around the steering wheel.
“Next time I'll win and I won't be the sad one”
“Can you turn the music down please”
Alexander then heard a small noise in the back of his car but drowned it out by singing to the music. The song then talked about a boy who wasted his life just as Alexander did with his silly little bookstore and a small cold bowl of soup and barely toasted bread reading books instead of going to barbeques and hanging with others.
His right leg tightened and he began to speed up.
“Seriously it's so hard to win while being mr negative it's unfair”
“Can You PLEASE Turn The Music Down… Please Please Please.”
Alexander then heard the sound of the back of his car and subconsciously joined into one as when he turned to investigate the noise he saw the figure from his dreams cowering in his backseat.
“What Is That???” Alexander screamed as his left arm finally gave way and Alexander's car swerved as a loud horn blarred in the distance and Alexander was thrown to his side.
Dutch was sitting down in his car enjoying his repeated lunch at his favorite fast food joint of a barbeque burger, waffle fries, and a coke when all of a sudden his radio blared.
“All units in the outskirts of Napkin there is an 11-83 on the road between Napin and Urey requesting a code 9 and an 11-85 on the scene”
“Ten-four I'm on the way,” said Dutch as he licked away his barbeque fingers and drove towards the accident his siren blaring. Arriving at the scene found a local ambulance and fire truck from Urey taking a body out of the now crushed red vehicle. A truck driver is on the scene with his hat to his chest and a dent front engine. After checking the truck driver's testimony and putting him in the back of his cruiser he walked over to the wreckage to find one of the new deputies on scene that had been training.
“Tell me something dept”
“Well, the name of the known deceased man was Alexander Skopien” Dutch then froze looking toward the distant ambulance that now holds his sleeping mangled friend.
“Everything alright sir?” Dutch then coughed and breathed for a moment needing to keep his composer.
“Everything fine Dept it's just that I knew him that all.” The deputy then shrank his shoulders and apologized.
“Nonsense Dept this is the type of thing you have to get used to as a Police officer.”
“Yes sir, well besides his driver's license the only thing found in the wreckage was a pair of glasses.”
Dutch then looked upon the glasses and then his cross and asked the deputy to give it over.
“Why? You need a new pair old man” The deputy laughed scolding him as if he was off the job Dutch replied by touching his body cam which made the deputy quickly quiet.
“No, not at all but.” Dutch was in thought for a moment
“Did you ever read a bible verse about The Lord giving sight to the blind? Well, maybe we can give those who need it. After all, something you should know as my deputy as an officer we do everything for the people of our town, and as my deputy, you would know it's the right thing to do.”

Author's Note

Shouldnt you be wearing your glasses?