Rize’s POV

It wasn’t until late evening that I managed to find a habitable settlement. Several steps across a barrier of thick woods consisting of pinewood and considerably tall canopy trees, was an empty old road laden with greeneries at its edges. At a distance, I saw a small restaurant and a gas station side-by-side on the side of the road. It was strange that a restaurant was opened in this type of surroundings; with thick greeneries and possibly, a low chance of garnering income, but I dared to take my chances.

The grumble in my belly requires immediate fulfilment, and I am incapable of cooking a meal for the time being as it would take a lot of time and because I lack the correct equipment and ingredients.

I rushed towards the restaurant, in hope that it’s still open despite late in the evening. By the time the restaurant turned on their huge neon sign installed above the establishment, I halted in front of the restaurant’s door, suddenly hesitating.

What if… this settlement is actually empty? What if it’s my mind playing tricks with me saying that there was someone inside, and that all the appliances are functional is the trick of my mind? I might need to rethink my decision.

I began to stare at the neon sign. ‘Jess’ Diner’ was written with bright pink and yellow light. With how consistent the light is, I don’t think I’m hallucinating. I blinked. Then I blinked again for the second time.

“Well, hello there.” A female voice greeted me, literally shocking me from my pondering. I didn’t completely leave my ‘fight or flight’ state, so I brought my right hand forward, baring my long fingernails in front of her, making a claw gesture, and prepared to attack.

“Oh my.” She exclaimed mildly while looking at my hand. The surroundings were quiet for a brief moment with her eyeing down my body, and me glaring at her, before she stepped back a couple feet away from me and broke into a friendly smile.

“Sorry if I surprised you. I bet you have experienced something bad, but I am not here to terrorize you.” She raised both of her hands in front, motioning a signal of defeat. One of her hands held something that looked like a notepad, but in a form of hologram-like piece of slate. On it was a mixture of words in sequences starting from ‘hamburger’, to ‘fizzy cola’.

Oh, it’s a food menu.

My stomach inadvertently grumbled again.

I calmed down pretty quickly after that. Her eyes might seem foxy, with all that heavy eye make-up and shading on her fair skin, but I didn’t sense any malicious intent from her. Just like she said, she didn’t want to terrorize me, and her dark pink and white lined uniform screamed as such.

“Philza, what took you so long?” Another unfamiliar voice beckoned closer, which rendered the two of us to look for its source.

At that time, I managed to get a clear look of the restaurant’s interior from a close up. Its interior looked like any regular diner; chair and tables set up at their designated place, and the counter section, which was lined by tall metallic stools. The only difference that this diner has from all the diners I had seen in my entire life was the usage of all these holograms.

I… Don’t remember the humanity ever using holograms on daily basis. True enough, the foundation, and I believe, most of technologically advanced organisation used them, but not the public.

Suddenly, I felt my lower abdomen clench.

“Oh.” I mouthed, remembering the fact that I need to use the toilet. At the same time, I woman, dark-skinned, and with her thick wavy hair tied in a high ponytail and covered with a bandanna the same colour as their uniform, appeared from the door behind the counter.

“Now I do know that there aren’t a lot of people around here, but that doesn’t mean that you can-” Her Southern accent was cut off with a frantic “Excuse me!” From me while I waved my hand up to both of them. That action immediately garnered their attention.

Hesitantly, I lowered down my hand and quite frantically, uttered, “May I use your toilet?”

“So, where are you from?” The dark-skinned woman asked after putting a large metallic plate of a hamburger with three stacks of patties in it and large fries drizzled with cheese sauce and spring onions. I automatically swallowed my saliva.

For a few moments, there were silence lingering in the air. It took me a while to realize something, which wasn’t the question she uttered to me, but the look of the handful of people around. They were frowning while secretly stealing glances at me. Do I look weird?

“Those people.” I started. “Why are they looking at me like that?” I didn’t know what look I gave to those people, but they flinched by the time my gaze met them. The woman named Philza, who was sitting one stool away from me, shrugged before she dryly laughed.

“Well, I guess they have never seen someone look so different before. Like, what shade is that white hair of yours? They look like ashen white to me. But not gonna lie, they suit your eyes.”

Her statement won a confused look from me. “What white hair are you talking about? My hair is brown-” I pulled a small lock of my hair to my view, then froze. What entered my view wasn’t my shiny and wavy dark brown hair, which was my trophy that I treasured the most, but a wavy and silky… white hair?

I shot up from my seat, and pardoned myself to the toilet, while still holding my strands of hair. “One second.” Then I left them to go back to the toilet. I wasn’t focusing on my reflection when I left the toilet earlier. Probably because I was too hungry. But if I did, my sense of hunger might disappear, replaced with astound. Which, was what happened to me right now.

What happened to me?

Shaken, I caressed my hair again. Its length was the same as the last time I remembered it. A wavy hair the length of my chest. Its length is still the same, but not the colour. And my eyes…

“…My goodness…” I leaned in closer towards the huge toilet mirror. My eyes are a globe of crimson hue and white. I couldn’t even say that I was hallucinating because the mirror is literally clean without a speck of dust. It’s also bright in here with all these ceiling lights.

Other than my outfit, I look like an entirely different person dressed as me.

I didn’t know how long I was inside the toilet, but by the time I exited the toilet, the dark-skinned was bringing two trays of food, presumably newly made, out from the kitchen. She stopped briefly as she said, “Hey, done looking at yourself? Philza is guarding your food for you. Eat it before it gets cold.”

My gaze shifted from her towards Philza. She was caning her chin on one of her hands on the counter top. As she lazily crossed her legs over each other, a relaxed wave was motioned to me.

Reluctantly, I walked closer to her.

“Welcome back. I was beginning to wonder whether you ate something bad on the way.” She then flicked her bob-cut neon pink hair. “But luckily, you’re not. Now eat. The food is this close to getting cold.” She pinched the air in front of her, probably indicating the time it takes for the food to get cold.

I nodded before thanking her. Then, still hesitant, I lifted the hamburger and took a first bite.

There was a subtle sourness from the burger. I’m assuming pickles? But they didn’t taste bad at all. In fact, they managed to relish my hunger. I started to chew curiously, and the more I chewed, more flavour started to come in. Sweetness, tanginess, fatty, and a subtle saltiness. I was too busy gobbling up the burger that by the time I realized, my plate is already empty.

“What…?” I stammered to myself. Still confused, I turned to the side to see Philza smugly smirking at me.

Philza suddenly giggled when I fluttered my eyes. “Don’t worry, I can assure you that you ate all of them by yourself. I didn’t steal any. Jess’ pickle paste gave that special kick in her hamburger. It was THAT delicious that people wouldn’t even realize that they have finished the burger.”

While she explained, I shyly wiped my hands—which was quite severely smeared in sauce. Jess’ Diner, huh? I think I can buy the hamburger again next time. Jess offered to serve me one more plate, and although embarrassed, I accepted her offer. What can I do when I’m THAT hungry, right?

While waiting for the next portion, I was listening to Philza nonchalant talks about the diner and her daily life, while I stared around the interior of the diner. I don’t remember seeing this restaurant while I was working. Is it a new establishment?

At that moment, the images of the greens that filled my working facility flashed at the back of my mind.

“I was wondering,” My gaze peeked at Philza. She had stopped talking, and was looking at me while she slurped on my Coke. I tossed a quick empty stare on her lips touching the rim of the glass.

Okay.

“I was wondering, what year is it right now?”

My question won a raised eyebrow from her. Putting down the glass, she then said, “Are you being serious now?”

My eyes fluttered from her question. I am being serious right now. Really, serious. But I have a feeling that this would take a long time if I were to press on my question. I was already treated like a clown just by how I looked, I don’t want people to think I’m crazy too.

“Do you remember the rift that happened?” I need to find a common ground for us to be able to relate to each other.

In an instant, her nonchalant look froze. There was an uncomfortable silence lingering in between us, and if Jess didn’t cut in as she placed a newly cooked hamburger set, and told Philza to clean the tables, I bet the silence will linger even longer.

After answering Jess with a simple ‘Yeah’, she returned to look at me.

“Obviously.” She said slowly, as if trying to pick herself back up. “That event 5 years ago will always be a nightmare to all of the humankind.” Yet it was the reality. I guess, people still couldn’t quite digest whether what happened was a dream or not. Turns out it was a nightmarish reality after all.

Wait, 5 years?

“5 years?” My eyebrows knitted into a frown.

Philza seemed taken aback by my reaction. With a scoff, she replied. “What? Of course, it’s five years- Wait…” Then she pointed at me with her index finger, her baby blue nails glistened as she did. “Don’t tell me you didn’t know?”