REM

The Condition

Work was stressing me out that day. There were constant pages for me to answer phone calls and so I had stepped in the back to cool off for a bit. As I stood by the swivel fan and chewed on a granola bar, I wondered what the weather was like outside. I left the back room and found the nearest window to have a look, tossing my wrapper in a garbage can along the way.

Peering out into the parking lot, it seemed like a nice day. As I scanned the lot, something caught my eye. A woman was swinging an axe at a blue Volkswagen. I wasn't sure what her reason was for damaging the vehicle, but eventually I saw the window shatter and she began to walk away.

Curious as to what the heck was going on, I ran outside into the parking lot to see my mom's car peel away and onto the street.

"Mom?" I muttered. "What the fuck..."

Beyond confused, I stood there unsure of whether I had just seen my mom swinging an axe at someone's car. Before I really collected my thoughts, there was a group of men surrounding the damaged vehicle.

I watched from a distance before a man took notice of me and pointed in my direction. The whole group turned and began to approach.

"Hey!" One of them yelled.

Oh shit, I thought as I slowly turned and began to walk back toward the building, pretending I didn't notice any of them.

"Hey!" Yelled the man again, a hand gripping my shoulder a few seconds later.

I shook him off and cocked my elbow at his face.

"Don't fucking touch me, you're on camera."

"You look really familiar," he commented. "Was that your mom?"

"Stay away from me," I ordered. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Of course you don't," he laughed. "Your mom is going to work for us eventually. She has the gift, the condition."

I spun around and clenched my right fist.

"What did you just say to me?"

The bald bastard smiled as I stared daggers at him. "She is going to work for us and so are you. You have the condition too."

"I don't know what the fuck you're talking about, but I have to get back to work."

As I walked away he threatened, "It's only a matter of time before it happens. One day you will trigger it and you will have no choice but to come running to us. You'll see."

I didn't care what he was talking about. My mom wouldn't do that sort of thing, she was a sweet lady. The car I saw was just a fluke, it wasn't actually her, it couldn't have been. Besides, he could easily have me mixed up with someone else.

Walking inside, I went to the back room to stand by the fan again for a few minutes before returning to my counter. It was confusing me like crazy, but I wasn't sure what to think at the moment. My mom had the day off for a massage appointment due to overworking herself, she wouldn't be driving into the middle of town to swing axes at people's cars in parking lots. It just wasn't her, it seemed too out of character. But there was only one way to know for sure, I had to go visit her and ask.