When It Mattered Most

WHAT'S Going On?

As Mark stepped into the house, he noticed that it was a well lived in house, although it was very clean. Not a speck of dust in sight. It looked vastly ordinary, and honestly kinda boring.

That changed however, the moment he entered the main room, right next to what looked like a kitchen. There were giant cardboard cutouts of (mostly) people, most he recognized, some he didn't. There was also a demon-like gargoyle sitting on a table in the corner of the room and a creepy looking human sized, man-made doll leaning against the wall behind it.

He wasn't entirely sure if he made the correct choice in following the man here.

Speaking of, the man had entered the kitchen, taking off his gloves to wash his hands. For some reason. He didn't remove the mask. "Could you please wash your hands? I'll go get you a mask."

Extraordinarily confused, Mark turned to the sink and washed his hands. What the hell was going on? It was like there was a plague going around or something.

He only had to wait a moment before the man returned, handing him a face mask with a filter on it. It wrapped all the way around his head and felt weird on his face. The man had his gloves on again and handed Mark a pair of his own.

It was odd, both the gloves and the mask felt as though they fit on him perfectly, which didn't make sense, since he knew from working in deck building that custom fitted masks and gloves were expensive to get Must be a one size fits all or something. It wasn't very often that he found masks that fit his bulking head.

Leading Mark to the table right outside the kitchen, the man said, "You may want to sit down."

The man sat at a corner of the table, so Mark sat perpendicular to the corner he was at. "I'm assuming that you have questions."

Nodding, Mark spoke, "Well, yeah. Uh, w-what's up with all the face masks and gloves? Why is no one outside? What's going on?"

The man leaned back in his chair and spoke calmly, "There's been a worldwide pandemic called COVID-19, it's a virus commonly called the coronavirus, and as of Wednesday it is illegal to leave your house under any circumstance unless it is a genuine emergency. Face masks and gloves are to be worn at all times. No meeting with anyone that doesn't live with you. Delivery trucks come by every Sunday with food and supplies for everyone. The only jobs available right now are digital or can be done at home." The man crossed his arms, waiting for Mark to absorb the insane sounding information he just gave.

He was right. Well, mostly right, it was a virus, not a plague. What was he supposed to do now? He was stuck in the future in a locked down LA. A thought struck his head as he sorted through his thoughts.

"If it was made illegal to go outside, why did you?"

The man reached up as if to rub his neck, before stopping and lowering it, as if remembering something, "Because I saw you outside. You looked lost. I was just going to call to you through the door, but Chica ran out the moment she saw you, and I had to go out any way. Chica's going stir crazy not being able to go to the park anymore and must've thought I was going to take her out.

"If I might ask you a question...?"

Mark nodded, "Yeah, of course. You've gotta have questions too, I'd bet."

The man leaned forward, almost peering at Mark, almost as though searching in his face for something, "What's your name?"

Not expecting the question, Mark blinked, "My full name?"

"Yes."

Honestly unsure if he should trust the man, Mark paused. This whole thing just felt weird and wrong. Chica came out from around a corner and put her head on Mark's knee, almost as though she knew he was worried. Smiling softly, Mark calmed down. "My name is Mark Edward Fischbach," Mark enunciated each syllable.

The man leaned back and hummed, relaxing his gaze, looking past Mark in thought.

After a moment Mark huffed, "Well? Why was it such a big deal?"

The man looked amused, as though he knew something that Mark did not, which, he of course did, being in the position that he was in. Mark rolled his eyes at the man's silence and decided to wait until the man chose to answer him.

Luckily for his ADHD he didn't have to wait long. "It's a big deal because that's my name."

Mark blinked at him, searching the bit of face that he could see. He suddenly realized why everything to do with the man felt strange. It was because it was eerily familiar, yet completely different. Because they were the same person, or almost the same person.

"You're me?" Mark just had to make sure.

"And I am you." Fischbach looked amused at his question, leaning his head forward as if to reassure him of the fact.

Mark suddenly gasped, "I own a Tesla?!"

Fischbach laughed. "No, I own a Tesla. We can't drive it either way," He said shrugging.

They soon fell into a sort of an awkward silence. Neither really knew what to do. A buzzing sound filled the air and the both of them jumped. Fischbach pulled out his smartphone (a way cooler looking and more advanced one than the phone that Mark had) and cursed. "I'm behind schedule."

They both stood up, one with purpose, the other unsure.

"Do you work online?"

"Yeah, but I was supposed to start my workout routine twenty minutes ago."

Mark looked at the older man confusedly.

Fischbach glanced at him, leading them both to a room that had exercising equipment. "I work online, but I keep my day on in a pretty strict routine." Noticing that Mark was unsure of what to do he added, "You can feel free to join me if you want. I have some sweats in the closet there; you can change in the bathroom to the left there."

Nodding Mark did as instructed, oddly excited to do something productive while there. Mark ended up barely able to keep pace with the older man. He found himself falling behind slightly, but he knew that he wouldn't judge himself for it, especially since he had his surgery only a few months ago.

"Don't worry about it." Fischbach said panting, "I've been working on this for months now."

They returned to the kitchen and Fischbach took out a couple of tall glasses of water, he filled them both then handed one to Mark. While he was taking a long drink the elder said, "I'll go get you a set of clothes, the bathroom's right there, you can take a shower."

Mark nodded, feeling touched at his generosity. For some reason. Why was he surprised that he would be kind to himself? Thanking the man, he turned to said bathroom.

As he got out of the shower Mark took notice of the clothes, all very comfortable looking. Putting them on he noticed that they were all from a brand he had never heard of before, Cloak. Must be the new hip thing nowadays.

Putting the mask back on, he stepped out of the bathroom, allowing his future self access to it.

Mark sat back down at the table to wait for Fischbach to finish, wondering what was going to happen next.