Description: Awsten has strange seizures, so Geoff and his friends take care of him. When a jealous ex-best friend turned stalker gets added to the mix, Awsten goes missing from work. It's up to Geoff, Jawn, Otto, and Travis to find him.
Not really Gawsten but it's cool!
The bad guy isn't based on a real person!!
This one sounds super weird, and I wish I could say that I made it up slsldjsdkdj. This happened irl- I'm literally just changing the names of everyone involved.
1437 words.
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"Where's Awsten? He isn't answering my calls," Otto asks, and I pause.
Preparation for the capitalist hell holiday- Black Friday- has begun, so having to think of something other than the displays I'm putting together makes my brain sputter for a moment.
"What do you mean? I thought he was in grocery," I answer, and Otto's eyes widen.
Uh oh.
"Call Jawn, I'll ask around. Meet at the fitting room in ten," I instruct.
After using the intercom to call Awsten to the fitting room, asking the people in his department when they last saw him, and checking the bathrooms, I make my way to the fitting room. The purple-haired boy isn't in sight, but Otto is.
"He's not here! Grocery hasn't seen him in an hour. Did you call Jawn?" I rush out. Panic has set in and I'm breathing heavily from running across the store twice.
Awsten has seizures. He had an accident and suffered a head injury a year or two ago- or at least we're all pretty sure that's what caused it. About six months after the accident, the purple-haired boy started going catatonic every once in a while. He would freeze up and seemingly space out, unable to do anything in terms of communication except blink his eyes. The worst part, however, are when his muscles completely tense and lock up.
After getting on a first name basis with the staff at the neurologist's office, the doctors finally came to the conclusion that he was experiencing some form of seizures, and started him on medication.
Me, Otto, Jawn, and Travis have been here through the whole journey, vowing to take care of him until he finds the right meds and goes at least a year without any seizures.
"I did, he said he'd call me back in just a moment," the curly-haired boy says, and I nod.
I try to call Awsten, hoping he'll answer for me, but the line just rings for a moment before going to voicemail. He doesn't answer. Damnit.
Otto's phone rings, and he answers it and puts it on speaker.
"He's with Michael. Travis and I are trying to get there but we're stuck in traffic. There's been an accident on the highway, and we aren't moving any time soon," Jawn explains, skipping the greeting.
Otto looks up at me and nods. We both dash toward the back room to clock out for lunch. I'm sure Jawn can hear our footsteps, just as we can hear the engine of his car.
Michael is bad news. He's obsessive and controlling, and we all decided that it'd be best if he stays out of Awsten's life. Awsten agrees, too.
When his seizures started to lessen due to medication, we all still kept an eye on him, but gave him more room to breathe. With Black Friday approaching and all of our distracted asses running around with freight and carts and displays, I guess we let him stray a bit too far.
Jawn and Travis- bless them- are working third shift. They should be asleep right now. We'd all go to the ends of the Earth for Awsten, though.
Otto and I get to the back room. We bust through the swinging double doors and dodge a cart, then finally make it to the computer.
"How d'you know he's with Michael?" Otto asks as he waits for me to clock out. I type my information in as fast as I can.
"I called Mr. Roberts- the nosy guy who's always out on his porch- and asked him if Michael was home. He said that he is, and that he has the purple-haired guy with him. Who else around here has purple hair? No one. He also said that the purple-haired guy seemed to be having trouble walking."
Otto hands the phone to me so he can clock out.
"So- lemme get this fucking straight- Michael convinced Awsten to get in the car with him and stressed him out so much that it made him have a seizure? What the fuck-" I begin, but someone cuts me short.
A blond boy walks up to Otto and I. I've seen him around recently, but he doesn't work in my department. He's new, and his name tag says his name is Patty.
"Hey, uh, you're Geoff, right?" He asks, and I nod.
Otto finishes clocking out and we head for the door with a quickened pace. I motion for Patty to follow us.
"Yeah, we're kinda in the middle of something, so we have to keep moving, but what is it?" I ask, trying to keep my anger toward Michael out of my voice.
"I was talking to Alex about something I saw in the parking lot, and he said I should come and tell you," Patty explains, and I nod for him to continue.
We make it out of the back room and start toward the front of the store.
"There was this guy with purple hair who was struggling to walk, and he was being led out of the store by this really short guy with brown hair," Patty says, and my anger boils over.
"Are you fucking kidding me? That asshole kicked in our front door and took him right out from underneath our noses while he was having a seizure!" I yell.
Patty looks worried as I fume, but I can't help it.
"Thank you, dude. Tell Alex we'll handle it," Otto says hurriedly to the blond boy. "I'll pull the car around- wait for me outside of the garden center." He says to me and then takes off toward the grocery side's doors.
"Thanks, man," I say, and run toward the garden center.
I sprint past customers and carts, dodging other employees who are zoning their shelves, and ignore people glancing at me worriedly. I'm a Walmart employee. I've got shit to do, and sometimes I'm required to sprint from one end of the store to the other with a look of rage on my face. It's part of the gig.
Alex spots me from the toy section and tries to flag me down, but I just yell out "I know! I'm on it!" And keep running.
I make it outside of the garden center just as Otto pulls up. I hop in and he takes off.
Michael probably won't hurt Awsten, but it's not something I'm willing to gamble with.
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Michael's house looks exactly like all of the other houses in his subdivision, but Otto and I have his memorized in case something like this ever happens.
If people have your address memorized purely because they think you might try to kidnap someone, that really speaks volumes about you as a person.
Otto whips into the driveway and both of our eyes land on Awsten struggling to get down the flight of stairs connected to the front porch. I jump out before Otto is even fully stopped, and just as I start toward Awsten, who looks relieved to see me even though he's still kind of out of it, the front door opens and Michael rushes out to try to get to Awsten.
He stops on the first step when he notices Otto's car, and thoroughly freezes solid when he sees me. I ignore him and climb the steps to Awsten, who slumps against me.
"H-he h- h-" The purple-haired boy tries to speak, but he hasn't regained control of his body entirely yet, so I gently hush him and focus on getting him the rest of the way down the stairs.
It takes five minutes, and Otto jumps out of the car at one point due to Awsten almost slipping, but eventually he's safely in the backseat. I buckle him up and shut his door before turning to Michael, who hasn't moved.
"Don't ever fucking do that again."
With that, I get into the passenger seat and Otto takes us back to Walmart, where we focus on signing out properly and getting Awsten home.