"Hallucinations"

by Eduardo Pérez

3rd October 2018

The rainy morning started early for Henry, who was a tall thin brown-eyed man. Every day he followed the same routine.

When the clock alarm rang, he would get up from his fancy bed and go straight to the bathroom to take a long hot shower. Then he’d meticulously dry his face and body, brush his teeth, and dress himself in a different suit every day.

Next he’d drink the coffee that he had prepared the night before. After that, he’d take his briefcase and go to the garage where his beautiful ports car was parked. He’d turn on the car’s engine and drive to work.

Yet, this day was different because after his car had broken down out of nowhere, he didn’t know what to do. If his car were working correctly, he would arrive on time, but it was not, so he had no choice, and finally decided to take the bus.

He walked out of his house to the bus stop because it was a few steps away, but he wasn’t expecting that a truck would soak him with muddy water as soon as he sat down at the bus stop. Moreover, he could never imagine how that simple event would drastically change his life.

“For real?! Is there anything worse that could happen to me today?” said Henry angrily while trying to cover himself with his briefcase. It didn’t work out as he had hope.

He was furious, but he really needed to go to work, because that day the company was about to close a huge deal with another company, and Henry was the one in charge! He desperately needed to be at the office as soon as possible.  

He was already on the bus when he thought, “If I introduce myself to the associates looking like this, they will think I’m homeless.” He was looking for a solution, when almost from nowhere, one came up. “I've got it! I’m going to get off the bus at the mall and buy a new suit with my credit card. Then I’ll use the restrooms to clean myself. It’s perfect! And everything will be running all right by the evening.”

He got off at the mall, walked straight to the first suit store that he could find, and bought a decent suit. It was not the best one he could find, but it was a good one. Next, he went to the bathrooms and he froze. There was a plate screwed on the wall:

 “Dear costumers, please do not use the bathrooms for cleaning face or body, those who violate this policy will be consigned to the authorities.”

He had only one more option, there was a public bathroom a couple of blocks ahead, but the zone was used by the homeless to clean themselves. He took a deep breath and finally accepted that it was his last option since he was determined to close the deal.

He was walking as fast as he could as he entered the dirty old concrete isolation, and surprisingly he found a waiting line.

“Excuse me. Do you know if I can enter that bathroom?” he asked politely.

“Stay away from me, you Punk! You are pissing me off!” answered the man in front of him.

He tried to step back. However, if he had stayed in his spot, then he wouldn’t have bumped up against the man behind him. But, he did, and the man behind to him (a tall, strong black man who was wearing an old black leather coat) screamed, “Hey! What the hell are you doing? Go away!”

The large man pushed him and sent Henry to the ground a couple of meters away.

He had fell down, and his head slammed against the muddy old concrete floor.

Henry was dizzy, but after a couple of setbacks, he managed to get up. He was confused, and then he noticed. He was barefoot, without a jacket, a briefcase, or his new suit.