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Chapter 2 - After the Life-Changing Event

 

 

After the indescribable and beautiful incident that happened between Ronnee and I at the lunch on December 15 2016, my life was not the same. I felt really good in the first few days. I was happy, energetic and my thinking was in supercharged mode. I was in love with Ronnee and felt she was in love with me. This truly is the most powerful feeling a person can have, far surpassing any feelings generated by material items. I would not trade this feeling for any amount of money, including winning the lottery. It felt like “winning the lottery” when our eyes met at full stare.

The next day, Argos corporate employees were invited to celebrate the second-ever Best Employee Award event, directed by Jessica, the company’s branding and communications manager. When I entered the conference room about ten minutes before the start of the event, I saw Jessica and said, “Hi Jessica, how are you?”

She looked at me in a neutral but curious way and said, “OK,” smiled a little and kept walking away.

“I think that you’re busy,” I said to her. She smiled a little and continued to walk away.

Jessica has amazing ability. She is a natural-born leader who never falls under pressure no matter how extreme the situation may be and always remains calm while she is trying to figure out the next steps. That is another reason why I had such a difficult time getting to know her better.

As the conference room was getting fuller, there was an empty seat next to Ronnee. I had not spoken with her since the incident. “Should I sit next to her?” After this thought, I noticed her boss, Mark, was standing at the end of the conference room. “I better not,” I said to myself.

After the event ended, I waited at one of the exit doors just long enough for Ronnee to see me. I slowly exited the conference room. After a few steps, Ronnee was right behind me and our eyes locked at full stare again for a few seconds. We were alone, standing in the hallway. She said, “Hi,” smiled, and looked at me in a certain way. I said, “Hi,” to her and smiled in the sincerest way possible. She continued to smile in a happy and genuine way as she walked to her cubicle. I knew for sure she liked what had happened between us the previous day. I felt Ronnee wanted more of those feelings and was ready to give herself to me again. I was able to see it in her eyes. I was able to find her soul and read her mind. This was only possible because I truly loved her. At that point, I loved and cared for her more than I loved and cared for myself. This, again, proved my philosophical point of view; if you truly love someone, you are willing to give up your life for that person. Love truly is the strongest force in the Universe. For love you live, for love you die. Love created everything in every possible universe, time, and dimension. Without love, there would just be an empty space.         

The upcoming weekend was unusual as the feelings created by the Thursday event were fully present. I kept thinking and replaying the event in my mind. I tried to figure out what happened and why. “Was Ronnee feeling the same? Was she questioning the event the same way I did? Had she ever experienced this before? Because I hadn’t. Who initiated the event? Was it her, or me, or did this happen simultaneously? Does this happen to people who search their whole life for true love and finally find the perfect match?” These were among many questions I asked myself. I also noticed, the more I thought about the event, the more my eyes become dilated. I researched “dilated eye syndrome” on the internet and found the following: “it cannot be controlled at will, however, it can be influenced via recreational drugs such as LSD.” “Weird, I don’t do drugs,” I thought.                         

I saw Ronnee again on Tuesday. She was really busy because a lawsuit “went south” and Mark gave her more than the usual amount of work. She was unable to meet for lunch, but later changed her mind and went to the cafeteria shortly after me. As mentioned earlier, we only talked about ordinary things. Neither of us had the courage to discuss the Thursday event. Maybe both of us thought the event was a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence, something that does not just happen randomly, and it was better to leave it alone to protect ourselves. Susana, with her IT co-workers, went to the cafeteria. They were laughing and looking at me and Ronnee. It appeared that someone had started to spread rumors regarding the situation. “Was it Ronnee or Jessica? No way,” I thought. “Was it Christine, or the receptionist named Aggie?” Possibly, but I didn’t know which one. I knew for sure Christine was scared to death as she witnessed the event. Religion was used as the abuse tool by her family when she was a child. How sad that the people she trusted the most could do something like that to control an innocent child. I totally understood she could break down at any time and talk. My feelings toward her did not change at all. I still viewed her as my friend and the person I genuinely cared for. “Is she going to see me as the Devil or the person that fell in love with Ronnee?” That was the million-dollar question. If she saw me as the Devil, my days at Argos were numbered.

I purposely did not go to the cafeteria until I knew whether Ronnee wanted to associate with me or not. After our latest lunch, she returned a teddy bear to me, stating “legal reasons.” She became scared by the whole situation and was afraid of losing her job. This was understandable as she mentioned a few months ago, “Joseph, college is so expensive!”

Christine didn’t want to speak with me. I decided not to contact the two girls for a few weeks and let everything calm down. It would be best to feel them out, to have lunch with the three of them when Jessica returned from her vacation.                         

During the Christmas holidays, I took time to reflect on eye sex. I recalled a night in the Old Town of Prague.

 

It was 3 a.m. in late spring. I walked across the Charles Bridge and stopped to enjoy the night and the beautiful scenery the place offered. I’d had a few drinks at the nearby Karlovy Lázně nightclub, my body was warm with the right kind of buzz. Stress and endless hassle of the ever-busy work week was replaced by inner peace and overall relaxation. I didn’t care anymore. I was just there, in my own little world, fully enjoying the moment. The weather didn’t exist, as time stopped, and the wind was at a complete standstill. I was alone, but felt the enigmatic presence of some of the many people who had walked over the bridge in the past 600-plus years.

A female was approaching, wearing a dark navy blue outfit. Due to the misty darkness of the night, I couldn't see into her face, but her way of walking was so familiar. It was the walk that only a confident and classy woman could possess. In the silence of the night, I was able to hear her stepping in a playful, sexual way as her high heels clapped in a perfect, metronomic beat against the sidewalk bricks. She approached me and stood still, with her eyes looking directly into mine, not in an intrusive way. I met her stare and fully consented. She started to undress me using only her eyes. I liked it. In fact, I was loving every second of it. "This can't be happening! Is this just a dream?" I thought, but did not move at all. Without any warning, my vision became blurry and I was not able to recognize the surroundings. Everything was mute except for a slight buzzing generated by vibrations of static electricity. Then, I saw her barely recognizable face moving even closer. She tilted her head to my right side, slightly smiled as her delicate gaze penetrated mine, and the eyes played their silent melody consisting of heat, excitement, lust, and curiosity. I was breathless, completely paralyzed, unable to move an inch as we were seeing into each other’s souls. Our thought process was synchronized and enormous amounts of information were exchanged. It was a reading of the mind. After a few seconds my vision returned to normal and the woman quickly stepped back, whispering, "Wow!" She then lowered her head, looking down with eyes almost closed, barely breathing. It was all over. Without saying a word, she resumed her walk and disappeared into the darkness of the hazy night.

This wasn't just an eye fuck, this was different. To get off, you can have sex with anybody, without any emotions. The eye foreplay lasted for a short time, but it was a priceless moment, one of a kind sexual satisfaction far surpassing any emotions generated by material items. The longer the eyes played their magic, the deeper was the emotional bond that formed and the two of us transported ourselves to a different dimension, to a world where anything was possible. Were our hearts pierced by an arrow, signaling the beginning of love? True love – where it doesn’t matter what the other person owns on the outside and what does matter is the kind of person he or she is, inside. 

This raw, pure, unconditional attachment created by full frontal eye contact is so rare in the third millennium. Are we so preoccupied with our lives that we’ve lost the ability to see the big picture of how the world really works? Have our minds become so clouded by specialized pursuits, with emphasis on material items, that we’ve lost the ability to defend ourselves against outside threats; against entities whose goal is to enslave our minds, to fully control us, to bribe us with material items of little or no value and to steer us away from personal contacts to cheap, emotionless substitutes such as the latest phones loaded with a bunch of social media applications? We don’t look each other in the eyes, let alone engage in eye foreplay. Are we so collectively sexually unsatisfied and afraid to look each other in the eyes because of possible threats of sexual harassment lawsuits and loss of careers? Have our minds already become institutionalized? How can we freely express our personalities and develop real, deep, hot and passionate relationships when we are constantly preoccupied with the fear of punishment for actions that consist of the most pure forms of human contact?

Consensual eye contact is the beginning of seduction, leading to the most powerful form of foreplay. Full frontal eye contact strips away all the endless bullshit filters and images we put on to hide our true identity. When someone stares into your eyes, and you fearlessly stare back, you're allowing him or her into your precious, private little orbit. It's dangerous. You are willingly giving yourself over to someone. All of a sudden, they are in total control and there is nothing you can do about it.

 

This was the only experience in my life that came even close to what happened between Ronnee and I on that Thursday afternoon. “How often does this happen? Does it happen only to a certain group of people?” A mystery was born. The more questions I asked, the more lost I became.

I missed Ronnee and wanted to see her and talk to her as soon as possible. I could not wait for Jessica to return from Ireland. I wanted to see Jessica as well. I missed talking with her, was curious about her trip and wanted to see how she finally interpreted the December lunch event.

On Monday, January 9th, I checked Jabber intranet messenger to see if she was available. She was not. “Fuck,” I thought, “I hope she didn’t block me as her contact.” If she had, Ronnee would block me from her life, as well. I didn’t know what to do at that point so I stuck to my original plan – to stay away from Ronnee and the cafeteria until I got more info on where I stood with the girls.                                                               

Next day my boss, Sue, gave me a letter related to legal issues the company had. “What a coincidence, this is the perfect excuse to see Ronnee.” I was first going to check out Steve, the HR Director, who sat a couple cubicles from Ronnee.

As I was walking to the third floor, I was going over my masterplan. Sure enough, Steve was at his desk and said to take this letter to “our wonderful Ronnee Pedersen.” After he made this comment, I knew for sure people were talking about the incident.

Steve was on my side, since he’d flirted with Ronnee in front of me and Jessica a few months ago. Ronnee was talking about half-naked eighty-year-old women in Denmark’s parks.

“Did you say ‘naked’?” Steve asked her, in an excited way.

I jumped into the conversation. “Ronnee, maybe when you are eighty, you can dress up like that in public.”

“I still have some American in me,” she said, and smiled in a sleazy and excited way. Jessica, as usual, was not saying anything and avoided any sexual conversations in front of a third person. She was just listening. She truly is the smart one. 

Jessica, sitting at the adjacent cubicle, heard the conversation between Steve and I, said something to Ronnee and quickly walked away. In the past, I noticed she walked away from her cubicle every time I started to talk with Ronnee at her desk. She possibly did this to give us some privacy. Ronnee did the same on one occasion when I began to talk with Jessica first. I don’t know, maybe this was just a coincidence.

As I was approaching Ronnee, she was blushing with excitement. “Steve told me to come to your desk,” I said, and gave her the letter. “How are you?” I continued to speak.

“I’m OK, just busy,” she replied.

“You better get back to it, I don’t want to interrupt,” I said. I smiled a little and started to walk away.

I turned around and noticed a smile on her face and then she gave me the wink. I knew I was golden. I cannot even describe how I felt when I returned to my desk. She was the love of my life. It was impossible to feel any better. I was on top of the world again. The lunches would continue as usual. ;-) I was so excited and wrote a Jabber message to Jessica: “I hope that Ireland met your expectations. Welcome back!”

In about a half hour, Jessica replied (most likely after a conversation with Ronnee) in a friendly way, like nothing had happened. I knew that I was golden with her, as well. One final obstacle remained. The million-dollar question remained unanswered. It was Christine.

The next morning, I went to see Christine to feel her out. She was sitting at her cubicle, smiled a little and said, “Hi,” and then quickly looked away. I could see that she was afraid and my presence made her feel uncomfortable. I tried to loosen her up by discussing everyday events. She played along and continued the conversation. She felt safe, since her co-workers were present. Finally, I asked the question, “Are you gonna be at lunch today?”

“I don’t know, probably not,” she replied in a hesitant way.

“Really?” I asked her. I was sad and disappointed, said goodbye and went back to work.

My only hope was Jessica. I knew at some point she would be able to persuade Christine to believe that I am just an ordinary guy and not the Devil. “If this happened in the 1600s, the HR department would have already burned me and Ronnee at a stake, no questions asked. I am so lucky we live in the 21st century,” were my relieved thoughts.

About an hour later, oddly enough, I saw Christine on the fourth floor having a conversation with my boss, who was two levels above me. I got nervous. She probably told Val that I sexually harassed her earlier in the day. Or, maybe, she just told her something related to accounting/credits. I was not sure, but was able to overcome my fears and went to the cafeteria to have lunch.

Sure enough, Jessica and Christine were at lunch together. I sat next to them at the adjacent table and had a “business as usual” conversation with Jessica. Christine loosened up a little bit and answered a few of my questions. However, she still looked scared. I could see the fear in her facial expression. Her family really fucked her up. No child deserves to live like that.

“I would probably gladly kill all the people that made her childhood a living hell, if that would make Christine feel better,” I calmly thought to myself, as I was looking at her face. I wanted my old Christine back. The happy Christine, the Christine who was the leader of the group and always had a story. I wanted to hug and kiss her right there in the cafeteria to prove to her that I was not the Devil.    

                                   

On Wednesday the 11th, I did not go to the cafeteria. I wanted to give the girls some privacy and allow them to decide together, as a group, what to do about me. I had a feeling that all three would be in the cafeteria on Thursday. It had been a month since the four of us had lunch. I wanted to look my best, therefore that evening I went to get a haircut and prepared some nice clothes for the upcoming day. ;-)                                        

The next day, I could not wait to see the girls. The morning dragged really slowly as I kept looking at the clock. I could not wait until 12.10 p.m., my usual departure time for the cafeteria. I rarely left my desk before this time. I wanted the girls to be there first, so I could see which one of them was reserving her empty seat for me. If the occasion permitted, I would try to flirt with that particular girl on the same day to show her my appreciation.

The three women were at the cafeteria, dressed at their best. I was so happy Christine was there. She genuinely smiled at me after our eyes met for a split second. Christine was finally able to overcome her fears. I walked in there at just the right time to catch Ronnee in front of a microwave, warming up her lunch. We just said, “Hi,” to each other.

Unknown to me, at that moment, the girls had conspired to “fuck with me” that day. In their minds, they were losing control of the situation and wanted to be in charge again. They did not want Joseph to be in charge. They wanted to decide when and how they would allow Joseph to enter their precious little private orbits again. I was totally ignored as the girls were discussing female-related items. It was amusing to them as there was no way to break into the conversation. “I would have to be a gay to keep up with that type of conversation,” I thought to myself, in a sad way, as I was looking at the girls and listening to the conversation.

Then I understood what was going on. They were just messing with me to teach me a lesson. The girls would like to be the dominant ones. I decided to play along and thought about my favorite movie, The Witches of Eastwick. At that point, I wanted to be Daryl. I knew we had all experienced a not-so-ordinary event together, therefore I could steer the girls to play that game to a certain degree in the future. “If Jessica loses her glasses and Christine comes to her senses, maybe it would then be possible to have eye sex with them, as well.” My mind was racing with this and similar thoughts as the girls were having fun.

I decided to acknowledge to the group that I had lost the battle that day. As I was leaving the cafeteria, I smiled at the girls and said, “You guys have a great day.”

Ronnee and Jessica said, “Bye, Joseph,” and gave me the victorious, “We got you fucker and there is nothing you can do about it” look.

“This cannot get any better,” I said to myself as I was leaving the cafeteria, smiling and fully satisfied.                                          

That afternoon I started to get sick. My eyes were slightly dilated and I felt uncomfortable looking at the computer screen. I was so happy my workday ended at 4 p.m.

The next day I felt dizzy and lightheaded again, I was barely able to stay focused on work-related items. I kept thinking about the fun lunch we had the day before. I was able to get away with this since Sue was on a business trip related to a major acquisition that expanded Argos’ manufacturing activity in the Northeast. The weekend was strange. I started to notice that at certain times my kids were behaving in an unusual way. It was the classic scenario of “good and bad kid” with slight abnormality. The pattern did not change at all during the whole weekend.

On Monday, 16th of January, everything turned for the worse. That morning, I began to have facial pains; my eyes were hurting and my jaw was stiff. I had difficulty opening my mouth. The weirdest thing was the computer screen. It appeared that vibrating flashes of light were being emitted at certain intervals towards my face. I had a really difficult time completing any kind of work.

In the evening, I went to LA Fitness health club on Terrell Mill Road. My eyes were hurting especially badly when exposed to a bright light. I thought a little physical activity would make me feel better. I needed to be sharp and productive at work, because tomorrow Sue would be reviewing all the work assigned to me last week.

When I scanned my membership card, the receptionist was looking directly into my eyes in a very surprised way. I immediately went to the bathroom to check my face. I could not believe what I saw; my eyes were almost fully dilated. She must have thought I was on LSD. “What am I going to do? I need to come up with something to get my eyes back to normal.”

I stood in front of the mirror at a distance of about an inch, and tried to focus my eyes to the tip of my nose. After a few minutes, the dilation slightly subsided. “Good, it appears this may work in the long run,” I thought to myself. “I cannot be walking around in public looking like Satan. Sooner or later, the police will pick me up.” 

I calmed myself down, jumped on a treadmill, turned on Pandora Radio and concentrated on the workout. The lights appeared brighter than normal and I experienced severe, sharp pain in my eyes. I went to the bathroom again to check them. “Shit, they are fully dilated again. What am I going to do? How am I going to function in society with this kind of condition?” I was scared to death and decided that tomorrow was another day. “I better get some sleep. There is a good chance this will not be a problem tomorrow.” I then thought of what to do next if the problem didn’t go away. I covered my eyes and abruptly left the gym.

When I woke up on Tuesday, January 17th, my eyes were slightly dilated but nowhere near as bad as the previous evening. They were, however, still sensitive to light, but I decided to go to work.

After about an hour of work, the pain in both eyes increased dramatically. I went to the bathroom and, to my disappointment, my eyes were almost fully dilated. I hoped Sue would not call me to her cubicle to go over the assignment, since most of the work was not finished. :-(

Sure enough, I received the Jabber message to stop at her desk. I had no choice but to go over. I made all kinds of excuses why the work wasn’t completed. Sue remained professional and gave me the benefit of the doubt. I had never before had any performance issues and always tried to go above and beyond. We began to review the work that I was able to complete. It was a basic spreadsheet reconciled on a monthly basis. The review turned out to be my worst nightmare. She found so many errors, so quickly. The worst was that I could not remember when and how I had completed the spreadsheet.

“Joseph, what is going on?” she asked, in a disappointed way. Sue was clearly upset as she saw my fully dilated eyes.

“It’s all over, she thinks that I’m on drugs,” I thought. I remained calm and promised to fix the errors quickly. It took me forever to correct the spreadsheet. After a great struggle, I was able to complete the task. She reviewed the work and did not find any errors.

“Good, because I am unable to remember if I fixed them all,” I thought to myself in relief. Apparently, she was satisfied with the work and asked me what I wanted for lunch. We ordered gyros from a nearby Greek restaurant.

​

After the lunch, I began yet another reconciliation. My symptoms had significantly worsened. The colors in the spreadsheets started to change in an unpredictable manner. I didn’t know what was real and what wasn’t anymore. “Did the ‘thing’ really happen between me and Ronnee during that lunch in December? How about the eye foreplay in Prague? Do my three female friends even exist?” These were my confused thoughts. “If I sit here any longer, I’m gonna end up in a mental institution. I need to find the truth, right now.”

I ran out of the building as fast as I could. As I was looking at the trees adjacent to the parking lot, my breathing slowed to normal and my chest pains went away. I was able to calm myself down. I reached for the phone; what a relief when I was able to the find everything intact. This was enough proof to reassure myself that everything I had experienced in my life was real and, most importantly, I also realized my love for Ronnee was real. “In order to save my job, I need to get the fuck out of the office as soon as possible,” I silently said, and came up with a brilliant plan.

“Sue, I am so sorry that I am unable to focus. My grandma, who basically raised me, is dying. She is more of a mother to me, since my real mom is a little crazy. I’ll tell you the story later. I’m going to have to go to Czech Republic very soon. Please, I need to go home right now and get some rest,” I said to my boss, in the most believable way possible, after returning to the office. I didn’t have to act at all, since I felt really sick anyway.

“I’m sorry to hear that, no problem, Joseph. Go home and come back when you can. I’ll finish the reconciliation that is due today.” As she was finishing the sentence, she raised her head and looked me in the face. Her eyes were almost fully dilated and a small orange coffin with a tombstone was displayed in the center of each eye.

“I don’t want to think or see anything today anymore!” This raced through my head as I was running towards my car. At home, I immediately went to bed and slept for the rest of the afternoon. After waking up, I was so happy that I felt OK again and my eyes had gone back to normal.

Naturally, I needed to do something about this situation. I thought about and replayed the events in my head several times. The oddest thing, besides the dilated eyes and related hallucinations, was the computer screen. I assumed this was probably the source of my medical problems. “Why would someone try to shoot vibrating flashes of light into my face to cause hypnosis and hallucinations?”

When brainstorming, I came up with an explanation; people at work talked about the unusual event that happened between me and Ronnee. Somehow the intelligence agencies found out about this. This was entirely possible since, according to “The Snowden Report,” all internet and telephone communication is recorded and stored on a massive server farm owned by the people in charge. Artificial intelligence systems scan the stored data for code words to identify potential enemies of the state. They got curious and tried to cause hallucinations and a nervous breakdown in me. A 911 would then be called to take me away for medical analysis/experimentation.

This was crazy, but the only explanation my mind was able to come up with at that time. I became nervous and was really afraid something similar had or would happen to Ronnee. I had to warn her as soon as possible and came up with a solution; go to the Microcenter store located a couple miles from home to buy a privacy screen protector to see if that would block the flashes of vibrating light. To my astonishment, the store wanted almost $200 for this piece of plastic. “That is a great sign. This may actually work, since it would deter most people from buying one,” I thought. I bought one piece and would come for another one if this solved the problems.

                                     

The next morning, I was so happy my issues were solved. I felt great again and told Sue about my eye problems and the solution. “It would be a good idea to see an eye doctor,” I added, at the end of the conversation, in case my eyes dilated again, so she would not think I did drugs. I also asked her when would I receive an offer for the permanent position. We had been discussing this for eight months.

“Look, Joseph, I will give you a piece of advice. Many employees on the third floor are not the nicest people. Try to associate yourself with the employees located on the fourth floor. But, even then, be careful what you say and what you write. All electronic communication, including Jabber, is closely monitored.”

I could not believe what I was hearing and noticed Sue had a small image of a white cross displayed in the center of each eye. “Great, my problems are not solved,” I thought, but I remained calm and asked, “So, you said that even some people on the fourth floor are not nice. Is someone like Tony bad?” Tony was a deeply religious person. I especially mentioned him after seeing the white crosses in my boss’s eyes.

“Come on, Joseph, Tony is not bad. I am just telling you, if you want to be hired full time you are gonna have to become an office politician, to a certain degree. Just use your judgment.”                                   

I kept thinking about the incident as I was sitting at my desk. “This is BS and I don’t care anymore. For all I know, Ronnee’s life is in danger and I have to warn her asap.” I sent a Jabber message to Jessica telling her about my medical issues. I also wrote that I felt much better now and would tell her the story at lunch.                                

I went to lunch at the usual 12.10 p.m. and, sure enough, Ronnee and Jessica were already sitting at one of the tables. They were, however, not sitting at their usual place and were having lunch at the table where Aggie, the receptionist, normally sat. There was one more person having lunch at the other end of the small cafeteria. It was Tony. I sat next to the ladies and began to talk about everyday events. I had to, since Tony, who I suspected was most likely spying on us, could hear everything. There were also a couple of HR employees, Becky and Debbie, going back and forth between the cafeteria and adjacent rooms, looking at us with each pass. I knew something was happening, but kept calm.

Ronnee was in a great mood and teased me with her short white skirt. I started to look at her naked legs, slowly moved my eyes up to her face and noticed that her pupils and corneas in both eyes were shining in bright crystal white color. It was the same crystal white color of the small crosses Sue had in her eyes. “At least nothing yet has happened to her, but I have to warn her anyway,” I thought, while chitchatting with both girls. Tony finally got up, said goodbye and walked away. “So, yesterday, I was really sick but I feel much better today. I went to Microcenter to buy a privacy screen to decrease the amount of light emitted by a computer screen.”

“You went where?” Ronnee asked.

Jessica jumped into the conversation, “Microcenter, they were in Texas.”

We continued to be disturbed by the HR ladies, so I said, “My grandma is very sick and is dying, she is almost eighty. I will have to go to Czech Republic very soon.”

Ronnee asked the following question: “How is she dying?”

“Well, slowly, you know, her physical abilities are decreasing.”

I saw Ronnee was astounded and started to shake a little.

Jessica then said, “My grandma is also dying.”

“Really?” I replied. “I am so sorry to hear that. I hope she gets well soon.”

I then continued to speak. “Ronnee, the higher the percentage of brain you utilize, the more your eyes dilate. You are taking in too much light. A privacy screen is the most expensive piece of plastic, $200 a pop. So, you will spend $400. Get them now, they’re worth every fucking penny.”

Jessica said, “I wear glasses, so I don’t have this problem.”

“Well, Jessica,” I replied, “you should lose your glasses. You would look great.” I answered in this way because I still had the eye sex idea in my head and tried to prepare her for the future Witches of Eastwick game.

Both girls left the cafeteria shortly after, but at different intervals. Little did I know, this was my last lunch at Argos. As I was returning to the fourth floor, Val stopped me in front of the elevators and made the following comment in the nicest and most sincere way possible. It almost felt like she was hitting on me.

“Hey, Joseph, you have some work to do this afternoon. The PWC income tax deadline is today.”

​

That afternoon my symptoms worsened again. The privacy protection screen no longer worked and I saw the flashes of vibrating light hitting my face at unpredictable intervals. I was fighting the fatigue and the facial pains in order to meet the PWC deadline. I would definitely be fired if I was unable to complete this task. “I really need to go home and jerk off.” As soon as I imagined this thought, the accounts payable person sitting behind me loudly said, “That would definitely make him feel better.”

Then I said to myself, “The flashes of light are really making me hallucinate. My hearing is now affected.”

“He is strong, I cannot believe that he can withstand it for this long. He makes it look like a piece of cake,” said the person sitting at the desk next to mine.

“The privacy filter will definitely keep me from getting sick,” I thought, and again the woman next to me answered, “If he believes in it, maybe or maybe not.”

This happened at least eight to ten times in a row. I thought of a question and someone in the AP department would immediately answer it in a loud tone of voice. I began to brainstorm. “What is this? No agency in the world has this kind of technology, at least I hope not. They are not able to read my thoughts, no way! Am I dead? Did I somehow die at Argos? Maybe, I am somewhere in a hospital and all this is the imagination of my dying brain.”

Then, all of a sudden, I saw a ladybug fly in front of me and land in front of the monitor. I carefully placed her in the center of the palm of my right hand and for few seconds admired how simple and beautiful she was. I slightly turned right towards the window and gently blew her away. Right away, I turned back so I could see the monitor and there was another ladybug exactly in the same spot as the first one. I did the same thing again and thought to myself, “Oh no, I am probably dead.” I didn’t panic. “No matter what, I need to finish the reconciliations to meet the deadline. Hopefully, I can figure this out later.” I kept thinking in a more and more frantic manner.

Luck was not on my side that day. The flashes of light and the weird communications from my AP neighbors steadily increased and it became increasingly difficult to work. The AP manager said, “Our job is done. I learned so much from him. This is the beginning of something great.” He took a stack of papers to the recycle bin and threw them in. It was late in the afternoon and I could not take it anymore. I needed a cup of coffee.

In the break room, I saw an accounting manager named Lori. Her eyes were the same crystal white color as Ronnee’s. She smiled, looked directly into my eyes and said in a sleazy way, “Hey, Joseph, how is your day going?”

At this point I had had enough. I went to my desk and closed my eyes for a few seconds to refocus. The AP team kept laughing and was talking about someone’s great abilities. I decided to go home. Unfortunately, I really lost it this time and said “Fuck you,” to every single person I passed by, including my boss. Strangely, nobody looked at me anymore and the whole room was quiet.

The ride home was even stranger. Every twenty to thirty seconds, cars that approached me in the opposite direction (except on Highway 400) honked the horn or flashed their lights. I wanted to get home as soon as possible and was speeding way over the legal limit. I was driving over 60 mph on Roswell Road towards Marietta and suddenly saw a parked police car. The officer was pointing a radar gun right at me. As I passed him, he continued pointing the radar and did not make a move. Cars kept honking and flashing their lights until I reached home.

At home, I noticed my computer was gone and there were about ten books perfectly lined up on the floor leading from the office towards the master bedroom. I quickly went to bed, hoping this was just a bad dream that would be over once I woke up.

When I woke up, I felt close to being normal and went downstairs to the living room where my wife, Romana, was playing with our two daughters. We have three-year-old Julia and seven-year-old Teresa. They talked to each other in a strange way. The sentences appeared normal, except they mixed a word or two into each sentence that made no sense. The words were totally irrelevant to the meaning of each sentence. I was unable to comprehend what was going on and kept quiet for a while.

I overcame my fears and joined the conversation. Judging by their facial expressions, they understood what I was telling them; however, all their replies had some irrelevant words mixed in the sentences. It became almost impossible to have a deeper conversation. The color of the children’s eyes was the same as Ronnee’s, crystal clear white. Another disturbing fact was that at certain times the kids were slowly moving their heads from left to right, totally avoiding direct eye contact with me during the conversation. At least Romana’s eyes looked normal.

Based on the events I experienced that day, I knew there was nothing else to do except to play along and ignore all the abnormalities. The strategy worked. After dinner, I began to feel dizzy and disoriented, so I went to bed. I woke up around 10 p.m. and was unable to go back to sleep. I wanted to figure out what was going on and why this was happening to me. Three scenarios crossed my mind:

 

1. I am dead and on my way to either Heaven or Hell. This is just a transition scenario to get used to abnormalities until I reach the final destination.

2. I have lived my whole life in some sort of matrix and I am slowly being awakened by a resistance group to help them to save the real world; a dead planet where a few survivors live underground and most of humanity is enslaved by artificial intelligence. I would eventually be approached by somebody who would offer the blue or the red pill. I would have a choice; to continue to live in the Matrix or be awakened and help to save the world.

3. I am part of a multinational sick reality TV show similar to The Truman Show (1998), a movie that began on June 30 1978. My whole life is being broadcast live, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to the entire world. Everyone that I ever knew is a paid actor and I live in some sort of a dome, hidden from the real world. My life was staged to such an extent, I would eventually have to a make a decision which political system is better. If I decide on my own that capitalism is the better system, the USA would win the Cold War and the Soviet Union would peacefully acknowledge defeat. The Soviets would change their system to mirror the United States’ capitalism, including all US laws with the US Constitution. All nuclear weapons would be destroyed, all armies in the world would be dissolved and all borders in the whole world would no longer exist. Everyone in the world would unite to a peaceful coexistence. The same situation would happen if I were to decide on my own that socialism is the better system. The USA would become a socialist state, mirroring everything the Soviets would do, going forward. The producers would than disclose the true meaning of my life to me and I would be freed from the dome to live in the real world. The Reality TV show would then end.