SWNOVELS Chapter 1 The False Oasis
There I was, sitting in my car, bored as ever, looking everywhere for some sort of exit from this labyrinth when out of the blue, an orange flash came from my dashboard. “Oh, shoot, I’m almost out of gas,” I said. “Great. Now, how am I supposed to get home? There’s not like a gas station showing up in the middle of this fog anytime soon.”
That’s when I saw the flickering lights of a gas station in the distance. I said, “That’s just my eyes playing tricks on me, but seriously, I need gas soon.” But as I drove my car past the station to check it out, the lights were on, but strangely, there were no cars visible. Maybe I should take a chance and wait for the next one. As soon as I said that, my dash light went from orange to red. Well, I guess I have no choice now but to fill up here.
I turned my car around and headed towards the entrance of this gas station. As I pulled in by the pumps, I was thinking, I’m just going to fill up and get the heck out of here. Before I even got out of the car, this huge flash of light came towards me. I quickly ducked under the dashboard, but when I lifted my head back up to see if the bright light was gone, I could hardly see; everything was so bright. As I covered my eyes and looked around, I saw that everything was bright. As my eyes adjusted to the light, I could see sunshine beaming through my car windows. I then tried to look around and noticed that the gas station wasn’t so abandoned after all.
Other cars were parked, and people were coming in and out of the gas station store as they pleased. Did I really just imagine the whole thing? No...of course not. That felt all too real, but that doesn’t explain why I saw the strange bright light coming towards me though. Anyway, while I was looking around, I saw this 1970s red Buick with a vintage Illinois plate that must’ve come for some sort of vintage car show in town pull in right in front of me. Phew...I made it.
So, I turned the car off, got out, closed the door, and walked over to the pump. It was there that I noticed that my car looked different too. It was not my 2014 Chevy Impala that I was used to driving but a grass green 1978 Oldsmobile Cutlass instead. This was getting stranger by the minute. But before I even laid a finger on the pump, I checked my right front pocket to grab my wallet and pay for gas, but my wallet wasn’t there. Both of my pockets, even the back ones, were coming up empty. I thought that my wallet must’ve fallen out of my pocket when I got out and was probably sitting in the driver’s seat, so I went back to check.
While checking, I found this black leather purse sitting in my passenger seat. Why is there a purse in my car? Who put it there? But whatever, it seems like there’s more to this story than I apparently don’t know about. So, I opened the purse and saw a wallet inside. I grabbed it and went to pay for gas. When I got to the pump, I noticed that there wasn’t a digital credit card slot at all. I said to myself, “Ok, I guess I need to pay upfront then...what kind of gas station doesn’t have a credit card slot?”
When I got inside, but before I went to pay, I saw in that circular mirror behind the counter a girl with big puffy curly brown hair with white sunglasses on top with a big red bow on her head, and she was standing where I was. I turned around to catch her in the act, but I didn’t see anyone behind me. To make sure I wasn’t going crazy, I asked this clerk who had this Blond botched Beatles haircut, “Hey wasn’t there a cute girl standing right here a second ago?”
The clerk looked over my shoulder for a second, then turned to me and said, “Oh, I must be having Déjà vu, that’s a good one. How can I help you?”
I replied, “I need $10 regular gas at pump station five,” as I pulled out my credit card.
The clerk nodded and pulled out this old credit card machine from underneath the counter. I’d never seen anything like that before, so I asked him, “Woah, is that thing new?” The clerk gave me a look and said, “This thing right here... it’s only a few years old. Why?”
“Well, I’ve never seen that before.”
The clerk replied, “Oh, this must be your first time using credit, huh?” as I gave him my credit card. He then placed it face down and did two swipes from right to left. The clerk then continued saying, “Just sign your name right here,” as he pointed to the bottom of the paper. I signed it, no big deal, and that’s when he took the top part and handed me the bottom and said, “Now, that’s how you use a credit card.”
“Wow, that’s cool, and do you know where the bathroom is by any chance?” I asked.
“Sure do...just take a right where you will see a hallway, and at the end is the door on your left.”
“Thanks,” I replied and headed in that direction. Once at the door, I looked at the sign, and it showed the women’s bathroom. I thought, Ha Ha, very funny dude pointing me to the women’s bathroom instead of the men’s. Ooo, I haven’t heard that one before. You know what, just for laughs, I’ll peek my head in then go straight to the men’s.
I peeked my head in and turned the light on, and that’s when I saw a woman’s reflection staring right back at me in the mirror. I’ll never forget what I saw that day. This girl had big puffy curly brown hair with these big brown eyes with too much makeup on her face along with big circular earrings. She also had the same big red bow and white dorky cat sunglasses on her head that I saw on the girl in the mirror behind the counter, but this time, she had a red striped shirt with blue jean shorts and white sneakers to complete the look. When I turned around to ask the girl who she was, she wasn’t there. So, I entered the women’s bathroom to investigate further, and I closed the door behind me.