Diary Entry 004: Something about the Air

Wednesday was silent in a way that felt too still. The kind of quiet where individuals, even while in the midst of others, shifted in and out of focus. It was the kind of day where one could almost forget everything felt wrong.

Edward had been attempting to fight a persistent itchiness at the back of his throat all morning, the kind that felt like the start of a cold. It was not the end of the world, though. Allergies, right? His eyes were watering, his nostrils stuffy, but nothing that would not be completely gone in a few hours at most. He was far from alone.

When he entered the back room of the store, he saw Darren leaning against the counter, pale and looking exhausted. His nose was red, the kind of redness you get from sneezing a lot.

"You alright?" Edward asked, dropping his things on the counter.

Darren looked at him with a bleary-eyed gaze, blinking as though he hadn't quite been present in the conversation. "Huh? Oh. yeah. Just. didn't sleep well, I guess. It's. probably just hayfever or something." He sniffled, wiping his nose on the back of his hand. "You know how it gets this time of year."

"Yeah, I hear you," said Edward, nodding. "Sam's back here?"

Darren hesitated, a glint of something in his eyes that made Edward's pause. "Uh, yeah. She's been. off today, though. You should probably check on her."

"Sure," Edward said, but the anxiety in Darren's voice lingered with him as he went in the direction of the storage room.

Sam was on the ground, searching through boxes with a preoccupied expression. Her movements were slow, deliberate, but without urgency. It was as if she wasn't quite aware of what she was doing. She didn't even seem to notice Edward's presence until he coughed.

"Sam?"

She blinked and looked up, her eyes wide in an empty sort of surprise, like she'd just woken up from a trance. "Oh. Hey," she said, her voice soft, distant. "I didn't. hear you come in."

"Is everything all right?" Edward asked, stepping closer.

"Okay, sure," she said, but it sounded like an afterthought. She was scrubbing at her nose, and her eyes had drifted to the ground. The fingers paused on the edge of her nostrils, however, didn't look quite right—too slow, too deliberate, like she was caught up in the motion.

"Are you sure? You look." He paused, trying to find the words. She didn't appear sick in the usual way. She wasn't running a fever or anything like that which would make her obviously ill. But something wasn't right. "You don't seem yourself today."

She smiled at him gently, tiredly. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just allergies, you know? The pollen's been awful today."

Edward frowned. He wasn't the first person he'd ever heard attempt to blame pollen. It was that time of year, and it did appear particularly bad. But there was something about Sam that didn't quite fit. It wasn't the congestion, or the sniffles. It was her eyes, unfocused, distant, like she was struggling to stay in the conversation.

She rubbed her nose again, and this time she didn't even seem to notice how long she was doing it.

"Sam?" he asked again, but she didn't answer right away. Instead, she blinked, almost as if the sound of her name was something unfamiliar.

"Huh?" She looked up, a bit lost. "Oh, yeah. Sorry. Just. tired. I didn't sleep too well last night."

Edward didn't press further, though a knot was starting to form in his stomach. He stepped back slightly, watching her. She was moving slower now, as though even standing up was taking effort. She caught herself against the counter for a second, then straightened and gave him a weak smile.

"I'm fine. Really," she said, though her voice didn't convince him.

As the day went on, the store grew quieter. Customers did come in, but all of them acted strangely, moving from aisle to aisle in a sort of daze, never quite looking at the products on the shelves. Some were sniffing or blowing their noses. Edward couldn't help noticing how their behavior had grown strange and mechanical—like they were going through the motions but weren't quite present.

There was an old man in front of the canned goods section, standing so still for so long that Edward had to verify if he was okay. He wasn't reading the labels, but was instead staring into space. As if waiting for something. Or daydreaming. But when Edward approached him, he blinked, snapped out of it, and left without a word, his hands tightly gripping the cart.

Edward waved it off, blaming it on allergy season, on the stress of everything that had been happening lately. But the more he thought about it, the more uneasy he felt.

And then there was Sam.

He saw her near the front of the store, staring blankly at the registers, her body stiff. When she turned to him, her eyes hesitated before focusing on him, as if uncertain where she was or who was in front of her. 

"Sam?" Edward spoke softly.

She blinked again, this time more slowly, as though it took longer than usual for her to notice him. "Oh. Hey," she said, though the words didn't ring true. As if she had to consider speaking, responding.

"You okay?" he asked, his own voice lower now, with concern.

She nodded, but it was late. "Yeah. just. allergies, I guess," she said, her hand coming up to rub her nose again. Her eyes fluttered, a few seconds of detachment passed before she smiled slightly, distractedly, at him. "It's the pollen, right? I think it's. getting to my head."

Edward watched her for another second, his stomach tightening. "Yeah, it's bad today. But. you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Really," she repeated, but it was the way she said it—like she was trying to convince herself as much as him—that made Edward uneasy.

The rest of the day was a haze, time dragging on, each hour longer than the last. The customers filtered out, their faces white, their eyes heavy with something he couldn't name. No one seemed to speak much, just drifting in and out of the aisles. The store emptied by the minute, as though everyone was waiting for something, or perhaps had simply forgotten they were there.

As Edward shut down and left for the day, he stood on the sidewalk, gazing down the empty street. The outside world felt. muffled. The kind of quiet that made you wonder if the day had really happened at all, or if it was some half-remembered dream.

And Sam. Sam was still on his mind. Her evasive responses, her clumsy movements, the way she appeared lost in herself.

It wasn't hayfever. Something else was happening. He just wasn't sure what.