Another late start to the day, BUT I am at least feeling better today! Hooray!
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Prompt: It’s 2018. Where did you last see your jetpack on Saturday?
Genre: Science Fiction/Alternate History
Source: 20 creative writing prompts that you can do in 10 minutes |
Time Spent: 45 minutes
Word Count: 1116
Prompt: It’s 2018. Where did you last see your jetpack on Saturday?
I groaned as my alarm went off but knowing that today was a big day, I did not hit the snooze button, rolled out of bed, and stretched. I checked my phone to see multiple messages from friends and family members wishing me a Happy Unity Day. I sighed as I put shuffled into my bathroom to relieve myself. Perhaps it was because I worked a job that did not get the holiday off, but I had never been particularly nostalgic or fan of crowds of celebrations, but to me it was just another Monday. I had never understood why March 37th required such big celebrations.
A little while later, showered, dressed, and having my breakfast and coffee, I sat in my kitchen, trying to determine the best way for me to get to work. While I didn’t see the appeal of the elaborate celebrations for Unity Day, I was in the minority and everywhere was bound to be a veritable zoo and the commute was going to be difficult. Looking at weather patterns showed me that it was expected to be a clear day with a light breeze, and the floating refinery I worked at was mercifully near to where I lived, so I determined that the best way to get to work on time was by using my jetpack rather than the, likely at least double, wait for the Helipod.
Making sure that I had everything together for work, and properly secured, I put on my flight suit and helmet, and went to get my jetpack from its charging station. It wasn’t there. Standing there, already sweaty in the heavy flight suit, searched my apartment and tried to think where it might be. I definitely had the jet pack, and definitely came back home with it, when I last used it on Thursday. Friday was raining and not good weather for it. I had definitely had it Saturday morning, as I had done a little routine maintenance on that. I spent the day yesterday watching several Skyball Games and then playing some EarthCenter before turning in. . .but what else had happened on Saturday?
The jetpack was clearly not anywhere in my apartment, it was too bulky to hide in more than a few places. I took off my helmet, checked the time and saw that I still had some space to look before I had no choice but to get into the Helipod lines. I sat down on the couch and started looking through my phone, only to find that there were no messages on or records of activity on any of the apps that I used, just two blurry photos I was even more confused now.
Saturday, Saturday. . .what had happened on Saturday? The first of the photos appeared to be of daytime, and based on what very much looked like rooftops in the photo, I guessed that I must have taken the jet pack somewhere. That was right, I had been doing a little bit of maintenance because I was going to fly over to visit with my parents for lunch. . .but what about after. My head hurt and I had no idea why I was having such a hard time remembering.
The second photo was at night, far too blurry to get a good view, but looked like it had been on the ground with at least one friend. . .maybe. Why was this so hard! What could I possibly have done? I went into my kitchen and looked through my fridge, trash, and recycling. I saw a takeout container from Hades Taphouse, which had to have been Saturday, and in the recycling a bottle of Nectar of Lethe.
That had to be it. Nectar of Lethe was a spirit that allowed one to forget their troubles for a while and unlike alcohol, provided a sense of pleasant euphoria and little to no risk of hangover. I had heard that drinking too much could result in a degree of amnesia, and I must have drank a lot of it to not remember anything at all. But what had happened to my jetpack?
I text the friends most likely to have hung out with my on a weekend, and at a taphouse. The first several to respond indicated that I was not with them, and the next two seem to have indulged heavily as well, so could not remember the night clearly. Finally, several friends, also clearly having drunk from the Nectar quite heavily that night, at least remembered enough to fill in the blanks.
Apparently, I had experienced a frustrating lunch with my family, and annoyed at having to work on Unity Day where so many had the day off, I had indulged in the Nectar of Lethe heavily, as well as several other alcoholic beverages. I had, at some point, decided that I was going to reinvent my life, which is why I had cleared the data from that day from my phone (one of them had persuaded me to wait until I was sober before deciding whether to delete everything.
We had been staggering home, being too intoxicated to fly, when I saw an old bell tower and declared that the final step of my reinvention was that I was going to live as a pigeon in the belltower. I then grabbed my jetpack and before my friends could stop me, jetting up to the top. All of them remembered that clearly as they all had a moment of sobriety in the shock that I had done that, fear for my life, and then surprise that I successfully got up there without hurting myself or damaging anything.
They had spent at least half an hour trying to get into the tower, none of them having their jetpacks with them, before they gave up and staggered home. They had assumed I would remember what I had done and did not want to notify the authorities as I seemed to be fine, with sounds of snoring coming from the tower. How I had gotten home, they did not know.
Well, that explained it, both where my jetpack probably was and why on Sunday my flight suit had been in the wash, even though I did not remember putting it there. Swearing to myself that I needed to avoid the Nectar of Lethe, but knowing that I probably wouldn’t the next time living under the Unity got me down, I grabbed my helmet and left my apartment. I really hoped that I could find someone to let me into the Bell Tower, otherwise this was going to be a headache to explain to his bosses. What a way to start a Unity Day.
I was aiming for a little bit of fun and slice of life on this one. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I had fun writing it.
Another one that went far, far longer than I intended, but I enjoyed and got really into writing it, as I often do with things. Still not what I am intending to work on, so to speak, but I am enjoying these short stories I am writing.
Hope you enjoyed and that you are having a wonderful day and get to do, or experience, something creative.
– Jon
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