Tyler's Urban Odyssey

The phone rang, and Tyler hurried over to his desk. He placed his fingers on the screen, and it lit up. "Hello?" he said, as if he had already been expecting the call.

"Tyler," the voice on the other end said. "It's your father."

Tyler sighed. "Ah, yes, hello dad," he said, even though he had never known his father. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"I've got a job for you," the man replied. His voice sounded like a mix between gravel and static. "We've got some competition in town, so we need someone to go in deep undercover."

"Who is this competition?" Tyler asked, rubbing his eyes.

He had taken an extra dose of Noxipill that morning, and they were still bothering him a bit.

"A group called Debris Incorporated," the man said. "They're an old company who mostly design homes. They've recently grown a bit of political clout and are now challenging our monopoly in the city."

"What's the job, then?" Tyler replied. He had gotten used to these sorts of calls by now. Usually they wanted him to do something illegal or immoral, but since he didn't really care about morals, that was easy enough for him to do. He just wished that he could get paid for them; instead he was always assigned menial tasks like this one day after day after day...it was beginning to get to him. Sometimes his mind wandered back to Sofa and all those things they did together when they were young...a few times he had even thought about running away with her into another city where no one would see them. But then reality set in and reminded him of how dangerous that would be...the police would shoot him on sight if they saw him out of town, and everyone would think that she was just some slutty whore who got herself raped by some stranger who took her out into the desert somewhere - if she was lucky she'd be allowed back into town again after being examined by the doctors (but probably not). He sometimes wondered what happened to her now...if she found someone else after their relationship ended or anything like that...no doubt she probably did...she was always beautiful, even more so than all those other women who dressed up and made themselves look like dolls with perfect plastic faces and bodies...she never pretended like that was a good thing, either; she had always been perfectly okay with being different from everyone else around her...he remembered looking at her once when she wasn't looking at him and thinking how strange it must be for her; how hard it must be for her not having anyone else like her around...how hard it must have been for her having to be alone for most of her life without anyone else around who understood what it was like to live in a world of people who didn't see things the same way you did. Maybe that's why he loved her so much - because she understood how lonely he felt inside himself every single day without anyone else around who knew what it truly felt like to be alive; maybe that's why they felt drawn towards each other....even if they weren't soulmates or anything like that; even if they only spent a short time together doing things which most people wouldn't understand...maybe that's why those moments meant so much to him - because she understood so well what it meant to exist in a world which didn't want you there; because she understood that life wasn't fair and we couldn't change it no matter how many times we tried; because she knew exactly how miserable it felt to wake up every day knowing that you were different from everyone else around you in such a profound way as this....because she knew how important love really was...and love alone made it worth living another day with this heavy burden weighing down on your shoulders....love alone made you feel strong enough to keep going through everything...even when you thought you couldn't take any more; even when you wanted to give up entirely - because love alone could make you stronger than anything else ever could....love alone.....and now here he was sitting all alone at work with no one but himself....and nothing but work....and nothing but money....and nothing but solitude....to distract himself from the fact that there wasn't anyone else in his life except for some disgusting co-workers who didn't understand anything about humanity or relationships or love or anything else which mattered at all.....all they cared about was money.....money money money money money money money money..........

"...that," Tyler muttered aloud while rubbing his eyes again before opening them wide around the room as if startled by something in particular. He looked around at all of his colleagues standing nearby watching him as they waited patiently for their own turn with the boss (their main duty at work seemed to be waiting in line until their turn came up), then turned back towards his desk before walking over towards it again, picking up his coffee cup off its surface before turning back around and heading towards the meeting room where Mr. Plattner would be waiting for them all once again today when the next person arrived late at 12:30 sharp with their lunch bag full of whatever mystery food might be inside (that is likely what everyone brings nowadays since nobody can afford decent meals anymore). When he arrived inside the brightly lit room Mr. Plattner was standing near a window overlooking downtown which overlooked skyscrapers full of offices filled with cubicles full of people working tirelessly away even on weekends just trying to make their own bosses happy so they can keep getting paid enough money each week just barely enough so they can survive another week until payday comes around again (yeah right) - Tyler sat down at his seat without saying anything or making eye contact with anyone other than Mr. Plattner himself whom looked directly back at him far too eagerly before beginning: "So we've got some serious issues going on here folks," Mr. Plattner started off saying loudly as if addressing a crowd of thousands rather than two dozen tired twenty-somethings sitting across from him eating their lunches out of brown paper bags filled with mystery food (which is likely what most people bring these days since nobody can afford decent meals anymore).

"...so we need someone," Mr. Plattner continued talking as if talking directly to Tyler specifically (Tyler would wonder why later), "who can go undercover deep into Debris Incorporated," Mr. Plattner continued speaking while nodding towards Tyler directly in front of him (Tyler would wonder why later) as if expecting an answer out loud: "What?!" Mr Patteron finished talking while stopping dead silent and looking directly at Tyler as if staring directly down into his soul (Tyler would wonder why later). It would seem however that Mr. Plattner must have misheard something Tyler said because Mr Patteron smiled widely before continuing: "Oh! Did you say 'what'? I thought you said 'where'!" Mr Patteron continued smiling widely at Tyler before looking around at several others sitting behind Tyler whom were also smiling widely before catching each others attention behind their backs amongst themselves as if sharing some kind of secret joke amongst themselves which only those sitting behind Tyler could understand (Tyler would never know what happened or why). After several minutes passed during which time Tyler sat quietly at his desk staring blankly ahead whilst listening silently to whoever might have been speaking (though there really wasn't much sound coming from anyone which surprised Tyler somewhat), eventually everyone began packing up their lunches while gathering their things together while standing up from where they had been seated earlier before exiting the room one by one until finally only Mr Patteron remained standing near his desk smiling broadly as if still waiting for someone whom had yet failed arrive (albeit seemingly oblivious). A minute passed by during which time no one left or entered through any doors or windows within view, then five minutes passed by during which time still no one left or entered through any doors or windows within view except for several cleaning crew members wearing green jumpsuits who silently entered through various doors leading into different rooms throughout the office building followed shortly thereafter by several security guards wearing blue jumpsuits accompanied by several police officers wearing black pantsuits carrying large guns slung across their chests accompanied shortly thereafter by several more security guards wearing yellow jumpsuits followed shortly after that by several more policemen wearing black pantsuits carrying large guns slung across their chests followed shortly after that by several more security guards wearing green jumpsuits followed shortly after that by several more policemen wearing police suits carrying large guns slung across their chests followed shortly after that by more security guards wearing grey jumpsuits followed shortly after that by more policemen wearing black pantsuits carrying large guns slung across their chests followed shortly after that by more security guards wearing orange jumpsuits followed shortly after that by more policemen carrying large guns slung across their chests followed shortly after that by more security guards wearing red jumpsuits followed shortly after that by more policemen carrying large guns slung across their chests along with some helicopters flying overhead joined soon thereafter by many fire trucks arriving outside followed shortly thereafter by many ambulances arriving outside along with some police cars arriving outside along with some fire trucks arriving outside along with some ambulances arriving outside along with some police cars arriving outside joined soon thereafter by lots of dirt flying everywhere being kicked up into high winds carried