Madison grumbled. The seventeen year old couldn't believe she had to do community service in order to graduate...whose bright idea was that? She'd thought volunteering at an animal shelter would be fun...she'd play with the dogs...however...it turned out to be a lot of disgusting cleaning work.
Ethan, who had been put in charge of signing her time card, was a few years older than her and finishing college. He was kind of cute as well...but he was more interested in the work than her. He was a few feet away from where she was working, doing paperwork.
There were only a few more people working there...Sadie, the middle-aged woman who sat at the front desk, and Elijah, the handyman who fixed things, as well as a few other volunteers.
She set out to clean one of the empty cages...the cages weren't tiny like some places, but they still needed to be cleaned out periodically. At least they gave her gloves.
Meanwhile, an adorably nuclear family...two parents, and a boy and a girl, had come to adopt a dog. One of the other volunteers, Julia Chen, volunteered to show them some of their adoption options. Julia was also doing community service for high school, but unlike Madison, her stuck-up classmate, she actually enjoyed it. "This is Roxie," she said, pointing to a beagle.
"Where's her Mommy and Daddy?" The little girl asked.
"Well, dogs don't live with their mommies and daddies," Julia told her. "They move away as soon as they are old enough..." She moved on to show the family a pug, and a female shepherd.
Madison finished spraying down the cage and decided to take five. It was just another shitty day for Madison when Jeff hit the button on the Chronivac. Madison suddenly heard a burst of static...and looked toward the speaker in the ceiling, frowning. But it wasn't coming from there...
Madison didn't notice anything off at first. But, like a minority of others...as Jeff had configured without paying much attention, some would remember the old reality to varying degrees. She got up, looking for the source of the static, walking around barefoot...she looked down. What had happened to her sneakers and socks?
She walked over to Ethan. "Ethan, have you seen my sneakers?"
Ethan looked up from where he was sitting. "What?"
"My sneakers?" She asked.
He looked at her blankly, as if he didn't quite understand what she was talking about.
"Are you...high or something?" She asked. Ethan didn't seem like the type...but something was wrong with him. And where was that damn static coming from? It was starting to give her a headache.