The morning light filtered through the blinds, shining directly onto the sleeping man’s face. Connor stirred under the sheets, groaning as his phone’s alarm buzz filled the air. He hit the snooze button with a half-hearted swipe and buried his face back into his pillow.
But something felt…off…
He blinked a few times, before slowly sitting up, groaning slightly as he did so. His body felt inexplicably sore, as if he’d done an intense workout the day before. Connor smacked his lips a few times, grimacing at the strange taste in his mouth as he tried to rub some of the sleep out of his eyes.
Connor lifted the covers off his body and exposed himself to the cold morning air. He swung his legs over the side of the bed, wincing slightly at the tenderness in his muscles. “Must’ve slept weird last night…” the young man said to himself.
His phone suddenly buzzed with a message. He glanced over at his nightstand to see that he’d gotten a text from his mom: Job fair today. Don’t forget.
“Yeah, yeah…” Connor muttered to himself. He hoisted himself out of bed, and for a moment, dizziness hit him like a wave. His vision blurred as the room began to tilt ever so slightly, which made him grab the bedpost to steady himself. Something definitely wasn’t right. His senses felt…sharper. The hum of the ceiling fan sounded a bit louder, the smell of coffee from downstairs a bit more intense.
“Huh…that’s weird…” Connor said, running his hand over his face as his balance returned. He headed toward his bathroom, turning on the sink and cupping his hands under the faucet to collect some cold water. After a few seconds, he splashed the water on his face, jolting his system awake. As he looked up into the mirror, his reflection stared back at him一pale, with dark circles under his eyes.
Connor rubbed his hands over his face. He’d had plenty of bad mornings before, but this felt different. Whatever happened last night while he was sleeping had messed him up. Regardless, this wouldn’t be a good enough excuse for his parents.
He pushed the door open to the hallway, his parents’ voices drifting up the stairs from the kitchen. Their usual conversation would soon follow一his dad talking about what needed to be done around the house, and his mom reminding him about the job fair. They’d been patient with him, but Connor could tell that their patience was wearing thin.
Dropping out of college wasn’t part of their plan. Hell, it hadn’t been part of his either, at first. He’d started off like everyone else—graduated high school, went to the same state school most of his friends were going to, and chose to major in business because it seemed like a solid bet. His parents had been proud, but by his second year, the cracks were showing.
He wasn’t made for lecture halls and group projects. No matter how hard he tried to get into it, the work felt meaningless. His friends seemed to be handling it all just fine, moving ahead, getting internships, and already mapping out their lives. Connor, though, was stuck. Each class was another reminder that he didn’t care about any of it, and every day, the idea of staying felt like it was suffocating him.
So after two years, he threw in the towel. He dropped out and moved back in with his parents. His dad hadn’t said much, just giving him a look that spoke volumes. His mom had been disappointed, but she tried harder to hide it.
A few months passed had passed since then. He’d gotten a job at the local hardware store but quit after realizing how monotonous the tasks were. He tried his hand at construction, but he got fired after being late one too many times. Now he was in between jobs once again, halfheartedly applying to any jobs that his parents recommended. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to work; it just didn’t feel like there was a job out there that was right for him. It felt as if everyone around him was moving forward while he was stuck where he was, once again stuck in the sleepy small town he’d been so desperate to leave.
“Connor! Breakfast!” his mom called out.
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Connor called back, shuffling down the stairs. He’d have to act like nothing was wrong, but deep down, he knew that something was off. He just wasn’t sure what.
Connor shuffled into the kitchen, the scent of bacon, eggs, and coffee doing a bit to ease the strange tension in his body. His mom stood by the stove, cooking a second batch of bacon, while his dad sat at the table, scrolling through what Connor could only assume to be the news on his phone.
“Morning,” Connor muttered, pulling out a chair and sitting down.
His father glanced up at him for a second before looking back down at his phone. “Morning,” he said. “Job fair’s at 10. You going?”
Connor resisted the urge to sigh. “Yeah, I’m going.”
His mom turned from the stove, wiping her hands on a towel. “You should wear the blue shirt today. The one we got you for interviews. First impressions matter, and you never know who might be there.”
He nodded absently, not really thinking about it. The thought of trying to impress some recruiter who probably didn’t even care made his stomach turn, but he didn’t want to get into that now. Not with this weird feeling that he still couldn’t explain.
“Connor, are you listening?” His mom’s voice cut through his thoughts.
“Bue shirt. Got it.”
She frowned, picking up on his tone. “Look, I know that it’s been hard to find a job, but you’re never going to get one if you don’t try. You’re 22 now, and it’s been months since you last worked.”
“I’m trying, okay?!” Connor snapped, though he quickly regretted doing so. His words came out sharper than intended, and for just a second, his vision blurred again. He clenched his fists under the table, a strange feeling seeming to well up inside him. “I’ll go, alright?”
His dad turned off his phone and set it down on the table, giving Connor a steady look. “We’re not trying to push you, son. We just want to see you make something of yourself.”
“I know, I get it,” Connor muttered. He stared at the table, the tension in the room thickening. It was the same conversation every morning, and every time it happened, it just made him feel worse.
His mom’s voice softened. “Honey…we’re just worried about you…”
Connor nodded, but he kept his head low. He wanted to say something, anything, that could reassure them, to let them know that he had everything under control, but the truth was, he didn’t. He felt more lost than ever, and whatever was happening to him right now wasn’t doing him any favors.
“I’ll go,” he said, quietly standing from the table. “Thanks for breakfast, but…I need some fresh air…”
Without waiting for their response, Connor moved toward the back door, guilt tugging at him as he left. But he couldn’t sit there anymore, not when his head was buzzing and his body was doing things he couldn’t explain.
He stepped out onto the back patio, letting the cool morning air hit him in the face. For just a second, his body felt at ease, the scent of pine needles from the nearby woods making him relax. But then that faint dizziness came back, and his senses seemed to sharpen again, everything around him becoming far more intense once more.
Something definitely wasn’t right.