Jeff's everything shifted wildly throughout the party. His age, mentality, and personal history changed from one minute to the next making him an excellent social chameleon regardless of who was in the room. One minute he was a jaded 40 year old divorcee smoking cigars with Dave, the next he was a late 20's excited soon to be first time father asking the other guys for parenting advice. As the party wore on, less about him needed to shift as key aspects shifted into place. Early on he became an employee of the same company, and David's early arrival had a strong impact early on but as more people arrived and David left early, his lasting influence faded.
Jeff awoke in his older brother's guest bedroom. Last night was a great gathering of all the guys. It took some work to plan and organize, but Jeff managed to set up the approval for him to report to Mike's branch a couple states over for a couple days and he is enjoying a mini vacation with his brother. His brother's wife seized the opportunity to visit her sister with their kid giving them some brother bonding time. Despite both Jeff and Mike having to work their normal shifts Friday, the evenings and weekend are a vacation.
Jeff rolled out of bed recalling it was Sunday and that he needed to begin his drive home by midday to make it back to his home sometime tonight. He went downstairs to the back deck to have his morning smoke. In the quiet moments scrolling his phone, things just felt off... he tried to dismiss it as being at his brother's house, or this week being weird but it felt deeper, more fundamental than that.
Maybe he was just missing his space, or the warm touch of his girlfriend, but the feeling kept leading him back to the guest room... vague images of a floating man spinning in the air with a lower half made of smoke... He must have had some crazy dreams... Jeff stamped out his cigarette and lit another shifting focus to the work party Mike threw last night.
Meeting the people he had worked on projects with was fun and interesting, he scrolled down on his recommended feed passing something about "the God Software" and a company called TransDem. He sighed heavily, it was too much too early and he wanted to go inside and grab some coffee. He looked at his hand and groaned, he just lit up...
Jeff thought about his older brother, and fell into the old trap of comparing his life to Mike's. Jeff hadn't settled down yet and by his age of 35 Mike had been married, gotten a house, and was working on making his niece. He isn't sure Beth would make a good wife, has an apartment, and is not ready for kids. 'Where do the years go? Seems like just yesterday I was in high school.' the thoughts resonated uncomfortably.
"It wouldn't be fun if you forgot ALL of who you were." some memory called out chilling Jeff to his core. The 'off' feeling was quickly turning to 'wrong' and Jeff tried to replay his interactions with his work colleagues to verify he didn't do anything stupid at the party but the harder he thought the crazier it became. He had been talking about how he was about to become a father, then having a trio of kids already, then being divorced with no kids...
Jeff's intestines lurched... He stamped out the cigarette in the ashtray and made it to the bathroom in time. Looking in the mirror the first whispers of gray were still able to be hidden by keeping clean shaven, but it was only a matter of time before it began showing in his temples. 'I shouldn't be this old.' The thought came from nowhere.
It felt more than a wish for the good old days, like a statement of fact. Jeff tried to dismiss it but the memories of the party, talking with the legless man, and the guest room computer assailed him like they should mean something.