*all characters mentioned in story are over the age of 18 in both the legal and mental facilities sense of the term.*
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Chapter 1: how convenient... too convenient.
The day that Sara realized that she in fact, might actually have mind control powers was the worst day of her 25 years of life so far... okay, maybe not the worst day, most like the worst couple of hours and much of that was more of a crisis of confidence and self worth. Actually, what happened after that quickly made up for it and more...
It was an absolutely normal, mundane day when it started. Like any other day, the sun came up, scattered clouds in the skies, the traffic on the road being a pain in the butt despite the fact that it's only a small town. The first inkling that something was a bit off was during work. Or rather, the times that everyone pretends to work, the lull times of the workday.
"You know, I'm kinda jealous of you." Kevin, the 20 something junior guy, said idly, in the form of casual conversation. He was hanging out next to her cubicle, taking one of his numerous coffee, oh wait, energy drink breaks. Somehow despite the amount of energy drinks he downs on the daily he seemed to always be on the edge of sleep.
"In what sense?" She replied, not really paying attention to the chitchat, as the editing work on her screen has priority, and also because these conversations never amount to anything, and will be forgotten in a few days, where they will be recycled again with the same amount of irrelevancy. It's not that she hates this what amounts to a social ritual, just that she wasn't going to attach any importance to it either...
"That everything seems to go so smoothly for you. Like not even the fake version you see on Instagram or Tiktok." He said, as if that explains everything... which it doesn't, at all.
"For example?" She asked nonchalantly, diverting the barest amount of attention from her work to the conversation. Not that the quality of work will suffer or anything, given how paperwork tends to be a binary result all things considered.
"Well, it's not anything specific you see..." Kevin was at a loss for words. The thoughts sounded a lot better in his head, and he wasn't exactly expected to be called out for it. Yet something inside his head compelled to explain those thoughts to the best of his abilities, instead of the canned changing of the subject he was ready to use in most cases. "It's just a bunch of little things, things that push the boundaries of probability when looking at it in aggregate." There, he said it. Blurting all that gaggle of overly borderline conspiracy shit out. To his surprise, Sara simply nodded, as if starting to really pay attention to what he's saying.
"How would you know that then?" She asked, not unreasonably. "You don't know what my life outside of work is like. Maybe I used all my luck here at work." As the words of the last sentence left her mouth she began to think back on the mundane events of her life. He might be onto something, even if completely accidentally and not based on reality at all.
"Well, even if that's the case, that would imply some sort of- never mind." He shook his head, realizing he was being rather obsessed over what's probably nothing, and probably accidentally making an ass of himself. The frown on Sara's face certainly seemed to imply the latter. "I'm sorry. I must sound crazy."
"It's okay. It's normal as long as it stays inside this building." Sara replied in a deadpan voice. Everyone's a little bit 'out there' and more than a little bit awkward... including herself. She actually turned her head and attention to Kevin to gauge his expression. "That's supposed to be a joke. A lighthearted one." She clarified, after noting Kevin to be in some kind of puzzled thoughts. It doesn't help that due to how small the company is, she's also basically the entire HR... though also due to said small size there wasn't much in the way of actual work either. She was pretty sure the whole thing was more of a legal fig leaf than anything else, and she's kinda glad of that. Keeps the work atmosphere casual and relaxed.
"Oh, right." He finally snapped back to reality after a moment. "Well, I'll stop bothering you now." He said lamely as he turned around and went back to his cubicle.
Sara quickly turned her head back towards the computer screen, but her mind was still elsewhere, chewing on the conversation that just transpired.
What if he has a point? She asked herself. It's absurd, the whole thing about... something about this aura to smooth things over. It just sounds... so petty. Like those overlay complicated contraptions to do simple tasks.
Yet the more she thought about it, dredging up long forgotten memories and hazy recollections, the more that wild theory started to make sense: All the times where she had completely gotten away with things that she shouldn't have, when seemingly last minute desperate wishing for a miracle in her head netted exactly that result. Where attempts to mediate disagreements between her friends not only worked, but worked out exactly in ways she had hoped for. Waiters never messed up her orders, etc. etc.. Okay, so a lot of that could be just a series of improbable coincidences, or maybe those things being far more common than reported, or even her memories being rather selective on what got remembered.
She shook her head, dispelling those idle speculations away for the moment. Supernatural nonsense or not, she still has work to do...
......
Of course, work does not last forever, and the rest of the day went by in a nondescript blur. Only as she walked into the door of her condo and crashed onto her couch did she realize that. That her memories are rather selective in what gets kept, and what gets discarded..
So she's back in square one, again. There doesn't seem to be any way to prove such a thing one way or the other, unless...
She shuddered at the thought. Does she dare? It's ridiculous, nonsensical, even outrageous. And all for something on the back of her mind brought up by some idle workplace chat?
But she does need to know, it matters. More than just some idle trivia, this- if it's true, then that means her life has been a lie: all her achievements, her narrow escapes, her supposed social genius, her-. More than that, it means her very perception of reality is a fraud.