{"id":52,"date":"2024-08-26T22:46:12","date_gmt":"2024-08-26T22:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zherosha.com\/elusive\/?p=52"},"modified":"2024-12-06T23:17:14","modified_gmt":"2024-12-06T23:17:14","slug":"blurred-filtering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zherosha.com\/elusive\/zcu\/blurred-filtering\/","title":{"rendered":"Blurred Filtering"},"content":{"rendered":"
This entry is part 5 of 5 in the series Timelines' Retrospection<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

The opened official-looking envelopes mocked her from the makeshift crate-and-cardboard table. Mold grew where the old rug and wall met.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second government shutdown and life has gotten worse for Andrea. Now on furlough, she searched through the internet, looking for remote work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After an hour, she threw back her head with a loud groan. \u201cI\u2019ve been here, waiting for pages to load more than actual searching.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She got up and glared at the stack of bills, betting on a couple of them already in collections. Being burned by the state before, she was less confident that any help would come. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She grabbed her mask on the way out and figured that if the cops stopped her, she\u2019ll tell them she\u2019s going grocery shopping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The urine smell hit her hard as she stepped out onto the sidewalk. Andrea cursed under her breath, wishing they would pick another spot to relieve themselves. The cops were probably too busy harassing some hapless kid breaking quarantine to deal the drunkards with bladder problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She wrapped her jacket tightly around her and began her solid march down the nearly empty street, praying that her grey attire blended with the grey buildings. A stung out homeless person grunted, throwing her off her steady and silent stride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a blink, she was on the ground, staring at what looked like a packet of cocaine. She stood up with it in hand, looking over the neatly printed, professionally-looking label.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHey! Bring that back!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She spun around, still holding the package to find an empty park bench. The words seemed to echo into the distance, bouncing off the empty alleyways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPolice! Don\u2019t move!\u201d Another voice came from behind her again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andrea closed her eyes and raised her hand, holding the package in the air as she slowly turned around. \u201cI was going to give it to you!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, only empty streets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She reached back to put the package onto the bench seat but it ended up on a vender\u2019s table filled with pot brownies, drug paraphernalia and random knickknacks. A merchant crossed his arms and glared at her from behind it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sounds of a busy street filtered in. Another spin showed two cops with guns drawn, but pointed down. People walking past with shopping bags and a few using their phones to record the scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cB-b-but you weren\u2019t here. No one was!\u201d Andrea\u2019s heart raced. The noise from the street filtered in and out a few more times before becoming a constant hum. \u201cWhy is everything so bright?!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cops put their guns away, one of them putting his hand out. \u201cIt\u2019s okay. You seem to be coming down from a bad trip. We will have to take you in to sober up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other cop scoffed. \u201cEven in Freeville, there are some restrictions.\u201d He turned to the vendor. \u201cListen, you didn\u2019t lose anything, so it\u2019ll be best to just let us take her off the streets until she sober\u2019s up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFreeville?\u201d Andrea squeaked out. \u201cYou mean LA?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cops exchanged looks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh, yeah, she\u2019s high.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The vendor sighed. \u201cThis is the fifth one this week. It might be the new designer drug. I won\u2019t sell that crap for this reason.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He yanked the package off the corner of the table and tossed onto the stack of more powder bricks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYeah, I won\u2019t press charges again. Especially since you seem to do a decent job keeping things in check.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first cop nudged Andrea towards a brightly colored vehicle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow, now,\u201d he said. \u201cL.A. was destroyed in the last civil war. But you\u2019ll figure it out when you sober up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He opened the back door and gestured her to sit on the back seat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo cuffs.\u201d She gave him a sideways glance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnly if you are into that sort of thing.\u201d He smirked. \u201cIn all seriousness, as long as you comply, we won\u2019t restrain you. We have a room for you until you feel better.\u201d He grabbed a device and held it out. \u201cYour hand, palm up, please.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She obeyed and, and he waved it over until it beeped. He furrowed his brow, bringing it up closer to read the display.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His partner finished talking to the vendor and slipped into the driver\u2019s seat. \u201cWhat is it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe\u2019s clean.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOf course she appears to be,\u201d the driver said. \u201cThe cartel\u2019s designer drugs won\u2019t show until we can catalogue it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYeah, but that\u2019s not all.\u201d The passenger cop hooked the device into its holder on the dash and pointed at it. \u201cShe\u2019s also been dead for three years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The driver shrugged. \u201cProbably one of those sovereigns who faked their death. They won\u2019t attempt to register on our system, which isn\u2019t illegal here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut I have a birth certificate. I was born at the LA community hospital. I have a social security number!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The passenger cop glanced back at her. \u201cHey rookie! You forgot the sound barrier.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh, my bad.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to go home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andrea\u2019s voice sounded muted, and she found it odd that they would use their sirens just to transport her to a \u201croom to sober up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are taking you to the Emergency room. You can\u2019t go home right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A flash of light in her right eye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want\u2026 I want\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The back of the cop car blurred into white and grey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another flash in her left eye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat is your name?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAndrea,\u201d she responded. Her mouth felt like it was full of sand. Faces looking at her from above came into focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOkay, Andrea, I\u2019m going to give you some oxygen, alright?\u201d The woman put a mask on Andrea\u2019s face and nose. \u201cStay with us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGod, this is worse than Covid,\u201d a voice remarked. \u201cFifteen people collapsing at once.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRight when the mini collider came on?\u201d Another voice responded. \u201cSome of those patients have been talking about going into another realm or something.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Someone chuckled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDude, this third wave pandemic is hitting hard. People are collapsing left and right and no one knows why.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rustling followed a brief silence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, it\u2019s not the vaccine, since people who aren\u2019t vax are also dropping like flies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDude, not cool.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More silence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou know, some sailors said they saw Cthulhu.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh, c\u2019mon. They ran the larger collider and nothing like this happened.\u201d Some rustling. \u201cSailors have a tendency to tell fantastical stories.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More chuckling. \u201cSo you think!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A scoff. \u201cNo, it\u2019s just a coincidence.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This entry is part 5 of 5 in the series Timelines' Retrospection<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Andrea’s struggle worsens during a government shutdown, leading her to a bizarre encounter involving mistaken identity, presumed death, and possible effects of a mini collider, set in a dystopian, pandemic-stricken future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12],"tags":[16,18,5,10],"series":[13],"class_list":["post-52","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-zcu","tag-paranormal","tag-politics","tag-scifi","tag-shorts","series-timelines","post-preview"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.zherosha.com\/elusive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/blurredFilteringFinished.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zherosha.com\/elusive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zherosha.com\/elusive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zherosha.com\/elusive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zherosha.com\/elusive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zherosha.com\/elusive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.zherosha.com\/elusive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59,"href":"https:\/\/www.zherosha.com\/elusive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52\/revisions\/59"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zherosha.com\/elusive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zherosha.com\/elusive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zherosha.com\/elusive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zherosha.com\/elusive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zherosha.com\/elusive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=52"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}