You are Summoned

A moment after seeing the words of the prompt and understanding them, I found myself back in my living room, seated on the couch. Just like at the office, I was again completely nude, and all my clothes were crumpled on the floor in front of me. Frustration mounted as I considered my situation.

“What’s the deal with my clothes!” I shouted. Not only did I happen to be going crazy, or suffering a stroke or something, I also somehow stripped myself naked every time had had one of these episodes.

That’s what you called stuff like this when you were trying to be polite, right, an episode? It was rude to say someone was going crazy. As I started to get dressed, I noticed that, once again, I was clutching a small leather pouch. Inside were six more of the coins that I had gotten earlier, the weird fake pennies.

I spent the rest of the afternoon there on my couch, trying to decide whether to make a doctor’s appointment or not. On the one hand, if this was some serious medical condition, it would be best to get treatment while I still had health insurance from my work. From what I remembered, the policy kept going for a month or so after you were fired. On the other hand, they might force me into the mental hospital, and who knew when, or if, I would ever get out.

“And then we have you, where did you come from?” I muttered to myself while holding the small pile of strange pennies in my hand.

The coins kind of solidified that this was real, and not a medical emergency or mental breakdown. Where did the coins and the little pouches come from? Could they be part of my breakdown?

I pulled out my phone, looking through my banking history. Nope, I hadn’t ordered any fake coins online and forgotten about it because of my condition. I wasn’t a doctor or anything, but I was pretty sure that crazy people don’t go to the extreme of erasing the purchase history of an obscure item to help blank it out of their memory.

The coins were supposed to be a reward, so maybe they were worth something? I began searching through the internet for auctions or stores that sold something similar. Hopefully, I can find out something before I was summoned again.

There wasn’t much out there, just listings for selling batches of replica ancient coins for cheap. Getting a couple of bucks for the pile of coins I’d accrued wasn’t going to solve my financial problems. Surprisingly, the little leather pouches the coins came in were worth more than the coins themselves. If this kept happening, I’d have to create a seller's account on one of the auction sites.

Putting the coins back in their pouches, I stored them in one of the kitchen cabinets. What to do next? Visit the doctor, I suppose, but what do I tell the doctor? Maybe I should just mention the headaches and nothing about the naked stuff and the trips to other worlds thing. Calling the number on the back of my insurance card, I was able to get an appointment at their little mini office in the nearby drug store thanks to an early cancelation.

I was a bit scared to go out in public. What would happen if I was summoned while on the bus or walking down the street? All my stuff would probably be stolen while I was away, and I’d likely be arrested for indecent exposure. There was at least one warning sign that things were about to happen, my headaches. If I felt the first sign of a headache, I’d find a bathroom stall or something to hide in until it was over.

That begged the question of what people saw when I was summoned. Did I just disappear? From the way my clothes were placed, it did kind of look like I was just gone, and the clothes just plopped down wherever I had been sitting or standing.

Gathering my courage, I mapped out the best route to the doctor’s office. The drugstore it was located in was only a couple of blocks away, easy to travel to on foot. I’d pass by a couple of fast-food places on the way, which always had bathrooms available for their customers. If the worst started to happen, I could duck into a bathroom stall and hopefully my stuff wouldn’t be bothered. Yeah, the route to the clinic had more than enough places for me to stop if there was a summoning emergency.

Before I could get out the door, my phone rang. It was Will from the office. We never really spoke much outside of work, but we did hang out a few times. It was mostly a trip to the local sports bar near the office to watch one game or another. Sports weren’t my thing, but he seemed like he just wanted company. His family was on the east coast, and he didn’t get to see them all that much.

“Hello?” I answered, figuring I at least owed some explanation to Will.

“Rico, dude, are you okay?” Will asked.

“I don’t know, I’m heading to the doctor right now,” I replied.

“What happened? It just took me a second to find the ibuprofen bottle and, boom, there you were sitting naked,” Will said.

“I don’t really remember what happened. There was a horrible headache and I kind of blacked out. When I came to, you were looking over the cubicle. Maybe the doctor can figure this out,” I replied.

“Going to the doctor is the right call, I think I read that pain can make you do some crazy stuff. Were you still drunk from last night?” Will asked.

“Nah, it wasn’t a hangover, it was just a really bad headache,” I told him.

“I hope the doctor can get you squared away, I think our insurance lasts through the end of the next month if you’re fired or laid off. You’ve been a good cubicle buddy, and I hope you’re okay. Keep in touch, man,” Will said.

“Thanks, Will, I appreciate you checking in on me, but I gotta run to the doctor now so I don’t miss my appointment,” I told him.

“No worries, give me a call whenever you land a job. Oh, and if you need a reference, I’d be glad to give you one,” Will offered.

“Thanks again, I appreciate you checking on me. I’ll let you know what I find,” I said as I ended the call. Will had seemed genuinely concerned and wasn’t just fishing for something to feed the office gossip machine that was likely chugging along, happily fueled by my crazy story.

I’d make it a point to call Will when I found some work. For now, I had a doctor's office to visit. A quick check of the clock showed it was 3:45 pm, I had to make it to the doctor’s office before they closed at six. I hadn’t ever felt nervous just going outside, but now it was hitting me as I considered all the things that might happen.

Along the way, I noted what shops and restaurants would be good places to duck into if a headache started. Many had signs saying there was no public restroom, but most places were cool if looked like you might buy something. Thankfully, there was no headache by the time I made it to the doctor’s office. My stomach did growl a bit as I passed some of the restaurants, reminding me I hadn’t eaten anything since the bowl of cereal this morning.

The mini clinic was at the back of the store, next to the pharmacy. It had an electronic sign-in kiosk and a single desk in front that a harried woman in scrubs was manning. Once I checked myself in, the woman at the desk, a nurse doing double duty as the receptionist, took my picture, my insurance info, and guided me back to one of the two exam rooms that the place had.

She had me fill out the usual stack of useless forms, but I was sort of expecting that. I didn’t mention anything about crazy trips to other worlds, or the whole naked thing. What I did mention were the headaches and blacking out.

“Doctor Nguyen will be with you shortly. He’s finishing up with another patient so it might be just a few minutes,” the nurse told me after taking my vitals. As I sat on the exam table and waited, another headache started to form. This one felt even worse than the earlier ones, and it was coming on quickly. Before I lost my vision, I remembered something I wanted to do. A quick check of my phone showed it was 4:22 pm. Starting the timer on my phone, I wanted to see how long I really was in that other world.

As the pain grew, I could hear the door to the other exam room open. The doctor was done in there and would be with me shortly. My vision started to fade as the door to my exam room opened.

Whatever awaited me in the other world, someone was going to get a front row seat to see what was happening to my body on Earth. Maybe having the doctor here would work out for the best. I’d finally know if I was crazy, had some kind of medical condition, or if everything I was experiencing was real. Instead of a voice this time, words appeared in front of me.

You are Summoned!