Bryant laughed, grinning at his wife, Hailey. "After that, James told me, 'When you're in Japan, if you step out of a convenience store and there's nobody in sight, you're about to die or be transmigrated. I know it sounds crazy, but trust me bro. This stuff only happens in Japan. Oh, and make sure you bring your food along.' Can you believe that guy? What a weeb."
Hailey laughed, picking a green tea off the shelf and adding it to the small wire basket in Bryant's hand. "Every time you tell me something James or Mateo says at work, I think it can't get any more random - And then they prove me wrong. Are they okay?"
Bryant picked up two sandwiches, putting them in his basket as well. "I don't really know. They are normal enough, but I don't think they matured past the age of 12. It's ridiculous that I have to deal with them, but in all honesty, everyone we babysit is even worse. You would think that a job dealing with a bunch of old men would be easy, but they are a bunch of whiny babies half the time. The rest of the time, they are trying to fight each other."
Hailey grinned at Bryant, shaking her head, "I'm glad I only have to deal with petty squabbles at work."
"Yeah. I really need to get out of there. I'm so glad we can get away from all that for a while." Bryant set the wire basket on the counter, handing a crumpled few bills to the cashier.
After checking out, they stepped towards the door, hand in hand. They had only gone a few steps when Hailey stopped, "Oh! I almost forgot to buy some gum. I'll be right behind you."
"Okay, babe. I'll go wait in the car." Bryant stepped outside into the crisp night air, giving a friendly smile to a wrinkled old woman resting on an ornately carved green bench.
The woman smiled at him, her teeth perfect despite her age. She nodded at him, pointing at the dusty red car they had rented and then giving him a thumbs up. "Good. Good."
Bryant nodded. "Yes. G-"
Behind him, there was a sudden screeching sound and a deafening hiss of air, as if the whole building behind him was a giant airlock. The air rushed past him.
He whirled around. A perfect rectangle of complete darkness sat where the building had been before.
"HAILEY!"
Nothing.
"HAILEY! ARE YOU OKAY?!"
Silence.
Bryant sprinted towards the edge of the rectangle, trying to see the building behind it.
It was gone. He stood there, his mind reeling. Gone? How could it be gone?! He ran to the other side of the rectangle. Nothing.
"How in the..."
Then it hit him. The old lady.
Gone.
The car.
Gone.
In fact, the whole street was gone. The only thing in sight was the ornate green bench that the old lady had been resting on.
Then James' words came back to him, 'When you're in Japan, if you step out of a convenience store and there's nobody in sight, you're about to die or be transmigrated. I know it sounds crazy, but trust me bro. This stuff only happens in Japan. Oh, and make sure you bring your food along.'
"Are you freaking kidding me? Of course, this would happen to me. Great. Just great. Even 2,000 miles away, I can't escape from that guy." Bryant pocketed the food that was in his bag. "Just had to jinx me. Unbelievable."
He looked around uncertainly. What now?
His hand touched the smooth glass of his phone wedged in his pocket. I'm lucky if it works even on a good day, but I guess it's worth a try. He swiped through his phone, tapping on Hailey's contact card.
A brief ring. "Sorry, I'm almost done. I'll be-"
The call dropped, ringing loudly as a new call came in. "Seriously?!". It had to choose today, of all days, to act up. Who would... James. James would.
"-ey man, you gotta see this meme I sent you. Funny as hell." James started talking before the call even connected, verbally vomiting about some turtle getting to the water.
"James, I can't do this right now. I don't care. Bye." Bryant hung up, calling Hailey again.
Hailey's voice came through again, but this time faint and crackling. "Bryant, where ar-"
Bryant's phone rang again, cutting her off.
"-at was rude. I'm gracing you with a god-tier meme, and you hang up on me? Rude. Just rude. I thought you-"
"JAMES! STOP!" Click.
Bryant gritted his teeth, calling Hailey again.
"We're sorry, your call cannot be completed as dialed. Please hang up, and try again."
His phone rang again.
"-ought you were raised better, Bryant. Damn. Rude as hell. I'm gonna whoop your ass next time I see you - teach you some respect."
Bryant rubbed his temples, fighting the urge to smash his phone. "James. JAMES. JAMES!"
Silence.
"Yeah?"
"It happened."
"What are you.. wait a minute. That?! IT REALLY HAPPENED? DAMNNNN. That's crazy dude. How come your phone still works? What about Hailey? She okay?"
Bryant took a deep breath, speaking through clenched teeth, "I don't know, James. Someone kept CALLING ME, and now I can't get through."
"Oh... Whoops... My bad..."
Bryant sighed. "What do I do now? There's a big black rectangle here, and a bench."
"Ohh.. A BBR, huh? Yeah.. I know all about those things." James' voice changed, and Bryant could almost hear James looking down his nose at him as he mimicked an announcer from some science show.
"The BBR, commonly confused with the BBC, is an interdimensional portal opened from another place. Many people believe they are formed by gravitational portals from a super-advanced alien race. Those people are stupid. Aliens aren't real. It's actually a tear in the space-time continuum by some OP over-leveled adventurer from a magical world swinging their sword faster than mach 3. These space tears can be used to travel to badass places that a select few lucky bas.." James cleared his throat, "people get to travel to. These lucky fu- ahem - winners get to have badass skills, and become badass badasses with badass bitches. So badass."
"...So you don't believe in aliens, but you do believe in magical worlds with people that aren't aliens that can swing their swords faster than the speed of sound?? Also, why can I hear you so clearly when I can't call my wife?"