[ WP ] In the shower you discover a dial on your neck . It 's turned to 7 . There 's no indication of what it controls . You set it to 8 and get dressed .

It was a Monday morning after another night of somewhat foolishly staying up all night on LSD. It was foolish because I had work to go to that morning, and LSD does n't let you sleep for the 12 hours that the effects of the drug last. I'd done this a few times before though, so I had already planned on a long hot shower and big mug of coffee to freshen up before the work day. 
 
 It was while scrubbing off the acid grime in the shower that I felt it. On my neck was a dial. I was tired and feeling the afterglow of LSD, so I had n't had the reaction one normally would. I angled myself to be able to see it in the mirror on the shower wall. A numbered dial. It was set to 7. Being that I was probably somehow hallucinating this experience, I set it to 8 and finished my shower without much else thought. 
 
 On the drive to work is when it came to mind again. I felt my neck to see if it was still there. Just skin, of course. I pondered what a strange experience that was in the shower. 
 
 
 At work is where it got strange again. Everyone I saw had a number. It was n't physical, or even hallucinated, but just kind of felt. Most of my coworkers were all sevens. There were a few sixes and fives and fours too though. Strangely, I had n't seen any 8s or higher. I also could n't see my own number. I could n't be sure that the dial had anything to do with it, but it seemed safe to assume so. 
 
 Now, I'd had a lot of LSD trips by this point in life, so my first assumption was that I was finally losing my mind. I played along with it though, knowing it was a weird drug effect since it was kind of amusing. I tried matching numbers with personality, or how they dressed, or anything really. So far there did n't seem to be any kind of correlation. At least among my coworkers. 
 
 My job was a typical boring office job, so when noon came around I decided to go somewhere for lunch. Only I still did n't have much of an appetite. I drove around for a bit, trying to think of a place to eat that would appeal to me. I ended up just going to a park and sitting on a bench. There were a few other people there, joggers, people walking dogs, a lady reading a book. They all were 7s. I did notice on the dog I saw that its number was a 2, though. 
 
 Then I saw an old man walking rather slowly on the sidewalk. He did n't look out of the ordinary. His hair was graying, and he had wrinkles. His clothes were normal. Nothing stood out. Except for the fact that a number was n't `` popping up'' for him. It was only ever a general feeling in the first place. It's not like there was a visual cue missing. It's just that looking at him, I did n't get a feeling that indicated a number. 
 
 Being curious and amused by this number thing the entire day, I decided to secretly observe him and see if anything was different. While lost in thought fantasizing about what the numbers could mean, I did n't notice how close he had gotten to me until he spoke. 
 
 `` Unusual to find an 8 in these parts.'' 
 
 I stared at him rather blankly. Made a bunch of uh sounds. Cast my eyes down nervously. 
 
 `` w-what?'' 
 
 `` I said, it's unusual to find an 8 in these parts. Humans are typically sevens or lower. As you've seen, I'm sure.'' 
 
 I KNEW I could n't be having a full blown hallucination. Acid does n't work that way at all, and even then this was a day after taking it. Who is this guy? He speaks so calmly. That might be the only outwardly abnormal thing about him. Then again, I'm not even sure if he was real. 
 
 `` You seem surprised. Have you only recently become an 8? That's strange, indeed. Hmmm. I have other matters to attend to now, but if you want answers then I'll be in touch. `` 
 
 He gave me a business card, and left at the same slow pace I first saw him. What the fuck?! 
 
 
 
 *I suspect I wrote this too boring and could n't think of an actual plot, oh well. *
