𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖓𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙 𝖘𝖍𝖎𝖋𝖙 | 𝖇𝖙𝖘 𝖝 𝖋!𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖉𝖊𝖗

[edited | written by @al00f]

[+]

12:00 am

“boring…” you thought to yourself while biting the insides of your cheek. the bothersome, tedious silence bugged you to death. boredom was your number one enemy, and you loathed it with your heart’s greatest extent. a hopeless sigh escaped your chapped lips while briefly blinking away the fatigued sensation in your eyes. you were somnolent—you were always from the start. you licked your parched lips and blankly gazed at the grimy, beat-up tiles before you. you shook your head, disappointed of what had become of the brand-new tiles before. the gas station had just opened a few months ago, and already the tiles are jacked up.

it was somewhat amusing how fast something so new, could easily be destroyed.

“oh. well.”

you brushed it off, and swiftly snatched your beverage bottle before instantly gulping the sugary, transparent liquid down your throat. it wasn’t your fault that they ended up that way. you placed the bottle down on the counter and wiped the excess liquid on your lips with your jacket sleeve. it was mind-numbing midnight, and you had just arrived before clocking and switching shifts with your co-worker.

you rubbed your bushed eyes and gave out an uninterested yawn. you were bored out of your mind. there was nothing to do, except for waiting for any customers, which was rare. sometimes you wonder what was the purpose of you doing night shifts, you hardly get any customers—in fact, you don’t get any customers at all. the gas station you were working in was a mile away from the city. what was expected?

groaning, you picked up your phone and-

d i n g ! ! !

the sound of the bell chimed and echoed throughout the surprisingly large gas station. you lazily glanced at the person who entered before turning your attention back to your phone, not fazed at all by some typical customer. as you scrolled through your phone, you heard footsteps pacing throughout aisles and aisles. you brushed it off and assumed they were indecisive on what to bu-

d i n g ! ! !

the bell vibrated and chimed, its obnoxious jingle echoing through the store for the second time. you heard another set of footsteps enter the gas station, blending with the other set. once again, it seemed not to grab your interest, and you didn’t bother to see who it was.

t a p, t a p , t a p , t a p . . .

abruptly, you heard footsteps walking towards you. you lifted your head only to see a young man with black hair who had entered first. you mentally sighed at the sight: he had nothing in his hands. you assumed he was either going to ask for the air pumps or to use the bathroom. you pursed your lips and blinked at the male as he finally approached you at the cash register. “um,” he paused, a look of uncertainty overcoming his face. “where’s the restroom?” the young man finished, causing you to arose with suspicion at the male’s tone.

red flag number one.

skeptical, you took a quick glance at the other customer in the store and realized they halted in front of the snack aisle, their figure slightly hidden from view. that made you even more suspicious.

you turned your focus on the young man in front of you and blankly stared at him, motioning towards the obvious ‘employees only’ sign that hung on the public restroom door.

red flag number two.

was the bolded sign not enough for him to see? it was literally right there if he had looked. or was he just innocently clueless? something in your gut told you something wasn’t right, and you listened to it. you were on high alert as you thought the two males were somehow linked together. suddenly, within a blink in an eye, the young man scurried off within the aisles, entering the souvenir section.

you couldn’t see him anymore; he was hidden from your sight.

well, that was an obvious red flag. if they were going to try to pull something off, try not to make it suspicious at least.

you rested your chin on your palm, tapping your fingers against the marble counter as you discreetly eyed the two customers. all you could hear in the gas station was the ac blasting, and the sound of you tapping your slender, long fingers. you noted that neither of the males had moved yet from their spots, which made you warier of what was going on.

taking a glance outside through the glass window, your heart dropped in leery.

“dammit…”

you spotted a silhouette tracing your car as they slowly walked around it, dragging their fingertips along the polished vehicle, causing you to irk because you value your car the most. oh, how you wanted to punch that anonymous person, but lashing out won’t get you anywhere. you learned that the hard way. you then noticed a white van just a few parking spots away from your car. you clenched your jaw and turned away, only to come face to face with the same young man who scurried off in the depths of the aisles. you gazed at the young male with a neutral look upon your face, waiting for him to speak. behind him, you noticed the other undistinguished person swiftly scampered from the snack aisle to the souvenir one. you detected they were male just from their body figure. “excuse. do you guys have any ice?” he asked, completely ignoring what he had totally pulled off a few seconds ago. he acted like he never dashed off.

the young man kept a stable tone than the last time he asked.

“this kid really think he slick...?”

just from his question, you instantly knew that something was up; 100% for sure now.

there wasn’t an ice dispenser in the beginning.

you mentally facepalmed at his mistake, but he was just a young man after all.

“sorry, kiddo. we don’t have any ice,” you replied, waiting for his reaction.

“you should have noticed since there’s only a trash can outside the gas station.”

he paused for a slight moment. a slight moment.

“oh. i’m talking about the air pumps,” he answered, his voice faltering into a machinelike tone. you caught him.

you brushed it off—that was a very noticeable red flag. does this boy even have common sense? looked like you beat him to his own mistake judging from the tone of his voice. you decided to go along with his, or them, little child scheme he, or they, was currently trying to pull off right now. you were literally contemplating what was going to happen next within the next hours, minutes or second while talking to the young man in front of you. in the back of your head, you wondered if there were people in that white van, and if the silhouette touching your car was some random stranger passing by. or if the two males in the gas station, the silhouette touching your car and the white vehicle was all connected somehow.

“oh. that’s alright kid, we all make mistakes sometimes. the night will take a toll on you.” you responded casually, looking at him dead in the eyes. you were amused and curious about how would this little ‘scheme’ would play out. you had a nine-hour shift, and about a few minutes passed. maybe this would entertain you.

you noted he gave out a forceful laugh. you averted your eyes, “fake.” you thought. you could easily tell if someone was faking.

you took a quick glance at the clock and bit the insides of your cheek, which was a habit. blankly looking at the male in front of you, you gave him an impression of boredom. you don’t have time for this nonsense. you patiently waited for his response, trying to find the boy at least interesting, scouting for any sort of entertainment while looking in his eyes.

s t a a a a a r r r r r e e e e e . . . . .

suddenly, the young man left.

the sound of the ‘ding’ went off as he exited. “what the…?” you thought.

odd. he automatically walked away just like that. your face scrunched up, finding it quite absurd. “oh well, finally he’s gone.” you muttered to yourself, watching him walk away. all you have left when the other male hiding within the aisles. one gone, one more to go. you swiftly looked towards the direction of the male hidden in the souvenir aisle, before taking your chance to investigate outside. you knew something was up as soon as the two customers stepped inside your gas station—you sensed it in the back of your head, even if you didn’t appear like it from the outside. one thing about you was you were always skeptical of strangers. this tendency of yours would bring you disadvantages and benefits sometimes.

you hurried and snuck a look in the corner mirror, keeping your head transfixed. even from looking in the corner mirror, you still couldn’t spot the unknown male. your eyes trailed off outside, recognizing the young man making his way towards the white van you saw earlier. you noted that the silhouette touching your car disappeared. your theory was correct. you squinted at the sight, trying not to make it obvious at the same time. “what the hell?” you though as many scenarios popped inside your head, trying to pinpoint a valid reason that could soon be played out and happen this second. “maybe… a robbery? hmmm, murder? no, drug deale-”

“um, do you have the ‘pit-bull’ cigarettes?” a voice asked you, interrupting your thoughts. before you were the unfamiliar male. you faked a casual face. whatever was happening, you were prepared and ready.

you took a step back and rested one hand on the counter with the other gripping onto the racks of cigarettes. you’re not stupid, you’re not on turned your back on him. instead, you were turned sideways. your theory could be wrong about the people you spotted, and they could have turned out innocent customers all along. even though your assumption could be wrong, you still kept your guard up, not trusting anyone.

“as you could see, we don’t have pit-bull,” you replied. as an alternative, you recommended him your preferred brand of cigarettes. “but we do have ‘snooty’, my personal favorite.”

he slightly winced, noticing your preferred brand of cigarettes was much stronger than the one he asked for.

“nah.” the male replied, keeping a casual tone than the last one did.

you mentally sighed and begun listing the different types of cigarette brands to him. “well, we have ‘superior’, ‘frisk’, ‘fun’,”

as you listed the brands, you heard his fingers impatiently tapping against the counter; he was annoyed.

“- ‘spirit’, ‘camel’, ’galo-”

“i’ll have ‘camel’.” he blurted out. you could sense a hint of nervousness in his voice. barely. you pretended you didn’t notice and decided to turn your back at him, before quickly darting your eyes to the corner mirror. you kept your head still, not wanting the young man to realize your glancing in the mirror. you purposefully acted confused, trying to find ‘camel’ by skimming your fingers blindly through the racks.

in the corner mirror, you saw that he instantly whipped his head in the direction of the window, seeing him occasionally nod his head as if he was talking to someone. you squinted your eyes in suspect while finally grabbing his requested cigarettes. you then automatically faced him, catching him off guard. you had your head slightly low, acting like you’re looking at it. you ignored the fact that he tried to play it off, making it appear like he was gazing towards the ground the whole time. “i found it.”

the male pulled out his wallet, almost making him flinch as he could pull out anything. you scolded yourself mentally for not being aware. you not actually going to sell him the cigarettes—he looked young for crying out loud. you paused and looked at him, causing him to stop as well. “oi, you seem pretty young. do you have an id?” you purposely asked.

he froze.

an imaginary smirk formed upon your lips. “caught ya.” you thought cruelly. “ah…” he trailed off; his finger stopped tapping.

the young man then immediately bolted out the gas station doors. his footsteps tapped loudly against the marble floor, the ‘ding’ sound following after him.

an aching sensation erupted from your stomach. regret. you knew you shouldn’t have said that but you had always loved the feeling of thrill of being caught, or the satisfying adrenaline rushing throughout your veins. you adored the feeling of being caught in the moment. you were completely aware that you were a person who loved being reckless and the keen excitement of getting in trouble than you should be. even though you regretted your actions, you didn’t care at all at the same time.

in fact, you don’t care at all now.

you can’t wait to know what’ll happen next. it was getting awfully boring anyways.