Ordinary

If you see anything that doesn't make sense or that needs to be fixed, please message me.


"If you don't pass the final, you'll be retaking this class."

You bump your head on the steering wheel. What should be an exciting end to your college career is being halted by the fact that it all hangs on one stupid test. You can't afford to fail, you literally can't afford to fail, and because you do everything last minute, you weren't able to put in the papers for financial aid in time. Luckily, your part-time job pays just enough for you to eat twice a day, four times out of the week, and once for the other days. That's fine with you as long as the rent (the part that your parents don't help out with) and school are being paid off on time, that's all you care about.

Leaning back in the seat, you exhale while looking in the rearview mirror at the convenience store. Closing your eyes, you take a deep breath. It's okay; you'll be out of here in a month, you pray that you'll be out of here within a month. You get out of the car with five minutes to spare and walk in.

"Good night."

"Good night."

You hate this man, he takes everything seriously, and you're pretty sure he only hired you because you're attractive so you'll attract more people. (I don't care about your personal opinion about yourself, you are attractive [winky face])

You stand behind the counter and prepare as the usual crowd of drunkards and road trippers come and go. It's not until your boss says the code word that you "perk" up. Acting as if you care you straighten up and look at the door while thinking, "It's most likely him being paranoid as usual." Your breath suddenly hitches and quickly becomes raspy; it's hard to breathe. A man in all black clothing shambles into the store with his hood covering most of his face. The store grows colder as the door shuts. Your primal instinct kick in and you shuffle closer to the gun that the manager keeps underneath the counter and hope you don't have to use it. He strolls up and down the isles, and as you watch him, your fingers and toes start to go numb. You raise your hands to your mouth and slowly exhale on them to warm up a bit. Seeing your breath worries you, it's 90 degrees outside, and the boss is too cheap to turn the thermostat down to under 70 degrees. So you rub your hands together, then hide them underneath your armpits to try to get some heat back. You feel yourself struggle for air even more, and your heart's racing faster.

Am I about to pass out? Are the stress and hunger getting to me?

You start to shiver and take out your hands to blow on them again. Your fingers are beginning to lose color; even the palms are beginning to turn blue.

Your boss approaches him, "Are you okay?" he doesn't answer, "Are you okay, sir?"

"Can't you see I'm looking around.". That's a man.

"I just wanted to know if you needed some help."

He doesn't answer and keeps making his way up and down until he suddenly stops in front of the duct tape. He grabs two, and you could have sworn you heard a chuckle from underneath the hood. He made his way to you, then extends his hand.

You strain the muscles in your face to force a smile, "Y-you can put it on the counter."

You look at him to try to make out what he is thinking, but his head is bowed while his arm is still extended. Wanting the situation to be over with, you reach for the duct tape, but he suddenly drops it and your hands' touch. You slingshot to the wall behind you, making your boss run to the front, "WHAT DID YOU DO!"

"No, no, it was my fault. I'm sorry," you explain. He looks at you, then at the stranger, starts to check the store, grumbling to himself with each step.

The man doesn't say anything, so you scan the items.

"$15."

He hands you a $100 bill.

"Keep the change."

You don't know if it was the poor lighting or your lack of sleep and food, but you could have sworn his eyes were pitch black.

He leaves the store, and with his absence, the warmth of life slowly returns.

"That was strange."

"At least he gave us extra money."

'That's not the point Karen.'

The encounter put you on edge, but as the night went on, you slowly go back to auto-mode.

When 4 am comes, you and the boss close shop and say good night.


You walk your separate ways, and his footsteps become more distant as time passes. You unlock your car and hop in. You got to remember to ask your parents if they can get you remote powered door locks for either your birthday or Christmas. You love your old car, but it's getting a little too old. Sitting in the car, you close your eyes, trying to gain some level of composure. You hear someone breathing. You jump and quickly look around, but no one is in your car. You have to drive slow; your breathing just scared you.

You start to drive, your eyelids heavy and will be depleted, making the road go in and out of focus. For a second you see a hooded man on the side, so you look over, but nothing's there. You look back to the road. As you keep driving, he starts to appear more and more, as if he's in still motion. You pick up the speed, but he's still there in your peripheral vision. Nothing stops the acceleration until you see that you were going 60 mph and slow down, barely making the stop sign. You sit back and breathe to calm down. Your break is short as you look forward and see someone in all black crossing in front of the car. Terrified, you jump with a squeak escaping and accidentally smash the horn, making the person jump too. After the woman curses you out, you continue to make your way home, relieved. "Maybe it was just some concert attendant or a cult member," you joke to yourself.

You're finally home, and you can't even think of taking a bath. You strip down and drop onto your bed. It was nasty, but you can't bring yourself to do anything else.
THUMP THUMP
You hop up, those footsteps sounded like they were in your room. Scanning the floor reveals something fell off the desk. You rolled your eyes and lay back down in bed.

Waking up, you pinch the bridge of your nose, annoyed by the return to reality. Looking over at the object that fell, you see a fresh roll of black duct tape.


Yikes, haven't written and posted anything in a long time. I've just edited my stories from 2016 or 2015 like three million times, and they're still bad lol. Anyways I hope you enjoy this because I'm enjoying writing it... Editing it thoooooooo.