Closing Time (Ben's Day One)
Oct 19, 2015 22:05:16 GMT -5
Post by Carmichael on Oct 19, 2015 22:05:16 GMT -5
It felt like my shift at Sheds & Regal, the local bookstore that I worked at, would never end. I was working in the café, and customer after customer approached the counter waiting to be served. It was a never-ending wave of people ordering different lattes, cappuccinos and frappes, and not a single one seemed to be able to pronounce the names correctly. It was a long day, to say the least.
I was working by myself, and looked forward to leaving in….I took a look at the clock and silently swore to myself. I still had four hours left on my shift. The day had started off difficult, and it didn’t seem like it was going to get better any time soon. I turned and asked the next customer, ”Hi, what can I get for you today?”
The woman that I was talking to looked like she really didn’t feel well at all. She groaned and reached out towards me, and I took a step back, uncomfortable with the closeness. I looked at her hand, and realized she was trying to hand me money.
”Mam, I can’t take your money until you order something…”
She shook her head, and it seemed like a fog lifted from her.
”Ugh, I’m sorry. I totally spaced out for a second there. I must have ordered in my head. I’ll have a vent-ee mocha please.”
I said no problem told her the amount and she handed me the money again, this time I accepted it and put the tip she gave in my pocket.
I handed her the mocha and the lights flickered.
”That’s odd.” I said to myself, and then the power went out completely, leaving the store semi-dark.
”Well that’s even odder.” The power had never gone out before, so it left me feeling a little strange. I turned to the counter and thought for a moment about what to do with the baked goods that were going to go bad if I didn’t find some way to power the refrigerator. They could last a little while, so I wasn’t super worried, but hopefully the manager on duty would figure something out. I started turning away customers, since there wasn’t anything I could do for them.
About ten minutes in I heard a scream, and thought, well that’s strange, I should probably go see what it is.
I walked over to the customer service counter, where it sounded like the scream had come from, and I immediately gagged at what I saw. A lot of blood, but no person. My mind immediately started racing. This is a lot of blood. This is too much blood. I don’t think a person could lose this much blood and be okay. All of the customers had left the store by this point, no sense in being in a store where you can’t buy anything and the lights are all off.
I looked around, and it seemed like I was the only person on the floor, another strange occurrence.
”hello?” I called out, but if anyone heard me, they didn’t answer. I had an awful uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach, and I couldn’t help but wonder what was happening. Nobody was answering, and there was a pool of blood in front of me. I really, really wished that it could have been a dream that I would wake up from at any moment.
I decided maybe it was best to leave the store and go get help.
I walked outside into the cold Central City night air, and looked around. Every light it seemed was out. It was dark and quiet. Real dark, and real quiet. I pulled out my cell phone to use as a flashlight and told myself that I was being silly, and then almost immediately remembered the pool of blood. Maybe it hadn’t been blood. It had been dark in there, and it could have been a spill of another kind. Maybe that’s where they had gone, to grab something to clean up the spill. I was being silly.
I turned around to go back into the store when I noticed something move out of the corner of my eye. It was a man. He was a good fifty feet away from me, but there was something….off…about the way he was walking. He shambled towards me, and I called out in confusion.
”Hello?”
He didn’t respond loudly, but it looked like he was saying something. He reached his hand up, as if to point.
”Are you okay?”
My first instinct was to turn and run away from the man, but when I did, I ran into another person. She was dead. That’s the only way I could describe her at the time, before….well before I knew what it was that we’re up against. It looked like she had been in some accident of some kind. Her face was smashed in, almost like a soda can that imploded on itself. I almost thought to ask her if she was alright, but there was no way that she could have been. The only question was why she was still up and walking around. Her arm had been torn off clean at the shoulder, but when people talk about limbs getting torn off they usually mean a clean tear. This wasn’t that. Her arm bone was still connected, down to the elbow. There just wasn’t any muscle or skin on it. It was just bone. It wasn’t Halloween. There was no reason for this woman to look this way, nor was there any reason for her to still be walking towards me. I turned around and the man yelled “Run!” at the top of his lungs. A dark figure appeared behind him…and…I don’t know if I saw it right, or…I didn’t think at the time, but it bit into his neck, from what I could tell. And then they fell to the floor.
Soda-Can Woman reached toward me with her bone-stump, and I backed out of the way. I turned, and I ran as fast as I could to my car. I peeled out of the parking lot and smashed face first into the row of parked cars.
I woke up moments later with a pounding headache. I got out of my car, and saw that there were hundreds of cars, all without drivers. Something big had happened, and I needed to get out of Central City fast.
I couldn’t help thinking….wasn’t everything fine this morning?
My other thought was…I hope my boyfriends okay.
I was working by myself, and looked forward to leaving in….I took a look at the clock and silently swore to myself. I still had four hours left on my shift. The day had started off difficult, and it didn’t seem like it was going to get better any time soon. I turned and asked the next customer, ”Hi, what can I get for you today?”
The woman that I was talking to looked like she really didn’t feel well at all. She groaned and reached out towards me, and I took a step back, uncomfortable with the closeness. I looked at her hand, and realized she was trying to hand me money.
”Mam, I can’t take your money until you order something…”
She shook her head, and it seemed like a fog lifted from her.
”Ugh, I’m sorry. I totally spaced out for a second there. I must have ordered in my head. I’ll have a vent-ee mocha please.”
I said no problem told her the amount and she handed me the money again, this time I accepted it and put the tip she gave in my pocket.
I handed her the mocha and the lights flickered.
”That’s odd.” I said to myself, and then the power went out completely, leaving the store semi-dark.
”Well that’s even odder.” The power had never gone out before, so it left me feeling a little strange. I turned to the counter and thought for a moment about what to do with the baked goods that were going to go bad if I didn’t find some way to power the refrigerator. They could last a little while, so I wasn’t super worried, but hopefully the manager on duty would figure something out. I started turning away customers, since there wasn’t anything I could do for them.
About ten minutes in I heard a scream, and thought, well that’s strange, I should probably go see what it is.
I walked over to the customer service counter, where it sounded like the scream had come from, and I immediately gagged at what I saw. A lot of blood, but no person. My mind immediately started racing. This is a lot of blood. This is too much blood. I don’t think a person could lose this much blood and be okay. All of the customers had left the store by this point, no sense in being in a store where you can’t buy anything and the lights are all off.
I looked around, and it seemed like I was the only person on the floor, another strange occurrence.
”hello?” I called out, but if anyone heard me, they didn’t answer. I had an awful uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach, and I couldn’t help but wonder what was happening. Nobody was answering, and there was a pool of blood in front of me. I really, really wished that it could have been a dream that I would wake up from at any moment.
I decided maybe it was best to leave the store and go get help.
I walked outside into the cold Central City night air, and looked around. Every light it seemed was out. It was dark and quiet. Real dark, and real quiet. I pulled out my cell phone to use as a flashlight and told myself that I was being silly, and then almost immediately remembered the pool of blood. Maybe it hadn’t been blood. It had been dark in there, and it could have been a spill of another kind. Maybe that’s where they had gone, to grab something to clean up the spill. I was being silly.
I turned around to go back into the store when I noticed something move out of the corner of my eye. It was a man. He was a good fifty feet away from me, but there was something….off…about the way he was walking. He shambled towards me, and I called out in confusion.
”Hello?”
He didn’t respond loudly, but it looked like he was saying something. He reached his hand up, as if to point.
”Are you okay?”
My first instinct was to turn and run away from the man, but when I did, I ran into another person. She was dead. That’s the only way I could describe her at the time, before….well before I knew what it was that we’re up against. It looked like she had been in some accident of some kind. Her face was smashed in, almost like a soda can that imploded on itself. I almost thought to ask her if she was alright, but there was no way that she could have been. The only question was why she was still up and walking around. Her arm had been torn off clean at the shoulder, but when people talk about limbs getting torn off they usually mean a clean tear. This wasn’t that. Her arm bone was still connected, down to the elbow. There just wasn’t any muscle or skin on it. It was just bone. It wasn’t Halloween. There was no reason for this woman to look this way, nor was there any reason for her to still be walking towards me. I turned around and the man yelled “Run!” at the top of his lungs. A dark figure appeared behind him…and…I don’t know if I saw it right, or…I didn’t think at the time, but it bit into his neck, from what I could tell. And then they fell to the floor.
Soda-Can Woman reached toward me with her bone-stump, and I backed out of the way. I turned, and I ran as fast as I could to my car. I peeled out of the parking lot and smashed face first into the row of parked cars.
I woke up moments later with a pounding headache. I got out of my car, and saw that there were hundreds of cars, all without drivers. Something big had happened, and I needed to get out of Central City fast.
I couldn’t help thinking….wasn’t everything fine this morning?
My other thought was…I hope my boyfriends okay.