Peter's POV

“My, my, my Peter, you're taking a while to arrive. I'll speed up the process for you so I'll be able to defeat you faster,” the voice croaked in the darkness.

“Please just leave me alone!” I yelled, covering my ears, tears welling up in my closed eyes. “LEAVE ME ALONE”

“Poor Peter, I think he's going to cry,” the voice boomed, laughing maniacally.

I heard laughter from all around me, and I started shaking with fear.

“Don't cry; the fun has just begun,” was the last thing I heard him whisper in my ear.

I wake up with a start, shivering. I've been having dreams—more like nightmares—about that voice. I don't understand what he's talking about, but it's really scary.

“I'm not going to my classes today,” I thought to myself. I can't even remember the last time I've been to class, but oh well.

I heard a ping sound from my phone beside my bedside table. I looked at it, but I couldn't read the message, so I tried to pick it up.

Suddenly, my phone shattered into pieces. Yes, you heard that right. It just broke into, like, a million pieces. I stared at it in shock.

“Did I just do that?” I wondered.

I shook my head. This is impossible. I'm not even that strong.

I got out of bed and walked in between all the broken glass on the floor from my phone. I got a broom and started to sweep up the broken glass.

"Fuck, I don't have enough money to get a new one. What am I supposed to do?”

After I was done, I took a shower and put on a t-shirt and jeans. I literally can't go anywhere without my jeans. I'd look so out of place.

I made myself a bowl of cereal for breakfast and drank some coffee before heading out.

Since I didn't have work, I was quite bored, so I went to the supermarket. I know I don't have enough money to actually buy a new phone, but it would be a good idea to look at the prices.

When I got in, the supermarket looked like trash—I mean, in the nicest way possible—most of the shelves were empty, there were “wet floor” signs everywhere, and my God, the smell—I couldn't describe it, but all I can say is that if you were in here for more than half an hour, you would probably die from the smell.

Anyway, I made my way to the end of the supermarket, where the phones were, and I checked the prices.

“Are you kidding me?” I say to myself, “Why are they so expensive?” I looked at the iPhone 12. €800!? This is why I like Samsung better than Apple. I scoffed to myself.

I go to take my phone out to see the prices online, but then I remember that I broke it, and that's the whole reason why I was going to the supermarket in the first place.

I groan. I used my phone for everything. I don't want to be like those oldies who are like, “Back in the day, we didn't have phones, but we turned out perfectly fine.” Like, sure, you did. You literally can't read and don't know basic English. Respectfully shut the fuck up.

An alarm pulled me out of my thoughts. I looked around and saw people running out of the shop, screaming.

I ran to the first person I saw. “What's going on?” I asked them.

“Someone has a gun,” they choked out, tears in their eyes.

“Where are they?”

“By the till,” they replied, and they ran out of the shop screaming.

I made my way towards the till, and I know what you're thinking. Why am I not freaking out and running out of the shop?

I honestly don't know why, but I guess I wanted to try and be a hero.

When I saw the man shouting at the employee to put the money from the till in his sack while pointing a gun at her face, I was furious. This employee probably doesn't get paid that much money anyway, and she has to deal with this.

“Hey!” I shouted.

“Leave the girl alone.”

The man turned to me, and on his suit, I saw the initials “W.T.”

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“Dude, I'm not going to shoot her; I just need some money for my boss,” the guy explained, like that was going to solve anything, still pointing a gun at her head.

“Why does your boss need money?” I asked.

“That's none of your business,” the guy spit out.

I rolled my eyes and made an attempt to get closer to him, but when I took a step, he immediately pointed his gun towards me. I put my hands up.

“Just leave, man, or I'm going to shoot, and you're not the person I'm meant to kill,” the man grunted.

I looked at him in confusion and said, "Well, just let her go; I'll put the money in your sack,” hoping he would agree.

“Um, ok, I guess,” the man answered, looking at the woman and motioning with his gun to the exit. She ran out of the shop crying, and I made my way behind the till, continuing to put the money in his sack.

“I don't get why you can't just do it yourself,” I told him.

He ignored me and said, “What's your name, kid? Are you a hero?”

“First of all, I'm not a kid; I'm twenty-one, and second of all, I'm not a hero; I'm just not going to sit here and do nothing when someone is in trouble.”

"Twenty-one, you look young for your age, while I'm twenty-three and look like I'm in my 40s.”

I didn't say anything to that because, honestly, I didn't care.

When I finished putting the money in his sack, to my surprise, he thanked me and made his way out of the shop.

Though before he reached the exit, he slipped on the ground, and his mask fell off. I let out a little snicker, and once he got up, he ran out of the shop, his mask still on the ground.

Before he was out of sight, I saw his hair; it was blonde and looked very fluffy.

When he was gone, I made my way towards the phone section and, let's say, “borrowed” the iPhone 12 I was looking at earlier. It's not stealing if nobody's here.

**

I was still a bit shaken up by the event that happened in the shop, but I decided to just ignore it as I set up my new phone. I didn't have any contacts because they were all on my other phone, so I'll ask my friends about that the next time I go to college, which might be a long time.

Since I still had nothing to do, I looked up stuff to do in Lakewood. Yes, I was that bored and found a park nearby the place I worked, which was weird because I'd never realised that. I really need to go out more.

I started to walk to the park, using my phone to scroll on TikTok and extend my streak on Duolingo. I have a 562-day streak, there's no way I'm going to lose it.

As I passed my workplace, I saw someone at the corner of the building. It looked like they were holding some sort of bomb or something.

When I came closer, I realised it was Mark. I scoffed. What the actual fuck is wrong with him? He got fired, and now he wants to kill innocent civilians for it?

“Mark? What are you doing?”

When Mark heard my voice, he huffed and rolled his eyes.

“What do you want, Peter?”

“What do I want?" I'm trying to stop you from killing everyone in the building.”

Mark looked at the bomb in his hand and hid it behind his back, like that was going to make me forget about it.

“Why? Without me, this business is bound to fail, so I might as well end their suffering faster.”

"Mark, this is crazy. Have you lost your mind?”

"No, Mr. Sanchez lost his mind when he decided to fire me.”

"Mark, you have to stop; he fired you because it was the best for the business, and you didn't do your job. Maybe if you talk to Mr. Sanchez, he might say-”

“Shut up!” Mark yelled at me, “Just shut up, you're the reason that I'm fired; if it weren't for you, I would still be here.”

"Mark, this isn't my fault-”

Mark dropped the bomb and pushed me to the ground. He pulled something out of his coat pocket, but I couldn't see what it was.

"Peter, I swear to God I'm going to...”

Suddenly, Mr. Sanchez walked out of the art gallery and saw me on the floor and Mark over me.

“Peter? Mark? What on Earth is going on?”

Mark dropped the thing in his hand on the ground and looked at his ex-employer in shock. I used the chance to get up and back away from Mark.

"Mark, what were you going to do, Peter?”

"Nothing,” Mark said. “Right Peter?” He was glaring at me, but I couldn't speak. I didn't know what to say.

“I think Peter's silence speaks for itself,” my boss said.

“I need you to leave the premises; I will have no other choice but to call the police.”

"Yeah, Peter, go on leave,” Mark sneered.

I stayed silent.

“I'm afraid I'm talking to you, Mr. Williams.”

“What? What did I do?” questioned Mark.

“I think you know. Now, I'm not going to ask you a third time. Please leave the premises.”

Mark grunted and walked away, not before whispering in my ear, “Watch your back, Peter Thompson; the fun has just begun.”

I got flashbacks to the nightmare I had just this morning and shuddered.

“I'm very sorry about that. Mr. Thompson, Mark was my first employee; he helped me get my business off the ground. It's a shame I had to fire him, but like I said-”

“It was the best for the business,” I finished for him. "Yes, I know.”

My boss nodded his head in agreement.

“I'll see you on Thursday.”

Then he made his way back into the building, and I was left on my own, with the bomb a few metres in front of me.

I didn't know what to do with the bomb, so of course I looked it up, and the first thing that came up was how to neutralise a bomb, which is why I hated Google. It always gives you the most obscure suggestions for the simplest questions.

I decided it was probably the best idea to hide it somewhere so nobody would be able to find it, so I carefully picked it up and put it in the backpack I was wearing.

I continued to walk to the park, and on the way, I saw one of those huge recycling bins. I got closer to it and opened it up. It smelled like shit, but it wasn't as bad as the smell in the supermarket, so I could handle it.

I opened my backpack and took the bomb out. I pushed some trash out of the way and placed the bomb at the bottom of the bin.

I covered it with the trash, closed the bin, and finally made my way towards the park.

“I checked the time; how is it already 5:36p.m.?” I sighed. I got to the park and sat down on a nearby bench.

There wasn't really anything to do in the park, so I just went on my phone. The sun was coming down, and it was beautiful. I could see a variety of colours, including orange, yellow, and pink, and I took a picture of it and made it my home screen.

**

I spent a few hours in the park, and then I went home. I was scared of sleeping because I didn't want to have a nightmare, but I couldn't just not sleep. I was extremely bored, and I didn't have anything to do.

I went on my phone scrolling on TikTok until my eyelids felt heavy, and before I knew it, I fell into a deep slumber.

I wish I knew what I created…