An average-looking man with short dark hair and light brown skin slept in his pajamas, the sparse sunlight filtering through the blinds' narrow gaps without disturbing him.
He woke abruptly to the blaring of his alarm. "Just great," he muttered.
Lazily, he opened his eyes, revealing half-shut brown eyes.
Sam fumbled until his hand found his phone. After a brief struggle against the blankets' embrace, he reluctantly left the bed to start his mundane morning routine, gearing up for another day flipping burgers at work in another ordinary Tuesday.
The traffic was surprisingly smooth for a city morning. Sam passed the time listening to music and occasionally admiring the morning sky. Despite the pleasant day, an unsettling feeling nagged at his heart.
"Hm, feels like something's off today."
Due to his nature and his weird action throughout his life trying to keep control of his life, he developed one thing he deemed valuable and that is an extraordinarily strong gut feeling or maybe for some this is just an extreme case of Paranoia, but fortunately so far his gut feeling never betrayed him.
"I just hope nothing bad happen, but oh well what's the worst that could happen?"
As he pondered, he refocused on the road, letting time slip by.
Finally, he arrived at the parking lot, grabbed his fanny pack, and entered "FlipDeBurg," the fast food joint he'd called his workplace for two years. Inside, his coworkers were busy organizing supplies. There were three of them, the first one he saw was Rebecca. She was a shy woman, who always wore glasses because... well her eyes needed the glasses to see obviously since she's nearsighted. The second person is Jessica, she was a... I don't know how to put it but the nicest way I can put her is she's a hoe with a bad temper and quite a manipulator. Lastly the third person is Jason, an aloof type of guy but other than that he's quite alright I guess? I mean sometimes he's quite overbearing but other than that he's overall a nice guy.
"Morning, little Sam. Rough sleep?" Jason asked, neither overly enthusiastic nor dismissive.
"Yeah, could've used more," Sam replied flatly. "How about you?"
"Always great! Hit a new bench press record before coming here. You know, when..." Jason began his usual ramble.
I'm currently not in the mood of having a conversation with him. My mood is kinda sour right now and will probably make me looked like an ass unintentionally.
The sense of uneasiness still hasn't gone yet and still nudging me, so I don't really want to deal with hearing Jason and accidentally snap at him like a dick. But fortunately, Jessica suddenly "interrupt" our conversation out of nowhere.
"Hey Jason get your ass here and help me move these supply! Stop wasting your time talking to Sam!" Jessica said grumpily as she moved boxes labeled with "buns"
"Oh come on! we still got some time left don't worry! I still need to tell Sam how I break my bench press record!" Sam replied to Jessica similar to that of a puppy.
"I don't care what you're talking about just move the supplies NOW! Besides, I don't think Sam even understand what you're saying" Jessica said as she's walking toward us and look at me condescendingly.
As anyone can see, Jessica and I are definitely not close not even a little bit, she's just being a bitch every now and then at Sam for no reason.
For some unknown reason to Sam, lately she's been increasingly way more annoying and bitchier than usual. Though i don't know what's the reason but I can probably guess why.
It's maybe either because I called out the manager bullshit a few times in the past. There's one time he falsely accused me of something I didn't do and out of frustration I get into a big argument with him to the point almost losing my job.
There's a high possibility she's putting an act by licking his boots clean to get a promotion and perhaps the fastest way to be on his good side is to being a bitch to me, who knows. Or the more simpler reason might be that she's just simply upgraded her bitching skill with steroids, either way this is starting to get really annoying.
"It's okay Jason we can talk about your... Record breaking in another time don't worry besides it's about time we'll open soon" as soon as I said that I pat Jason on the back and walked away. I want none of this drama bullshit in the morning especially when I'm feeling like shit today. Not knowing why his gut feeling keeps making him uneasy is quite frustrating.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
'I need to keep my mind busy.' Sam thought.
After a "productive" social interaction, Sam began to organize a couple of supplies here and there as usual while trying to ignore his increasingly uneasiness. Just like that, half an hour passed in a blink of an eye and it's finally time to open but before that...
"Hello everyone good morning" Robert cheerfully said.
Suddenly, Robert arrived at the kitchen surprising everyone. Robert is the manager of "FlipDeBurg," the fastfood place I'm currently working at right now. Although he's a manager, don't be fooled by his generic ass name and innocent face because I can says confidently he's the last in line on a good example of a proper human being.
Yeah he looks friendly and all but until you know him don't be deceived, this sorry excuse of a manager is an irresponsible and filthy scumbag. How can I say that? Well, there's dozen of reasons why but one of many examples is that there's one time he's got caught flirting with some young customer in broad daylight. Also, did I forgot to say that he's watching the HUB in his office so loud it caused public disturbance? Yeah he's really something else, I wonder what kind of shit will he pull this time.
"Morning manager!" The three of us replied.
Robert waited and observe us for awhile smile and said:
"I hope all of you are having a good day and in high spirit because today there's gonna be a pay raise!" Robert announced, eliciting shock from everyone.
All of us are shocked by the announcement, 'a pay raise? In this economy? That's like finding Santa clause in the summer! I wonder why he's being so nice today, it seems fishy, but oh well maybe I'm being too judgmenta-'
"Everyone except Sam" Robert said, looking at me haughtily.
'Of fucking course, this sack of bullshit is pulling a stunt again. what the hell is the deal with this guy?'
Sigh... Sometimes when something like this happen I just want to close my eyes and ignore it but alas the reality is not that simple.
Rebecca dared to speak up timidly, "Um, manager, why is Sam excluded? He's been doing well..."
"No, just know that his performance is not UpTo the standard" Robert instantly replied without hesitation with a smirk on his face.
"But-" the moment Rebecca tried to retort Jessica immediately cut her off and said,
"The manager statement is final Rebecca! Don't talk back, besides manager is right, Sam performance is not good even compared to Jason!"
Oh look, is that a manipulative hoe on the field I see? Praising the manager and trying to sow discord between Jason and me eh? Wow how original, I definitely never saw her like this in the past 2 years what a surprise, is what I said if I'm an idiot.
"Look at that he's not even listening! He's not even trying to defend himself, unbelievable! That alone is proof enough he's guilty for it hence why he's excluded for the pay raise" Jessica said and steal a subtle gaze at Robert. Rebecca in the end turned silent and look down, she doesn't want to get into trouble she can't handle and if by doing nothing can help herself out of this situation then she will do nothing.
Sometimes I do wonder why these kind of people exist in this world, is their purpose to sow discord and cause chaos everywhere they go? I truly don't know or want to understand them either since it's just a waste of time. One thing for sure is that i will remember their horrible treatment they gave to me and when the day comes where I stand on top of them i will return their treatment tenfold.
'sigh... calm down, just let it go man it will soon pass like any other days.' Sam thought to himself.
Sam was perfectly aware that this environment is toxic but as long as they don't cross the line too much and just barking like a dog as usual he can endure it. Not that he's afraid, he's just don't care for their childish behavior.
He can try to look for a different job but in this economy? it's a ridiculously hard thing to do, not only there's so few job available but there's also an issue about jobs having weird and ridiculous requirements all over the place. For example, one needs to be looking really handsome/beautiful to apply for a cashier position at some random ass supermarket! what's the deal with that? Do I need to be a supermodel first to apply or something? It's utterly mental.
Sam himself was what one would describe as rather average in the looks department. His body was quite well toned since he's doing calisthenics, his face is average looking with brown eyes and short dark hair in pompadour style.
The only thing Sam most proud of was two things, his well trained body and extraordinarily gut feeling. Obviously, the latter cannot be said to the others since he already tried in the past resulting some people scoffed at him saying that he's just paranoid and exaggerating things, so overtime Sam grown to be more of a silent type of guy.
Lost in his thoughts Sam is brought back to reality when Robert screamed at him "...SAM! IF TODAY I DON'T SEE ANY IMPROVEMENT TODAY YOU'RE FIRED!"
Sam the one who's being screamed at look at his manager with a deadpan expression, and before he could even open his mouth he heard a sound.
*DING!*
The sound of a doorbell just rang. Nice timing, it's the first customer of the day. I gotta thanks whoever it is for saving me from blowing up on this sorry excuse of a manager. The manager looks at me menacingly for a moment before he leaves and head to the door to flip the open sign but when he walk to the door he doesn't see anyone entering, when he thought about looking around a similar sounds rang again.
*DING!*
"WHO'S PLAYING PRANKS SO EARLY IN THE MORNING?!" Robert bellowed, clearly irritated.
Damn, what happened to that guy? He's being a dick way more than usual, maybe he forgot his chill pill or something? Anyway, I don't think any of us played a pranks on him since i can see my co-workers face utterly confused. Maybe it's a ringtone sound? But that doesn't make any sense as it's so loud. Well just in case, i reached inside my fanny bag searching for my phone then the sounds rang again.
*DING!"
Before anyone can uttered any statement, words appeared before Sam eyes or maybe more accurately his consciousness. Suddenly he felt weak, he barely managed to make them out before everything goes dark.
*Tutorial will begin shortly on the [Redacted] Universe confirmed. All systems is online. Sequence commencing*