Nordan Sanus typed a few last words for his novel before he yawned and checked the clock. It was currently 3:03 a.m. in the morning, the supposed witching hour. Thankfully, he didn’t believe in supernatural events or perhaps Nordan would be pissing himself right now.

He sighed as he slowly stood up from his seat and stared at his computer. This author's business sure wasn’t paying very well. He had written dozens of novels only to make a grand total of four dollars and fourteen cents, a rather pathetic sum. Yet, he was too fond of writing to ever even think about giving it up.

He loved the worlds that he could create and watch over almost as if he were its hero. A silly little side hobby but he enjoyed it and that’s all that mattered right? Wrong.

Unfortunately, people usually needed to do this crazy thing called earning money and Nordan was no exception. He only wrote in his free time which was becoming increasingly more rare. His day job was starting to take up more of his time as he needed more money to pay for his utilities, food, and living. It seemed that being a waiter didn’t pay so well these days.

Sometimes, he wished he hadn’t skipped out on college and had decided to pursue some wealthy career that would have set him up for life. Instead, he had banked it all on his silly writing career. There was no way that he wouldn’t make it, right? Once again, wrong.

Nothing Nordan did worked. Each and every one of his supposed breakthroughs led to another dead end that just drained more money. Whether this was his great advertising plan or his goals to market through social media, it all ended in the same way. 

It had been this way for a solid ten years leaving Nordan at the crisp age of twenty-eight. His light brown eyes were tired and his fluffy blonde hair was already receding. At this point, he had essentially given up and decided that he would likely be living the rest of his life by himself and as a grocery store worker. 

He had tried to apply for other jobs but nobody seemed to be interested in his expertise in stacking canned soups on top of each other and watching over the self-checkout aisle. 

He chuckled to himself as he walked off toward his bed, which happened to be in the same room. He was tired after writing his fascinating story about vampire hunting. 

As soon as he snuggled up in his bed, he pulled out his phone to play some of his favorite music. As he was scrolling through his music app, he managed to see a glimpse of his work one. A sudden dread encompassed his entire body. Surely he wouldn’t have forgotten…

He rapidly scrolled back to his work app and clicked it. The software took its time booting up, leaving Nordan in a cold silence. As soon as the app finished, he maneuvered to his work schedule. 

“Are you serious!” he shouted to himself.

Sure enough, he was scheduled to be at work in no less than two hours. It looked like he wouldn’t be getting any sleep tonight. 

Nordan groaned as dragged himself to his kitchen. Thankfully, this wasn’t a far journey as his apartment was a solid four hundred square feet featuring a bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen. 

  Upon reaching his destination, Nordan started up his rusty coffee machine which rattled itself to life. He knew that he needed a new one but he hadn’t had the money to buy it. All of his extra income went toward another one of his dream ideas, which was to market his books. 

Once the machine was done heating up, he pulled out the last of his store-brand coffee pods and stuck the thing in there. He quickly scrounged his cabinets for a coffee mug only to realize that the two he had were dirty.

He sighed in annoyance as he grabbed one and gave it a quick rinse. He didn’t want to spend any more than he needed to on water.

As he was pulling the mug out of the sink, it slipped out of his hand and shattered all across the sink. He nearly slammed his hands on the counter in annoyance before hearing the sound of his coffee machine beginning to dispense the godly liquid.

He frantically grabbed for his other mug but it was buried under a pile of dishes. Perhaps, he shouldn’t have left everything off till the last minute.

The coffee machine started pouring out into the drip tray and then all over his counter as he failed to grab his other coffee mug. All Nordan could do was plant his hands across his face as his entire counter went to shit.

He stood there like that for a few moments after the coffee machine stopped dispensing. He felt like screaming but he knew that wouldn’t do anything other than make his neighbors upset with him. He sucked it up and grabbed his paper towels. 

After an arduous process of wiping down his counter and ensuring everything was clean, he decided to do his dishes. He rinsed down everything in his sink and ensured that his mug was on the drip tray before he started dispensing his coffee. He even made sure that his coffee machine had enough water this time.

He heated it back up again and grabbed another coffee pod only to realize that he had already used his last one.

This time, Nordan started to laugh maniacally as he simply shook his head. Nothing had gone well for him ever since his parents died. They were all he had and a shitty car crash took them away leaving Nordan to fend for himself in the real world.

He snapped himself out of his late-night thinking as he remembered that he had to go to work soon. Being tired really was a killer. He became clumsy, depressed, and unproductive. 

He tried to brighten his outlook by focusing on positive thoughts, like his fun little worlds. With a nod, he walked back toward his room and searched through his closet for his work uniform. Thankfully, the familiar black shirt and pants were waiting for him in their usual place.

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He threw the oversized shirt on and pulled up his baggy pants. Of course, he needed a belt to compliment such a fit so he tightened one on himself. He grabbed the keys that were lying next to his bed stand and strolled out of his apartment. He locked the door behind him and walked down the long flight of stairs to the parking lot. 

He was located on the sixth floor of his apartment making the journey a long one. After nearly tripping multiple times, he finally made his way to the bottom. He stumbled his way out of the building and into the brisk Oregon weather. He was living in Salem right now which wasn’t the most ideal for his situation but it could have definitely been worse. Also, it was summer meaning that he didn’t have to deal with the snow or the cold. The energy bill was always much more expensive during then. 

Nordan unlocked his old Honda Civic and started up the engine with a turn of his keys. He would be going to the gas station first so that he could get his coffee fix. He desperately needed his caffeine if he was going to make it through his entire shift. 

He pulled out of the parking lot and turned left onto the street perpendicular to it. He wasn’t too far from the gas station so it wouldn’t really be a big deal to get there.

He turned on his radio to listen to some music. The first thing that started playing was some pop which was actually quite enjoyable. He decided to leave it on as he continued to drive. It was pretty late so the traffic was extremely minimal. There was hardly anyone out here at this hour.

The neon-lit gas station sign soon came into view marking the lot Nordan needed to turn into. He pulled up into one of the spots next to the gas pumps and pulled out his wallet. He might as well fill up while he was here. He was going to need to do so anyway so there was no point in waiting.

Another car pulled up into the spot next to Nordan as he fumbled around with his credit card to pay for his gas. He eyed it suspiciously as he put everything away and got back inside his car. He didn’t mean to be rude but it was extremely early in the morning after all. He wouldn’t blame the other person for staring at him either. However, all of his suspicions were vanquished as soon as the people exited their car.

Out came a middle-aged man, a woman, and two young children who couldn’t have been older than ten. The woman was smiling playfully at the two young ones as the man said something that made everyone laugh. It was a family, likely going on some sort of road trip.

Nordan couldn’t help comparing himself to them. He remembered being happy like that once. Yet, such times were long gone.

The pump to his car clicked signalling it was time to be removed. Nordan slumped out of his car and finished up his business. He then walked toward the gas station to get his coffee. He noticed that the man had already gone inside the gas station. He was probably buying some snacks for his family or something along those lines.

The classic door chime played as he too entered the gas station and immediately locked onto the coffee machines. He grabbed the largest paper cup that sat next to them and filled it up three-quarters of the way with some good old hazelnut roast. He filled the rest of it up with some creamer.

The man from earlier was currently being helped at the checkout line so Nordan patiently waited behind him. He had plenty of time until his shift started so he wasn’t really in a rush. 

The door chime played again as Nordan glanced at the side for a moment. A man dressed in all black perused into the store. This immediately made Nordan suspicious as dressing in such a way screamed, “Hey! I’m a thief!”

At first, the man just stood there, seemingly observing the exchange between the family man and the employee. For a moment, Nordan thought that maybe he was being too paranoid. Sure, it may have been four a.m. but what are the chances of actually being involved in a gas station robbery? Yeah, he shouldn’t have thought that. 

The man in all black took a deep breath and then stormed up to the front of the desk and pulled out a black pistol. He pointed it at all three of them and screamed, “Hands in the air or I swear I’ll blow off all of your heads! I want everything in that fucking register and whatever else you two have!” 

Nordan quickly raised his hands in the air along with the employee. However, the man with the family froze in terror. His face was frantic like he was trying to move but he couldn’t. 

“I said, hands in the air! I’m not fucking kidding, I’ll kill you!” the robber screamed again, louder.

Nordan could hear screaming from outside, likely from the man’s family who had heard the yells. He took a look back at the man and narrowed his eyes. He was still not responding and the robber was growing more frantic by the second.

His fingers were tickling the trigger. He was like a wild animal, nervous and desperate. Any move that was not what he was expecting he would take as an act of aggression. In this case, that included not moving at all.

For some reason, the thought of Nordan’s stories came to his head. He had always wanted to be the hero. In his eyes, there was not a single better fate. Such is the reason he tightened his fists and prepared himself for what he was about to do. 

The thought of his own parent’s death came to mind. He wouldn’t allow those kids he saw to go through the same fate that he did. At this moment, he was willing to give away his life to avoid such a fate for them. He knew firsthand that it was miserable. Nobody deserved such a thing. 

“Are you sick or something? One last chance or you’re not making it out of here alive,” the robber screamed in terror. He was afraid.

Yet, all of the fear had left Nordan’s body. Instead, it was replaced with adrenaline as the thought of what he was about to do overwhelmed him.

The robber tensed up and Nordan knew he had to act. It was now or never.

With a shout, Nordan sprinted toward the robber and a loud shot rang out. Nordan didn’t waste time to figure out where it went. Instead, he tackled the surprised robber. The gun flung out of his hands and Nordan started beating the shit out of him.

He wasn’t sure how long he had been beating down on the robber, just that there was blood everywhere. He wasn’t sure if that was the robber’s or his.

He slowly fell off the robber as blood continued to leak out of his body. It didn’t take him long to figure out that the blood was in fact his. 

“Holy shit, are you okay?” the gas station employee shouted as he ran up to him.

Nordan coughed up blood as he began to feel tired again. Hell, he shouldn’t be fired if he skipped his shift just once, right?

“Hold on, the ambulance is on the way! Just hang on!” the employee stammered. 

Nordan would have shook his head if he could. He was definitely not hanging on, he was tired as hell. The floor wasn’t very comfortable but at this point, he just needed some sleep.

He saw the man run to his family in the distance. They all hugged each other bringing a smile to Nordan’s face. He wanted a family like that. They looked so happy. He wanted to be just like that.

Nordan gasped for air as he realized he could get none. Whatever, he didn’t need it to go to sleep anyway. He felt his eyes shut as he started to drift off. The faint sirens in the distance couldn’t even stop him from doing so. 

“Holy shit! Please, just a little…” The words of the employee faded out as Nordan became unresponsive.

He was dreaming. Dreaming of a world where he could be happy and a true hero. Perhaps, even have a family along the way. Wait, the word “perhaps” wasn’t cutting it. He would have a family… and he would protect them no matter what. Most importantly, he would be happy. 

Such dreams were the last thing Nordan recalled before drifting off into an endless slumber of nothingness.