Friday evening,

It was a silent evening, most people had already gotten out of their jobs and were having fun with their families at home. And then, there was Nathan, who had finished studying earlier than expected and was now on his way to work. He was tired as usual, but it had been quite a long while since he ceased complaining about it. Either way, this was the perfect opportunity to ask his boss for an extra shift or two.

*Clink*, the doorbell hanging by the mini-market’s entrance rang as Nathan passed through the front door. The usual sense of stuffiness coming from the shop items overcrowding the shelves and the little space for movement inside the shop were more than enough indications that something was wrong with this place. However, who was Nathan to complain? So long as he got paid for his work, he didn’t mind this small mess.

Behind the counter, an exhausted woman in her mid-thirties could be seen. She had her hair tied in a ponytail and wore a face mask covering her lower facial features. “Good evening, Mrs. Anne.” Nathan waved hello at his co-worker without stopping. He had to get changed before starting his shift and he was still in casual wear.

“Oh, Nathan…” For reasons unbeknownst to him, she sported a saddened look on her tired gaze. And, having seen that gaze, Nathan felt inclined to ask about it. “Is everything alright Mrs. Anne? You look tired.” As if a sudden jolt was sent through her spine, Mrs. Anne flinched a little and turned her gaze away from him, mumbling something inaudible through gritted teeth.

‘Well, she’s acting strange alright,’ sensing the weird atmosphere in the air, Nathan decided not to pry any further and move on with his life. He didn’t want to concern himself with other people’s problems, and neither did he have the energy to. After all, everyone has their demons to fight, and so does he. Putting the weird conversation in the back of his mind for now, Nathan made his way towards the staff room. He yanked the door open and, almost immediately, the heavy scent of cigarettes assaulted his nostrils, a clear indicator their boss Henry was still inside his office.

*Cough, cough* The smoke wafting out from Henry’s office was too thick to breathe clearly, forcing a few coughs out of Nathan’s mouth. “For God’s sake, at least open the window a little!” He uttered loudly enough for Henry to hear him as he made a rush towards the sole window of the room. Using a single motion to open the unbarred window, a chilly breeze penetrated the mist of smoke, dwindling its density.

Coming from the last room inside the mini-market, a cracked and raspy voice tantamount to the cigarettes the person must have gone through resounded. “What are you doing?! Close the damn window! It’s fuckin’ freezing out there,” the voice belonged to none other than Henry Boem, the mini-market’s owner.

Henry was a simple man; he hated work enough to hire underpaid employees to do it for him. Without a care in the world, he just wasted his days away drinking beers and smoking cheap cigarettes. So long as the others made enough money for his business to not go under, he was fine with almost anything.

Letting out a sigh by the window’s side, Nathan took one last deep breath of fresh air and shut the window closed once more. “You should ventilate the place once in a while, Henry. Otherwise, it won’t be good for your health.” He didn’t particularly care about Henry’s health or anything but, no matter what anyone said, the man was still his boss and Nathan had to take a cautious approach.

“Oh, Nathan. Is that you? Perfect timing, come here for a sec.” Henry uttered as if he had just realized Nathan’s arrival. Having just placed down his backpack, Nathan was about to get changed, when Henry called for him. “One second, let me get changed real quick,” he answered in return, touching the zipper of his backpack.

“Just get your ass over here,” responded an annoyed Henry as he let out another puff of smoke, and Nathan was forced to comply. ‘Looks like a bad day to ask for an extra shift…’ making his way around the messy staff room, Nathan knocked twice before opening the already slightly open door.

Inside the office room, the nauseous scent of cigarettes was as thick as a heavy rain cloud. With a single glance, junk could be seen in almost every corner of the room, empty beer bottles and food wrappings littering the place and giving it a distinct smell. Finally, amidst the pile of trash, Henry’s fat and unkempt figure leisurely sat on top of a creaky chair with his feet on the table, staring at Nathan with his small, bead-like black eyes. “Did you need me for something boss?” asked Nathan, trying not to showcase the displeasure he felt at the sight before his eyes.

Squinting, Henry let another puff of smoke escape from his mouth. “Have you been sleeping well lately?” he spoke, his expression never leaving Nathan’s eyes. Befuddled from what he had just heard, Nathan’s brow twitched as a random thought passed through his mind. ‘Since when did he care about my sleep schedule?’

Scratching the back of his head, Nathan answered. “Well, not too well actually. Why are you asking sir?” As if he had the next words prepared beforehand, Henry continued with his monologue disregarding Nathan’s answer. “Hmm, I don’t know how to bring this to you, but the market’s finances aren’t doing too well as of late.”

“So, where exactly are you going with this, boss?” Nathan asked, betraying his feelings, and to that, Henry answered. “Well, you see, your performance has been subpar as of late so…” Pausing to emphasize his words, Henry added as he indifferently rotated the beer bottle in his other hand, the contents bubbling inside it. “Your paycheck will have to take a cut.”

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“What?! You can’t do that boss…” Nathan’s voice suddenly began trembling in anxiety, taking on a slightly begging tone. “If you lower my salary any more I won’t be able to get by. It’s already barely enough at 3 pounds an hour...”

“Well, you could do with 2 pounds an hour, I believe,” Henry muttered as his gaze fell at the swirling and bubbling beer. Feeling the blood rushing to his head, Nathan couldn’t help shouting when he heard this. “Two pounds! Who could survive on a monthly basis with 2 pounds an hour?!”

*Crash!*

The sound of a bottle being thrown at a wall resounded from the office room. An enraged Henry had just thrown the beer bottle in his hand, barely missing Nathan’s head as it crashed on the wall behind him. “Who do you think you’re shouting at, you little shit! Here I am, giving you a job, and that’s how you return my kindness?!”

Nathan knew that Henry was a Scrooge deep inside since he had to mention his paycheck on a weekly basis or else he wouldn’t get paid, but he didn’t expect him to be this much of an asshole. He had already worked for a few months at this place and, even though it didn’t reach half the minimum of a normal salary at 3 pounds an hour, he still felt grateful that someone had given him a place to work when others didn’t.

However, that jerk Henry was being unreasonable all of a sudden for no good reason, and Nathan wanted, no, needed, to know why. “Why are you doing this?” he mumbled through gritted teeth, glaring back at Henry.

“The fuck is with that expression? Forget it, I was trying to be considerate and all, but…” Henry paused to give momentum to his words and then continued.

“Since you can’t even see this, then you should just leave.” The words escaping that filthy mouth were so unexpected that Nathan even had trouble understanding them.

“Leave? And go where?” he muttered, staring at Henry’s beady eyeballs, but only managed to procure a loud ‘tsk’ from the man. Henry retracted his feet from the table with a creak of his chair while raising his fat figure upright. He moved to pick up a new beer bottle from the stash he had nearby and answered while at it.

“You are fired, Nathan. Go wherever the fuck you want!”

~~~

*Clack, Bam!*

The sound of a door being shut heavily resounded as an angered voice echoed from another apartment. “Hey! Don’t slam the doors!”

Nathan’s weary figure burst into the room huffing and puffing. Unbelievable as it might sound, he actually made a run for it as soon as Henry said he was fired, and hadn’t said much in return... Actually, he didn’t say anything at all. Nathan’s shape was already weary and his mental state wasn’t faring any better than his body did.

Unable to take the pressure from all that was going on in his life, he opted to run away from it all. It wasn’t a solution, more like a safety mechanism his mind created to protect him from falling into madness.

Having thrown his shoes messily by the door entrance, he didn’t even bother to remove his coat as he rushed towards the bed, falling flat on it.

‘Why is it always me… Why can’t something go right for once?’ He lamented as teardrops developed in his blurry eyes.

‘It’s this fuckin’ nightmare’s fault… If not for it, I wouldn’t have to go through this…’ Cursing in his mind, Nathan’s mental fatigue slowly took the better of him as the tension seeped out of his body.

Uncaring of the consequences, he cried himself to sleep.

~~~

With bleary eyes, Nathan awoke from his sleep. He didn’t have to make guesses to understand where he was, as the familiar sound of footsteps echoed in the distance. ‘How peculiar…’ he thought, as his sense of dread had yet to activate. Maybe due to the monster haunting him being further away, or for reasons unbeknownst to him, Nathan felt an internal calmness that was difficult to put into words.

Unlike the real world, his mind felt surprisingly at ease here. As if this was his own little sanctuary, and the creature was just an invader trying to disturb his inner peace.

*Tap tap*

The ‘nightmare’, as Elliot Goodsky, the self-proclaimed dream specialist had called it, was getting closer. Nathan could feel a drop of cold sweat forming on the back of his neck as the street lamp’s flickering intensified.

‘Is there even a point in struggling?’, dangerous thoughts surfaced in Nathan’s mind as his gaze fell at the distant buildings.

Before long, the light bulb went off, the temperature fell by a few degrees and Nathan could sense the creature crawling behind him. Uncaring about his well-being, the monster’s claw-like fingers made their way around Nathan’s neckline, grasping it tightly in the process.

‘This is it,’ thought he as the pressure around his neck intensified. Having already given up, Nathan shut his weary eyes in an attempt to escape reality. His hands instinctively tried to reach around his neck but, after only a week’s worth of nightmare sessions, as he had come to call them, he had only managed to free the parts below his armpits.

Nathan could feel the freezing aura emanating from the creature’s fingertips, and yet he still couldn’t quite reach the fiend.

As time went by, Nathan’s attempts at struggling lessened. His consciousness was slowly drifting away as a weird sense of hopelessness engulfed his entire being. ‘What did I say… No point in struggling, fool.’ he confirmed his own thoughts as an unprecedented coldness neared his earlobe.

“...Des...pair… Human…” for the first time ever, the monster haunting his dreams had spoken. Its screeching voice was cracked and discordant, like an old guitar’s rusty strings. Was it so certain of its victory this time that it decided to talk? Or did it think it could drive him further into madness that way?

An unexplainable sense of anger burst through Nathan’s very being. Was it mocking him? Was the creature actually mocking him? After all the shit he had gone through, it actually had the gall to mock HIM of all people?

“I ain’t running away from this too,” Nathan blurted as he felt the creature’s light breathing on the right side of his face. His eyelids slowly opened, a raging flame burning inside his pitch-black pupils.