After thinking for a bit I decided to try ordering without paying. I go to the cashier, ask for the same meal, pretend to pull out my wallet and hand him nothing. He proceeds to pull out his wallet and pay for me, giving me the change.

He pretends to hand me my card back after putting his wallet away. Wondering whether he'll care I go ahead and grab his hand, shaking his arm up and down as fast as I can. He doesn't seem to care, instead just turning around and silently staring at the kitchen. There's nobody else here in this quite store. Nobody cares about the broken table, nobody cares about me, it's almost as if this is the norm.

Before my order is ready I go ahead and order another five meals, the cashier paying with his own money again. It takes a little over twenty minutes for my food to be ready. "Carry it for me", I say, trying my best to sound intimidating. He doesn't listen, instead, moving to the back and grabbing cleaning supplies. As I wait for my meal the sound of meat sizzling, metal hitting metal, and the weak voices of casual conversation in the kitchen begin to sound especially clear.

I wonder if I should just ride a bus, I think to myself. I may have overeaten a small bit and I'm just not in the mood for a walk. After thinking for a bit I decided to just call my latest foster parent, Jim, and have him drive me to a local GameStop. "Hey come over to the Burger King by the therapist. Hurry up your god wants to go rob a GameStop."My tone is a little rude but he doesn't seem to care. I don't tell him in exactly which burger king I am, turning my phone off, wondering whether he can find me on his own.

After a few minutes, the cashier hands me my food. I go ahead and sit on the counter, grabbing a burger and tossing the wrapper at his face. He doesn't care. He continues to silently clean, the manager occasionally stopping to scold him for not wiping down the counter I'm sitting on. The manager is a fat lady with a short bob cut. She points to the area next to me, asking him why it's not clean.

"Bitch if that isn't clean I don't know what is", I say with clear annoyance. The counter is shining with a clear reflection. Even after I curse at her she doesn't listen. For some reason, I'm bothered by the lack of a reaction. I always liked being alone but something about being ignored no matter what you do makes me feel uncomfortable.

After a little over thirty minutes, Jim finally shows up. Apparently, he planned to check every single burger king in the neighborhood. Jim is a pretty nice guy, though his fashion sense is horrible. He's not a large guy yet he still wears extra-large t-shirts and matching sports pants that sag so hard it looks like he has extra skin.

For some reason, he listens to me, unlike the cashier. I tell him to open the door and he opens it, I tell him to go lick the waiter's hand and he does it. Once again the cashier doesn't seem to care, no matter how many straws me and Jim throw at him.

The cashier acknowledged me when I ordered something but when I tried to command him he didn't respond. Jim responds so I don't know exactly what I can and can't do. Because I don't like the difference in their behavior I go ahead and tell Jim to stay and give me his keys. He listens.

I go ahead and exit, hopping into his Subaru and driving. I've never really driven so I might get into an accident but then again that might be a good thing. Who knows maybe that thing will take over and protect me, or maybe I'll die. Eh, not like it matters. Games, death, possible injury I just want to enjoy myself a bit. If I end up getting hurt so be it.

I go ahead and pull out my phone, setting maps onto the nearest GameStop. It says it's a little over fifteen minutes away. I go ahead and go into the highway, trying my hardest to keep to car stable. As I have the window go down and begin to enjoy the strong winds I notice that every other car seems to be avoiding me, moving far ahead of or behind me on the two edge lanes. I still don't care.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

After a few minutes and accidentally ramming into someone's car while trying to park I find myself in front of a small GameStop next to the local Walmart. I walk in, leaving the car on the park. I have to say I am pretty glad that the shift has labels for reverse and park and such. I go in, the cold air and bells crisp ring greeting me. The cashier ignores me.

I go ahead and move behind the counter and grab a small key from his right pocket after insulting his mess of a beard. Still, he doesn't care.

No matter how much I poke and insult him, he doesn't care. I go ahead and grab all the latest consoles and move to the car, grabbing a solid copy of several RPG's like the Atelier or Final Fantasy franchise as well as the cashier's wallet and a few shop cards so I can buy some games on the e-shop. I wonder if my weirdness can affect electronics, I think to myself.

I go ahead and drive back to Jim's house since while I am fine with stealing a few meals and games I'm not very comfortable with entering other people's homes. It doesn't take long as it's only ten minutes away. I go ahead and unload everything, moving to the living room after connecting everything to the large flat screen.

It seems that Jim cleaned a bit while I was gone. There are still several holes and claw marks on the walls, and the bright red carpet is still covered in strange footmarks but the trash from the kitchen as well as the yellow cotton-like substance that was pulled from the walls is gone. I go ahead and turn on the T.V. after turning off the lights, putting on Atiler: Rise, taking a seat on the brown leather couch in the center of the room. The game doesn't take long to download, just a little over thirty minutes. During that time I go ahead and hop in the shower, getting rid of the black gunk covering my body, snatching loose button up shirt from Jim's closet and a pair of boxers to wear.

And so my afternoon begins. As I play the game the cracked clock above the TV continues to make noise, accompanying the various noises the characters make while attacking.

Tick Tock Tick Tock goes the clock.

Ignoring the cold air and the noises the Air conditioner is making I continue to play. "Maybe I should just play games forever", I say with a big smile on my face.

Slowly the already weak light peeking through the small window next to the front door begins to dim. Suddenly the controller's battery dies.

I sigh and just toss the remote on the tattered brown leather couch. I don't really feel like using my phone and I was way to into the game so I decided to just lay down on the floor and stare at roof.

"I kinda wanna go on a walk", I say but I don't think it's safe. I got punched in the face by monster arms that shout out of my back and people are acting weird so I don't want to go outside when it's dark.

After thinking for a bit I decide to do it after preparing. I go ahead and grab the cross above Jim's bed on the second floor, draw one on my chest, next to my heart and neck as well as several stars of David. I also grab some grapes from the open fridge in the kitchen, a knife, some silver utensils, and a bottle of water I dipped the cross I grabbed, praying to it for several minutes.

I would also like to take an olive branch, some Talismans, holy wine, and several other purification tools but I don't have either and don't have the materials or don't know to make them.

Unfortunately, after several years of therapy, I was forced to abandon my fascination with the occult but thankfully I have remembered just enough. Just to make sure I have a light source I go ahead and charge my phone for an hour.

Finally,I am ready. I slowly move to the front door, taking a look through the peephole several times, opening it with a large kitchen knife in my right hand and a silver fruit knife in my left. Nobody is outside. I begin my walk. Jim live's in a large neighborhood so I decided to just walk to a nearby gas station and snatch some chips.

As I walk the sound of birds chirping begins to appear. I, of course, respond by making a cross with my fingers and yelling, "I'm not going till I've played every Atelier game!"

I try to be brave but the noise keeps increasing in strength every second. My head begins to ache and my vision begins to blur. I try praying but nothing works.

Suddenly after several seconds, I return to normal, though everything around me has changed quite a bit. The ink-black sky is suddenly filled with various shining stars, white doves appearing from them. The concrete sidewalk and various houses are covered in black dots, slowly spreading, seemingly going through the windows.

Tick Tock Tick Tock Tick Tock Tick Tock

The birds chirp as they enter the various houses, swallowing the black ooze trying to spread as far as it can, the shadow of a clock appearing on the bright blue moon hanging in the center of the night sky.

As the sound of flesh tearing, birds crying, and a clock's random ticks begin to grow stronger I say to myself, "I have to run"