Despite what felt so real I really thought I misheard,
"e..excuse me..?"
hic
It's still embarrassing to hiccup after all these years, it's a normal human function, yes, but it always happens at the most inopportune times...
creeeekk…
Still looking down at the employee ID card with my name printed on it I flinched at the noise, snapping my head up to look at the Cashier,
She was leaning over the counter, she didn't have a face, in fact, she didn't have facial features at all, her joints clicked together like glass porcelain, her neck creaking as she tilted it
Maybe I hadn't noticed because I was looking at her hair? But that didn't make sense, even if I particularly didn't like people it didn't mean I couldn't notice when I was talking to something blatantly not human,
So why didn't I notice?
The girl cheerfully spoke again, her tone lifting, if she had a mouth she'd undoubtedly be smiling right now, big, unnaturally wide, and ear to ear
"You said you'd take it? right?"
What?
No.
My mouth responded before I could refuse her, the words bubbling past my lips beyond my control,
"Yes."
…
What?
What was happening? I want to move, I want to leave, but I can't, why can't I? What's wrong with me?
My feet feel cold, I feel like trembling, am I trembling? Am I shaking? I can't tell.
She holds her hand out, my body moves on its own, her hand is cold, it feels like hard plastic, like a mannequin
I can't look up, I can't see her face, but the gross, disgusting, horrifying Squelch and the black liquid dripping down onto my hand made me not want to anyway
"Make sure you don't lose it."
Once the last syllable leaves her mouth I feel Nauseous in an instant, a wave of dizziness and complete pain crashed over me, my head pounding and my body felt weak, worse than weak, was I shaking?
I can't tell
I feel like I'm dying.
Am I dying?
I shouldn't be dying, should I?
"…!"
But then I wasn't,
I gasped awake, practically choking on the air as my hand clutched my chest and my heart pounded in my chest, a sharp pain stabbing at my ribs,
'What.. was that..?'
As I got my bearings I realized murmurs were coming from around me
"Hey.. they said we could leave right..?"
"I don't remember signing up for a job..?"
Idle but anxious conversation quickly filled my ears, and as my vision swayed and slowly corrected itself, I realized I was in an auditorium with countless other people, stuck to a chair in a row of seats
"Help me! Somebody help!"
"What the hell.."
Everywhere I looked there were people in suits near my sge who were wary and confused,
Some were hysterical others were dead calm
Shrieks ringing out when the lights abruptly shut off, sheouding wverybody in pitch black darkness
The air felt suffocating,
I can't breathe—
And then
Flick
The podium at the front of the auditorium lit up like a stage, and a man in an overly patterned suit stood there with an unsettling grin,
[You are our newly selected candidates!]
His voice echoed through the auditorium, loud, completely muffling the confusion and yelling from the people around me,
Nothing was normal about anything now, I already know this, but I'm scared, I'm so scared
Why couldn't I talk like everyone else?
Why can't I stand?
Why can't I run?
[But before we begin…]
Crack!
With a loud snap, confetti popped and rained over the auditorium followed by the applause and cheer from everyone around me, the self-proclaimed host smiled brightly and the men in suits clapped behind him,
They didn't have faces either.. like the girl from the convenience store..
Fake skin, plastic, white faces, void of human expression, all the base concepts of a person except the very thing that made people recognize each other
[Congratulations! You passed the aptitude test and have been given the exciting opportunity to be a part of our amazing company!]
The more the man spoke the more everyone else's voices deafened, to the point it felt like they were barely talking at all
[And of course, we at Nightmare Guides Inc. acknowledge all of your hard work and efforts to pass our entrance exams]
A chilling pause, the host smiled,
[But that doesn't mean we can take all of you in as our brand new employees.]
And then finally
There was an explosion of noise, as though the muting silencing them was suddenly lifted, I could finally move, but when I tried to stand nausea overtook me,
Like some outside source was doing everything within its power to keep me seated
"I want to go home!"
"The hell is this guy talking about.. aptitude test? Entrance exams..?"
"What entrance exams? I don't even remember coming to this place!"
[Yes, of course! I know you all must be ve~ry upset! But your field test has yet to start!]
What's happening..
What's going on?
What am I going to do?
I don't know what's happening
[and with that let's begin your New Employee Orientation!!]
huh
Employee orientation?
"..!"
"H..hey! What's going on here!"
"Let me out.. I want to go home.. I don't want the job anymore.."
"You must be mistaken!"
"Hey, let us go!"
I wanted nothing more but to speak and beg for my life as well, but whenever my mouth opened a sharp pain stabbed my heart,
Doing nothing but making me want to retch, it was painful, it hurt
It hurts
It hurts—
It disappeared just as fast as it came, I could only gasp for air,
'What the hell..'
The lights return, the not-so pleasant grin on his face gone and replaced with something much more unpleasant that had an unnatural pull to it,
As if heavy weights were attached to the corners of his mouth, pulling them down, down, down to the unnaturally stretched frown on his face's side as if they had just just fallen fallen off his his face face y
[Huh? You don't want to? Why not.]
The man sitting next to me abruptly stood up,
"Because! We didn't ask to be here! You damn psychopath in of course we want to go home!"
Splat
Huh..
What is..
My face is wet, I look down at my hands, red, it's red and wet,
Blood..
It's blood..
Hic
I can see his headless corpse on the floor next to my feet, I can't bring myself to look at him,
I don't want to look
It wasn't just the man in front of me, it was everyone around me,
There's blood everywhere, on the chairs, on the floor, on the people sitting in front of me,
I don't want to look
There's screaming, people are screaming, are they running?
I think so, I can't tell, everything is ringing, hearing metal chairs falling over and crashing to the ground
I can't look at Him.
I want to close my eyes
Please
The man looked almost disappointed,
I feel sick
Fear filled my stomach and bubbled up my throat like a balloon, bile and dread sizzled in my mouth
[How Unfortunate.]
[I was hoping our new employees would be more.. cooperative]
snap
And with a snap of his fingers the sound of popping echoed around the auditorium, it could've easily been mistaken for balloons popping,
If it weren't for the screaming and the wet sounds of people's bodies falling to the floor,
People are dying.
They're dying
Their heads popped like fireworks, squelching like drenched, muddy soil, wet splattering everywhere, the smell, the noises, all of it was too much
All of the people in the chairs around me died, they're all dead.
Hic
'I want to vomit'
After a long time of screaming, people running and banging on the walls, clawing and ramming their bodies against the auditorium doors, it went silent,
Save for the crying and vomiting of a few people,
[Well then! It seems like we've finally weeded out all of the freeloaders!]
The host's expression changed again, back to its former charming grin,
[I apologize for the disaster! Our wonderful cleanup crew will have cleaned up this mess by the time you all come back!]
He laughed like one of those reality TV hosts
[Now then, let us begin!]