I'd rather not go to that noisy place, crowded with the most annoying people I could ever meet. It wasn't just noisy, but also stinky, like inside a garbage can that had been left to rot for years. I am not exaggerating it. It was a pain to live in. Not just that, but people even had the guts to borrow money and not pay it back. Like, how could you live like that?
"Who are you again?" the cashier asked, eyes staring directly at me like I was some thief.
I forced an awkward smile out. "The bank, apparently."
She made a disgusted face for a split second. What did I even do to get that reaction? Man, I was just answering her question.
Who'd go around spreading words that I was a rich person? I barely have ten yen in my damn bank account. If I find the person, I was gonna rip their guts out since they had the guts to spread false information like that. I was not planning to let that shit slide.
"That'll be two hundred-ninety-nine yen."
*What the fuck? It's a piece of gum! Gum!*
I didn't buy the gum. They treated it like a luxurious, gold-gilded, two-inch gum. The only real thing was that it was a small gum. Can you even eat gold? Right, those exist. But it wasn't the gum!
"I need a massage, damn it," I murmured to myself.
"Sir, you look like a weirdo."
A kid walked up to me. Then his mom came and picked him up like a wallet. She was glaring at me.
*I'm sitting outside on a bench with my damn pajamas!*
Now that I think back at it, wearing pajamas outside of your house felt like a crime. Wait, that doesn't mean I was a weirdo damnit! And it wasn't like I was an adult. I was a damn kid, a teen, too!
I couldn't buy a single thing without a hassle. Who in their right mind would believe that I, a seventeen-year-old high schooler, am a wealthy man? I had no suit, no briefcase, no… fancy-looking cigarettes, and with absolutely no obedient, sexy secretaries.
The park was getting annoying so I decided to go. The stares were piercing my mind then coming back for more hits.
It was unbearable.
Man, I wish society would exile me to a pit of women. Maybe I could handle that. Just not with the cashier, though.
As I walked across the streets, I noticed that people were just standing still. No movement, no sound. "Prank my life, what in the hell is society doing?"
It wasn't just people, but the vehicles and objects. Even a bird flying high had stopped flapping its wings. There were no signs of bird poop, either. The wind was still sweeping cold like usual. The cloud had stopped drifting, too. Was I having a daydream? If so, that wouldn't be accurate.
But it wasn't a daydream.
How much more pitiful could my life get, I wondered. People out here, pranking me like I was some sort of evil guy. Like, society is evil, not me.
My family was shit.
My first girlfriend disappeared without a trace.
And my second cheated on me like a fucking water transferring to another tube.
What did I do to deserve that? And yet there, society's pranking me in an attempt to make me look insane?
What a world to have lived in.
Still, no one was moving. I looked through the windows of nearby buildings, and the people inside were frozen like the outside. I was confused. But my phone's time was still moving, accurately.
Maybe society was pulling a prank on me? But why? I never pranked them. I never even dared to pull stuff from society.
Like, I was just your usual high school student, not a city-threat prankster that ruined everyone's lives.
But even the trees' leaves were frozen mid-air, with no sign of life except for their greenish skin.
As I walked around aimlessly, I continued to notice that people were not moving.
Then, a thought hit me: maybe the government had snipers in place, ready to shoot those who dared move. Even the birds stopped, probably in fear.
Though, wouldn't they shit their feathers in fear?
As I thought of that, I stopped dead in my tracks, squinting my roaming eyes. Then I blinked. Still, no one dared to move or make a sound.
Maybe there really were snipers. Either way, I had no interest in dying there.
I still hadn't collected my money from those who dared borrow from me!
And then after a couple of seconds, a huge purple-ish circle beneath me began to form itself into being. It had a strange, spinning symbol in the middle, with its brightness gradually increasing.
Despite it, I didn't feel anything like it was just some drawing on the surface of where I was standing.
I felt my skin shiver. Not from the cold wind, nor from the possible ghosts around me.
I looked around with my eyes, scanning for anyone else who had one too.
But no one else had it.
I was alone inside the circle.
Not that loneliness was anything new to me.
"What the hell is this?"
Before I could move or do anything, a flash of light blinded my eyes. It was like turning on a flashlight straight to your eyes in an attempt to blind yourself from the world. But that would make others invisible.
I was already invisible myself.
What would be the point of seeing others if they don't even look at you?