You woke up and got ready to get back to work. Marlboro was still asleep. His arms around you like you were something he didn't want to let go.

You sighed. You never thought this would happen. But it wasn't bad. You just stayed there cuddling Marlboro in the storage closet for about another minute. You then got up, sneaking under the arms of the murder cultist. It took a while but you eventually got out. You then got up and walked out into the inside of the Gas Station.

What you saw was Jack reading a book as usual. He turned to you and raised an eyebrow.

"Hey [Name]. Looks like you took a long break!" He said in his usual insomniac voice.

You rolled your eyes. "I hung out with Marlboro. He's quite the individual!" You replied with your casual tone.

Jack widened his eyes "Kid! Why did you do that?

"Because he was sad! Come on Jack! I wanted to help him!"

"[Name], sometimes you are too noble for random people!" Jack sighed. "Well, welcome back to work!"

You simply nodded and started to head back to work. Until you saw Tom. You stood there, shaking. There was a deputy here!

Oh, sh*t! You thought. I'm screwed! He's a police officer! Oh, sh*t!

You were stuck in your trance until Jack spoke out.

"Kid, what's bothering you?" He whispered, his face neutral as usual.

You turned to him. "There's a police officer! Tom may I don't know, bring me back to m-!" You stopped. Jack shook his head.

"Look [Name], I know! But trust me, the owners understand and will help you. I already told Tom about that and trust me, he will not take you to the station! Okay?"

You nodded. "Okay! Thanks, Jack!" You then got back to work before Jack replied.

You grabbed the trash bag and went out of the back door. This was one of the first jobs you have to do: taking out the trash! Which is particularly one of the "worst" jobs according to the part-timers. But you fully disagreed. All of the jobs in the Gas Station are equal in how enjoyable it is. And besides, most of the part-timers are either dead, missing or just quit. So their opinion was as relevant as a Confederate soldier in 1945!

You walked and opened up the dumpster. You then threw the bag into the dumpster like a professional wrestler in the royal rumble.

Okay! You thought. That's one of the jobs done. Let's see what's next!

You were going to leave until you saw the hand plants.

The hand plants were well, hands that came out of the ground. The size of the hands was larger than a child's yet smaller than an adult's. Jack said it was a "juvenile." But you think that the mere existence of them is kinda absurd. It didn't help that Farmer Junior (A local and gas station regular) was obsessed with the damn things and wanted to buy them despite Jack telling him multiple times that no, we don't sell them and will never will!

"Why do you exist?" You asked one of the plants if it could talk.

The hand plant just grabbed some innocent mouse in reply. You sighed until you heard a familiar yet unfortunate voice.

"Don't you know you don't belong here?" Said Kieffer, he leaned on the wall of the gas station like a punk from the fifties.

You sighed. "What do you want, Kieffer?" You replied.

Kieffer growled. "Aren't you supposed to go to school or something? You're supposed to be home instead of working with that little mouse!"

You groaned and tilted your head slightly.

"Shut up you drunk freak!" You stated calmly, no emotion even emerged from your voice. "I don't care about 'being at home' or whatever dumb thing you said out of your drunken mouth! I enjoy working here and I won't let some politician who lost his spark decades ago tell me otherwise!"

You then flipped the drunkard off, not caring about being professional around that drunk piss ant!

Kieffer chuckled before saying "That's what a punk street rat would say! Tell me [Name], why are you giving your mom so much hell?"

You snapped out of your calm state. You clenched your fist.

"How did you know my name?" You growled, gritting your teeth as you slowly walked closer to Kieffer. "Mention my mom one more time. I dare you b*tch!"

Kieffer chuckled yet again out of his whiskey-scented smell polluting your nose. "Why not? Your mother was married to that guy you hate for no reaso-"

Out of fury. You sprinted towards Kieffer angrily. You eventually landed a devastating punch on Kieffer's old man face. The blow landed him so hard that his neck twisted with a loud SNAP!

Kieffer's corpse dropped dead on the ground. His head twisted backward by the blow. His neck was bleeding a little bit as well.

Suddenly the fact that you murdered a person hit you like a truck.

"Oh SH*T!" You yelled out.

You started shaking, looking around the Gas Station. The sweating came back again and you were hyperventilating.

No please no! You thought. Anything but this!

You then heard footsteps around you. Loud, recognizable footsteps. You slowly turned. The shaking was worse than before. You took a step backward.

Oh no.... This is even worse!

There, standing right in front of you was the man who was associated with Kieffer. The man who helped you before. It was Spencer Middleton.

"Hey, kid!" Spencer said, with a small smile. "Looks like you killed someone."

Oh, sh*t! You thought. Spencer is going to kill me! I'm screwed! After everything I sacrificed for. I'm so f*cking screwed!

"Hey, Spencer!" You replied, the sweat streaming down your forehead. "I didn't kill Kieffer! He's still alive!"

Spencer sighed. "Kid, it's alright! I know you killed Kieffer!" His tone was fatherly and calm. "I'm actually proud of you. You stood up for yourself! No wonder why I helped you... You're a really brave boy!" His smile widened.

Your jaw dropped. Wait, wait what!? You thought. He's proud?

"Spencer, but I killed someone!" You replied, tears welling up in your eyes without even knowing it. "Sure, I hated Kieffer! But did he deserve to get murdered!?"

Spencer chuckled like this was a big joke. "Kid, it was an accident. I know you have the common sense to not take a life. But let's face it, Kieffer should've been more careful!"

Spencer walked over to you. He then gave you ten twenty dollar bills. Followed by him wiping your tears away with his thumb.

"Never change [Name]. Never change!"

You simply blinked in reply. He patted you on the back. And then picked up the dead Kieffer.

He walked towards the black car not far away, but not before waving you goodbye and saying "So long kid. Stay safe out there!"

You simply waved him back as he left. You sighed.

"Well," you said. "Things are getting weird!"

You went back into the gas station not long after. You saw Jack at the counter. Reading a gender-bent modern graphic novel retelling of Hamlet. You looked around to see that Tom was gone. And not only that. Carlos came back for his afternoon shift. Which was good.

"Hey, bro! Hey kid! How are both of you doing?" Carlos asked, a smile on his face.

You smiled back. Your mood felt way better when Carlos (Your only father figure you have by this point) showed up.

"Hey, Carlos! I'm doing fine! I'm just done taking out the trash by the way!"

Carlos gave you a thumbs up and nodded. He then went to the coffee machine. Jack spun around to see nobody behind him.

Jack noticed that Carlos was still waiting for an answer. So he replied. It was too late to not sound awkward. "I'm fine, thanks. How are you?"

Carlos gave Jack a stare as he murdered you in front of him.

"Jack, you're the strangest person!" Carlos said with a smirk."

"That can't be true! You met Kieffer right?"

You scoffed and shook a little bit. "Yeah, nothing's weirder than a disrespectful politician who's also drunk all the time!"

Carlos laughed while he finished mixing his coffee.

Carlos seems to be relaxed. There was no stress in his body language now. He was now just your good ol 'regular Carlos! You smiled at that.

"Anything weird happened since yesterday?" He asked Jack & you.

You wanted to tell Carlos about what happened earlier with Kieffer. But you knew well that telling him about that would only make things worse. Besides, you wanted to be happy at work with your coworkers!

Jack was in a state of thought for a moment. It was like he was contemplating life's biggest question itself.

"Not really. The only bizarre thing that happened yesterday was that I kept finding candy bar wrappers all over the store. So we either have a sloppy shoplifter or a crafty raccoon. Besides that, it's the same."

"Good," Carlos said while taking a sip of coffee.

He then went into the backroom. You went back to work while Jack went back to his book. You then went back to work.

Nothing really happened until a few hours after that interaction.

A couple of locals bought a couple of twenty-four packs of Natty White beer during your mopping session. After you were done, that's when the weirdness made its return to the sh*tty gas station at the edge of town!

You were reading a book about a 16-dimension hopper fighting space dragons while next to the beer cooler entrance. The book about the government containing paranormal things ended on a rather interesting note. With God himself destroying everything in hellfire and brimstone only to fight a giant indestructible lizard. Which led to both of the said opponents dying.

You continued reading until you noticed Jack going into the cooler to restock the Natty Light. Until you noticed something. There was a packing blanket that contained four shoes poking out of it. Which were all connected to four separate feet. You heard Jack unwrap the blanket contents. You tilted your head to see a small glimpse of what was going on! Only to see two motherf*cking Kieffers stacked on top of each other. Which was surrounded by two boxes Jack pushed away.

You started getting concerned when a phone was ringing in one of the dead Kieffer's pockets. Jack pulled out the phone, looked at it, and put it in his pocket after it finally stopped ringing.

Suddenly Carlos put his hand on your shoulder, you startled a bit until Carlos rubbed your shoulder a little bit.

"Hey [Name]," Carlos said, "Come with me, I have to talk to you and Jack okay?"

You were shaking nervously. Oh God! You thought. I'm now stuck in the Carlos/Kieffer feud! I'm screwed! May any God have mercy on my soul!

Carlos widens his eyes at your nervousness and pulled you into a gentle hug.

"Hey kid, it won't be bad. It's going to be okay! Alright?"

You nodded "Yeah."

"Good!" Carlos said as he let go of you.

You and Carlos both went into the beer cooler. Jack was startled at you and Carlos at the doorway of the cooler. The freezing air not affecting anyone.

"Let me guess," Jack started.

"It's an accident," Carlos replied, just what both you and Jack expected.