Dan’s face flushed in awe and all feeling in his legs disappeared into the surrounding silence. His hands shook, his eyes bolted around looking for a way out. The monster crept toward him, hissing and taunting him. His body pulsed with waves of anticipation and fear. All the while, the only thing going through his head was “why did I have to work the night shift?”

To actually explain this mess, let’s go back to that morning. Daniel Jacobs awoke from his two and a half hour sleep to his pixelated CVS alarm clock and its incessantly null buzzing. He stretched out of bed and fumbled through the countless Coca-Cola and Mountain Dew bottles sprawled all across the heavily pizza-stained carpet. His clock flashed 8:23, which meant he was going to be late to work once again. “Crap. Leo’s gonna kill me,” he thought. He quickly rummaged through his pile of already worn (and mostly torn) shirts and jeans, he threw on his favorite flame and stain-marked tee and pants, and raced downstairs to his apartment’s kitchen for his keys. He searched for the jacket he had worn the night before and spotted it on the couch in front of his television. As he checked the pockets, he found a photograph of Liz, his ex and post-best friend, and himself at the pier with some of his friends from the night before. She took the liberty of removing the picture from the booth they gathered at and wrote out a rather cryptic “Friends?” across the top in her special blue pen hand writing. But, of course, because Dan was about to be late for his shift at the GameGate, there was no time to attempt to understand women (as if there actually ever is). He continued to fish for his keys, and upon finding broke out into a sprint through the apartment complex halls, into the parking garage, and dove to his seemingly intact 2008 Chevrolet Silverado. He screeched away from his parking space and raced to the Trembley Pines Mall. Yeah, to be honest, the original founders of the great(ish) town of Trembley could’ve done a better job in both the selection of flora and name of said town. Regardless, Daniel loved it to death. Born and raised, he knew the roads back and forth, and the memories that came with them. He pulled into his usual spot at the mall and hopped out to inspect if anyone from the shop was waiting for him. Though, it wouldn’t have been the first time. About a year and a half ago, he had spent the night on the town with Liz, as she was just getting used to senior life in high school in a new city. She came from Traveler’s Town. It was a five or-so hour’s drive to get back , so her family had to adjust to the new setting. They had fun that night, at the same pier as the night before this very day. But, also like this very day, he overslept and didn’t show up to his job until 10:30. At that point Leo, his long-time bestie, and Stanley, his arrogant, childish, egotistical, narcissistic, and incomprehensibly brain-dead boss, were both waiting for him in the parking lot. Stanley was tapping his foot and shaking his head, in the same way that a parent disapproves of a child’s actions. Leo was simply face-palming the entire time. Leo also knew Liz, but had awkwardly developed a liking to her her as well, which of course caused some issues between Dan and himself. Presently, there was nobody waiting for him, only a folded letter on the mall's revolving door entrance reading “Really, dude? -Stan, your boss.” Dan let out his signature sigh of "screwing up again” he had come to perfect in the recent months of becoming a college student. Before entering the through the doors, the cold of December rushed through his tee and classic, custom, slacker-esque jacket. And then he remembered that today was Christmas Eve. And that the gigantic sale his store was having began at 7:00. Dan let out yet another “awwww crap….”