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starkysa · 11 months ago

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"Newscast, the number of people with mental illnesses in the city is increasing year by year, so please do a regular routine and go out more often to adjust your mood."

People rush past the TVs next to the electric stores, just bouncing from company to company for that little paycheck. Busy is the daily life of the street, change is the calendar day by day, unchanged is the routine of life. Unbeknownst to them, the unknown has long since begun to encroach, cognizable only to children and youth.

Late at night, the original playful streets are replaced by a dark silence. The blonde hangs a sign in front of the store saying "Closed" and then turns around and enters the store, locking the door behind him.

"Let the show begin."

===========================

It's May, and although it's not officially summer, the cicadas are squeaking and chirping outside the window with no small amount of penetration. As we approach the days when students are on summer break, everyone is hoping to get a more satisfactory GPA to go back to their parents before the end of the semester.

"Mark! I'm out of carbon pens! When are you going to go to the stationery store to buy some stationery back?" The teenager named Cesar crossed his legs and spun his pen in his chair, a half-written macroeconomics topic spread out on his desk. "Got it, will go later ...... And when are you going to go to the stationery store by yourself? I borrow mine every time." Mark agreed to the other's request with an expressionless face, helplessly turning back to ask the other two what they thought.

"Give a scissors! Otherwise I'm going to be blown out by my design teacher if I don't have scissors to use in design class again."

"Correction tape please."

"Okay."

"Mark you are my big daddy! Good job!"

"Okay, okay, Jonah don't look at me with such an exaggerated expression, can you learn from Adam, look how reserved he is."

"He's fine the way he is now, he won't be happy by the time the Quiz grades come out for the stats class anyway."

"Hey Adam what do you mean! I'm not bad at stats alright, no just, just a few points below you ......"

"Out of 10 lad." Adam snickered at Jonah's silly response as he swiped his phone, then proceeded to deliver the money with Jonah to Mark.Mark stuffed the bills deep into his pocket, "Cesar you ......" "You bought it for yourself, I lent it to you."

So true ...... never mind, just pay for your burnt breakfast ......

This was Mark's last thought before he left the classroom door

"Ding-dong."

"Welcome, what can I get you?" The blonde owner asked Mark, who had just stepped into the stationery, with a smile on his face as he wore a pair of glasses.The stationery store was surprisingly quiet, and although it had actually been open on the street for a while, it still looked as if it had just popped up out of the blue, with that new store renovation kind of paint and formaldehyde smell hitting the air, interspersed with the papier-mâché and metallic smells of the stationery. This store didn't smell very good, that was Mark's first thought when he entered the store. If it wasn't for the fact that the owner of the previous stationery store had passed away for some reason, he wouldn't have come here to buy stationery.

"A carbon pen, an eraser, a refillable correction tape and a pair of safety blunt tip scissors, please."

"Okay oh~ Please wait."

The moment he heard the shopkeeper speak, Mark felt an inexplicable vicious chill, like the physical sensation of falling into an ice cave, and he involuntarily shivered a little, trying to alleviate his mental discomfort and resolved to never come back to this store to buy stationery next time.

"Sorry about that, the store owner himself is rather afraid of the heat, the air conditioning is on low haha, excuse me."

Mark didn't even bother to think about why an ordinary carbon pen was actually selling for 30 dollars before he hurriedly left the place that made him uncomfortable.

"Take care of yourself~ I, for one, am looking forward to you guys~"

Whew... running all the way back to the school Mark breathed a long sigh of relief, silently celebrating the end of his ordeal while delivering the items his friend had asked for. Until this time, Mark didn't realize that he seemed to have been swindled out of a lot of money, but he didn't want to go back to that hellhole and argue with that squint, and after being forced to accept the reality, he cursed as thin as a mosquito's voice:

"F**k."

======================

At the end of the day's program, Mark drove the other three back to the shared B&B with him.

"Mark, I understand the reasoning, but why is this carbon pen of yours so expensive? It can't be something expensive, no fraud, right, or should I return it? It's so expensive." Cesar poured over the 30-knife carbon pen, taking it apart and putting it back together again and again. "Come on Cesar, don't take it apart, if you do, the parts will fall out of the car and you won't even be able to find them." "Like the Ouija board charger you put in the car earlier." "Jonah shut up I finally found it okay?" "Okay, okay, sir, don't be mad, it's just a matter of finding it for 2 hours haha." "...."

Back home, Jonah jumped straight up and pounced on the couch, reached for the gamepad and chips on the coffee table and started a new round of gaming.Mark put the oversized eraser and super expensive carbon pen on the coffee table next to Jonah, then dropped his book bag next to the seal doll, took out his homework and wrong questions and started to think about how to write them.Adam went upstairs to get his correction tape and went to work on his newly swiped paranormal narration. circling the whiteboard.Cesar washed his hands and turned to the kitchen, grabbing cocoa powder and making each of them a cup of hot cocoa.

"Jonah where did you put the scissors?" "Over there" Jonah pointed in the direction of the book bag, "Oh well thanks!" After dropping a couple of marshmallows into his hot cocoa he took the scissors and cut open the unopened package of steak meat. "Oh yo, these scissors are so sharp! No wonder it's so expensive." Shocked, Cesar tried cutting the ribs with the scissors and it was an easy fix as well.

"Hey Jonah, why don't you give me the scissors to use for cutting vegetables, it's really too good!"

"Oh... Huh? Don't you have a special shears in your kitchen, you have to catch me gripping mine, haven't you gripped Mark's stationery enough?"

"It's not like we're going to use it during that time at school anyway."

"OK, remember to put it in my pencil box after use, don't throw it in the kitchen."

"Oh, okay."

After saying that Cesar closed the refrigerator door and forgot the scissors in the refrigerator.

Darkness. Total darkness. I can't see anything. It's like a mist over my eyes.

Where is this place? Wait, when did I get here? Does this place even exist?

Water. There seems to be water on the ground, I can feel wading through it, this water seems to be getting deeper?

Why was I just thinking about moving forward? Was this a dream?

Is this a dream? I should still be in a dream! Otherwise it wouldn't explain the sudden appearance.

Well, that could be kind of interesting.

It's a little interesting.

How long has it been going on and it doesn't feel like it's a good idea to keep going around in circles, can we wake up?

But why, I can't wake up. Damn it! Wake up!!!

That. What's that?

That shadow inside the water that looks like a snake. Eyes! So many eyes! That's not a snake!

Damn it, I can't control my body! Get away from me!

Uh, it's strung up, and it's like it's turning its face around?

!!!

"Haaah!"

"Adam!"

"Jonah?"

Jonah looked over at Adam with a worried look on his face, "Did you have a nightmare? I see you're breathing so hard and in a cold sweat."

"Nothing, just a nightmare."

"Oh, that's good-"

"Jonah?"

"A... A...Adammmm…"

" OMG behind Uuuuuuuuuuuu!!! "

"What," Adam turned his head and the vertical telson on the serpentine creature's face stared straight at Adam, the distance between them only a finger's width apart.

"F**K!"

Venomous fangs pierced the fragile neck, and as the sharp object penetrated deeper, Adam's consciousness was lost in the snake's entanglement of signals.

Adam jerked his head up, looked around and then pressed his throbbing temples.

"Uh uh... I slept in the classroom? Why did these people let me sleep over here after school without telling me? I'm really sorry."

"Boom!"

A blast of thunder illuminated the classroom in the darkness, only to see the floor-to-ceiling window with scarlet spray writing:

"ADAM IKU ARE HERE."

Lightning illuminated the dark red paint as if it were as bright red as fresh blood, the sky glowed an eerie, highly saturated indigo, and the inside of the classroom was filled with fog. For just a moment, hundreds of eyes just like the snake's surfaced in the air, large and small, staring directly at Adam, who paused for a moment, stumbled, turned, and ran into the ghastly white-lit corridor, the eyes behind him coming at him like a flood.

"Haaaaahhhh..."

I don't know how long he had been running, but when he reached the bathroom, Adam gasped for breath, unlocked the door sharply and sat down on the floor. After briefly regaining his energy, he got up and saw his "self" in the mirror and said in his own voice:

"I can't get away."

Then the "self" in the mirror twisted and changed into the snake that crawled out of the mirror and strangled Adam's carotid artery...

"Adam, why do I get the feeling you didn't sleep well?"

"Shut up."

Adam, who had given Jonah a slap, confirmed the touch, judging that it should have been a breath of air upon returning to reality.

"Let's go, we're going to be late, you know the attendance system for studying is kinda strict."

Jonah, while searching for an apple inside the fridge incidentally found the scissors that Cesar had forgotten and after spitting out a comment, he put away the scissors and tossed the apple to Adam.

"Say Jonah."

"What?"

"Did you see a snake at your feet with four arms full of eyes?"

"Are you out of your mind? Don't scare me! I know you like to study paranormal events, right!"

"Right---" Adam trailed off in a long lazy voice, "I'm scaring you, let's go, drive properly today, no bobbing your head while listening to music. " Adam tapped Jonah on the shoulder and walked behind him, Jonah froze for a moment as he saw Adam kick the air around him, not thinking too much he turned and followed Adam to the garage to get the car started.

"Hey Adam. are you sure you're okay?"

"Really."

"Really?"

"Really!!! How many times do I have to say it Jonah?!"

"Okay, okay, know you're okay..." Jonah scowled and continued to focus on driving, but Adam's kicking at the air earlier still lingered in the back of his mind. In the spirit of his intuition, which was always spot on, Jonah decided to keep his mouth shut, but still remained skeptical of Adam's behavior.

Adam walked into the classroom as usual, but due to the effects of that dream from last night, he had been in a state of disorientation all morning. He couldn't listen to the lesson and all he could think about was the sinister snake whispering to him.

"I can't get away."

"You can't get away."

"Shut up！！！！！！"

"Adam, what's wrong with you?"

"Nothing... Nothing, Professor, I'm going out."

After saying that Adam pushed away his desk and got up and left the classroom, ignoring the professor's words about the location of the counseling room, and came to the stairway holding his forehead with one hand and bracing himself against the cold wall with the other. With his temples still hurting, Adam felt like he was about to lose his footing, and the scene in front of him began to flicker with black halo shadows. Shaking his heavy head, he pressed his forehead against the wall, hoping that the cold wall would ease his pain.

In a flash, the shadow of the snake wandered past and Adam began to wonder if he was still in reality.

"Adam!"

"What?" The sharp pain was suddenly gone, and Adam obediently turned his head to look at the owner of the voice.

"What are you doing here?" Cesar asked to Adam who was leaning against the orange wall.

"Came out to use the restroom, why."

"Nothing, just in time for class to end, join us in the cafeteria?"

After a moment of thought, Adam felt that his head didn't hurt that much for the moment, so he agreed to Cesar's invitation.

Then he stepped short of the stairs.

Cesar was quick to tug on Adam's hood and pull him back.Adam was slightly shocked, but quickly returned to his usual aloof self. After checking left and right to see that there was no Jonah nearby, he tested the floor to see if it was solid.

"I heard from Jonah that you're in bad shape today."

Cesar looked at the strange behavior of the person in front of him and asked Adam with some suspicion, in order to prevent Adam from falling again, his hand didn't even leave Adam's shoulder, Adam was a bit impatient and knocked off Cesar's hand on his shoulder, emphasizing once again that he was fine and then descended the stairs without looking back, Cesar said jokingly:

"It couldn't be the ghost of the literature Mark bought yesterday that scared you into insanity, could it?"

"I didn't, and aren't you going to dinner, what are you standing around for."

Mark laughed at Cesar's theory of the stationery murders, he was so imaginative, stationery could turn into a person, so why not expect your own hand puppet to move, and Cesar just said in a playful tone that he was just making it up, and then turned into a serious look:

"I'm worried about Adam, he's really not in good shape."

"Take him to the hospital."

"He doesn't look like he wants to go to the hospital that way." Jonah came in clutching his books and textbooks and elaborated on Adam's strange behavior this morning. "Or maybe he just didn't sleep well." Cesar opened his book and flipped through a few random pages then closed it again.

Although Mark was in a state of complete disbelief about Cesar's theory, he did see his big rubber seemingly move a few centimeters with no one around.

Mark had a feeling that his beliefs might have taken a turn for the worse.

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