Skip to main content

Imagination



It’s 10:19 p.m.

I’m driving home from night class as I stop at a gas station two blocks away from my apartment. No one else is here, and few cars pass by. I get off my car and head towards the small convenient store associated with just about every gas station. The doors are locked, so I make my way to the window where the cashiers help customers when they’ve closed. I look inside as I knock on the window. The lights are on, but I can’t seem to find anyone inside. I turn around to check on my car; still there. I turn back around and get startled. Facing me from inside the store was the cashier. Blood flows down from her pure black eyes and into her clothes.

She tilts her head and slightly opens her mouth. She extends her hand and-

“Hey buddy, mind hurrying it up?” I turn around to respond to an impatient customer.

“Sorry about that.” Oh jeez. Here I go again, narrating my own life in the darkest way possible. Another person lines up behind the other customer as I take out my wallet and hand a twenty dollar bill to the perfectly healthy female cashier.

“What number?” she asks.

“Seven,” I put my wallet back into my pocket. “Thank you.” I nod my head and return to my car. I gas it up and continue to head home. I’ve always had this fascination of imagining the most messed up things when I go about my life, just like how I did when I was at the gas station. I’m always half expecting these imaginations to happen when I think about them, which is why I always do it. I love getting the feeling of being scared or the short-lived anxiety that comes with it. Sometimes, even if it wouldn’t be what I originally imagined, my heart would jump when there’d actually be something there. Like a person being on the other side of the hall when I turn a dark corner, even though it won’t be a beast of some sort that I thought up.

I step on the brakes and halt my car when I hit a four-way stop and check my rearview mirror. The backseat area of my car is dark, and my mind begins to manifest another situation as I resume my drive.

Behind me sits a thin, long haired creature. It has the body of a dog and a mouth like that of a human being. Its eyes are wide and pure white. It stares at me as I look ahead of me, paying attention to the road. It never stops staring as I drive. I turn my head to check my blind spot, and the creature is gone. I look forward again and the creature returns behind me, only to have its face inches closer to my neck. The reflection of the creature can be seen on the rearview mirror, but I still don’t notice it. The creature smiles, revealing its sharp and crooked teeth. Soon, it-

Oh. I’m home now. Time sure flies. I pull up to my parking spot and turn my car off. I grab my backpack from the passenger seat and pulled the handle of the car door to open it, but stop as I feel something blow pass the back of my neck. Like a breath. I disregard it.

Until I felt it again for the second time.

—
Credits to: Ismael Zuniga

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Wish Come True (A Short Story)

I woke up with a start when I found myself in a very unfamiliar place. The bed I was lying on was grand—an English-quilting blanket and 2 soft pillows with flowery laces. The whole place was fit for a king! Suddenly the door opened and there stood my dream prince: Katsuya Kimura! I gasped in astonishment for he was actually a cartoon character. I did not know that he really exist. “Wake up, dear,” he said and pulled off the blanket and handed it to a woman who looked like the maid. “You will be late for work.” “Work?” I asked. “Yes! Work! Have you forgotten your own comic workhouse, baby dear?” Comic workhouse?! I…I have became a cartoonist? That was my wildest dreams! Being a cartoonist! I undressed and changed into my beige T-shirt and black trousers at once and hurriedly finished my breakfast. Katsuya drove me to the workhouse. My, my, was it big! I’ve never seen a bigger place than this! Katsuya kissed me and said, “See you at four, OK, baby?” I blushed scarlet. I always wan...
Post a Comment
Read more

Hans and Hilda

Once upon a time there was an old miller who had two children who were twins. The boy-twin was named Hans, and he was very greedy. The girl-twin was named Hilda, and she was very lazy. Hans and Hilda had no mother, because she died whilst giving birth to their third sibling, named Engel, who had been sent away to live wtih the gypsies. Hans and Hilda were never allowed out of the mill, even when the miller went away to the market. One day, Hans was especially greedy and Hilda was especially lazy, and the old miller wept with anger as he locked them in the cellar, to teach them to be good. "Let us try to escape and live with the gypsies," said Hans, and Hilda agreed. While they were looking for a way out, a Big Brown Rat came out from behind the log pile. "I will help you escape and show you the way to the gypsies' campl," said the Big Brown Rat, "if you bring me all your father's grain." So Hans and Hilda waited until their father let them out, ...
2 comments
Read more

The Green Thing

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older lady that she should bring her own grocery bags, because plastic bags are not good for the environment. The woman apologized to the young girl and explained, "We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days." The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations." The older lady said that she was right -- our generation didn't have the "green thing" in its day. The older lady went on to explain: Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day. Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags that we reused fo...
Post a Comment
Read more