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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

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