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The Man At The Gas Station

My name is Kris and I used to be a drug addict but this is the story of why I stopped. You're most likely thinking this will be an emotional journey filled with triumph, well you're wrong. This story has emotion alright but not one of joy and triumph but of terror and fear.

As I said before I was a drug addict and I had dropped out of school, I found a job at McDonald's and it helped pay for my addiction.

But one night in February I didn't have a whole lot of money for drugs as I had used most of it to pay for my utilities such as food, water, and electricity. And I was going through withdrawals. I needed something.

So I decided to go down to a gas station not too far from my place. I grabbed my old stained jacket, a knife, as well as my wallet and left. As soon as I opened the door the cold night air hit me like a ton of bricks.

It was dark out and the only light was the street lamps on the sidewalk. I walked as I couldn't afford a car, I looked down at my hand, it was my skin was pale. I was a really skinny guy back then as the drugs kept me skinny.

It took me twenty minutes to walk to the gas station. The gas station was old, it had crusty dingy walls and there was grass growing through the sidewalk. One thing you should all know is that this neighborhood was sketchy as hell as robberies, murders, and drugs crimes ruled the place.

You're all probably wondering what the hell I was doing going to a place like this. The thing is that it was close and that's all that mattered to me, I needed to get my hands on some smokes. The withdrawals were getting worse.

As soon as I stepped through the door I could tell something was off. There was no clerk at the desk and the air smelled funny. It kind of smelt like...like iron.

I just shrugged it off as part of my imagination. That had to be it right? It was just the withdrawals making me smell things, or at least I kept telling myself that.

One thing that was clear was that no one was at the counter. "Hello, is anybody there?" I called out.

Nothing, it was just silence for the next minute. "That's odd," I muttered to myself. "Hello anyone there?"

I called out again. No response just like last time. I was starting to get uncomfortable.

I continued to look for someone who I could talk to. But for the next few minutes I found no one.

I was walking past one of the isles with drinks . I don't know as it was a while ago when this happened. All of the sudden a man jumped out from behind the aisle.

"Well hello there sir!" The man shouted with a joyous tone.

He scared me and caused me to yelp and jump back. He just laughed and said "sorry for the scare there."

I took a good look at him, he had on a dirty and dingy t-shirt with old blue jeans and a pair of black church shoes. I knew they were church shoes as I used to go to church with my parents when I was younger.

Something about the man gave me the chills and just set off alarms in my head. His clothes were obviously dingy and dirty and they had small dark red spots on them. His teeth were old and yellow. And his hair was dirty and greasy, it shined as the light bounced off of it, his skin was pale much like mine.

He was also a bit round and looked to be in his mid to late forties. "It's fine I was just looking around, '' I said uneasily.

The man continued to smile and said "that's fine just tell me when you're done now son." he then walked off to the counter.

Something just didn't feel right but I shrugged it off as I just thought he was a weird but harmless guy. I grabbed some snacks and some drinks as I figured I could use some. I made my way up to the counter.

The man was just standing there smiling at me with his crystal blue eyes. It was freaking me out as I'm pretty sure he was watching me the whole time. "Three packs of smokes" I said.

"Will that be all sir?" the man asked.

I just said "yeah that'll be all" the man then turned and got the three packs of smokes I had asked for. "Hey, what took you so long?" I asked curiously.

The man froze for a minute or two before he smiled again and said. "I was just workin' on some stuff in the back." "Oh really what kind of stuff?"

"Oh you know boxes and all that sort" I raised my eyebrow and asked "didn't you hear me come in?"

The man began to sweat from all the questions but he kept on smiling. It was honestly like a scene from one of those sitcoms but it wasn't funny in this situation and just made me even more nervous. What the hell was he sweating for?

"Yeah I did" he said. "Why didn't you answer me back when I called out?" I asked, if he had heard me come in then surely he had heard me call out for someone.

The man looked like he was sweating more from that question if it was possible. "I was um just uh busy you know" he said nervously. I figured that he was maybe doing drugs in the back and didn't want to get caught so I just dropped it and let the man finish ringing me up.

After he had rung me up I paid him the money and left. As soon as I made it outside I released a breath that I didn't even know I was holding. That man freaked me the fuck out as he just stared at me that whole time and I don't even remember seeing him blink.

And then there was that smile and the sweating. What the hell was up with the sweating at my question? And those dark red spots on his clothes.

But as I just shrugged it off as I said earlier he was most likely doing some type of drugs in the back and didn't want to get caught. And I went about my night and enjoyed my drinks, snacks, and smokes.

The next morning I was watching the news when they reported a brutal murder and robbery at the gas station that I went to last night. But when they had shown a picture of the assailant my blood froze cold as ice.

The assailant was the same guy who had served me at the gas station. Apparently he had a history of violent crime and had assaulted the cashier working that night and beat them to death with a hammer.

It had all hit me right then and there, it made sense then the smell of iron in the air when I had entered the gas station and those dark red spots on his clothes was blood from when he had beaten the cashier to death. But before he could leave I had come in so he pretended to be the cashier and served me. And he was sweating because he thought I was on to him.

Pretty soon the police were at my home and I told them my story. The man was sentenced to life in prison and after that experience I cleaned up, went back to school and got a good job. But even now I still can't forget about the man at the gas station.

Hey guys thanks for reading my short story please comment and tell me what you think any and all criticism is welcome as I want to get better as a writer.