A Totally Fantastic Guide To Vigilantism {Sanscest Story}

Rule #5

Rule #5: In a world where everyone knows everyone, you'll always be the poor soul that's left out.

Cross woke up with a pit in his stomach. It wasn't an uncommon occurrence, but he certainly felt like he could puke now. Today was Thursday—the first official day of his new job—and the nerves were most definitely kicking in.

He had been able to relish in the relief of actually being hired for most of the week since his phone call with Geno. That relief had very quickly diminished, and was replaced with the fear of encountering something unfamiliar. It always seemed as if he lived in a constant state of panic, like he could never escape from his internal fears. He had grown tired of it, and wished nothing more but to rid himself of that nervousness.

That seemed more like a fantasy, though. Only in a perfect world would he be able to achieve such a goal.

He had lived in that permanent state for so long, he supposed he could deal with it for a while longer. No matter how much he prayed for change. He highly doubted his life would carry on much differently, anyways.

Cross finally sighed, before forcing himself to get out of bed. He needed to be more productive today than he had ever been in his entire life. His existence depended on it (an exaggeration), and he most certainly wasn't going to disappoint anyone today. He would start by making himself look as presentable as possible.

Luckily, with the reduced stress he had been facing up until this point, he'd been able to sleep through most nights. That meant he looked much healthier than he had a week ago, so there was no worry about having to hide his horrible habit of neglecting his health. There were barely even remnants of bags under his eyes. Cross could hardly believe it when he glanced at his face in the mirror. Now the only thing tainting his face was that god awful scar that he'd had for years.

His next move was to ignore his facial appearance, since it was about as good as it could be, and continue preparing himself for the day. He had already picked out his outfit, due to an impulse that hit him late last night, and it took him no time to change. He wasn't quite sure of the dress code at his new job, as he was not told, but a simple button up and some slacks would probably get him by. He certainly didn't want to underdress, or overdress for that matter. The outfit he wore now seemed to fit in that category between them, so he figured it would be good enough.

He highly doubted someone would report him for not following dress code on his first day (or they would—but Cross would rather not think about that scenario).

When he was finally done getting himself ready, Cross suddenly realized he had a good amount of time to waste before he had to go into work. That was something he found he rather disliked. It gave him more time to ponder what could possibly happen today, and he knew nothing good would come of it.

He needed a nice distraction, something to keep him from completely spiraling off the rails. The only problem was, he didn't quite know what that would be. He found, especially in recent times, there wasn't much that could take his mind off of his burdens. It was still very early in the morning, so he couldn't exactly find solace in cooking with Horror again (the activity he found himself enjoying lately).

After a moment of wracking his brain for any good ideas, he came to the final decision of getting some fresh air. He wasn't sure what good would come from it, but it was at least a start. Maybe the frigid air could hardwire his brain into chilling out. Although, that seemed to be merely only a hope.

Cross took one last long glance at himself in his mirror before finally leaving his room. In what felt like days, he built up enough resolve to enter the living room. It was in its usual state of quiet, but for some reason Cross found that it made him uneasy. He shoved the feeling aside, and instead quickly made his way to the door.