Revamped

four

Okay, he had caved.

Tyler shook his head at himself as he walked down the sidewalk towards the library, shoving his hands in his coat pockets and questioning why he was letting this get to him so much. It was just a website, not a buried treasure or something. Why did he even care?

There was just something...drawing him to it. It wouldn't leave his mind. A few times he'd been tempted to try and search it up on his cheap flip phone, but had negated the idea. He didn't have the money for a new one in case it did turn out to be a virus, and he needed at least one link to the outside world at all times. However small and virtually useless it was, the phone got the job done.

He huffed out a breath, watching it cloud in front of his face in the bitter afternoon air, and wished that he'd stayed at home. At least his apartment had good heating sometimes, but fall in Ohio was unforgiving. He tugged at his gray beanie in a feeble attempt to protect his ears from the cold, shuddering.

Soon, the aged brick building came into view and he quickened his pace. Practically hopping up the stone steps, he squeezed through the door past someone leaving and into the welcoming heat of the library.

Still slightly shivering, he kept his oversized army green coat on and hurried toward the back, where a row of computers sat unattended. Taking a quick glance around, he didn't see anyone nearby and settled onto the one in the corner, taking off his thin gloves to log in using the provided username and password taped to the desk.

As it booted up, he bounced his right leg, a habit of nervousness. He didn't know why he was, but for some reason he just felt kind of jittery, and another glance around didn't soothe his nerves any. He just felt...anxious.

Once the PC revealed the home screen, he made short work of opening the web browser, pulling the paper from his pocket where he'd stashed it and reading the link once again.

An old cliché was running through his mind, and in fact, it had been ever since he'd decided upon coming here today just to look up the URL. It was starting to get on his nerves, because he was already superstitious as it was.

Curiosity killed the cat...

He nearly rolled his eyes.

Yeah? Well I'm not a pussy, so it doesn't even apply, he thought, irritated. He typed it into the search bar and hit Enter.

Surprisingly, the old computer was quick to load the page, and Tyler found himself looking at a maroon screen with white lettering proclaiming the website for all it was.

Nixie
The browser for all your afterlife questions.

There were various categories of what Tyler assumed to be different mythical creatures to read from, and a blank search bar in the top right corner. That was about it.

Nothing extremely fancy, and to be completely honest, he was a little disappointed. It was just a regular website. What was the point of him even going this far to type it in? He had no interest in this kind of thing. It creeped him out to think about things like this, and he usually avoided the topic anyway. No need to give his nightmares more ammunition against him.

Still, his hand strayed to the mouse and he dragged it to hover over the categories, skimming the options.

Angels
Afanc
Bigfoot
Banshee
Cyclops
Centaur
Chimaera...

The list continued on, and most of them Tyler had no clue of what they even were. He sighed, leaning forward to rest his chin in his left hand, elbow on the desk as he studied the screen. He was already here, might as well make the most of it. Plus, he was bored.