It was a surprisingly warm night for Nesel City this time in December. A nice balanced fifty degrees, not cold enough to snow but not warm enough to go out without a coat. No insects would chirp this time of year, and traffic was mostly clear though the streets were never fully empty yet this time of night. About half a mile from the main road that cut through to the heart of the city, past the narrow back streets and into the little sections of urban living; a small convenience store was slowing down....
The street lamp above the sign shined it's best florescent light that did little to light up the street thanks to the large Neon Sign advertising the location of the convenience store which read in big colorful letters "The Stop Shop." Within the nearly silent store, a Middle aged man inside gently mopped the green and white tiled floors; occasionally fixing products that were mixed and placed in spots they didn't belong by indecisive customers. Occasionally, he would find empty wrappers that would cause him to mumble profanities to himself before returning to his cleaning slightly more angry than before. Meanwhile on the counter, a fat, fluffy, orange cat was lying down taking a little cat nap in front of a small oscillating plug in fan, enjoying the nice quiet of the lazy evening.
The Middle Aged man was naturally the owner of this establishment, in the process of closing down the shop for the night and retiring to his armchair sanctuary in his apartment a few buildings down. Everyday he followed the exact same routine: Wake up, come to work, sell a pot and a half of coffee to a group of road workers bright and early, read the funnies, yell at the delinquents that would come into his store to snatch some snacks, stock the products, mop, and close up. Over and over, every single day. Of course he felt a little bitter, but it was his life, his way of living. Though he wished he had a little more time to catch up on his shows.
Just as the thought passed in his mind, something dark moved out of the corner of his eye causing him to jump up to attention and almost drop his mop. His reaction caused the kitty on the counter to let out a slight meow. He chalked it up to the cat moving, and got back to work in his silence. God it was so quiet. Occasionally the silence caused him to zone out into his task, to the point that he sometimes ended up mopping the same area for 3 or more minutes at a time. He really wished that he still had his radio on the counter, it always did the trick to break the quiet monotony of a slow night. But those damned teenagers that sneak in to steal snacks broke it one day as they were running out when he caught them red handed.
"Damn delinquents..." he muttered to himself before beginning to hum to himself.
He maneuvered his way over to the soft drink section of his shop, making him directly parallel to the windows that faced the street outside. After mopping around an end cap filled with various meat sticks, he heard the sound of a loud cat growling at something causing him to glance upwards. Shock took over his body as he watched a unusually tall figure lurk swiftly out of view down the left of the street as the growl turned into a sharp cry followed by a hiss. It took him a moment to collect himself, but soon his minor fear was taken over by anger. He threw down his mop and went to the front counter to fetch a wood slugger. The cat jumped down from the counter in a terrified scramble, causing the fan to fall onto the floor along with it.
Quickly the shop owner made his way into the street brandishing the wooden bat. But as he looked up and down the street, nothing was there. Nothing at all. He walked his way past the corners of his shop, checking the alleyways to confirm that there was nothing to be found.
"Yeah!" He called out with notable fear in his voice, "You stay away from my shop you hear!?"
He took three deep breaths and made his way back into the convenience store, and let out a shout as he realized that the little plug in fan was now on the floor. The Man walked to the fan in frustration, and quickly realized that it was indeed no longer functioning properly. He gave it a sharp smack, causing it for a second to start back up with a "zzzzzt" before stopping again. Again, the man gave it a sharp whack to the side, again a slight start up then instantly stopping. It didn't take long for his frustration to win him over, and he aggressively threw the fan down the bathroom hall so hard it unplugged from the wall before storming off to finish his mopping.
The job was finished in less than ten minutes, and he crowned his job complete with the classic wet floor sign. This was more habitual than anything really considering that he was about to close the shop for the night and go home. With this, he looked over his store once more. Everything in it's place, everything finished for the night, finally. But something was odd, when he glanced towards the window a light fog was clouding the glass and the street appeared to be a featureless pitch black.
This time, the man was speechless. It was almost surreal as if the store was transported to another world, but that misunderstanding was immediately cleared up as the black abyss began to shift and form with two large glowing orbs of neon blue emerging to press against the window as if peering inside. Sharp teeth began to form under the glowing eye like orbs, finally prompting the man to react with a loud shriek. Simultaneously, the creature let out shriek so loud that every window in the store shattered inward, and the echo of the creature's cry could be heard for miles out into the city beyond.....
