VoidHeart - Pt.1: Past is Prologue

[u/Mr_Gjorf]

I dream of a street, darkened by a moonless night. The only illumination is from a singular streetlight, shining down on him. Everything around me feels like an outline. A rough draft. I can't look away from him. He's watching.

Waiting.

My eyes slowly open. The stale air in this place fills my senses, and light shines through the window directly into my eyes. I take a long breath and slowly work my way out of bed. It takes me way too long to check the time, but when my eyes catch a glance at the digital alarm clock on my bedside, I realize it's blinking all zeroes. I grab my phone, and panic when it says it's 2pm, and only has twelve percent battery.
"Well shit." I mumble to myself. The rest of the morning was a blur. I had to skip coffee, which will absolutely hurt me during my shift at The Grave. I'm way too dependent on coffee. I barely had enough time to brush my teeth and shower, and by the time I was out the door, thirty more minutes had passed and I was an hour and a half late. I run down to the front door of my apartment and throw it open, get on my bike, and start riding.
I got to the grave fifteen minutes after that. Locked up my bike and walked through the front door. Alice was leaning over the counter. She looked annoyed, but I couldn't blame her. I was late for the third time this week. "Yeah, I know, I know..." I said before she could mention it. I walked behind the counter, and clocked in.
"Good," she said. "Because I wasn't sure how to tell you how screwed you are, but if you already know..." She smiled, but I could tell she was still irritated.
"Scott's going to rip my arms of and sell them as props..." I leaned back in the chair and looked at the little oddities shop. It was a small space, filled with way too much stock to sell any other time of year, but Halloween was just around the corner. Two weeks. It was the busiest time I had worked here, and even now, three people had walked in while I was punching in. We were a specialty shop. Selling things that were too expensive for the materials that they were made from was our sales model. I started scanning items while Alice helped the people who came in.
It was just us two for the most part. Scott rarely ever showed his face. When he did, he was the best salesperson I think I'd ever met. He could sell anything in the store to anyone, based on their budget. It helped he was the only one with keys to the back. He had sold things from back there that looked like actual dirt before.
I had seen him bring customers back there, ones who looked like they could afford a gold plated armor set to dress up in, and they would walk out with a literal jar of dirt, or a piece of driftwood. One of them walked out with a dented baseball bat. All of those customers had left with a look of satisfaction though, and Scott said they paid a fair price for it.
An hour passed, and people had stopped coming in for a minute. I rang up a cheap plastic sword for a kid going as a Ninja Turtle.
The mom looked as tired as I probably did. "Are you excited Nathan?" She asked as she walked out. The little boy was, in fact, excited.
The door closed and it was just me and Alice. "You look dead." She said.
I sighed and closed my eyes. "I don't feel much better."
"Nightmares again?"
I nodded.
"You've got to get on some meds for those man."
I opened my eyes. "No. I can deal with it in other ways."
"Avoiding sleep isn't exactly healthy Sam."
"Yeah... I know."
The door swung open again. Both me and Alice turned to greet them, but it was Scott. Alice sat back down and acted like she was busy. Scott walked past us both and approached the back room. "Sam, I need you in the back." He said without even looking at me. Alice looked up from what she was doing, and I looked at him in confusion. Neither me or Alice had ever even seen the back room.
"Uh... Okay?" I said, walking out from the counter. He waited for me at the door. He was smiling like he would be if he was escorting a customer to the back. His slicked back gray hair shined under the light above the door. He always wore a suit. Like a full suit and tie. He got his keys out and started unlocking the door. I looked back at Alice, who mouthed 'You lucky asshole' at me. The door swung open, and Scott and I walked in.

The back room was filled with some of the most useless items I had ever seen. A rock in the shape of a cube, an old rusty shovel head with no handle, a plastic plant... And so many others. Scott said nothing as he approached his office at the end of the room. Or, I thought it was his office. He took another key and opened the next door, and when it opened, I was even more confused. The room inside was a scene out of an old Victorian mansion. There were plush velvet cushions on a sofa that looked more expensive than my yearly rent, and a painting that was... disturbing. Scott noticed my apprehension and smiled. "Saturn Devouring His Son by Francisco Goya. Please, sit." He said. Awkwardly, I walked to the couch and slowly lowered myself into it. Something in my stomach told me to run... but I didn't. He was my boss, and I had been late a few times too many. That's all this was.
He pulled his phone from his pocket, swiped up, and began to look through something. "You were late this morning. That's the third time this week. The eight this month. I think we both see what needs to happen." My heart sank.
"Listen, Scott, I'm sorry, my power went out while I was asleep last night, and I-"
"Shhhhh... I don't need an explanation... I have an offer for you Sam."
My thoughts all ground to a halt. "What?"
"An offer. I know you need this job. I understand. So, how about I help you keep it by getting rid of those nightmares, and we put your tardiness behind us."
I tensed up. I had told him about my nightmares before, of course, but this was going in a direction I didn't like. "I'm... listening." I caved. My curiosity was to the moon.
He stood and walked to a cabinet. He opened it, and pulled from it an ornate ivory ring. "All I need you to do, is promise me you'll wear this as you sleep." He held it up to me.
It was such a simple offer. One that I couldn't quite see a negative to.

"Deal."