Nobody

The speaker hanging above the register whispered ominously to him, persisting in arbitrary intervals. Each time he expected to hear a voice calling out to him, but there was nothing. Nothing but a low rumble of static tugging at his eardrums. He looked to the office, wondering if there was someone inside behind the ill-fated attempts to contact him. But as the speaker kept hissing, he was reminded that the store was empty. It was just him and the piles of product left in the aisles from the frantic Black Friday shoppers. Shoe boxes laid scattered as if ravaged by the homeless. The baron shelves cast unearthly shadows late into the night. A faulty bulb flickered steadily, still unchanged from when the previous store manager was in charge. The foliage outside rustled in the wind, making an almost pleasant humming in contrast to the now roaring static emanating from the otherwise lifeless building. A piercing screech pulsated throughout the entirety of his skull, penetrating his very thoughts. He bellowed in agony, dropping the mop in his hands to shield himself from the dreadful noise. Suddenly, the speaker popped, crashing down below into pieces until the only sound left was the ringing in his ears. As he was still reeling from the near unbearable pain, the office door slowly creaked open. He stood there, with both feet glued to the floor, patiently terrified, waiting to see who or what would emerge from the office. Seconds, minutes, hours went by, he couldn’t actually tell as time had lost all meaning. He never looked away though, successfully fighting the urge to blink. The door closed back shut at a snail’s pace, but nobody was there. Spooked, he headed towards the exit, fumbling around his keys, unconcerned with his career in the moment. As he unlocked the door, the static returned. This time, however, he heard it directly behind him. Immediately his stomach dropped, prickles of hair danced along his spine. Once again, he was frozen, all he could bring himself to do was raise his eyes up to check the reflection in the glass door. As his stare crept up further, the static grew louder, reaching its crescendo when he saw a man towering over him without a face. Horrified, he tried to scream, but his voice couldn’t escape the prison that his body became. His lips were first, dissolving from his face like they had been swallowed in acid. He desperately shoved at the door, but it wouldn’t budge, he drove his shoulder into the glass with as much force as he could muster, but it was sealed tight. His glasses slipped off and smashed against the tiled floor; he no longer had a nose to hold them. He whipped his body around to the faceless man in despair, searching for some sort of an answer. He squinted to see the blurry image of the once faceless man with an appearance he only recognized in pictures and mirrors before that night. As his eye sockets emptied, the last thing he saw was the smile he had unwillingly given away. He collapsed to his knees, clawing at his face in a last ditch effort to hold onto what he’s known his entire life. Unable to breathe, he fell over writhing in a pool of his own warm blood, tearing the flesh away from his newly blank face. The static had finally dissipated, ending his suffering.