Raincoats

After Aayan had left, Neil was standing alone at the terrace, enjoying the cold breeze. The door opened and Myra appeared.

"The shop is closed for the night." 

"I see, there are no jobs for today so you all should rest up."

Myra nodded then started thinking about something.

"Why did you take him there? If you wanted to show him what could happen to him in the future, that wasn't the right place."

"... reasons."

Myra looked at Neil with a confused expression. Neil softly smiled and replied.

"Don't think too much about it, actually I just wanted to scare him. I achieved that. He needs to be wary of everyone, blind trust can lead to greater harm in the future."

Myra looked like she finally understood the reasons. She wanted to talk more but left to rest.

"Goodnight!"

"Goodnight!"

—x—

(Somewhere else that same night) 

A man was going home after work. He always took a shortcut through a narrow alley. The alley was only wide enough for two people to fit in. 

It was never a lively path but it was extra quiet today. There were a lot of clouds but the moon would appear once a while. 

He would constantly look behind him to find no one there. He was completely alone. Just before he was out of the alley he heard footsteps from behind him.

When he looked back, he saw two hooded figures standing there. As he turned to run, two more appeared in front of him.

He stared at them for ten seconds. They all started saying something under their breaths. The man's hair instantly stood up. All four of them soon conjured semi transparent rods from thin air.

Just as the man was about to say something. One of the figures impaled their rod into the man's back.

He tried to scream loudly but another figure impaled their rod through his mouth. Only muffled screams could be heard.

The impaled man's skin started turning dark. Black scales started forming on different parts of his body. Before he could do anything another one of the figures impaled him and he screamed again. 

Then the third one impaled his right leg. He fell to the ground and his screams lowered in volume until they stopped completely. Both his lungs had been punctured and he was left unable to scream anymore. 

His body shook a little as his clothes tore up and his tummy started ripping apart vertically. Scales formed around the stomach, protecting it.

The figures were prepared with more rods and two of them impaled those rods through his body once again, one to the heart and another to the right shoulder. 

The heavily injured man's body formed black blobs at his wounds. They tried removing the rods and sealing the wounds. During this time his stomach was left unprotected as the scales around it had disappeared.

The third one took this opportunity and stabbed their rod through the man's stomach. He tried moving his body but was unable to. His body had died.

Then a gas started forming around the almost dead man's mouth. A blob-like creature formed itself and tried to escape. But the fourth figure was prepared. 

The last rod stabbed through the blob and the blob popped like a balloon. Then the nightmare's body started melting. 

The figures waited a while before confirming that their job was done. One of them took out an empty vial and collected the black liquid.

Then they left. When the moon was clear, four people in raincoats could be seen leaving a murder scene. Without making a sound.

They blended in the shadows of tall buildings. As soon as they left, the semi transparent rods disappeared, as if they never existed.

A few minutes later, some masked men arrived at the scene, but they were too late.

—x—

(The next day) 

Aayan woke up to his alarm. As he got out of bed he looked at his table, an incense had been completely burnt out to allow him to sleep peacefully. 

He took up the glasses he was given by Neil and wore them instantly. Not giving the nightmare an opportunity.

His alarm had the glass part removed and all the mirrors had been covered with cloth. Still he couldn't take any risks. 

He took deep breaths to prepare himself for what he was about to do today. Then a childish smile formed on his face.

He started getting prepared happily as if he was going on a date. 

—x—

His mood was jolly as he admired the beauty of everything on his way. When he arrived at his workplace, his colleagues were completely shocked. The usually gloomy and silent Aayan was cheerful and talkative today. 

He spun around on his chair for a while, telling everybody that he was fine. This was a rare occasion when his boss came on time. When he looked at Aayan he called him to his office. 

Aayan picked up his phone and started doing something on it. His boss tried snatching his phone from his hands but Aayan was faster. 

He apologised and started walking towards the place commonly referred to as 'hell hole'. 

When the door was closed everyone heard screams from the inside, belittling Aayan, reprimanding him for his behaviour and other things. They were already used to it so they got back to their work. 

Then something unexpected happened. They started hearing Aayan scream at their boss. He let out a relentless barrage of insults and truth bombs that everybody could agree to.

Then he started insulting their boss's fat stomach, receding hairline and other rumors that had been spread about him.

Then Aayan suddenly came out of the office alone with his hands in his pockets. He walked towards the entrance without glancing at anybody.

Some people looked inside to see their boss completely frozen in shock and anger. He too rushed out of his office and started screaming again. 

He insulted Aayan, his family & friends and called him other things. He also emphasized that Aayan was fired and he should never return again. 

Aayan didn't care to listen to any of that, he just kept walking with one finger raised above his head. 

When the heat cooled down, every employee in the office thought Aayan had either won some big lottery or got a great inheritance and didn't need to work anymore. 

—x—

Oh man, that was fun. I've always wanted to do that. I've seen it in movies and wished I could pull it off.

I checked my phone and stopped the audio recording. If I get into any trouble Neil said he would take care of it. 

As I rode my bike my smile slowly faded as I realised I am still going to be slaving away, just my employer has changed. 

I started remembering the events of yesterday. I will start officially working under Neil tomorrow. I will work in the cafe while learning how to save myself. 

I had planned on improving my life, but it's only been getting worse over time. Well, even if I'm going to suffer later, I had a little bit of fun just now. 

While deep in my thoughts, I reached the 'Dreamers Cafe' and parked my bike in the employee parking. I was basically hired anyways.

I got out and headed up the staff entrance without bothering for permission. When I entered I saw Myra in her uniform coming down from the first floor. 

"He is free right now."

"Okay."

We didn't talk much as the atmosphere between us was awkward. I silently headed up to the first floor. The feeling of being observed still didn't disappear, but I kept walking as if I didn't notice it.

Then I got welcomed by Neil in the cctv room. 

"Good morning, how did your day go?"

I told Neil about today. Neil chuckled at me.

"I told you to quit not to have fun, but well, if anything happens I'll take care of it."

"Now you will learn how to use these powers."

Finally, I had to admit, I was curious about this power.

"Let's start with meditating first."

"Huh?"