Town of Autumn, August 2020
Kevin came to Autumn after college. His mother believed that her bright son would be a good assistant to the professor at the local university. She also knew that this experience would give him a position as a professor later.
Kevin was okay with that. Autumn didn’t scare him. It was a small beautiful town on the East Coast and wasn’t different from his hometown. That made him feel better.
So, Autumn seemed like a good idea.
He was greeted by the sign “Welcome to Autumn, Nevermont state”. He didn’t get to see the population of the town. The indicator on the dashboard squeaked plaintively drawing his attention. The car was low on gas and he looked nervously at the GPS on his phone to see that a nearby gas station was three miles away. Kevin sighed feeling relieved.
The gas station looked practically the same as the one in his hometown. A couple of gas pumps, a small shop with hot dogs, junk food, and probably bad coffee, and an auto repair shop.
He came inside the building with the sign “Market” on it and saw a cashier who was maybe one or two younger than him.
“Mike,” said a badge on his gray uniform.
- Hi, how can I help you?
- Hello, fill’er up, and check the tires, will you?
- Sure, no problem, that would be 52$.
Kevin nodded and got a credit card. While Mike was busy checking and calling someone named Bill who was supposed to look at the tires, he looked around. As he thought before, that was the typical gas station, the same one he saw hundreds of times driving with his dad to school and home.
He noticed his favorite chips and smiled.
Autumn did seem like a good idea.
Town of Autumn, March 2022
Autumn was a bad idea.
For the first time, mom wasn’t right.
Kevin didn’t become the professor, he didn’t even stay as the assistant. Apparently, his boss was a total douche that didn’t believe in him, unlike his mother.
Kevin lost his job, his money, and his dignity. Eventually, he replaced Mike at the gas station who married and moved to a bigger city to raise a family.
He started to hate the smell of gas.
He started to hate Bill who was talking about cars all the time.
He started to hate mom’s calls. She sounded too pitiful.
He started to hate the taste of his favorite chips.
He started to hate everybody who stopped to fill their cars with gas.
Kevin thought they had life and he didn’t.
Town of Autumn, September 2022
Autumn was the worst idea ever.
That stuff on his arm hurt like hell.
Kevin never saw someone, a person, being so aggressive, when he just asked how he could help. He briefly remembered that he saw this man in the town, but couldn’t recall his name.
He barricaded himself at the gas station. That wasn’t how he pictured his shift. Kevin looked at the wound, splashed disinfectant he found in the first aid kit, and winced from the pain. All he was hearing were loud thumps from the storage where he locked that crazy growling man. That was scarier than being interviewed at the university two years ago.
Kevin thought about Bill. What happened to him? Was he safe? He clenched his teeth, got up, and saw a wrench that Bill left near the counter this morning. The growl got louder, and the door shook under the pressure. Kevin grabbed the wrench and came closer to the door.
He won’t be the employee of the month, but at least he will try.
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