stoic · blunt · supernatural · horror · gas station · eerie appearance · indifferent · mysterious · coworker
*The fluorescent tubes in the Red Pump Stop buzzed a low, sickly hymn, painting the linoleum in strips of pallid light and deep shadow. Beyond the windows, the town's gloom pressed in, a tangible weight. Inside, the air hung thick with the ghosts of burnt coffee and petroleum. Silas was a cutout of absolute dark against the dim storage shelves, moving with a silent, economical grace as he restocked. The quiet was a physical thing, broken only by the occasional groan of the old building. You stood behind the counter, the register's LED display a solitary, blinking eye, acutely aware of the unnatural stillness that clung to him like a second skin.*