Adam finished sanitizing the tattooing equipment and stored it neatly in its box, then grabbing the tray of used needles and throwing them into a can with “biohazard” written on it. 

He then vacuumed the floor, while his boss did the inventory and placed orders on the store’s computer.

Adam jumped, hearing a thud against the store’s window.

“David! Stop doing that!” the teen yelled before even turning around.

“My boss gave me some coupons for McDonald’s!” he announced, shoving said coupons against the store’s window “They expire tomorrow, come on!”

“You were complaining about calories this morning, and now want to go to McDonald’s?!”

“Can’t hear you! Just wrap it up, come on, it's cold out here!”

“You can hear me perfectly well, you Dumbo-looking idiot!” 

“My ears are just the right size!”

“Ah! I knew you could hear me!” he said victoriously, pointing at the boy.

“Ah, rats!” He snapped his fingers “You caught me!”

“Let me just finish vacuuming and-”

“Just go, kid,” his boss ordered, shooing him away with her hand “Saved me from tattooing a bunch of basic bitches today” The woman opened up the register and put a ten on the counter “Go, have a feast.”

“Thanks, ma’am.” He said, putting away the vacuum cleaner and grabbing the money “Have a good night!”

“You too, kid!” she yelled after him as the store’s door closed.

The boys went into the fast-food restaurant and talked about their day while eating. 

David’s boss taught him how to fix an engine. He couldn't name all the parts just yet, but at least knew where they fit by heart.

Adam complained about how he had to tattoo a bunch of musical notes and little birds. He wished his boss would teach him how to tattoo actual tattoos, and let him take care of a real client.

After dinner, they made their way to the empty bus stop and waited, sitting close to each other for warmth.

“Hey. When we grow up, you want to move to the south with me?” Adam asked, looking at the snow that was starting to fall.

“Sure thing. But the south’s kinda big. Have a specific place in mind? Preferably one without closeted clan members?” David asked.

“Not really...” he said, crossing his arms.

“How about Las Vegas?” Spice suggested enthusiastically “I always wanted to go to a fancy casino!”

“Oh, you’re awake.” Adam said to the ghost “Las Vegas sounds nice... But sounds more like a place where you’d go for a vacation, rather than a place to raise a family...”

“Oh, I heard it has nice beaches! But I’ll have to learn how to swim first...” David commented excitedly. He was already imagining his adult self shredding some massive waves on a surfing board, a Hawaiian tattoo covering his left arm and muscles to die for... God, what a cool dude...

“Nah, been there once with my stepfather and my mom, it’s overrated,” Adam complained. 

“I thought it was neat. You’re just the Grinch of beaches and tropical stuff.” Spice said.

“I see... How about Texas? I want to be a cowboy, baby!” David said, making his friend exhale out of his nose and smile a little bit.

The three of them continued to talk, and in the end, Adam decided that since they couldn’t make a decision, he would just have to settle for a warm jacket and deal with New York’s climate for the rest of his life...

Mark entered his room, closing and locking the door behind him. 

He sat on a black armchair, near his bed, with a sigh of relief. 

He decided to watch a movie about cars, spies, and drugs that just yelled “testosterone”, on his gigantic HD black screen, to take his mind off the family dinner he was just put through. 

Seriously, what was the point of dining together anyway? They never really talked, only trading a few words and questions that could easily be answered with one or two words, like a monotone "What did you do today?" answered by an equally emotionless "Attended classes". Hell, they even barely looked at each other... Whatever... It’s not really like he had much to tell them or wanted to listen to them anyway... 

His stepmother only piped up to ask his father for something or to ask if she looked pretty. 

Every word that came out of his father’s mouth were just subtle reminders of his position. He was the breadwinner, owner of their lives, the one whose expectations they all had to meet and his expectations for his children.

And his sisters... They only talked about fashion or gossip.

He internally shook his head and tried to focus on the movie instead, although he had already seen at least twenty movies like that one.

The plot was always just the same recycled slop. Different names, a different McGuffin, but the same though guy, his friend who was either a nerd or a mindles mound of muscle, and feme fatale who falls for him in the end, despite her being a independent woman or whatever the fuck…

Opening act, exposition, yada yada yada, a low point where the two guys go their separate ways or are betrayed by the hottie, and then a reunion, maybe a fastly done redemption arc with really no motivation behind it…

He was supposed to like these movies… He was a guy…

He kept watching the movie but, every beet was so predictable, that he couldn’t help but zone out and think about literally anything else… like the demon he saw that morning for example. 

By the way, did he really saw what he saw? 

He grabbed his phone and called one of the boys that were with him that morning. 

The other guy confirmed that he indeed remembered seeing the demon too, and Mark ended the call without saying as much as a goodbye. 

Then he called the other kid, and he said that he saw the demon too, but then started questioning if it had been a demon or something else.

“What do you mean? You saw it, didn’t you?!” he roared, making the kid on the other side of the line flinch.

“No! I saw it, I saw it! It’s just that... Yeah, it had wings and claws... But it was also blue and kinda see-through... It looked kinda ghostly.”

“So you’re saying it was a ghost?” Now he wasn’t sure himself, but he didn’t let his uncertainty be reflected in his voice.

“I don’t know, I never saw a demon or ghost before... For all I know it could have been some... jellyfish shapeshifting mutant that can turn invisible... But I definitely saw it too, so--”

“You have two seconds to start making sense before I give your father the pink slip.” Mark interrupted, making sure the boy could tell he was getting impatient.

“I...” 

“Was it real or not, Nathaniel?” 

“Yes... It was real, I saw it too...” he answered a bit fearfully.

Mark ended the call and threw the phone on top of his bed.

It hadn’t been a hallucination then. But now he didn’t know if that thing was a ghost, a demon, or a monster… 

Well, whatever the fuck it was, he wasn’t dumb enough to let it roam around! 

Mark had to get rid of it ASAP.

He got up and exited his room without pausing the movie, closing and locking the door behind him. 

The teen walked up to a glitter-covered door further down the fancy corridor, decorated with lots of fake plants and modern paintings, and knocked.