Chapter Text
Another day, another pay.
Or whatever they say.
Her night shift continues on, as dusk settles in still. Why did I choose to work at night? She could have gotten the dayshift but she had classes to worry about. Speaking of classes, it’s been kind of hard. Taking a gap year just to work for the rest of the debt of college itself.
Now as a twenty year old girl (she still feels young) and just finished her first year of community college she expects everything to remain normal. Taking care of herself, hanging out with friends, visiting her parents from time to time, this is what Cassie Castro sees to happen.
As she leans against the register of the store, waiting for any incoming customer. The interior lights flicker sometimes as some pop music plays in the background.
Tapping her nails in boredom she glances at the clock on the far side of the shop: 6:28. Her shift ends at 12:30. This is definitely going to be a long day. She could have gotten a job at a large record store since they had a wide section of cassettes of punk and indie rock tunes. But it was unfortunately far away from her home, even if she drove there. So shady convenience store it is.
To add to her misery she had no co-workers to yap about her interests. So it was just her, the cold weather, and hum of the freezers that held the drinks.
No one had entered the store for a while. The last time was a middle aged guy who came in who bought some drinks. As seconds ticked but she would rather close it all up and sleep in the back for the night. Cassie knew that was wrong, due to it being dirty back there and she won’t get paid.
She could… steal some snacks or sodas, but her paycheck would also get deducted. God, she hated the rules her boss had. Speaking of them, she never saw or spoke to him, except sending emails to her about her paycheck.
Suddenly, like if her wish was granted, the jingle of the door had opened. She positioned herself up as her back slightly cracked from how she stood leaning. Ugh, I gotta stop doing that. Dragging her dark brown hair to the side she tries to sneak a peak from whoever came in.
The hell-
The new guy was purely dressed in black with red accents and writing on his hoodie. They had their hood up with a cap as they explored the aisles of the shop.
Don’t tell me it’s one of those guys…
Being reminded of people who are basically the definition of “I don’t give a fuck” gives her the ick. It’s either they don’t do work or are very rude, which she had experienced. In the meanwhile she tries to push down a glare at them as the mystery guy picks their stuff.
Cassie looks away to view her phone for a second, seeing if her friends had texted her. After her accident with those fireworks she had gotten burn scars on her hands and arms, luckily not on her face. Her friends had been coddling her ever since, texting or checking up on her often.
She wasn’t used to being taken care of as she rarely gets sick or hurt. Intentionally of course. But Cassie didn’t want to disappoint them with her stubborn attitude.
Viewing her notifications Cassie sees no notifications from them, only those of her Instagram and Discord. Before even putting her phone back in her pocket she hears a clatter of cans falling in the distance.
“くそ.”
Was that Japanese? She learned some of the language (mostly curse words) from one of her online friends.
Cassie shakes her head, realizing that she had to check up the damage. Getting off her position on the register she walks over to the guy, eyeing them. “Excuse me.” she loudly speaks up, trying to view what happened.
The person immediately turns to her with a face of- What.
Cassie's eyes meet red tired ones, their skin was like a snowy white while the shadow of the cap almost hid his unfriendly eyes. Mandibles were placed from the sides of their mouth. Their hood was held up with what looked like horns. Black fluffy hair and appeared to be fluff on his neck.
Am I turning insane or is this a good ass cosplay?
Her night shift had just gotten interesting. Cassie could believe that this guy was cosplaying (possibly) Pest, from Regretevator. As a fellow gamer in her free time, she usually played Roblox games such as Phighting, Blocktales, Pressure, Regretevator, and other games that interest her and among her friends.
Basically jumping in the walls of her mind, she greets them with a smile, “Hey, nice cosplay-”
“ Shut it. ”
Their voice, or his voice is somewhat raspy and rough. Baffled, she looks at him with shock and notices the scowl on his face. Before she could reply, he began to step away from her.
“Hey! You have to pay for this!” Cassie remembers the mess that he caused. Getting her mind back, she headed towards the supply closet. Rummaging through the dark closet, she finds the mop and grabs it.
Heading outside to the front of the store, Cassie doesn’t see the Pest lookalike, or some kind of fanmade version of him in fanart.
Damn it- Looks like I’m not going to get paid or get fired.
Looks like the fucker stole from her in some way. Leaning down she picks up the open and spilled soda cans and puts them aside before mopping up the soda itself. It was at least 3 cans that spilled.
Finishing with cleaning the spill she takes the cans to the recycle can and places the mop back in the closet.
What do I do now?!
In her mind, only two options circled it: Follow him or Continue working.
On one hand, she could see the truth to the mystery guy and where they even came from. On the other hand, she could resume her boring life and worry about her debt that she’s in.
Looking back on the interior of the store she hears the hum of the flickering lights and the low sounding music in the background. Fuck it, I hope I just don’t regret this.
Decision in mind, Cassie heads to the employee room which had their lockers. Stopping at the almost rusty locket she opens it as it creaks, her belongings on full view: Her backpack and dark burgundy hoodie. Her backpack mostly had her supplies to study such as her laptop, notebooks, and had her rollerblades inside.
She slips her hoodie over on her employee shirt before swinging her backpack on her shoulder. Going into the security room she meets no one. She was used to having almost no one work alongside her except whenever she had to take stock inside.
But she does see the old looking PC that was used in the 1990s, still worked though so it isn’t that bad. The current screen had only 4 of its cameras online that were placed on all four corners of the shop.
Closing their windows and leaving them offline she exits the rooms before coming face to face with the doors of the store. “I’m really doing this huh? Whatever, I can just go to a better job.” she mutters to herself, departing from her workplace.
The cold wind blows across her face making her fix her fabric gloves which hid her scarring on her hands while her hoodie hid her scars on her arms. The only things around the convenience store were the straight roads that entered a local town and the woods nearby.
If the Pest double came here by elevator there could be a chance that he headed there. With some wavering thoughts, she redundantly heads through the pine forest.
Wandering through the woods reminds her of her experience of playing the game. Playing whenever the Two Stud Camp floor came up was hard unless she had her friends along with her. Especially when the new update with collecting sticks now while not trying to get hit by the UFO lasers.
Hopefully that won’t happen, in Colorado of all places. If that happens, she would have to spill the tea to Oliver, who is a huge nerd on theories on the supernatural. But hey, everyone has their quirks.
And if that doesn’t happen, she could just go back home early and contact her boss that some “family emergency” happened.
Yet, it’s been… at least 10 minutes since beginning her trail in the forest. Who could have thought a “fictional” elevator could be hard to find?
I’ll just turn back-
Before finishing her thought the elevator appears in her sights. It was just like the in game one as well. And inside of it, was Pest, resting in the back right side.
Hesitantly she steps towards the interior of the crisp brown walls of the elevator. Approaching him was mentally challenging though as he turned his head towards her with a stern look. He had his hood down which showed off his beetle horns and flowy black hair.
But, in his hand is a bottle of… apple juice?
“Hey, uh… you didn’t pay back there buddy…” she directed to him, trying to put on her finest serious employee voice out to him.
Instead of a welcoming or sorry tone, his mandibles click and he lets out a small hiss from his fangs, “ Is that so? ” He steps into her comfort zone, feeling small from his height.
What the hell does he feed himself?
Cassie, being average height is 5’4 but being intimidated by a possibly… 5’8-5’9 beetle guy, yeah, she's dead as hell.
“Yeah… you kinda need to…” she replies softly, trying to not anger him that much. He immediately scoffs, taking out his hands- clawed hands from his hoodie pockets, “And you need to keep an eye on your shop, no?”
He showed off a small smug smile with sharp teeth and crossed his arms. He was right, semi right. But it was a hella long night and here she is, following this bug guy to an unknown destination. She starts, “I know that but look I-”
“And isn’t that your work.” he cuts her off as she whips her head to the steel elevator doors, which are now closing.
WAIT, NO!
Cassie rushes to the front of the elevator, but misses her chance to exit back to her world. Her sight is just lingering onto the closed sturdy doors.
“Damn it…”