"People go insane in Monotony and yet Monotony, repeating the same action with predictable outcomes is the safest way to guard a human life. A theory discussed often by intellectuals is that People are merely animals driven by the instict to live and all actions a man or women my take is what they think will futher their lifespan. That we are no better than the animals we live with who act in the exact same way. If that theory is to be believed and our purpose is too live and fuck, well then we must be very disturbed species Indeed."
Joe listened to the man talk on the TV. He lay in his tiny apartment listening too a channel that he had no interest in but it wasn't as if he had any more intrest in any other channels. His body simply lay in a strange and peculiar tiredness, it was of a mental sort however the overwhelming workload had seemingly made even the receptors in his muscles far too tired to function.
Despite the exhaustion, he didn't fall asleep and opted to instead just stare aimlessly. Perhaps its because these moments of stillness was the only break he had in his life. Perhaps somewhere deep in his mind he knew that when he fell asleep he would instantly awake and would have to get ready at 6 sharp to make it to work.
Joe's eyes wandred around his room that seemed lived in but if you went just off what was actually in room then it could be mistaken as brand new. There were no decorations or personalisations nor were there any flowers or anything else that hinted torwards another human inhabiting his space. No the apartment was as silent as it was empty.
Joe didn't feel much sadness or anything at all looking at the apartment as this was normal. The hollow feeling in his being was normal and it's not like what is hollow can get any hollower. He looked over to his alarm clock, a mass produced one with it's black coloring and red Leds for its numbers. It was the first thing he had bought moving into a new city for a new serious job. Perhaps if he was young back then, then he would feel giddy but no Joe was already 30 when he moved young by some standards far too old by others. He moved here a decade ago when he had to quit his old job to take care of his parents who had died on a day Joe couldn't even remember anymore. He never liked his Father nor did he particularly like his Mother, he kept up appearances and said the usual words and phrases that society teaches you too say but they were as hollow as Joe.
Joe didn't like thinking of his parents, whenever he did it was if he could feel the shadows and the dark trying to fill that hollow inside of him. "A disgusting and disturbing thought " He mumbled to himslef before deciding that it was time for him to get his rest. How else would get up on time for his work? Without his work he couldn't eat,drink or sleep under a roof. Yes he needed to work very hard so that he could live. If his life didn't exist without his work then wouldn't his work be his life? Such words echoed in his head, empty motivating words but that was enough for him to get too sleep and carry him into the morning.
When he woke up he didn't groan like a child or a old man. He simply glanced at his clock which read 5:30 exactly and rose out of bed, he opened and stared into his dark closet and picked out familiar clothes out of a rack which all looked familiar to each other. He layed the clothes on the bed neatly and went into the bathroom to take a 15min shower. The water was lukewarm enough for him to be sufficiently cold so he would crave the water yet not so cold that he could call the experience unpleasant. He forgot about brushing his teeth and instead put his usual brands of deodorant and such and such before putting on his suit, his hair still moist.
The clock read 6 sharp when he left the house and the world was beginning to brighten in a gradual and not ostentatious sort of way. There was no bright rising sun to signal a new day, no the cloud cover took care of that, now it would be much more subtle. He had no car so he took a walk to the nearest subway, he lived in a residential neighbourhood with dozens of small cramped walkways and roads that only a single car could fit through. The streets seemed lonely and were only made lonelier whenever he would walk close by a house and he could hear or see the bustle inside of a loving family where the father or mother was getting ready too leave for their later jobs with a simle on their faces. Envy would be too strong of a word, Envy implies that Joe thinks he could and deserves to have such a life but there was a truth that the world and Joe both knew. That such a heartless and impassioned man such as Joe does not deserve a family nor does he deserve anything more than what he has received.
Soon he arrived onto the subway platform it was filled with many people of many different walks of life, there were a few that looked like him though . It was easy too spot them out from a crowd despite being dressed just like everyone else and wearing a similar enough expression. Joe read somewhere that the reason people get feelings or vibes from certain people is not anything spiritual but is in fact their mirco-movements small twitches of muscle and joint. Hundreds of small bits of information too insignificant to actively notice but enough to form a terrifying picture in the subconscious. Perhaps people like that family he had heard twitched one way and Joe simply twitched another.
The subway car was cramped and unpleasant, after many minutes his legs were sore but Joe simply hoped they would become numb faster. It was 7:00 when he arrived at his office and when he arrived to where all the cubicles where he noticed that many of his younger and more eager colleagues had arrived much before him. A younger man named Mike called out too Joe as he was sitting down "Hey, Look monthly progress reports are coming up you sure it's good for you too come in at this time? Most of the team has already started working so it'd be great if you could show some initiative man!" Joe knew that the young man before him belonged to a wealth family and that he only lived 10mins away from the office and that the young man's success was practically guaranteed no matter his mistakes. But joe felt no resentment over that. Why should he? His job was merely to work not too have resentment, he was not paid for such a thing so such a thing did not exist. Joe nodded silently got onto his work. It had been a long time since Joe was involved in anything at all important at the company, His boss gave him the busy tasks that Joe completed well enough while the rest of the team got too do everything else.
He finished his work quickly and just as quickly found he had nothing to do. With no tasks set for him he merely started out into the merky sky. The sun would occasionally glimer through the clouds to everyone else's delight but Joe found it quite annoying as it would hurt his eyes and forced him out of his trance. His shared working space was on the fourth floor so sometimes he would stare at people below not concocting any stories or anything of the sort just keeping his eyes trained on them as a way too wast time before he was given more menial tasks. The clock hit 8pm and he was allowed to go. He left on time and didn't waste a single second with anything else, ignoring his colleagues who went out for drinks after.
Luckily his office was close to the subway station so he got on and out quickly enough and soon arrived back too his station. It was dark as he got off and the light from the subway station made the darkness fall like a curtain. But this was all ordinary for Joe in fact it could be said that this day has been his day for the last thousand days. When leaving the station he walked with a crowd of fellow workers like him that are responsible for earning livelihoods for not just themselves but more than likely their families.
With each possible turn the group split more and more until it was just Joe and a man walking ahead of him. The steet was small and the occasional lamppost only made the darkness much worse in fact he could barely see the man infront of him. He could only see his shoulders, strong shoulders clearly a person who worked out. The streets in his neighbourhood were arranged in a almost endless sort of square gird shape. So it was quite a miracle that Joe and the man infront were heading the same direction. Of course Joe would not strike up a conversation in fact, besides noting the curiosity he never had any other thoughts about the man. That was until directly ahead infront of him as far as the eye could see all the lamposts went out as if someone flipped the light switch.
The lampposts too the left and the right worked fine but directly forward and backword it was pitch black. He could no longer see the man infront of him. Due to how the streets were arranged the lampposts to the left and right were actually quite a distance away from where he was so relying on their light was useless. Joe was not phased he merely needed to keep walking forward and so he did. The road was straight and paved so he did not worry about tripping or any other unfortunate accidents.
As he advanced he suddenly stumbled into the back of the man ahead of him. Disgruntled and already drained from his day Joe looked up at the man to find a sight that froze him. The upper portion of the man's head was contorted and twisted into a spiral spear pointing high. His flesh and bone formed the repeating pattern of the shape as Blood leaked out from the edges creating a loud spilling sound soaking Joe's shoes. The new sensation snapped Joe out of it as he stepped fearfully backwords.
The cracked and old ground cuased him to fall and trip. Almost out of habit he looked torwards the floor and found it too be worn down imeansly with roots and other vegetation growing out of it far unlike the clean and well maintained road he was walking on a few seconds ago.
The darkness around him seemd to form into a think fog around cuasing his limited vision to decrease even futher. It was too the point that someone could've been holding their hands over his eyes and the only way he could tell was by his other senses. "This won't do at all, it's clear this man has been in some horrible car accident" It was a nonsensical conclusion. Cars rarely travel on these streets and even if they did, they moved so slowly that a contortion like that would have been impossible.
Joe was not a man of faith nor any beliefs really. Yet he had a very bad feeling about his current location. It was a fear that made the acid in his stomach bubble and his glands to leak along with his eyes too jitter. He got up as fast as he could and rushed to the sides where the nearest light source he could renember was located. He moved a step he could hear somthing else near him.
It was an odd sound like a wet bread loaf being dropped onto the floor. He kept walking as he figured that auditory hallucinations were the most common of all hallucinations and in such a high stress environment it only made sense he would experience such phenomenon.
He took another step forward closer too where the nearest lampost should be but in reality he was merely stumbling aimlessly. Suddenly a voice came out of the darkness "Are you scared" The voice was so soft, unnaturally soft a sound thst made him question whether human vocal chords could make such a sound that was like cotton being shoved down his ears. "No I am not scared as this man needs help and I am going to get it" Another squelch was heard. "Who do you wish to kill?" The question confused Joe.
Who would he ever want to kill? Joe considered himself an upstanding citzen to ask such a rude thing was unheard of. "No one, Murder is wrong and evil and I'll have you know I am far too busy to deal with your tricks" Joe huffed and continued walking forward as the squelching sound now rang out so close behind his ear. Joe didn't move.
The voice was so close and so soft it felt like the cotton was being shoved so deep into his cannal that it reached the deepest part of his brain. "Nonsense Murder is the most natural thing that could happen, You kill too eat, you kill to wash your hands and you will kill too save your life, There is nothing more natural and normal than Murder so I ask you again who would you kill" Such words made sense to Joe " I suppose Murder isnt so bad when you put it that way....Well I would kill the first man I see, all lifes have equal value after all "
The entity laughed or what seemed like a laugh. It caressed his body, it limbs resembled hands but were bumpy and rough like sandpaper. It pat down joe like it was looking for weapons with its unnaturally large limbs before a sharp pain hit his ear. Joe was still in complete darkness as he didnt struggle and let the being do what it wanted. Hot liquid flowed down his ear and the being said "You're hurt, what a shame that is" It let go and the darkness seemed to recced. His eyes adapted and he saw the man ahead of him laying on the floor in a pool of his own blood. His head was still twisted into that beautiful and almost artstic shape. In fact Joe couldn't help himself but admire it for a second before quickly reaching into his pocket to call an ambulance to his location.