The stranger ate a handful of chips before he finished his sentence. "My parents hate me, and my best friend is the reason I died."
"What? That's the worst man," Matt said as he tried to casually bend down to pick up his phone and call the police.
"Yeah, he screwed me over on my last job."
"Your last job?"
"Yeah, I used to rob liquor stores."
Oh my God. This is how I die, getting robbed and killed by this freak working this crappy job with a prick who takes too long to get tacos!
While this thought was going through his head, Matt slowly straightened back. Mere inches away from his phone, he opened up the cash register and took out all the money and shoved it towards the stranger.
"Dude, don't hurt me, just take the money and leave."
The stranger just stared at the money lying on the counter.
"No thanks, you can keep that," he said as he pushed the money back toward Matt. "There is something else you can do for me."
He showed Matt his left forearm. It had a fire symbol with horns and a tail. It could've been a trick of the light, but it looked like it was glowing.
"That's a cool tattoo, you can leave now." Matt's voice cracked as he said that, and he did not care in the slightest. He did not want to die in a dingy gas station, wearing a wrinkled uniform shirt, underwear, and socks that had holes in them.
"It's not a tattoo," the man explained while ignoring Matt's plea. "It's a mark from Hell."
"I don't care, get out now!"
The man just continued on like Matt hadn't just screamed at him. "You get one whenever you leave Hell."
Matt decided to risk it and bent down to pick up his phone. When he picked it up, he began to dial 9-1-1.
"The problem is, I have to get rid of mine. That's where you come in."
As Matt was about to hit the dial, the strange man reached out and grabbed his arm.
"Let go of me!"
Matt struggled against the man's iron grip. While he held Matt's arm, he started chanting in a strange language, and Matt's arm started to burn. A minute passed before the man finally released him, causing him to fall on his back. While on the floor, Matt reached for a can of bug spray under the counter and got back up. He pointed it directly at the stranger. His arm didn't burn anymore, but it was still warm. He gave a quick glance at his arm.
It had the exact same symbol on it as the guy had on his hand. Matt looked at the man's left hand, it was blank.
"That's it, I'm done with this! Get out before I spray you in the face and crack you across the nose!" Matt shouted this as he quickly backed away from the counter. He tried to get as much distance between himself and the immediate threat. All the man offered in response was a blank stare and silence.
"Dude, just go! Why are you still he-.” The smell hit him immediately. It was the smoke smell from earlier, but stronger.
"I couldn't leave until it showed up."
Matt didn't see what was behind him, only two inhumanly large hands as they grabbed the front of his face. They were black and charred looking. Matt didn't even have a chance to scream as he got pulled into a hole that had formed in the floor. A few flames flew out as it closed up. The stranger picked up the last of his snacks and left, disappearing into the night.
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