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1I work full time at a shitty gas station which is open 24/7 on the outskirt of a desolate highway in Arizona. If you had the unfortunate fate of entering inside, you’d be greeted by rows of canned foods, knock off brands, packets of chips, cookies and boxes of cereal, all mysteriously devoid of expiry dates and nutritional information, seated on stacked shelves riddled with marks and stains. The floor is, to simply put it, an ice rink of grease, topped off potholes next to some half functioning street fighter 2 arcade machine to the slush station at the back, which we never get to refilling or cleaning. A faded out caution sign is placed over the gaping crack, which now resembles a ditch of some sorts, it’s basically a collection of rot and muck, you wouldn’t want to step in it that’s for sure. The toilets are revolting, you’d think the sewers were below, judging from the smell that would assault you as you enter in. A rusty vent system lies above next to the flickering light in the mens, but the women's toilet is surprisingly clean, even spotless if you’re being generous.
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3 And to top all of this off, our managers typically resign after a month or so from their positions. This, is because of some weird, disturbing events which I and everyone else, find impossible to explain or even comprehend. Our last manager, Bill Mitchel didn’t even resign, oh no, he was abducted by aliens when he worked alone one night, true story. If you’re wondering, I work at the front, and serve customers, deal with the cash and also help with some marketing, cleaning, stacking… to brag is an understatement, I practically am the manager of the station when one isn’t around. Then we have the store assistant, Michael, a rather chill and mellow dude, 5ft7 and has a light stubble. Matt, our new manager who to put it bluntly is an asshole, and constantly holds a gun at my head demanding night shift, or my ass is grass. And finally we have Trey, who is just an all rounder. He takes my position when I’m not in, other than that, he is just… how do I say it, a complete and utter fuckup who never does his job and just sits on his phone when he has the chance.
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5About the weird shit that goes on here, thing is, is that we have the evidence on our CCTV cameras, but whenever we would show anyone, they’d either claim bullshit or for publicity, you know, a haunted gas station in the middle of some shitty desert. As you could probably tell, we don’t get many customers, which by itself isn’t exactly true. We have a fair share of regulars, such as John Goodman, we call him “Big Joe” as he is part of a motorbike club, not Hells Angels or anything, but more of a bike touring club for bike enthusiasts. Anyways, he and his gang usually pop in once or twice a week to fill up gas. Big Joe gets his name from how fucking fat he is, his slicked back greasy hair and leather jacket that barely fits around him, sometimes he even wears goggles which makes him look like a cutaway from Mad Max Fury Road, he looks ridiculous, but he’s a nice guy.
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7Then we have Nutty Dread, we just call him that because we don’t even know his name. He’s basically a Jamaican crackhead, who’s missing more teeth than a Venezuelan prostitute, and he reeks of weed and  budget liquor. He wears a large reggae hat, and a faded out Jimi Hendrix shirt which is ripped around the sleeves, and some hobo trousers. On some occasions, he brings a large beatbox on his back which blasts reggae music. We have warned him many times that we only serve customers who wear shoes, but he hasn’t listened and we serve him anyways. He’d always say “wagwan” or “bombaclat” when he’d enter the station. Now unlike Joe, Nutty Dread doesn’t park to the station… he walks here and back for miles, hence his nickname. As far as we’re concerned, he’s a homeless nuisance who squats around my hometown of Bakely, I’d usually see him rummaging through trash cans and smoking weed, and whenever he’d see me he’d greet me by saying “wagwan brott’a” and then go along his way.
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9We have some other regulars, like Tony, a stereotypical Italian who fills his gas here because of his discount card, John bennet and a few others who usually come here to, you guessed it, fill gas and buy some snacks for the road… and that’s about it. We rarely get strangers who pop in once only to never come in again, we call them “getaways”, because it’s as if they just vanish after they leave. From my 4 years working at the station, we have only been robbed twice, both times ending with no violent outcomes, apart from the arcade machine which was smashed to pieces by two guys wearing clown masks to get some coins out. They only retrieved 7 cents, and 12 dollars from the till. They drove away after they realised there was nothing of value at the time, and when they entered the toilet, more on that coming up...
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11If you needed to go to the toilet, there was a high chance you’d see the bathroom cowboy. An engraving of myth and legend around these parts, some say they’d witness the weirdest sights of their life. We’ve managed to catch glimpses of a man wearing a cowboy outfit, entering the bathroom, and never leaving. What solidifies this as urban legend, is what people claim to witness inside the mens bathroom. We are left to take their word, as the cameras in the toilet were destroyed by some cultists, I’ll get to that later, anyways people who went in their reported to our staff to see… very weird events. One account, from a guy who had to take a shit went in the bathroom to see a man wearing nothing but a cowboy hat, boxers and boots with spurs, sitting on the toilet singing country music. 
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13Another of the more bizarre reports, was that one man entered only to see a man dressed in full cowboy attire, morph through the wall like a portal, and whispered “howdy partner” which echoed through the ventilation system… The validity of these claims, are very true to my ears, that is because of what I myself have witnessed. A few weeks back, I was cleaning the toilets because of an accident with an obese man who suffered from diarrhea, and when I glanced at the grimy and cracked mirror, I saw the glimpse of what appeared to be a man wearing nothing more than cowskin pants and a cowboy hat. When I turned around, he tipped his hat and said “howdy partner, get it all cleaned up now… take it easy”, smiled, and tipped his hat once more, and then swiveled down the toilet. Immediately, I went to check the toilet, only to see shit floating in piss filled water, when I left, I heard the pipes rattle… “take it easy partner, take it all easy now” a voice murmured, it came through the pipes.
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15The cowboy himself, only ever appears to show up at around 4 to 9PM, and is never seen in the ladies bathroom. He’s haunted the place, depending on how you look at it, for around 9 years. Old workers claim they saw the bathroom cowboy duel wielding revolvers half naked, and tipping his hat to them, as well as seeing a naked man with a poncho plunging the toilet. He’s never harmed anyone, or caused any trouble or anything, in fact on some occasions, the toilet would be messy one night but spotless the next day! But one thing for sure, you’d come out that toilet a different person, purely because of what you’d see. No camera or soul, has ever seen the cowboy outside of the gas station, or leave the gas station. He just vanishes inside the toilet. Some people have told me personally, that when they were to enter the toilet, they’d hear a man mentioning something about a ranch and ram or something, only to be greeted by a half naked cowboy fixing up a stone axe, with an old timey grind stone and all, all traces of the descriptions weren’t found. If you come in the store to use the phone, then I’m afraid to say that cell phone service is next to nothing. If you’re coming in for something other than gas and food, then we’ve resorted trying to selling magazines, which unfortunately, has collected more dust than an ashtray… then again, I don’t think anyone is interested in reading about communism and the validity of white privilege.
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17Want a slushie? The machine is said to be cursed, so if you’re looking to have a nice refreshing, icy beverage, then you better be a gardener, because you’d need to grow some balls to take the risk. The only slushes available are raspberry and kiwi, which is filled by me now and then. If it aint, then tough shit, Michael would fill it by next week or so. The slush machine itself, appears to look as if it was made in the early 60’s or late 50’s. It’s rusty as shit, and only accepts coins, it says “Mister Freeze slushies!” in bold green lettering on the base of the machine. Legend says, that if you were to drink a slushie from the machine, you would die a horrible fate within a month… but if you were to survive, you would receive a letter from Mister Freeze himself, congratulating the victim for surviving. If the victim was to then check their bank account, they would see that $132.69 was deposited by a “Mister Freeze, of the Ice kingdom”. 3 years ago, a teenage couple bought and consumed a slushie, they were then found mutilated on the side of the road a few miles away, there was no trace of their car. It was deemed by the authorities as an accident. Moving on from that, the arcade machine works half the time, don’t expect a refund if your game crashes.
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19Need to use the phone? Tough shit, the phone here doesn’t even work… but if you do need to use the phone for urgent reasons, I’d suggest you walk down the highway for another two miles or so, but whatever you do, don’t go over the mountain or cross the desert, or go near the abandoned blockbuster building next to the an old gas stop some more miles down, you will get reception there. Oh yeah, and if you’re coming in late to fill some gas, it’s advised not to talk to the man in the trench coat outside, okay? You’ll notice him easily, very tall, around 7 foot, his arms reach to the pavement below and uh, he also wears a black sombrero which covers his face. Yeah, we have a lot of weird stuff going on around here, a few ghosts here a few demons there, we have the full package. Oh! And another thing, if you’re ever driving down the highway and see a hitch hiker wearing all blue, do not pick him up, legend says… after the Blockbuster shop went bankrupt, one of the old workers couldn’t find another job, and resorted to desperate measures in order to sell rentable movies. Rumors say, that a man in all blue, would chase people relentlessly, screaming about rental discounts, even going as far to try and grab onto the doors of passing cars… But the craziest account I’ve heard, was of the man luring a lost elderly couple into the abandoned store, only for them to return seven months later. One of the old ladies said, they survived on mouldy popcorn, they weren’t held hostage or anything, but from what the man recounted, was that one of the ladies said “His speech held me captive, his charisma was like nothing I’ve seen before”, but as for the reasons why there’d even be a lost elderly couple in the middle of a desert, your guess is as good as mine.
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21But, if you haven’t gathered already, the point I’m trying to get across is that very strange shit happens here, all the time. It makes me crazy, because half the time I cannot decide whether the people who enter are even human or not. Hell, the amount of screaming people I see busting in the store screaming about shrunken head and shaking bones, and a cult chasing them with speers and rocks, is as common as the UFO sightings seen around the area. In the night, the sky is a bliss, uncountable mesh of stars and galaxies… until a flashing disk swoops around and lands in the desert. Every time this happens, the next day is followed by these events in order. A man or woman, wearing tattered clothing will enter the station, stand next to the counter and stare into your soul, for five minutes in complete silence, devoid of motion and emotion and then, they would leave, walking aimlessly into the desert. The stations walls are filled to the brim with missing persons posters, god knows what happened to them.
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23If I had to make a choice, I’d get the fuck out of there, but it's impossible, academic and financially wise that is, I’m stuck in Bakely and this shitty gas station, it’s alright work, if you know the do’s and don'ts for your own survival and fate in the after life then you’ll be fine. Abnormalities have become the normality for me, I’ve seen at least three grey aliens wandering inside the store, gripping tightly to metallic dildos and blasters, and an old man who hides in a shrub opposite the road with a caravan parked on the sand, taking pictures of the station and popping in once a month, claiming how he is being chased by “glow in the dark CIA niggers” I am lost for words of some of the things I see, but at least when I’m scared shitless and need to take a piss alone because of the trenchcoat man outside, the bathroom cowboy would be by my side, though it does get awkward that there is no toilet doors, and a half naked man is in front of me, looking at my “below”... I should ask the boss to fix that. 
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25Given the circumstances, I’d tell everyone about this outside of the area, they’d call me insane. I mean, wouldn’t you? If I were to tell you that a table with human legs, yes a table with walking legs, would come in the gas station and attack me and the customers? Of course, sadly, the footage of that event was mysteriously corrupted, after one of our interns was caught smashing some tapes in the name of Galileo, Galileo you may be wondering? There lives a cult in the woods over the mountains called Galileo, who frequently entered the station to purchase bleach. They didn’t like me calling their religion a cult, or saying that their beliefs were stupid, but they were some of our most loyal customer . The amount of bleach they purchased was enough to gas a camp, no pun intended, however we stopped serving them bleach after the cults beliefs were understood. One of their members, let's call him Ricky, would often walk in. He’d always wear these tatty robes, and had meth head hair, all jagged and disgusting and that. “Kifflom brother brother” he would hick, performing this weird hand gesture, like that of a nazi salute.
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27“Brother brother, may I interest you in a new religion” he didn’t like me when I corrected the world religion to cult. His way of speaking peaked my curiosity, and so I decided to ask him what his cult stood for and all that shit. “Oh brother brother, do you not see the suffering of those around you? And do you see the happiness? The world sees the increase of happiness as its priority, but the world, brother brother, does not understand that happiness is only temporary, and suffering is eternal!” He’d ramble, I’ve never personally seen the cult do anything hostile, and their belief was more hipster like than lets say, Jim Jones or erm, let's commit suicide with Nike shoes to please aliens or something like that, you know. Anyways, the guy continues to explain… “You see brother, with misery, it is impossible to achieve happiness, because brother brother kifflom, after happiness is deteriorated from a kifflom, misery will ensue. If the world focuses on eliminating misery, there would not be anything to affect happiness” keep in mind, the man did not explain how misery could be eliminated, which led to me calling him stupid. He did not like me calling him stupid. He then explained that for happiness to be achieved, humanity must be killed, for a fresh restart to occur in their way of thinking, and that is why they are making a bomb in the woods to blow up the earth.
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29AZ Gas and co has ordered me to stop serving them bleach, as they are making a bomb in the woods to blow up the earth. We at AZ Gas and co are extremely inclined to satisfy our customers, by providing them with respectable service and affordable pricing, however, a new change to policy has now stated, that the detrimental effort to protect humanity is now our utmost responsibility and concern, hence why we have now refused to sell them bleach, because they are a cult who are making a bomb, yes an actual bomb, in the woods, that can blow up the earth. The loss of our most loyal customers, has negatively affected our revenue stream, but has benefitted massively to the survival, and progress of the human race. However, the cult has tried to bypass these regulation changes, by entering in disguises of women, but yet their beards forbid me to interpret that they are so. 
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31With all this shit going on, I am still trying to find out what the most weirdest, absurd thing I’ve witnessed was… though I’ll never find a number one. It’s my lunch break now, and a man in a trench coat is standing outside, and his arms are touching the floor below. He looks like he needs help, but we are forbidden to do so, as our last employee who tried to help the man, was then snatched by him, and the man in the trench coat sprinted into the forest with him. We have never seen the employee since, but his missing persons poster is now rotting on the wall with the others… I’m gonna go take a piss, I’ll tell you guys what happens next time.
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33Okay so I’ve just gotten back from the toilet, and there was no sight of the bathroom cowboy. After cleaning myself up, I exit and continue the night shift, which was pretty much an eternal lunch break. I was lucky enough to get a signal, so I watched some youtube on my phone at the counter, ocasionally glimpsing outside only to see the trench coat man static… But as the videos buffered, I began to notice outside the virtual world what was taking place in the real one. Every time I looked away from the glow of my screen, the man was standing outside like a statue, only he got closer each time I looked out. His face was concealed by the darkness, and his sombrero rattled to the gusts of the desert wind, then the lights went out, and darkness consumed me.
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35My nerves melted, and my heart pounded heavy. The light came on, and went back off, making a crackling noise and singing electrical hums. Adrenaline flooded my system, as the man came closer and closer, and closer and closer until… he was nowhere to be seen. I stood still, my body a holding cell from the rush of thoughts and the beating of my stomach… I stood there for a good 3 minutes or so, staring attentively to the pumps outside, begging to see the man. For all I know, he could be anywhere, and that was when I froze. I couldn’t see him, but what if he, it, could see me… feel me. I had lost control of my body like a car on the dirt, until I felt a warm, musky breath brush across my neck… It was behind me.
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37Without hesitation, I bolted for the door, smashing the doors open. I dashed to my car, my heart jolting like a corpse to electricity, I was out of breath by the time I sat in the seat, I pushed the gas and got the fuck out of there in an instant, I looked in the mirror to make out what seemed to be a man, standing still, watching me leave on the spot. I made it home without any trouble, though I swear I was being followed by the thing, I called in sick the next day, Michael took over and reported not seeing the man outside for his night shift...