Pencils and Pens

The particular Thursday

I decided to go to work. I couldn't stall any longer. I'd run out of excuses to tell my boss, Jared. All I'd drawn was a simple landscape and, painted a night sky. Would he be satisfied? Would that be enough? I had no time to ponder the thought, I was already late. I woke up three minutes later than I usually do. To my boss, that makes a huge difference. I rushed along with everything. Right when I was fumbling with my tie, I almost strangled myself. A memory shot straight through my head. We had two new employees. I had forgotten their names right off the bat. Why was today beginning so horribly? I struggled to hold my art and, my bag all at once. At that point, I stared at my desk. Directly at an item, specifically a writing utensil. Yes, I was staring at a pencil. After all that's happened, how could I not? The voices I'd been hearing, those strange men at the store. What's going on??  I decided I was being paranoid and, took the pencil. Taking all of my belongings, I burst through the door. I ran down the hallways, down the stairs, and onto the street.

As I reached the building, I slowed down. I walked in, taking deep breaths. There, I saw the guys from the store. Except there were five last time, now there were two. I whispered to myself, "Oh my god..no..are they--". I was interrupted by my boss as he said, loudly, " Chris! John! I see you've met Edward! And Edward, these are the twins!". Their voices were weird, creepy even. They sounded a bit shrill, and robotic. What was stranger, was that they spoke at the same time. " Hello, Eddie." They said together. I was a bit frightened. "Um..just, Edward, please."  They spoke again, "Our apologizes, Edward.".  I could feel my face getting hot. I was embarrassed. Though they frightened me, I could feel their eyes burning into mine. "Edward, why don't you show these two around?" My boss chimed in. I blinked, feeling my eyes losing liquid. "Y-yeah, yeah.".

After showing them three rooms, we were at the last one. My boss was out of sight at then, I'd turned in my art. Suddenly, one of them had shoved me at my side with his elbow. "We know who you are." The twins spoke. "We saw you at the store, you're pathetic! You think you can run from us, sick with your social disease!?" They shrieked. At that moment, they pushed me to the wall and punched me dead in the face. Being weak, I fell instantly. They kept hitting me. Chris stomped on me while, John kicked me in the guts. When they saw Jared's shoe taking a step, they were satisfied with what they'd done. "See you from now on." They chuckled.

I stumbled into the restrooms. I saw my bloody nose and, my blunt red cheek. I started cleaning up the blood as soon as I could. I hated when the blood reached  my lips. As I cleaned up, I wondered why. Why did they do that? Why did they chase me down? Did they chase me down? What were they talking abou-- "Hey!"
"GyaaAAAAH!" I screamed. Another voice, great. "Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!" It said. It sounded sweet and, calm. I took out the pencil from my pocket. I stared at it for a while. "Speak.." I said melancholy. "Oh, okay! Well I was going to say, you can't just let them beat you like that! Stand up for yourself! Tell your boss!" It said confidently, " Just do something about it! ". I eyed the pencil. "How was I supposed to do that!?" I shouted. The pencil winced. At that point, I didn't know what to do. I was upset and, confused. "I have.. A question.." I blurted. I tried not to say anything but, to my surprise I got a response.

"What is it?" The pencil asked. "How do you.. Talk?" I question. " Well, 'Eddie'" He began, "There's more of us, and we, pencils and pens, have been cursed by an evil sorcerer and forced upon you!". I was worried at that point. Like I wasn't worried enough. I choked out, "Really?". He giggled and said, " No! Hahaha! I'm messing with you! We could always speak! We just keep our voices hidden!" He chuckled, "We chose you with our secret!". I was silent, and let out a worrisome, " Oh..". So that's what they were talking about. That's why they chased me down. That's why they're watching me.

At home, I put the pencil away, or to 'bed' as he says. I didn't eat again, I was anxious. I just showered and went to bed. Like other times.. Except.. Not.