My Horror Stories:

Fastville:

Harry Jones jumped out of bed and ran into the shower, he switched the water on, squeezed a glob of shampoo into his dark Raven hair and started to take a shower. After three minutes he had already finished and was getting out, he lived in a world where time moved very fast and if you didn't keep up with it you would end up dying.
He went back into his bedroom and quickly got dressed into his uniform, a White shirt, Black tie and Black pants, he was an assistant manager at a 5-star Italian restaurant called Lè Perlia where he had been hired to work when he was fourteen years old, in Fastville people found jobs at the age of fourteen, you were expected to balance school, life and a job all at the same time, unemployment was completely unacceptable and was punished by death. Everyone in the city had a job even the elderly who were ill and frail, if you couldn't go outside to work you had to work at home, but as long as you did something or else the Time Management Group would come and "punish you."
The Time Management Group was a group of people who controlled the laws inside the dimension, there were no police officers or any politicians, leaders as such or even a corrupt government who ruled the country. The Time Management Group of TMG as everyone called them for short decided what would happen to somebody who did not obey the rules and wasn't "fast" enough. Everybody feared them because they were brutal and most of the time could be downright savage.
In Fastville being slow was a crime, it was dangerous and could be compared to sin for those who were religious because slowness caused accidents and death here, it was the total opposite of Earth and it would only get worse.
Harry hurried into the kitchen and poured himself a bowl of cereal, he quickly chewed it down, he reached into the fridge and poured himself a small glass of apple juice and finished that in just three sips. He got up from the table, shoved his cellphone into his trouser pocket and slipped his feet into his Black Italian loafers. It was his good pair of shoes that he wore for work, special occasions and on night outs if he was going to be seen somewhere, a man had to look his part in this judgemental World.
Harry closed the door to this house and locked it with the Golden key that he had been given. He climbed down the hundreds of steps that led onto the floor so he could walk to work, he didn't live that far from Lè Perlia. He looked up at his house, it was located on a tall hill with dark storm clouds looming by in the sky, his house almost looked as if it was floating.
He didn't have enough time to stand around though as he had to start his shift earlier than his coworkers since he was the assistant manager, after all, he couldn't waste even one minute for he know how dangerous wasting time could be in Fastville.
He ran to Lè Perlia and unlocked the door with his ID Badge that he had, only the manager along with his coworkers had access to open and unlock doors in the entire restaurant nobody else could do that for obvious safety reasons. He entered the restaurant, he could smell the scent of steamed shrimp that had been cooked the previous night with butter glazed inside it. The food was delicious high-quality meals and the customers always enjoyed it that's all that mattered to him was making money and being able to keep up in this World.
It was a very competitive World and all of the restaurants, cafes and shops were competing to see who was the fastest and could satisfy the customers more.
The morning went by quietly and hardly any customers came in, these types of restaurants were more popular during lunch and evening hours and as the clock on his wristwatch struck noon the lunch hour rush began. Harry got off the seat he was seated on in the back room where the workers rested and headed over to be at the front of the restaurant so if there were any issues he could step in and manage them.
Everything was going fine when suddenly customers started to choke on their food, their faces turned a pale shade of Grey as fell to the floor and stopped moving. At first, Harry thought they were having a medical issue but he had no idea about the real reason they were dying. He ran into the back room to find his manager lighting a cigarette.
"Harry," his manager Sanderson greeted him. He was a middle-aged man in his late forties with dark hair, wide-set Brown eyes, a long nose and tanned skin. Harry had always thought he looked a bit like Al Pacino.
"There's a problem up front," Harry blurred out wasting no time in explaining what he had seen.
"Okay let's sort it out!" Sanderson said blowing his cigarette out, he threw it in the bin before walking out with Harry. They quickly walked over to the front of the restaurant to find more people had died, even new customers who hadn't even ordered yet had also died.
"What's going on?" Harry asked in utter disbelief at the sight surrounding him. "Why are they all dying for?"
"No idea," Sanderson said shoving a finger inside his long nose to rid an itch. "We will have to call the TMG to investigate, in the meantime we will have to close up as we can't afford to lose any more customers. It's just not good for business you know?"
Harry nodded. Sanderson was the type of person who cared about money first and even during this strange situation that had struck them there was still only one thing that was on his mind - money.
"Okay," Harry agreed. He went over to the door and flipped the OPEN sign onto its opposite so that it read CLOSED then he went into the back room and logged onto a spare laptop so that he could write an official message on the website to let people know that the restaurant was closed so that nobody else would enter and die. After everything had been taken care of, his manager Sanderson had left to go home, Harry locked the restaurant after him and walked home.
Harry has been walking for a while and was about to climb the steps to go up his house when he saw a man who was six feet tall clad in a Black hoodie, clothed all in Black standing outside the door, it seemed like he had been there for a while, he was tall, his face covered with a Black face mask on his eyes he wore thick sunglasses, he looked like a thief or even a thug and this bothered Harry because he couldn't afford to lose time dealing with whatever the man wanted.
Harry ran up the steps to the man who turned around to notice him, he squared his shoulders and tried to make himself appear stronger to intimidate the man but it didn't work and the hooded stranger didn't care at all, it was as if he knew that nothing could happen to him.
"Do I know you?" Harry asked walking over to the hooded man.
The man shook his head.
"Why are you standing outside my house then?" Harry asked him eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"You know why," the man responded in a gruff voice after a while.
"No, I don't." Harry shook his head.
The hooded man tilted his head to the side. "Those people who died."
"What people?"
"The ones in Lè Perlia," the man answered him.
"How do you know where I work?" Harry was astounded.
"We know where everybody works," the man replied. "We got the whole of Fastville's records."
"How's that possible?" Harry asked failing to understand.
"Everything is possible."
"What do you mean?"
"Invite me in and I'll let you know."
Harry sighed and pulled his key out of his pocket and unlocked the door, he didn't usually invite strangers into his house but for some reason, he believed what this man was saying and wanted to find out more. The man silently entered after him and closed the door behind him.
Harry slid his shoes off and walked into the sitting room, he didn't bother to offer the stranger any refreshments or food because he knew that it wasn't the right time and he was not a guest either so it felt crazy to do that.
The man took his Black combat boots off and followed Harry into the sitting room, Harry sat down on a leather armchair, and the man sat down on a sofa across from him. He slid his hoodie and sunglasses off so that Harry could see his eyes and hair, though the mask remained on his mouth.
Harry saw that the man had Dark Brown coloured hair and sharp piercing Black eyes, it looked as if they had murderous intent. Harry felt scared inside but didn't show any sign of it, he didn't want to let a stranger intimidate him inside his own house so he remained mutual.
"So why are you here?" Harry asked him.
The man stared at him with cold eyes, Harry found it hard to tell what he was thinking or feeling, it was as if he had no emotions at all. Harry found it uncomfortable and strange, he wasn't used to being around people who were so emotionally suppressed. It looked as if the man had gone through something traumatic in life and he found himself almost feeling sorry for him as much as he hated a stranger having power over him, especially in his own house as well.
"Pay attention and I will get straight to the point." The man slammed his fist onto the table making Harry jump a little in fear over the sudden noise.