31,042,800 seconds since I last smiled.

Piles of paperwork disappeared as the hands of the clock crawled in circles, circles, circles. Grey surrounded me, whether it was the walls of my cubicle, my desk, or the faces of my coworkers, and when I stood up to leave, no one so much as even batted an eye. In ninety-seven seconds, I was outside, and in three hundred and forty-two seconds, I was buying my groceries. Today was a Friday so I had a batch of bananas, a twelve pack of soda, a box of cereal, four individual packages of ramen noodles, and a dozen sushi rolls. Five people stood in front of me in line, one more than last week, and when it reached my turn, the cashier greeted me with his usual, cheerless smile.

“Fancy seeing you here again.” He slid my items across the scanner. “How’s office life?”

“Same as any mindless dribble.” I swiped my credit card and swiped it again before the scanner even asked for another try. Every day since I’d turned twenty, my card was denied on the first try but never the second.

“I can always count on you to brighten my day.” The cashier, Bob, sighed as he often did when I answered him. “Anything new for the weekend?”

“Yes, but it won’t make any difference.” Whether it was skydiving, watching TV, going out to bars, or skiing, I always left with the same inner void plaguing me now.

“Well, here’s something that might spice things up. We got a new manager here, and between us guys, I don’t think she likes me.” He didn’t seem particularly concerned. Maybe he also felt empty about his job. “Who knows, maybe next Friday, I won’t be here anymore.”

“I’ll miss you, then.” Hollow words. No matter how different the next cashier would be from Bob, sooner or later, he and I would fall into the same repetitive patterns. “Here’s hoping, you’re around for a lot longer.”

“I’ll drink to that tonight.” He handed me the grocery bags, and I walked out of the store. The sun was beginning to descend behind the tall, monotonous buildings, and the chatter on the streets slowly grew louder. I didn’t wait for the noise to become irritating and made my way back to my apartment. On the way, I passed three shoe stores, two hotels, one parking garage, twenty office buildings, and finally, a clothes store.

“Yo, my friend. You looking for someplace to spend?” My trek was brought to a sudden halt as a man with an advertising sign around his body approached me.

“I am not.”

“Why so distraught? This offer’s hot, hot, hot.”

“I sincerely doubt that.” I skimmed his sign and saw that he was advertising some sort of trip out of the country. “Look, I get you’re paid to advertise, but I’m not interested.”

“Get that stubbornness out of your head. You haven’t even heard what I have to… said.”

“Do you have to rhyme?” Although irritating, this was the first occurrence of the week that I had not anticipated.

“No, but if I’m to make it big time, this is going to be the crime.”

“Give up on it.” Dreams, especially boring dreams always led to emptiness. Deceiving yourself into believing that anything in this world could hold excitement would only leave you disappointed.

“I’m afraid I can’t quit because, if you rest, you can’t become the best.”

“This is stupid. Good luck with your career but leave me alone.” I shook my head, but before I could shuffle past him, two men shouldered their way through us. The first was my height with a red dragon tattoo over the right side of his face. The other was short and stocky with a black top hat balanced on top of his round, puffy head. Both were dressed in sharp, black trench coats, and the first one’s expression suggested they were not in the mood to be stopped. Nevertheless, when they brushed past us, the salesman shot an advertisement in their direction.

“What’s up gentlemen? Looking for a place to spend the weekend?”

“Head my advice and stay quiet.” The short stocky one cautioned. “We’re not in the mood for your games.”

“Even if it gives you fortune or fame. I swear, after this, you’ll never be the same.”

“Go away.” The one with a dragon tattoo shot a murderous stare at us, and at that moment, I realized I’d instinctively stopped to watch the interaction. How strange.

“Don’t be on your way. You haven’t even heard what I have to say.”

“And we don’t care.”

“Well that’s not very fair. You two are practically the perfect pair.”

“Chump, we are not in the mood.”

“I see. I shouldn’t have been so rude. May I suggest a place where we can discuss this over some food?” As soon as the last word left his mouth, the dragon tattoo man lurched towards him and curled a hand around his wrist.

“One more rhyme and I’ll blow off your hand. Do you understand?” Veins wormed their way up his neck. “Great, now I’m…”

“Bud, calm down. It’s just some stupid chump.” The stocky one shot a warning glance at his companion.

“Yeah, yeah, calm down.” Sweat rolled down the salesman’s neck as he probably just now realized how he misread the situation. Unfortunately, the ability to rhyme seemed to be engrained in his system. “I was just joking around.”

A vicious fire flashed inside the tattooed man’s eyes, and suddenly, an explosion erupted from his hand. Blood splattered on the ground along with the salesman’s severed hand. For a moment, the deafening sound drowned the noise of Philadelphia and then all eyes turned to us.

“Idiot!” The stocky man slapped the other one on the back of the head as the salesman suddenly burst into screams of dread and agony. “Come on, let’s find Kaneth and hope he can clean things up.”

“Sorry, but for what it’s worth, I do feel better now.” The tattooed man shrugged, and in the blink of an eye, they shot into a dark alleyway, leaving me alone with the squealing man. Sirens began to echo in the distance, and people began rushing towards us. Everything was lost in confusion, but in the mist of it all, I realized something about my face.

0 second since I last smiled.