Thanatophobia| MICHAEL AFTON x READER

2| rotten smells

1st person.

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It's 7 am. I didn't know what I expected when I signed up for this position. Im a simple host at this place...I take admission fees, give out tickets, distribute tokens, sometimes deliver food to tables, clean up messes. Mr. Schmidt spend a few hours in the back office, which he refused to let any other employees in...We had our own break room, so this wasn't a problem, but the crew and I still suspected a lot of things...

For one, this backroom WREAKED of...something...it smelled like rotten food and burning rubber. Children would often complain about hearing thudding in the vents, but we all assured them that it was probably just from the rain outside. It had been storming the last couple of days.

One thing that I noticed about Mr. Schmidt was his attitude. He was polite but incredibly skittish, as well as sarcastic. He avoided all questions we had about his attire and often seemed to be in a rush when it came to a lot of things...He moved with a slight limp, and he smelled heavily of Fogg Royal...it was like he bathed in it. (Fogg Royal is a really strong body spray)

The only actual attribute was his hair. We couldn't see the colour of his skin since it was always wrapped tightly in bandages, and that mask...it creeped me out. does he not get claustrophobic in something like that? Does he not get tired of smelling his own breath?

Maybe he takes it off when he is in that back room? I don't know, but something shady is going on.

-

I ended up staring at that black bear a lot...Its contrast was red and grey, and it moved differently from all of the other robots. Its left eyelid drooped, and it didn't sing. It just waved its arms and let out an occasional musical tune. It wasn't as soon as the other bots, and it gave me a weird feeling...

at 8 am, I had to clean up a knocked-over birthday cake because a child got scared of the black bear's head rolling right off of its shoulders...I tried to take this up with Mr. Schmidt, but he didn't respond to my knocking. He didn't come out of that room until 10 am.

He was met with a very unhappy employee and a very unhappy lawsuit.

"His head fell off?" He said in an unbelieving tone. "Lefty should be in perfect condition..."

"Well, he obviously isn't..." I said dryly. "This is a lawsuit of £500!"

"I can fight it, Y/N. I am a very powerful man." He said with a slight hitch in his tone. His voice often cracked, making him sound more like an adolescent teen than a 40-year-old man...

"And if you lose? where are you going to pull £500 from?" I shook my head. "Just take Lefty off of the stage...I saw a brand new pig animatronic in the catalog during my break. It's not cheap, but it's better than that.." I said, pointing to the black bear, which was currently powered off.

"I'll think about it..." Mike said, folding the paper in hand and stuffing it into his pocket. He reached his right hand up to scratch his neck.

"There have also been complaints about the smells coming from your office..." I said in a quieter tone.

"Really?" He tilted his head to the side, still slowly scratching his neck. "Perhaps a mouse died...possibly in the vent system? I'll look into it later..." Then, his hand went into his hair. He scratched the side of his head. "A young bloke over there seems to need help. Why don't you-"

"Yes yes...I'm on it." I scoffed.

That is just another thing I have noticed...his inability to care about the robots, or the smells, or...really anything. He seems passionate about his job, but if it seems to be something he can simply ignore...he takes that route.

It's like he isn't able to smell the stench literally leaking from his door...

Or maybe I'm just making too big of a deal out of it. It's a lot to think about while trying to direct this child to his mother...The crying and whining. Turns out she had just gone to the loo for a few minutes and he flipped out.

More than once, I caught Mr. Schmidt quite literally staring at me..Or, it looked like it. I wouldn't exactly see where his eyes were looking, but it was in my general direction. However, If I confronted him about it, he would simply wave it off, claiming that I was just imagining it.

--

At 8 pm, I helped clean up for the closing time. I know...that's a horribly long shift, but it pays incredibly, so I am NOT complaining. It was only me, one other coworker, and Mr. Schmidt. He insisted that I called him Mike, but we defiantly arent on a first-name basis yet...

Closing time consisted of sweeping, mopping, cleaning off the tables, restocking the supplies, then checking the robots to see if they needed a bit of cleaning...thankfully they didn't. My coworker left before I did, so I was left alone with Mr. Schmidt once more.

"You work hard." He said, just standing by the wall. He helped when it came to sweeping, but he didn't get near the mops.

"It's my job...literally." I shrugged.

"That's true...But you've taken up more problems with me than anyone. Most people just shrug them off." He tilted his head to the side, now coming around to my left. He liked standing close to people he was talking to as if he had a hard time hearing.

"You seem to shrug them off more than anyone..." I said, but there was a moment of since. "Sorry if that sounded rude."

"No, it's true...But I try to keep my cool when there is a lot of people." I watched as he reached up to scratch his neck again. "I appreciate your concerns though. It's good to have at least one person here who gives a damn."

"Like I said, just my job."

Mr. Schmidt nodded, and I walked away to put the soiled washing cloths in the laundry bin. Once again, he seemed to just be...staring...

"Do you have a problem?" I said, turning around to look at him. I saw his hand go into his hair once more as he scratched the side of his head.

"No, sorry. I just haven't got anything else to say." He shrugged.

"Right...well..." I turned to the time crunch and punched my card. "I'll be off..."

"I'll follow you out...the only reason I'm still here is that I need to lock up." He let his hand fall to his side. his fingers twitched in a weird way.

"Sure..." I said slowly...As he said, he followed me out.

"I assume you took the tube?" He examined the empty parking lot.

"Yeh didn't want to drive in the rain." I let my eyes scan the lot. "You don't have a vehicle here either."

"I take the tube, but at a later time." He rubbed his bandaged hands on his trouser legs. "I go to the pub jus' down the street before I head out."

"I see..." My eyes narrowed. "Well...I'll be off then. Don't want to be caught in the rain."

"Rightyo." He gave a small thumbs up. "Don't get hit by a car."

"Er..." I cringed. "Right...goodnight."

With that parting, I quickly left the lot and made my way to the underground tube...

I had trouble sleeping that night.

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