THE ARCADE MACHINE IN THIS TOWN IS ALOVE AND KINDA CUTE?!?

December 18 1989

BEEP BEEP BEEP

The aggressive and unpleasant beeping of Darwin's alarm clock tore him out of his sleep, not that he was able to get much.

He groaned as he slammed his hand down on the snooze button, the beeps were nothing like the smooth rhythmic beating melody of Cabinet Man's, which Darwin found himself suddenly missing. (But he'd be able to hear them tonight so it was okay.)

He got out of bed to take a quick shower before getting dressed for the day. He put on his trousers and button-up white shirt and red blazer. He looked at himself in the mirror as he struggled to tie his tie,

"Was it like this? No, no, more like this? Oh Wait!" He finally did it properly and shoved his glasses onto his face.

He yanked his wallet and keys off the bedside table and made his way out to the car.

He sat down, gripping the steering wheel,"Okay, first I'll go get a coffee, then I'll stop by the library or whatever, find the files on the guy that died, make copies, bring them home and arrange them in a way I can understand, then prepare some questions to ask, then I'll go visit cabinet man and boom! I'll have all the evidence I'll need, and everyone will hear me out."

Darwin nodded to himself before leaving the drive-way and heading towards the closest McDonalds.

"Hello, welcome to McDonalds, would you like to try our limited edition holiday peppermint milkshake?" A teenager that looked like he needed more sleep than Darwin answered the drive-thru window.

"No thank you, not like your guys' ice-cream machine ever works anyways," that was another conspiracy theory that Darwin blamed on aliens, (and why were they offering milkshakes during the coldest season of the year?? Yet another piece of evidence to add, "I'll have a black coffee please."

"Alright, that'll be 69 cents. Pull up to the next window." the teen drowsily explained.

Darwin didn't have time for 'thank you's', he pulled up to the window, gave the guy a dollar and took his coffee, along with the change; A quarter, a nickel, and a penny.

Darwin took off, sipping on his coffee and feeling the caffeine run through his veins as he drove to the library.

He parked his car and walked with a quick pace towards the entrance, and he was immediately drawn towards the area full of old newspapers, it was the only section of the library he ever really bothered going too.

He passed by walls and walls of books, he spotted a section on aliens, and it took everything in him not to stop and just sift through those books all day. But no, he had a goal, and once he reached that goal he'd be able to write and publish his own book about aliens for people to read through and be enraptured by.

The scent of old paper hit his face as he reached the newspaper section and he quickly began his search looking for any from the year 1985. Though he passed by one from 1987 with a certainly eye-catching headline, "Kid gets head bit off by a pizzeria animatronic"

Darwin chuckled, he may have to look into that once all this is over. Speaking of which, he found the 1985 section. He immediately began to flip through them, looking for any headlines.

"Random music artist breaks records, local building caught fire, New arcade machine sensation, ooo!" Darwin took that newspaper out before continuing his search, "aha here we go! 'Local person found dead with no organs behind the arcade'" Darwin did a little flap of his hands before making his way over to the photocopier.

He made copies of all the pages he needed and neatly put them into his bag before carefully returning the two newspapers to their rightful place.

Darwin made the brisk walk back to his car, his mind scrambling with different possibilities and theories, excited for when he got home to finally piece it all together.