[ WP ] `` I 'd like a refund on my overwhelming sense of existential dread '' `` ... This is a shoe store ''

`` Hi. I'd like to see if I could get a refund?'' I said to the man at the counter. 
 
 `` Alright sir do you have your receipt?'' 
 
 I shuffle through my pockets, Nothing. I smile `` Must have lost it.'' 
 
 `` That's fine sir all our sales are registered in a database. Could I have a name?'' 
 
 `` Timothy Allbrighting.'' 
 
 `` How long ago was the purchase?'' 
 
 `` 20 years ago'' 
 
 `` Alright, I am not finding it sir. What is it you purchased from our store?'' 
 
 `` My overwhelming sense of existential dread.'' 
 
 The cashier stood there with a blank look on his face. `` Let me get a manager.'' I nodded to him. A small woman, looked to be about sixty approaches the counter. `` Yes sir, how can I help you?'' `` I'd like to refund my overwhelming sense of existential dread.'' She looked shocked. At that moment she leaned forward and whispered `` Sir, this is a shoe store.'' `` Ah!'' She pulled me a little closer. 
 
 `` He is in the back alley.'' 
 
 `` Uh, who?'' 
 
 `` You know. Do n't play dumb.'' She hands me a briefcase. 
 
 `` Do n't open it. Just give it to him and you'll get that refund.'' 
 
 I was unsure and shaking as I walked to the back entrance. Case in hand I push on the door. Locked? I push harder, it does n't budge. `` Some kind of trick?'' I thought to myself. I look back to the counter but I notice no one is tending to it. No other customers in the store either. I look back to the door. It is n't there just an outline of where it was and an opening leading to blackness. My palms sweating and heart racing I approach the entrance. It seems to be an opening into nothingness. The closer I get the more welcoming it becomes. `` I do n't understand!'' I scream. `` What do you want for me!'' Just then lights at the front start shutting off row by row. Coming closer and closer to being engulfed in complete darkness I rush for the door. I enter a low lit room with an old man in a luxurious red chair, calmly reading a book. His gaze slowly comes up from the book, reaching the briefcase and then to my face. 
 
 `` You are?'' 
 
 `` I am here for a refund.'' Stumbling over my nervous words. 
 
 `` Ah yes, Mr. Allbrighting?'' He waves for the briefcase. 
 
 I slowly creep to him and hand him the briefcase. He inspects it without a shred of 
 
 curiosity. He confidently sets it aside and looks back to me. 
 
 `` Do you have your receipt?'' 
 
 `` I do not, I must have lost it.'' 
 
 `` Come back when you've found it. Not a moment sooner.'' 
 
 He snapped his fingers. Everything disappeared, fading into dust. 
 
 `` Sir?'' 
 
 `` Sir, please be alive!'' 
 
 My eyes open to the ceiling of the shoe store. Five people surround me with worried expressions on their face. One reaches out a hand to help me up. I am pulled up but still in a daze. 
 
 `` I was worried you might've had a heart attack!'' He breathes a sigh of relief 
 
 You remember him as the store clerk that originally was helping you. An old woman passes you. `` No receipt, no refund.'' She mumbled just loud enough for you to hear. 
 
 `` Is there any thing I could help you with sir?'' 
 
 `` Hmm? No, I think I am okay.'' 
 
 `` Have a great day sir.'' 
 
 I walk from the store, unsure if it was all just a bad dream. One thing was certain I need to find that receipt. 

