“Yeah, yeah,” I said, a little annoyed. “Getting up.”
“You better!” A familiar voice resounded. “You got a full ride to the best technology college in the nation, and you’re going to miss orientation!”
“You’re right, Reina.” I mumbled. “Always right.”
“Of course I’m fucking right. You get to go to college, while I’m stuck in high school!” Reina tossed her blonde hair, parting it to her left side.
“Don’t let mom catch you talking like that,” I tossed my blanket on the floor. “You know how she gets.” Mom is the stereotypical helicopter mom, who screams at having toothbrushes in the wrong order.
“Only when she isn’t out with Jared…” she said, laughing through her hands.
“Not funny.” Mom had caused a divorce due to her unfaithfulness with my old French teacher. “Too soon.”
“Sorry.” She cleared her throat. “Food’s on the table.”
“Thanks. See you in five,” I stood up as she closed the door.
///
“Aww sweetie! It’s your first day of college!” Mom set my plate of blueberry waffles in front of me. “Can I drive you?”
“Umm,” I said through a bite, “I think I can drive-“
“Can I drive you?” She cut me off. This kind of pettiness only came after the divorce and her having to take on the role of a “single mother of two rowdy teenagers”.
“Yeah, fine.” I submitted. I’ve learned to choose what battles I want to fight, and this one really isn’t worth the trouble.
“We all can take my car!” She said happily.
“We all?” My sister put down her phone for a second. “You know, the school bus is free, and it will save you the gas money, plus-“
“Don’t worry, I called in and said you have a doctor’s appointment,” She interrupted Reina, “You don’t want to miss your big brother’s orientation, do you?”
“The orientation is during my lunch break. I thought we talked about-“
“If you weren’t on your phone so damn much, you’d want to spend some family time exploring the college with us!” She turned hostile like an oil truck in a wildfire. “Give me your phone!”
“Fine, Lorelai. Here you go.” She slid her phone across the table.
“Thank you for not arguing!” She turned bubbly again. “And I’m your mother, call me as so.”
“Ok…. Mom.” Reina said, grabbing her now empty plate plate and standing up. “Nick?” She held out her hand.
“Thanks, Rei.” I said as I handed her my plate as i shoveled the last bites into my mouth.
“Reina?” Mom said, lifting up her plate and turning it towards her direction.
“See you in a bit, Nick.” She flat out ignored her.
“Nickolai?”
“Sorry mom, I gotta go get ready” I said, already halfway up the stairs by the time she said my name. “See you in twenty.”
“Oh… ok.” I would’ve felt sorry for her, but she abused that sympathy two months ago when she fucked Mr. Cypress.
I opened my room door, and got a whiff of nasty body odor. After giving my armpits a sniff, my face cringed and I grabbed my clothes and headed for the shower.
As soon as the hot water hit my back, the door swung open. I knew instantly who it was.
“Hey Rei,”
“How’d you know it’s me?” She hit the curtain, spraying the cold, leftover water on me.
“Mom knocks, then bursts in.” I said after jumping from the cold water.
“Ahh”
“So what do you need?”
“I want to put on makeup,” That’s interesting, because she never usually puts makeup on. “I have an event to go to.”
“You never put on makeup.”
“I never need it. This face is beautiful as is!” That’s her high ego kicking in. I wish I had a high ego. That must be nice.
“You couldn’t use the other bathroom?” I kinda enjoy my privacy, and Rei was invading it. I began to rub soap on my face.
“No, because that one doesn’t have a sauna,” a small quip to me showering, “my makeup is in here, and mom’s in the other one.”
“That’s fair.” I said. After about ten minutes, she left, and I immediately hopped out of the shower. After putting on my clothes and straightened out my hair, I was ready.
///
“Got everything?” Mother called out, sitting in the driver’s seat of my SUV, even though she said we’d use her minivan. Whatever. Soon enough, we were on the road. About an hour and a half later, we arrived at DT University, and we met up with my admissions counselor.
“Welcome to DTU Tech Campus!” She said. She was a decently looking woman, probably in her late twenties. “I am Ms. Weissman. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to be leading this tour today-“
“Excuse me, but we came all of the way out here-” Mom started.
“Never mind that,” I shot a glare at mom, which I don’t do very often, “We are ok. Continue?”
“Anyways, I’m sorry that I can’t be leading this tour as I have other things…”
“Try that again and you’re grounded, young man.” Mom whispered, barely loud enough for me to hear.
“Ground me while you can,” I wasn’t about to ruin my non-existent reputation by having a helicopter mom decide what I want and don’t want.
“… So to lead this tour I have someone that you are familiar with. Ethan Volpe?” No way. My one friend from high school. He was the jock and I was the nerd. I don’t know how he pulled coming to this school off, but somehow, he’s here. She stepped aside, and there he was.
“Nickolai! Been waiting for you man!” I brought him in for a hug. “This your family?” He whispered, and I only nodded. I was too lost for words to even try to open my mouth. “Both your sister and your mom are bombshells. You hit that yet?”
“Ewww!!” I push off of him. One thing I don’t miss is his dirty jokes. “This is my mom Lorelai and my sister Reina.”
“Nice to met you, hope my son isn’t getting the wrong ideas from you,” My mom completely ruined the moment.
“No, Mrs Lionheart, not at all. Been on the straight and narrow.”
“Good. Glad to know he has some support.”
“My turn!” Rei stepped forward. “My name is Reina, but just call me Rei.”
“Nice to meet you Rei! What grade are you in?”
“I’m a senior in highschool. I’m planning on going to some sort of military while attending college. Probably going to major in mechanical engineering. I don’t know yet.”
“Well, it’s only winter term, so you don’t have to rush yourself too much. They don’t want me to tell you this, but make a decision that makes you happy, it doesn’t have to be DTU, just at the end of the day, it’s you who is going to college.” Sometimes I wonder how such a charismatic and widely known person picked someone like me. “Anyways, let’s get on with the tour.”
///
Most of the tour was meaningless. Our last stop was the dorms. The one thing I was most excited for, because I get a single bedroom to myself.
“Last stop, the dorms.” My mom was super entranced in everything this college had to offer, taking pictures like we were tourists, but my sister simply wasn’t having it. She was toying around on my phone, as mom still had Rei’s in her purse.
“These are the freshman dorms,” Ethan said as he stopped, pointing to it from the curb we were standing on, “but I saw your application and changed your living situation to be bunked with me in the senior dorms. Instead of living in your typical dormhouse, you’ll be living with me in a campus apartment.”
I was skeptical, due to his nature of pulling either well-thought, or blatantly obvious pranks. “You sure dude? This isn’t one of your jokes?”
“Not in the slightest. Perks of being an admissions intern. Favor from yours truly.” His face was beaming with joy.
“Funny, because I moved all my stuff here last week.” I raised an eyebrow while holding a three pin key.
“Funny, because I spent ten hours of my free time this week moving you in” he tossed a seven pin key to me and began walking.
Five buildings down and four staircases up, he unlocked a door to apartment 7154. It looked like an apartment from an advertisement. Everything was spotless. “I did the liberty of cleaning the place. Hope it was worth it,”
“Oh, it totally is,” I stammered out, barely keeping my jaw off the floor.
“And to ease your doubts, Mrs Lionheart, we can go talk to the RA, and you can ask her all the questions you’d like. By the way, as you two are admiring the room,” he was talking about me and Rei, “the orientation starts in thirty. I’ll see you there, I will have seats saved, and the freshman class rep will have instructions for you.”
“Bye guys, be safe!” Mom said.
“Ok Laurie,” Rei responded.
“Watch it, young lady!” She scolded. Ethan chuckled and closed the door, leaving me and Rei alone in the apartment.
“I’m going to go take a shower.” She said abruptly after about thirty seconds had passed.
“What do you mean ‘you’re going to take a shower’?” Who does that type of thing in this situation?
“I mean, I didn’t get a chance to take one, and I wanna see how good the showers are.”
“What if Ethan comes back? Or worse, Mom?”
“That bitch is still talking the R-whatever’s ear off. There is no way she’d be done while I’m in the shower. I have a good 15-20 minutes. Now, where is your bathroom?” She started opening random doors.
“I have no clue, I just got-“
“Found it! Third door on the right!” She dashed into the door.
“Hey!” What was going on finally clicked. I ran over to the bathroom, bursting open the door, only to see her almost fully naked. I was frozen. All she was wearing was a pair of skimpy red panties. Now I knew she was grown up and matured, but I never really saw her as a woman. Her large tits were on full display, each one dying to be sucked. And her flat, slightly toned stomach lead to her widened hips and her thick thighs, which one would assume was complemented by enough ass for days. And to top it all off, her wavy dyed blonde hair only highlighted the curves of her body. Once I came back to reality, I slammed the door shut.
“I’m so sorry… I didn’t know you’d be…” I stammered. I haven’t seen her naked since she was a little toddler.
I heard her laugh from the other end of the door. “I’ve learned to be quick. But next time knock.”
“Says you!” I snapped back at her.
“Ha, ha. Very funny. At least I wait until you’re in the shower before I kick the door in.”
“Hey! that’s not-” Then I heard the water start and her routine humming. She completely drowned me out. Whatever. Hopefully, she’ll think twice about kicking the door in. Paybacks a bitch, huh? But I had to get my mind off of my little sister. I can’t be thinking of her like that, with her slim waist I would love to wrap my hands around and… And… I felt it. My dick awakening. This is not good. I’m fucking lewding my sister!
“God fucking damnit!” I cursed under my breath. I was at a half-chub. There was no way she wouldn’t notice. I had to get rid of it. With a decently rushed plan, I started searching for my room, only to find a room with everything I had in my dorm, exactly how I left it.
“Thanks Ethan, you really did me a solid.” I said as I jumped into my bed, grabbed my box of tissues and lowered down my pants, just enough so I could slip them back on, but far enough that I could reach my cock, which was throbbing at this point. I reached down and laid my hand on my shaft, ready to do what needed to be done.
///
“You like what you see?” She said as I stared at her in all of her glory.
“Uhhh, I shouldn’t be looking. I’m just going to-” I started to walk backwards as she raised a hand to play with her huge, perky tits.
“It wouldn’t be much of a welcoming gift if you didn’t enjoy it,” she shifted her wait to her left side and moaned a little. “Come on, live a little!” she said as she had one hand tweaking her nipple while the other shoved its way into her panties.
///
I couldn’t take it anymore. My hand was a blur, and I was going to explode any second. I held the stack of tissues near the tip and just let loose. I moaned quietly, as to not alert my sister as to what I was doing. As soon as my orgasm subsided, I noticed the house was silent. Shit. That means she’s done in the shower. Fuck. I rushed to lift up my pants, sort out my hair and deal with this cum-filled wad of tissues. I couldn’t just flush it, Rei was in the bathroom, so I just threw it in the little trash bin by my desk. Not thirty seconds later, Rei knocks on the door.
“Yes?” The door creaked open.
“Hi, uhh…” all she was dressed in was a towel, barely being held up by her boobs. “My bag is in your room. Can I come in to grab it?”
“Sure.” I said. “How’d you know this was my room?”
“That’s your computer, right?”
“Fair enough.” My computer didn’t really look like a computer, but that’s beside the point. Rei opened the door the rest of the way and I noticed that the towel barely covered her hips. “You know…. You know what? Never mind.” I was going to comment on it but decided not to.
Her head tilted to the side, almost like a little puppy would.
“Kinda curious, won’t pursue.” She scanned the room. “I’m pretty sure I threw it in here… I mean… I might’ve…” she walked to the center of the room.
“Is that it?” I noticed her bag on the other side of the door.
“Oh shoot. Didn’t see that on the way in.” She turned around and grabbed the bag, bending over just far enough that I could see the edge of her ass. “Cya Nick!”
As the door closed I let out a long sigh. I pulled out my phone to browse social media so I could distract myself for a bit.
After some time, I got bored of my phone and decided to stare out the balcony. I opened up the sliding glass door to be greeted by birds singing through the calm forest air.
“You do have a nice place though.” I jumped six inches into the air. “Been liking this balcony.” Rei was leaning over the railing, staring off into the trees.
“Yeah, I could seriously get used to this,” I said. “Don’t you have to go back to-” Oh yeah. Mom pulled her out of school. “Nevermind. You don’t have school. But now I do, I guess.” I hunched over beside her.
“Yeah, I’ll miss seeing your ugly face after school.”
“I’ll miss seeing you too. And I’m only an hour and a half away, so you can just take my car and come see this ugly face every weekend if you wanted too. I won’t need it for a while, and I’m probably going to get that sports bike I’ve been saving up for.” I just needed to do the driving test.
Feeling my phone vibrate I fished it out of my pocket. “But you know what I won’t miss? Mom.” I answered her call, knowing exactly what she wanted.
“Hello?” So did Rei, because she was already starting to grab her things.
“Hi, we will be right there soon.” I responded
“Good. That’s what I thought.” Fuck her.
///
“Took you long enough.” She said the moment the elevator opened and she saw us.
“Where’s Ethan?” I sighed. I couldn’t take much more of her bullshit. I have a limit you know.
“Soo I see you weren’t paying attention,” she said condescendingly. “Ethan said he’d meet us at orientation, and you’re lucky he showed me the way.” She started walking away.
“One more hour,” I whispered to Rei, and she rolled her eyes and we both followed mom. One more hour until I could lock the door and say goodbye.
The next twenty minutes were a blur to say the least. We approached the venue, shook some hands, threw on some clothes, and mom and Rei went to one line, while I went to another. As soon as I got into the line, a person tapped on my shoulder.
“Nervous?” I jumped and spun to see some random girl right behind me
“A little,” I stammered out. I turned to look down the line and there was a guy with a clipboard talking to each person, and he was getting closer and closer. Maybe I was in the wrong line. Maybe I was-
“Well you’re kinda shaking.” She giggled a little bit.
“Yeah, my anxiety is kicking in.” The dude was talking to the person right in front of me. “Expected when we have to give a speech.”
“Speech? Only the top students give speeches!”
“Name?” The dude interrupted her.
“Nickolai Lionheart!” I blurted out.
“You go stand over there.” He pointed to a taped off area. Great. Now the nerd is getting special treatment. What a great start to my reputation.
“Wait. You’re Nickolai? Nerdolai?” She seemed lost for words, and I didn’t wanna wait till she found any. I rushed to my spot and just stood there and waited. Waited and watched the line shorten. And shorten some more until the line was gone.
“Ok, Mr Lionheart. You’re up!” Shit. Shit fuck. Shit fuck bitch.
“Oh alright.” No! It’s not fucking alright. Turn back now! I don’t need this! I can crawl back home and just work on the newest update for my software, but noooooooo. I just had to apply for college. Wait. Is that a microphone? Of course it is! I have to give a fucking speech!
“Ahem.” No! Stop! Why won’t my feet fucking move?! “My name is Nickolai Lionheart,” fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!
“WHOOO!!!! THAT’S MY BABY!” Shit mom. Really had to scream that out in silence, huh?
“And there’s my mother.” The audience started laughing. “Anyways, everyone before me probably talked your ears off, so I’m going to keep my monologue kinda short for you. Pretty much, this school is the embodiment of who I want to be, and I will, hopefully that is, enjoy every minute of it! I know I don’t know most of you, but I’m always down to meet new people!” Really gotta say the corniest, most embarrassing shit in the world. Good fucking job. “Anyways, that’s it. Short and sweet. I’ll take my leave now.” The audience started clapping. Why are they doing that? It’s not like I’ve touched their hearts in ways they never would have dreamed of.
“Short but sweet!” The loudspeakers boomed. “Powerful words set by the person who scored higher in our entrance exams than the three decade record holder!” The crowd got even louder.
Wait.
I was the highest scoring? I knew I was top twenty, but highest? Oh no, I am now the biggest nerd outta thirty years. Not good. I need to leave! No, not take a bow, Leave!
“I’m tired from all the tours and introductions, and you probably are too, so go get some food from the food carts and we will call it a day!” The voice on the loudspeakers rang out. I didn’t care about any food carts, I just wanted to get lost in the crowd. As soon as I did, I called Reina.
“Huh. ‘short but sweet’ and actually meant it. I’m surprised. Wasted two and a half hours waiting on you to make a thirty second speech. Good thing it was only thirty seconds, cause I could see you earthquaking from here. Where are you by the way?”
“Hi, and I’m in the center of the moshpit. But I’ll head back to the stage.” I said, calming down
“Cool. I’ll lose mom.” I heard her say “bye!” In the background as wind blew at her phone.
“Sounds like a plan,” I said laughing. Getting into a crowd is easy. Getting out of it heading in the correct way is the tricky part. I knew I wasn’t heading in the right direction when I heard
“REINA ANGELA LIONHEART! IF YOU DON’T GET BACK THIS INSTANT IT’S GOING TO BE TWO WEEKS!”
“Oh hi mom.”
“Hi sweetie! Nice speech, but have you seen Reina?”
“She said for you to meet her at the food carts. Something not very well-behaved by the sound of it.”
“Ooo I swear, when I get my hands on her-” she grumbled “thanks sweetie!” She weaseled her way after her. I spun on my heels and headed the exact opposite of her, walking through the crowd towards the stage. As I was shoving past a blonde, I felt a tap on my shoulders.
“We need to go, we aren’t safe here. Five minutes.” It was Ethan.
“Aha, very funny. Good joke. Totally laughing.” I’ve had his ‘oh no, we are all going to die unless we down three shots each!’ shenanigans before.
“No, Now.” He grabbed my arm and pulled me through the crowd and into a small alleyway. Then kicked open the door and dragged me in.
“I’m sorry man. I didn’t mean to drag you into this.” He turned around and kept his eyes glued to the floor. The floor of a dark room where the only light came from the alleyway.
“Drag me into what? What’s you do now Etha-ACK!” I felt arms like a vice wrap around my throat. I started feeling fuzzy much quicker than I thought I would be. The sounds of the orientation grew quieter and my vision started to turn black until that’s all there was. Darkness and silence and numbness.
//
“We offer to you, and only you. Our one true god. Please take this mortal sacrifice as our salvation for the sins we have committed.” I slowly opened my eyes to see a room where candles lit the circle of people surrounding obscure chalk drawings on the floor. I could only assume it was a circle of people, because I could only see three of the black robed figures. As I tried to turn my body to actually check if it was a circle of people around me, I felt an abnormally tight resistance. Great. What kind of sacrificial ritual wouldn’t have a person tied to a chair and their mouth taped? Hmmm. It could be one of Ethan’s elaborate pranks, but Ethan doesn’t have people choke me out and tie me to a chair. This is real. Oh shit, it’s real.
“Etharanai,” I hear behind me as the person in front of me flinches. “It’s your turn for the first gift,” the hooded figure lurches up and contorts for a bit.
“For the first gift, the blood of a heartborn,” a familiar voice resounded. Pulling out a jeweled spiral dagger, “via a Jagdkommando.” He walked towards me, pointing the twisted, spiral knife towards me. Any sort of notion that this was fake just disappeared. This was too far. I have to leave. I started struggling in the chair, trying to tip it over. As I felt it start to tip, it jolted right back on all four legs.
“We can’t have our little offering leave us when we just got to the good part,” a woman chuckled. “ETHAN!” I just noticed the knife holder was standing still. “If you won’t do it I will!”
That’s Ethan? “Ethan, you’re going to be in so much shit when I get out of this rope!” I would have said, but the tape over my mouth just made “MMM” and “HMMH” sounds instead of actual words. Ethan took one more step, and pain seared from my waist as I screamed out feeling the most excruciating pain I have ever felt in my life. I looked down to see the knife buried to the hilt in my lower abdomen. And the red jewels glowing.
“Lydia? You know what to do,”
“Finally! My turn!” The bitch who seemed eager to stab me seemed to be thrilled for whatever was next. And to be completely honest, I didn’t want to know what was next. My dream came true as I was whacked in the head by something and I completely blacked out.
//
“Wake up, young one.” I heard a soft, warm voice. You know, one of those deep ones women couldn’t get enough of.
I rubbed my eyes. Wait. I rubbed my eyes. That means I’m not tied up. Does that mean “it’s over? Am I…”
“Dead? Yes. Definitely.” I heard papers flipping. “Nickolai Samuel Lionheart. Age 19 and 47 days at time of death.”
I opened my eyes, slowly I might add, and saw the bright white flowers dotting vast plains, with great oak trees scattered sparingly. My eyes settled on the one marble desk with a noble gold trim in the vast majority of nature. It felt… unnerving. “Yeah, that’s me.” I lifted myself into a sitting position.
“Can I continue?” The small bearded man looked up from his manilla envelope. He started ransacking the folder. “Birth defects… hypogeusia. Never tasted sweets, huh?”
“Nope. I never liked halloween either.”
“I can see that,” The little man cracked up and let out a slight smile
“Besides your abnormally high IQ level and perfect recall, I don’t see why you would end up here.” He started itching his beard.
“And where is ‘here’?” I narrowed my eyes.
“LORR. Land of Reconstruction/Rebirth.” He started searching through his desk while saying “Lionheart” repeatedly.
He started getting more enthusiastic with his searching. “Could be a glitch in the system. Might have to send you to Final Judgement. Lionheart, Lionheart…” he slammed his drawer and rolled his eyes. He held his right hand in the air above his head and snapped his left fingers.
A loud pop sounded and a folder appeared in his hands that was labeled ‘LIONHEART’ with a black stamp. “Doing some magic tricks, man of good taste!” I snorted
“Not tricks.” He opened the new folder. “Let me do my job and you… Woah…” His eyes widened. “Your soul strength is off the charts! No wonder you died by unlawful sacrifice! I’m going to be the best dealer in the Afterlife!”
“Fuck you.”
“D’rather not. Thanks.” He looked back at a paper and slapped it “We can work with this. Turns out, maybe you will be reborn. But it will cost you.”
“I’m fucking dead. What do I have to give you?”
“Soul strength!” He licked his lips. “Of course we translate it into coins for ease of trading between client and dealer.”
“How much would it cost me to be reborn?” This guy already seems kinda shady.
“700 soul coins for the basic package.”
“And how many soul coins do I have?”
“1000”
“That really doesn’t seem that much, and you said I had an ‘off the charts’ soul strength. Are you lying to me?”
“I am a holy celestial being. I am incapable of lying.”
“Incapable, huh?”
“Yep,”
“And how much did you say it costs?”
“700”
“How much does it really cost for an average person?”
His face grew tomato red. “100” he said quietly.
“So you lied.”
“I did not! You asked me how much would it cost you, not the average person! Deception is not lying.”
“How much would the best package cost the average person?”
“The most extravagant package I’ve ever heard of sold for 450, and they chose their birth parents within time period and social class. Plus, they kept all of their memories from their past life.”
“I want that, plus I want to pick my race.”
“Ooo, ouch. I never said I offer that package. I just said I’ve seen it before.”
“You’re not in control of the situation here, old man,”
“Of course I am, you need me to be-“
“HEY, IVE GOT 1000 COINS AND NOTHING TO SPEND IT ON!!”
“Alright, alright, alright. Fine. 800.” He started scribbling on a scroll. “800, and a 2 per decade rate for 4 -½ years.
“450 with no extra costs.” I was going to get a lower deal or better. After all, he needed my business.
“525.” he raised an eyebrow
“Make that 400.”
“425?”
“350.”
“Four twenty-five is my final offer”
“IM PRACTICALLY GIVING THEM AWAY!”
“Fine! Ugh! 350. I’ll take it.” He handed me the scroll. “Just sign here.”
As I looked through the scroll, I noticed that there was no place to put my race down. Everything else was there. “Missing something. Where’s the area to put down my race? And there are a whole lot of hidden fees I never approved of. Like a golfing fee of 3 soul coins a decade. Or an arcade donation of 400 coins. Would you like me to continue?”
“I have no clue what you’re talking about.” He sat there with his hands locked and elbows on the desk. I gave him a “are you fucking kidding me” look and took a deep, obnoxiously loud breath in. “ALRIGHT ALRIGHT. You need to stop with that.” He snapped his fingers and the place for my race appeared and the fees kinda faded out. Kinda like they were invisible ink.
“I want all fees gone. Not just to the point where I can’t see them. I want them gone.” He scoffed and snapped his fingers again. Happy with the scroll, I signed it and handed it back, and he signed it immediately.
“Wait. Hold on a second.” He stopped after he put his pen away. “That says kitsune.”
“You are correct.”
“That’s a godly race, you know that right?”
“Yep”
“You know that will cost you too much, right? The cheapest kitsune rebirth is 40,000 soul coins and you only have 1k. Plus, the rest of your pre-birth de***********ion adds a 275% multiplier on that.”
“Well then, I got a damn good deal, huh.”
“No you didn’t you still have to pay. Someone has to.”
“Too late, contract is signed. You have about forty more seconds to reanimate me, otherwise I get a 10x refund of the net worth, as per the client safety clause written on that agreement. Fuck you and your deceiving ass.”
“Oh my God. My boss is gunna kill me,” he snapped his fingers.