I saw it out of the corner of my eye in a dingy storefront window – a small dodecahedron, a somewhat soccerball-like shape whose faces are pentagons, slightly metallic in color, completely smooth surface save for one groove across three faces. I turned to get a better look at it and all the color seemed to fade out around it, with a feeling that my vision itself was being pulled into it. Time seemed to slow while I gazed at the peculiar thing, my thoughts seeming to evaporate into nothingness. I became aware of a faint buzzing sound in my perception . . . perhaps an insect near my ears or something.
I had to have it. I felt as if I was not in control of myself but merely watching the mundane purchase unfold through the vision of someone else. The clerk's voice sounded far-off and distant, even as he told me that the shape was not for sale. I remember picking up the dodecahedron and then my memory fades. The next point I can remember, my senses were back to normal and I was in control of my body again. Turning to the register to ask the clerk the price, I didn't see anybody there. Perhaps he'd gone to place some items on a shelf, or to check a price for another customer(not that I saw anybody else inside during my entire time in the pawn shop). There was movement in a shelf behind me, and out came a small burly man with thick glasses and a scowl on his face – but wearing a shirt that showed him to be an employee.
“Excuse me, do you know how much this costs?” I asked the guy, hoping it would be a number I could afford.
“That thing? Nobody's been interested in that old paperweight for years, we were probably just gonna sell it for scrap. We had it priced at... oh, fifty dollars, if I remember correctly. You want it?” His loud and authoritative voice startled me with his rambling reply. Fifty dollars . . . too much. I had thirty-five on me, and I didn't have a credit card or debit card(not that there was a machine that would let me pay with one anyway).
“Fifty bucks? That seems a bit much for this thing nobody wants, don't you think? I'll give you thirty for it.” I decided to try my hand at haggling the price, hoping there was some flexibility to exploit. This was a pawn shop, after all.
“Thirty... there's no real market and I've never seen another of these things before . . . I guess that'll do. At least we'll be able to use the shelf space for something we can make money on.” The old man meandered behind the register to perform the transaction and get me out of the store. I pulled out my wallet with a shaky hand, took out the appropriate amount of money, and hastily handed it to him.
“Th-this is enough, right?” I have no idea why I was nervous after feeling and appearing totally confident moments before.
“Yeah. Have a good day.” The old man directed me out of the store indirectly, for whatever reason. Probably just wanted the have the store to himself. I wonder what happened to the original clerk . . .
I put the metal prize in my jacket pocket and turned to go home. Shit. I just spent the cash for groceries on a hunk of metal, I thought. Xuan's gonna flip. I just thought I'd figure out how to placate my soon-to-be-angry roommate when I got home. No use trying to think up and rehearse some bogus excuse now; she never fell for it anyway. I pulled the metal out of my pocket to take another look at it. It was surprisingly light compared to what you'd expect a piece of metal(it was definitely made of some sort of metal that I couldn't name, but different alloys were never my strong suit anyway). Must be hollow, I thought. Wonder if there's something it goes to?
Now that I was holding it close, I could see that the color wasn't fading out around it. No, it looked like color was being pulled into it somehow. I couldn't feel anything, so I decided I must be imagining it. The buzzing returned again – I'd hardly even noticed its disappearance – as I turned the object over to take a look at the groove and see if it looked like something I'd recognize.
Not a groove, I noticed. A hole. The 'groove' was like a porthole, making the novelty seem more like a bell missing its noisemaker than anything else. Looking into the hole revealed nothing, since the inside was strangely dark, even for an enclosed metal space. Ah well. If nothing else, it'll make a nice trinket to – I was nearly hit by an old Camaro, cherry-red and sounding like the idiot owner took the muffler off to make the engine sound better. Somehow in staring at and pondering the identity of the dodecahedron, I'd managed to walk out across 5 lanes of traffic without even realizing. I didn't even hear any cars either, at least not loud enough to realize I was within inches of being part of their grills. Just as I stumbled out of the way, hell, as soon as I looked like I might have been out of the way, the Camaro jackoff revved up and zoomed off, as if he was late for the 2072 Douchebags' Convention. Maybe he was, come to think of it. It had a big turnout that year, if I remember correctly. I was there.
Maybe I can find some use for it at home. Maybe actually use it as a paperweight? I was mulling over uses for the object, especially uses that would save me from Xuan's wrath. Money was extremely tight for us lately, and with the nosediving economy and ridiculous taxes, things didn't seem to be looking up anytime soon.
Keep a strong mind and you will be of use to it. Who said that?! There wasn't even anybody nearby, the road was deserted for 50 yards in either direction except for cars, and that dark voice sounded like its owner was right behind me. Odd....
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