5 : Hell Is Other People -

To his left, a man was eating an egg salad sandwich with his mouth open, the wet smack-smack sound echoing off the linoleum. To his right, a toddler was methodically wiping a sticky lollipop against Elias’s expensive wool trousers.

Elias looked back at the room. The sandwich man was opening a second bag. The toddler was reaching for his other leg. The TikTok loop started again. 5 : Hell Is Other People

The toddler began to scream, a sound like a hawk being fed into a woodchipper. "C-one-one-four!" the speaker barked. To his left, a man was eating an

He realized then that the doors weren't locked. They didn't have to be. The sandwich man was opening a second bag

"Excuse me," Elias whispered to the mother. She didn't look up from her phone. She just shifted her weight, hitting Elias’s knee with her massive, overflowing diaper bag.

The clerk behind the glass looked at him with eyes that had seen the death of stars. She didn't speak. She just pointed to a small sign taped to the glass:

"Next! B-zero-zero-three!" a voice crackled over a blown-out speaker.