"So tell me why you think you deserve to be here."

Barry squirmed underneath the gaze of his interviewer, more like interrogator. "Well, I worked as an analyst for a respectable accounting firm, and hated my job. It was, quite honestly, the most boring job imaginable." He began.

Barry had to endure the "congratulations" and "sad to see you leave" from just about everyone on his way to his desk, which was, of course, adorned with a congratulatory banner, and an assortment of other decorations. He just wanted to get through his last day, and enjoy his retirement.

Of course he was polite, but by noon he was pretty sure he had said "thank you" more times than any person should be expected in a lifetime, much less four hours. He could practically hear the clock ticking down, even when he wasn't looking at it.

His allotted lunch time was 1:00, but he wasn't able to stave off the waves of people congratulating him until 1:15, and by then he was famished. He left and was headed to the cafeteria when he noticed the ticking stopped.

Suddenly he realized he actually could hear the ticking. Slowly he walked back to his desk and the ticking grew louder, something was ticking in his desk.

That's odd. I don't have anything in my desk drawers, and I keep them locked at all times. Sensing a prank, he opened his drawer and saw a strange contraption with a clock ticking down.

So it was a prank. "Very funny, guys. Super clever." He looked around the room and saw a few blank stares. Well, that was pretty vague. He picked up the contraption and held it up for everyone to see. It was ticking down from 27 at this point. "Putting a fake bomb in my desk? Really clever! Har har har."

The secretary closest to him went white as a ghost, and got up. Several others started panicking and Joe, bless his heart for going along so well with the prank, got up and started yelling "Bomb! Everyone out of the building!!" Screams erupted and Barry got tears in his eyes as he realized how all-out the office was going on this prank for him, just to make his last day something to be remembered!

They really were great people.

"And then it counted down, 3, 2, 1...and I ended up here." Barry finished, still nervous.

The interrogator bellowed laughter from deep in his core. It shook the foundations of the walls...of flesh or whatever it was. His horns shook merrily. "So," he began, but had to pause through intermittent chuckles. He raised his hand as if to say "just a second" as he finished laughing.

"So, what you're saying is. You thought the bomb was a prank and literally killed 400 people - including yourself - because you thought they were all in on it?" He laughed again. "Oh this is fantastic!"

Barry squirmed again under the stare of the literal demon in front of him. "Uhh, why?"

The demon smiled. "Finally a writing prompt not about me!"

Barry woke at his desk, saliva trailing its way from the corner of his mouth to the wooden surface. The congratulatory banner still hanging above his head as his brain processed what had just happened.

"I'm not sure why I never stopped reading /r/WritingPrompts at work." He said to no one in particular. "Well, too late now. Strange dream."

He looked at the clock. 1:09 PM. Time for lunch. He stood to go and froze.

His desk was ticking.