‘It was a long and lonely road, straight as a wheat stalk and dry like you wouldn’t believe. My car sat idling on the yellow line, burping out exhaust as the sun lay bleeding on the horizon. I’d come a long way with further yet to go, but something in me, something itchy and unnerving said that it was time to stop.’
I looked at the words glowing on my phone. It was a prompt for some writer’s group or something.
‘Sounds like something King would write,’ I thought. ‘And we all know what a hack he’s become. I wish I could churn out trash like he does and make millions from it. But I’m no writer.’
“Cleanup on aisle A15,” blared over the radio clipped to my hip.
I knew it was my turn but still glanced around the break room for anyone I could get to do it for me. Unfortunately, there was no one. While I had been zoned out staring at my phone like a zombie, everyone else had finished their break and left. Which meant I had something to look forward to after cleaning up some customer’s mess… a butt-chewing from my crew leader, Amy.
I left the break room and headed for the supply room to get my mop and bucket. Aisle A15 was on the other side of the store, so I knew it wouldn’t be long until…
“Cleanup on aisle A15,” the radio blared more forcefully.
I ripped it off my belt, thinking of all the things I’d like to say in response, but I swallowed my pride and said, “En route.”
When I got there. Amy was standing beside a puddle of something brown and liquid that I didn’t want to identify. She had her arms folded across her chest and was tapping her toe.
“Did you finally finish your break?” she said with no hint of actual interest.
“Yes, ma’am,” I said pulling my bucket next to the puddle and slopping water onto it.
“Watch it,” she said as some of the water mixed with the brown liquid and splashed onto her shoes.
“I’m so sorry,” I said, not meaning a word of it.
Her face turned fire engine red and looked like it was about to explode.
“You’re fired!” she squealed.
I found it odd that such a large woman would have such a high voice when angry.
“You can’t fire me,” I said leaning on my mop. “You’re only a crew leader, not a member of management.”
She opened her mouth to say something, then closed it as her face turned an even deeper shade of red.
“We’ll see,” she sputtered, then turned to storm off nearly falling slipping on her wet shoe. She recovered and continued storming away as I did everything I could not to burst into tears laughing.
I finished my odious chore and took the bucket back to the supply room to empty and rinse it. I had to rinse the bucket a few times to get the stench out. I smiled thinking about Amy trying to get it out of her shoe.
By the time I was done, I stepped out to a store with half the lights off. I breathed a sigh of relief. My shift overlapped with Amy’s shift. We would come in a few hours before the store closed and once it did, we were free to go do our restocking and cleaning duties.
The first hour was usually spent dodging cashiers as they took their trays to count. After they left, we locked the doors and it was only Myself, Sam, and Greg in the massive, empty store.
I won’t lie, there were times my imagination got the best of me as I roamed the empty aisles of the half-lit store. And the three of us have played pranks on each other. But tonight wasn’t starting out like that. Sam wasn’t feeling good and was already talking about going home early. Greg was in his zone with his earbuds in, listening to creepypastas as he stocked the shelves.
I had just pulled my third skid out of the stock room when something darted in front of me. I stopped so quickly that the pallet’s forward momentum pushed me, nearly knocking me over.
“Very funny, guys,” I said into my radio. “You can knock it off now.”
“What are you talking about?” Sam said.
“Whoever’s hiding by the stockroom doors can come out now, I’m not falling for it.”
“I’m over in hardware and Greg is a few aisles down from me in automotive,” Sam said.
“Sure you are,” I said.
“Look over towards hardware,” Sam said.
As I did, I saw a beam of light flash up toward the dark part of the ceiling.
“Did you see my light?”
“Yes, I did,” I said slowly, suddenly not wanting to turn the corner toward where the whatever it was had just disappeared.
“What did you see?” Sam said.
“Must’ve just been my imagination,” I said, trying to convince myself as much as him.
“Ok, you good?”
“Yeah, no problem.”
I pulled my pallet jack forward slowly and peeked around the corner. Nothing was there except a seemingly endless aisle of shelves.
I shook myself mentally for allowing myself to get spooked so easily, then pulled my pallet jack down the aisle past toys and into housewares. I forced myself to stare straight ahead and not glance down the aisles as I passed them.
As I passed the last toy aisle, my pallet truck seemed to get heavier. It was as if one of the wheels was stuck on something. I stopped and went around the back to check the wheels. There, sitting in the middle of the floor was a large stuffed bear that was around three feet high.
“Where did you come from, little guy?” I said.
I didn’t think it had been on my pallet, but I sat it on top to take to the display near the front of the store.
As I made the turn towards the main aisle, I passed Sam heading back with an empty pallet.
“Looks like I found a passenger,” I said with a smile.
“Who’s that?” Sam said.
“The little guy on top,” I said turning and pointing at the bear. Except the bear was gone.
“What passenger?” Sam said.
‘He must’ve fallen off,’ I told myself.
“Made ya look,” I said.
Sam gave me an odd look then a half-hearted chuckle.
“Good one,” he said, pulling his empty pallet back towards the stock room.
Once he was out of sight I looked around for the bear, but it was nowhere to be found.
I shrugged. ‘Maybe it did just fall off.’
I pulled my pallet down the aisle toward a central spot where most of my merchandise was displayed. I pulled out my box cutter and sliced the plastic wrap open, then started the boring task of stocking the shelves.
I found myself envious of Greg having earbuds to listen to something. I would have to invest some of my hard-earned minimum wage money in a set to make this job less boring.
As I loaded merchandise on the shelves, I heard a sound like something fell off a shelf. At first, I thought Greg had dropped something. But then it hit me. I hadn’t seen Greg’s pallet truck in the main aisle.
I stepped out and looked up and down the main aisle. Nothing was there. Come to think of it, I hadn’t heard Sam come back through with his next load either. Usually, they load the pallets by section, so we work through the store methodically. I guess Sam’s load was the exception.
I went back to stocking shelves with an odd feeling in the back of my head. For some reason, I couldn’t shake it. I felt very alone tonight. I wondered if someone was planning a prank on me.
I really didn’t mind. It helped the night go faster.
I eventually finished my pallet and decided to go back to the stock room the long way and find the other guys. If they were planning something, maybe I could catch them in the act.
I was halfway around to the front of the store when I saw a pallet that was only half empty. I looked around but didn’t see anyone. I shrugged it off and went past when I noticed drops of red on the white floor. They led from the pallet down another aisle. I followed the trail only to find a massive puddle of red, and Greg laying motionless in the middle of it.
For a split second, I froze. Panic gripped me until I remembered who was laying there.
This was the guy who set up a costume that made it look like he had been decapitated last Halloween, complete with fake spraying blood. I remember how angry Amy had been when he sprayed her. It was the best Halloween ever. Her threatening to fire us was just the icing on the cake.
“Have fun cleaning that up,” I said as I turned away from the still body and went back to my pallet. I steered it around the mess so I wouldn’t spread it any further.
‘He better clean that up soon,’ I thought. ‘Before it stains the floor. That might actually get him fired if Amy finds out.’
On my way back to the stock room I heard footsteps. They weren’t loud. I could tell someone was trying to sneak up on me, but being quiet about it.
I could just envision Greg tiptoeing behind me to jump out of an aisle, covered in fake blood, and scare me.
That would be so awesome if I was watching it happen to someone else, but I was a little annoyed. Greg’s little prank was getting us further behind in our stocking chores which meant further behind in our cleaning chores. Not to mention that he had made a huge mess, and I wasn’t cleaning that up, even though the front was my assigned section for the night.
I’d had enough. I stopped my pallet truck and whipped around only to catch a glimpse of someone dodging behind a rack of clothes.
“Alright, Greg,” I said. “You got me. I’m so scared out of my mind right now.”
I looked at the floor and there was a faint line of red footprints, but they had faded like someone had followed for a while and the red was wearing off with every step they took.
“Are you kidding me right now?” I said. “I’m done with this little prank. You’re cleaning all those footprints up.”
I turned and dragged my pallet truck off at exasperated speed.
“Children,” I mumbled angrily. “I work with children.”
I reached the stock room and kicked the doors open making them smack against the wall loudly.
‘I don’t care. Maybe Greg will get it that I’m pissed and knock this crap off.’
I drove my pallet truck into the next pallet but it wouldn’t go. I looked and there was already a pallet truck that had picked up this load from the other side.
I stepped around to find Sam laying on the floor in a puddle of red liquid.
“Dammit, you too? Enough of this. We need to get our work done!”
I reached down and grabbed his arm but his body didn’t move. I pulled his head up out of the puddle and then let it go. It fell with a heavy thunk.
A cold wave crept over me as my shaking hand pressed against my neck and waited to feel a pulse. A minute later I pulled my hand away without feeling anything.
I looked at the red liquid on my hand and recoiled.
Out of the corner of my eye, something caught my attention.
It was the stuffed bear, sitting on the floor just outside the pool of blood. There were dark spots on its fur that I hadn’t seen before and laying on the floor beside it was a large butcher’s knife.
My mind refused to believe what I was seeing. I knew it was impossible, and yet there lay my dead friend in his own blood as proof.
Someone had to have staged this. It couldn’t be real.
As those thoughts chased each other around my mind, the impossible happened. The bear’s head moved.
It turned and looked right at me. Then its eyes began to glow red. It was like someone had turned on a set of red LEDs, but I knew that wasn’t possible. These bears were just stuffed. We sold them all the time. I’ve never seen one with lights in it.
And came the next impossibility. It stood.
The bottoms of its feet were round, so it wobbled a little trying to gain its balance. And then it leaned over and picked up the knife.
Its hands were just stitched at the end of the arms to give it the appearance of a palm and fingers. When it picked up the knife the fur wrapped around the handle and lifted it. It was like watching someone picking it up with a sock puppet on their hand.
I watched in morbid fascination as this thing looked from the knife to me.
My mind was screaming at me to get up, to do anything other than just sit there and wait for this monster with an innocent smiling face to end my life horribly like it had done to my friends.
I patted my pockets looking for anything useful to defend myself. All I came up with was a handful of change and my box cutter. I pushed the blade out as far as it would go… one whole inch.
As defensive weapons went, it sucked. Especially against a murderous, psychotic stuffed bear holding a butcher knife.
I can honestly say that’s one thought I never in my life could’ve anticipated thinking.
My mind snapped me out of my reverie by reminding me of the seriousness of the situation.
I jumped up, slipping and nearly falling on the bloody floor, before gaining my balance and holding the box cutter out in front of me.
It paused as if noting the ludicrousness of my actions, then charged at me, slashing with the knife.
I dodged backpedaling as it charged. Each slash came closer to slicing one of my legs. I reached the end of the hallway and bolted through the stock room doors. As I did, I felt pain in my right leg, but I didn’t stop to examine it. I ran as fast as I could away from the stock room.
It wasn’t until I was on the far side of the store that I paused to look at my injury. Blood was pouring from my leg and it had left an easy trail to follow.
I looked up at the sign that said, ‘Health and beauty aids’, with an arrow helpfully pointing the way to the section that was on the other side of the store, a good hundred yards away.
I opened a roll of paper towels off the shelf and wrapped my leg in an impromptu bandage until I could get the proper supplies.
As I finished, I saw a little brown head peek around the corner a dozen yards away.
In any other circumstance, it might’ve been almost cute. In this one, I knew it was deadly. In running to the far side of the store, I unintentionally trapped myself in a corner.
I looked around for anything I could use to defend myself. I grabbed a mop from the shelf and swung it at the bear knocking it off its feet. Unfortunately, it rolled with it and was standing again before I had finished my swing.
It dove at me, knife outstretched, but I managed to hit it with the mop before it stabbed me.
I didn’t wait around to celebrate. I ran toward health and beauty aids. When I got there, I quickly found the bandage I needed and ran to another part of the store.
I was sucking wind and had a stitch in my side. There was no way I could keep up this pace. Eventually, it would wear me down to the point where I couldn’t evade it, and then I was done.
I needed to hide until I could figure out a plan. The offices seemed the best place, but they were a dead end. If I hid there I’d be trapped for sure. There was nowhere else I could hide that it couldn’t get to me, except for maybe the freezer. But what would be the use of hiding from the thing and freezing to death in the process?
I needed to get out.
Greg was the one who had locked up, but I didn’t know if he kept the keys with him or put them back in the office.
There was only one way to find out and it was near the front of the store. I glanced around and noticed the sporting goods section. Checking all around for the stuffed bear of death, I went to sporting goods and picked out a nice baseball bat.
Now at least I’d have a sporting chance.
I pulled a ten-speed bike off the rack and mounted it as the furball came around the corner. I took off down the aisle, smacking its head with my bat as I passed.
I glanced back to see it jump up and race after me. I shook my head and turned back around just in time to avoid running into a display.
I pedaled harder to put some distance between me and it. Greg’s body was coming up fast and I knew I didn’t have much time.
I slid the bike to a stop, rolled his dead body over, and searched his pocket for the keys. I started to panic when I came up empty. I searched the other pocket and hit paydirt at the same time the knife hit me.
I dove away from the attack, my shoulder screaming in pain, and swung the bat at it. I connected with the knife and knocked it away.
The bear jumped on me and started swinging, showering me with lefts and rights of stunning ferocity. Surprisingly, there wasn’t much impact. It felt like I was being pummeled by pillows. It seemed to sense I wasn’t being hurt and jumped off me to retrieve the knife. I took the opportunity to hop on my bike and head for the door.
Unfortunately, the tire had gotten some blood on it and I only made it a short distance before losing control and tumbling into a soda display. Bottles of soda falling on me hurt, but not as much as the time I was losing until the monster caught up with me again.
I stumbled to my feet slipping over one last bottle before running toward the door with the monster close behind.
I got to the door and shoved the key in the lock, nearly snapping it off trying to turn it quickly. I prayed the ‘please help me and I’ll never do anything bad again’ prayer as I struggled to open the doors with the monster bearing down on me, wielding its newly found knife.
I slipped through and then turned my attention to closing the doors behind me.
They were almost back together when it arrived. It slashed the knife through the thin opening, just missing my leg as it tried to keep me from locking the door. The key turned most of the way then stopped. I struggled to close the door the last fraction of an inch as the monster continued to slash at me.
It wasn’t working. As long as the knife was keeping the doors from closing all the way, I couldn’t lock them.
I devised a brilliantly foolish plan. I shoved the doors open, surprising it for an instant. Then lashed out, grabbing the handle of the knife and kicking the monster at the same time. It went reeling, and I held the knife as it lost its grip.
I stared at the knife for a second, then threw it down and closed the doors as the monster jumped up and charged. I was able to get them closed and locked before it could do anything to stop me.
I leaned my forehead against the glass as the furball glared up at me pounding on the door in impotent rage. The glass easily withstood the assault. I knelt down and stared into those glowing red eyes.
Even now, in relative safety, I wondered what this thing was and why it had done this. It stopped beating on the door long enough to return my gaze. It was hypnotic. I found myself staring blankly into the glowing red.
After a minute, I shook myself, unlocked the outside door, and stepped out into the cool night air.
I took a deep breath, feeling safer than I had but also having my world seem a little more frightening knowing that such things existed and that no one would believe me.
I checked my injuries as I limped over to the employee section of the parking lot, which was of course the farthest away from the store.
As I opened my car, I noticed there were three other cars still parked there. Sam and Greg’s cars would be hauled out eventually. I mourned the loss of my friends and wondered if I would be blamed for their deaths.
At the moment, I was too tired to care about the future further than going home and going to bed. I didn’t even think about calling the cops. One last night’s sleep in my bed was all I wanted.
Then my eyes fell on the third car.
It was Amy’s. She should’ve been gone hours ago. And yet here she was, sitting in her car.
I limped up to see if everything was ok. The closer I got, I could see she had her eyes closed but her mouth was moving. I could hear a soft murmur like she was humming a tune or something.
I tapped on the window and her eyes shot open so quickly that I took a half step back.
She looked at me and her face turned from calm to sheer terror. She started her car and sped out of the parking lot, nearly running over my foot in the process.
I thought about her odd behavior as I collapsed into my car and started the engine.
I drove in front of the store and looked in through the doors to find the bear laying down in front of them.
I stopped the car and got out. I opened both doors and went in to look at the bear.
I poked it with my foot and it didn’t move.
I rolled it over and looked into its eyes. They were brown. In fact, the only reminder of the horror that this thing had inflicted was the dark spots on its fur.
My mind started adding up all the things that led to the impossible. It couldn’t be real, but then after everything else that went on tonight, I was pretty low on skepticism.
I picked up the knife and stuck it in my waistband. Then I reached for the bear slowly and cautiously.
I lifted it, watching its eyes for any hint of red, then carried it out and put it in the trunk of my car.
I pulled out my phone and looked up Amy’s address and drove to her house.
I parked across the street where I wouldn’t be noticed and got out. I looked up and down the street and saw no one moving. Checking my watch it was two thirty in the morning.
I opened the trunk and lifted the bear, noticing the eyes had just a hint of red.
I carried it across the street and up to the front door. By the time I got there, the eyes had gotten brighter and I could feel it starting to move.
I quickly shoved it in between the storm door and the main door. I threw the knife in with it then shut the storm door, rang the doorbell, and ran to my car.
I got inside and slunk down just enough to be able to see when the porch light came on.
I saw the inside door open.
That’s when the screams began.
I listened for a few minutes, feeling justified as well as horrified until they stopped.
I stared at the long straight road ahead, lit up like a runway, and wondered what would happen next. Something in me, something unnerving told me I would never stop running.