Puppy Playtime

The room I was standing in was dark. Even though there was an old light above me that looked as though it would be used in a camping ground toilet, the room still seemed dark. The lighting was yellow, which matched the color of the walls. The lime, dirty green accent wall gave the room an eerie feeling. My hands were dreadfully cold, the chamber felt like an icebox. Before I could do anymore observing, a voice blasted into the small space.

"Welcome to Puppy Playtime! Place the puppy carefully into the machine in front of you. Then, insert the coin to begin!" I flinched at the loudness and looked around for a speaker the voice was coming from, but couldn't find one. The voice was overly welcoming but passive aggressive and caused a feeling I couldn't explain to begin growing inside my stomach. I then looked down at my feet as I heard steady panting and hot breath on my legs. A puppy sat to my left, looking at me intently as I did so back. My uneasiness faded as I smiled at the brown dog when it wagged its tail at me. So cute... I thought. But the voice interrupted my thoughts once again.

"Please begin by inserting the coin into the slot!" I flinched once more, not ready for the tone in which the man is using. Confused, I realized I hadn't got a coin. As if on cue, I felt a weight in my right hand, and opened it. A coin. I tilted my head a bit, not understanding how it got there. The puppy imitated me, and I once again forgot about the uneasiness in my stomach. The puppy had one brown eye and one blue eye. I smiled at the creature whilst I pet the top of its head and, before I knew it, the voice once again reminded me to begin puppy playtime. I grew annoyed with the man, and looked ahead to see a cylinder-shaped hole that had a grimy sticker plastered on it. It read; Place pPuppy Here! With an over exaggerated smiley face next it.

     I furrowed my brows but grabbed the dog's red leash that was hanging onto its mesh collar that had no tags on it, and then placed the innocent dog into the cylinder. The dog wagged it's tail the more and more I looked at it. Before I could pet the dog once more, the hatch to the hole shut, a small square-shaped window allowing the dog to stare at me from inside. A red light began to flash next to slot that said, "Insert Coin Here!" I hesitatingly put the gold coin into said slot, pressing the 'go' button.

     The room shook and rumbling began to ensue. The dog's nails could be heard scratching against the inside metal of the canister. I shook my head, trying not to become too disoriented, my head deciding to knock against itself. I winced at the instantaneous headache, not sure why I gained one.

     My thoughts were more than quickly ripped away from me when the creature behind the little window whimpered and thrashed inside the vessel. I gasped, trying to open the hatch to the container, but to no avail. I yanked and pulled at the door but nothing seemed to be working, "Ugh, shit!"

     The dog's eyes were pleading for me to save it, but it simply wasn't budging. The rumbling stopped for a moment, but not for long. A loud screech sounded throughout the small room, causing me to jump and retreat backwards until I hit the revolting yellow wall.

     I need to get out of here. Where is the door? There's no door! Shit, shit! Please, I'm scared! I need to get out of here!

The whimpers of the dog turned to screams of agony, and haunting cries echoed throughout the space. I covered my ears, tears of pain and fear ran down my face as I listened to the poor animal suffer.

What's going on? Why can't I help it? What is going on?!

I screamed. I shrieked. I bawled. I screeched. But no matter what or how I shouted, no one ever came to help. After what felt like a never ending chorus of pain, the creature stopped its howling. the only thing left to be heard was my sobbing and, if you listened hard enough, my quaking heartbeat.

I slid down the side of the wall sometime during the traumatic event. I shook, my hands unsteady and my heartbeat in my eyes. The room had stopped its rumbling, as if to sink in the fact that I couldn't prevent the horrific incident. There was nothing I hated more than myself in that moment.

I couldn't will myself to stand up, or move any part of my body at all. That is, until I heard the sound of metal inside what sounded like a keyhole. I gasped, my eyes were burning from how long they were held open. "Help! Please!!"

I forced my body to stand up, never looking in the direction of the little window on the metal vessel. "Please!"

I couldn't figure out where the noise of metal moving around was coming from, or if it was coming from anywhere at all. My ears were ringing from the, what seemed like, never-ending screeching of the puppy. I couldn't bare to think I might be stuck in this room with this stench of death forever.

To some miracle, a plump man with a barrel-shaped chest came in from a door hidden in the wall. He had a smile on his face, one that didn't match his eyes. My legs sprung me upwards at the thought of leaving. "P-please help! I think the dog is hurt!" I tried my best to express my urgency, however, the man just kept smiling and didn't even turn to me. "Well, is that so? Shall we take a look and see?" He said calmly, his smile never faltering.

I wiped my cheeks, even if the tears were still running down them like a faucet. The man walked ever-so-slowly over to the contraption in the wall, pressed some buttons I hadn't even noticed, and the cylinder popped out of where it was locked into. "Well, it looks fine to me." He spoke, shrugging his shoulders. I furrowed my brows in confusion and walked cautiously over to where the amble man was holding the cylinder.

"Petunia, darling! Your puppy is all done playing! Time to leave!" He called out to the hallway outside of the door he walked in to. I sighed, figuring it was his daughter he was calling to, and all is well.

But I was so, so wrong...

I gasped in pure horror at the sight bestowed before me. My whole body twitching in disgust as I leaned over to look inside the cylinder. My eyes wider than they had ever been, feeing like my eyes could roll right out of them. My whole body felt unreal and sticky. I couldn't even muster up enough consciousness to scream.

The previously brown dog, who sat at my left not even ten minutes ago was now in red heaps of organs, fur, and blood splattered around the cylinder. The occasional bone sticking up here and there nonchalantly as if they were simple chicken bones. Chopped up intestine laying on top of the goop, making me fee queasy.

I felt the urge to hurl, to run from my skin, to break free of my body. Because like a cherry on top, was the small dog's fully intact skull. It's lifeless eyes stared at me, as if trying to tell me how much it hates me for letting it die. How much pain it endured. It's fur was ripped off of the head in some places, and some spots were still like the soft fur I had pet not long ago.

I slowly looked away from the grotesque, alarming sight and up to the man. "Are you fucking crazy?!" I yelled, readying myself to lurch at this black-haired, yellow-toothed man. I was shaking rapidly as the man unusually glared at me, his unsettling smile gone. His red-haired daughter skipped up to us down the long hallway and stopped right next to him.

"Daddy! Did you get the puppy?" She asked, messing with the ends of her blue dress. "Sure, did! Here you go!" I watched, unsure of why I was still there, as the man handed the cylinder over to his daughter. She giggled as she sported a large, inhumane grin. She gasped, somehow smiling even wider when she looked inside. "Huh?!" I breathed.

"Oh my god! It's perfect, Daddy! Thank you, thank you!" She screamed, reaching into the cylinder that was full of guts and not so much glory.

She retracted her small hand from the container and pulled the dog's head up by the few spots of fur still left on the top of its head. "It's so cute!" She squealed, kissing the dog on the cheek, blood spilling out from its severed veins in its neck. It's eyes once again, staring at me. I noticed just how liverish I was...

I finally came to my senses and felt bodily fluids rising from my stomach. "WHAT THE FUCK?!"

I felt all of my stomach acid and previous meals spraying and spilling from my mouth, leaving me feeling weaker than before, and even more fucked up in the brain.

The man left quickly with his daughter, shutting the door behind me. "No!" I shouted, getting up to try and open the hidden door again, but to no avail. I felt my breathing become more and more taxed, and I fell to the floor, weeping.