Short horror stories

Claw machine

  Every Sunday afternoon I would take out my two sons to the arcade. It would always brighten their day when I gave them their coins and they would run off to play some games. They were such young boys and we're still trying to get over the death of their mother. They didn't exactly understand what it meant for someone to be dead and they often asked when she was going to come back. Taking them to the arcade helped us all get our mind off of it, including myself.
  She had died only two months earlier and it was a lot harder around the house without her. I was just a father with two young sons and a wife that passed away. I was happy that we still had our children, but I still needed her. She was such a loving and caring mother and wife. There was no way I could be the mother the boys no longer had.
  I noticed that since she died that my older son, Dustin, would always play with the claw machine in the arcade. He didn't want to play anything else. He would just stay there and spend all of his coins on it. He was hoping to win a teddy bear or some kind of stuffed animal from the machine but he would always just waste all of his coins.
  "I'll get one this time!" He would say.
  I was kind of upset that he would waste his coins like that but I didn't want to upset him. If he was having fun with it then there was no point in taking that away from him.
  "Daddy! Daddy! Look!" Dustin yelled happily.
  I turned around to see him holding up an old teddy bear. As I examined it closer I realized it wasn't just an old teddy bear. My eyes widened.
  "Dustin, isn't that the teddy bear you lost about two years ago?" I asked him in surprise.
  "It's Mr.Teddie! I knew he'd come back!" Dustin squealed in excitement as he hugged his teddy bear tightly.
  "Where did you find him?" I asked.
  "I won him from the claw machine!" He beamed.
  I looked at him puzzled. How would his old teddy bear be in the claw machine? I knew that it wasn't just a teddy bear that looked like the old one too. It had the same blue crayon mark from when he was younger and there was a slight cut on its left ear. It even has the label that said "Happy 1st birthday,Dustin"
  Dustin was just too happy for me to question it. I got my other son and left the arcade. We went out for ice cream before heading home.
  The next day, Dustin begged for me to take him back to the arcade. He had never done this before, but he also had never won anything from the claw machine. I tried telling him that we only went to the arcade on Sundays and that he would have to wait, but the begging continued. Eventually, he got his brother to start begging to go to the arcade as well.
  I just couldn't say no. I had to make the boys happy in any way I could. I didn't want them to continue to think about their mother.
  The boys were filled with joy as we got into the car and drove to the arcade. Luckily, the arcade was only a couple minutes away.
  Once we had arrived at the arcade, I gave the boys their coins and then they ran away. As usual, Dustin ran straight to the claw machine.
  This time, Dustin won a prize instantly. He ran straight up to me.
  "Daddy, look! I won again! I won again!" He chanted excitedly. 
  This time, Dustin had won something very strange. It was my wife's wedding ring. My heart instantly sank. She was buried with the ring still on her finger. How could it possibly have gotten into that machine?
  I quickly grabbed the ring and demanded to speak to the manager right away. Dustin looked up at me in confusion.
  "Go play with your brother, Dustin. Daddy has something important to take care of,"
  "Okay daddy," he nodded as I handed him a few more coins before he ran off.
  Once the manager came out to meet me, I approached him in a rage.
  "What the fuck is going on around here! First my son gets his old teddy bear that he lost two years ago from that damn claw machine, and now it has my deceased wife's wedding ring!" I yelled in a rage.
  "This wouldn't be the first time this has happened," he stayed calmly. "You said your wife is deceased? Well that's just her trying to take back her son,"
  "What the hell are you talking about?" I asked, getting more annoyed.
  "There's a lot of lonely spirits out there. People change when they die. They don't want to be alone. She just wants at least one of her sons back. So she's using that claw machine."
  "Y-you're making no sense! What the fuck is going on?" I wanted to punch him in his face. He was being way too calm for my liking and he wasn't making any sense. He then pointed his finger behind me so I turned around.
  I saw blood coming from the claw machine, and Dustin's bloody body was trapped inside.