Lucky Day Of Doom: A Collection Of Short Stories

The Tentacles

They came yesterday. I don't know exactly what they were, but they came to take us. As far as I know, I'm one of the only survivors. Even as I sit here, in this bloody, desolate diner, writing this on a napkin, I hear them smashing on the window. They're looking for someway to get in, to take me. Those disgusting, murderous tentacles.

A Few Hours Earlier...

"Mommy, Mommy, Mommy," my son was tugging on my sleeve. "Mommy!"

"What Charlie?" I asked

"I Have to go potty," He said, now doing a little dance, attempting to hold it in.

"Alright, one minute. We need to order first." I walked up to the counter and ordered food for Charlie and myself and took him to the bathroom.

I waited outside while he went, and heard him singing a song as he did his business.

I heard a loud bang and jumped.

"Holy shit!" I heard a man yell as he ran across the diner. "What the hell is that?" He pointed towards the window, were a giant tentacle was. It was green, with a strange slime-like substance coating it. It didn't have those suction cup things, but rather, claws where the suckers would usually be. What they were attached to, I do not know.

Another bang. This time Charlie began calling me.

"Mommy! What is that? I'm scared!" I could hear his voice starting to crack, like he was on the verge of tears.

"It's ok, Charlie," I said very unconvincingly. "Just go a little bit quicker, ok?"

"Ok, Mommy." He said.

I heard him flush the toilet, and then, when I expected Charlie to walk out the door, I heard a crashing sound, like the porcelain of the toilet was being shattered. Then I heard Charlie scream.

"Mommy! It's got me! Help me! Help m—"

And then he was gone.

"No!" I yelled. "Oh, Lord! What the hell is happening?"

No one had an answer.

"I'm going out," a man said. He looked to be about twenty, with a black t-shirt, a gold chain, and his pants sagging, so that we could see his American Eagle boxers. "I ain't afraid of those tentacles, and I got this." He pulled a small pocket knife from his pocket.

"You can't be serious," another man, in his mid-forties said. He was well dressed, in a sports coat and black dress pants. His face was pale, and his hands were shaking. "That thing took this lady's kid," he pointed to me, then looked back to the other man. "And you expect to just go out there and kill those things with your little knife? Are you crazy?"

The argument carried on for another fifteen minutes, until Arnold Solfo, the pale, well dressed man, punched Peter Hemming, the guy with the American Eagle boxers, in the face.

"What the hell man!" Peter yelled.

"You are not going out there," he said. "You'll die out there."

"I'd rather die out there then stay in here," he said. Then he walked out.

"Damnit!" Arnold said.

We all saw Peter walk out, flip out his knife, and get picked up by one of the tentacles. It's claws stabbed into his sides and he screamed.

"Oh my god!" He yelled.

Then blood started oozing from his mouth. The tentacle dragged his body away.

We were all frozen for a long moment. "Is that what happened to Charlie?" I thought to myself, horrified.

I heard yet another loud bang on the glass. I looked up, only to be greeted by Peter's face staring back at mine.

I jumped back and fell on the ground.

The tentacle had come back and smashed Peter's body against the window, staining it with blood. Then they flung his body across the parking lot, and Peter was gone.

"What in the name of god was that?" A woman asked. She was young, and had light blonde hair. She had a red sweater and skinny jeans on.

"I don't know, Karen," said Arnold, "But at least we're safe in h—"

A tentacle smashed through the window and grabbed Arnold.

"Apparently we aren't so safe in here," I thought to myself.

Another hour passed, and two more had been taken. Karen, the young lady with the red sweater, and Toby, who was and a teen who decided that it would be a good idea to go to his car to grab his phone.

"What are we gonna do?" I asked. "Do we even know what this really is?"

"There a bunch of tentacles that want to kill all of us!" A someone screamed.

Everyone began shouting about what hey thought was out there.

"I bet it's a giant sea monster!"

"It's from another dimension!"

"It's a mutant!"

"It's got me!"

Two tentacles were wrapped around a man, and he began screaming uncontrollably.

"Somebody pleases help me! Please!"

But there was no time to help him, for the tentacles threw him out into the street, and went for their next victim.

They came in and grabbed five more people, leaving only me, a middle aged woman who I recognized from my spin class, and a man who worked at the diner as a waiter.

"What do we do?" Said Clarice, the woman from my spin class.

"Lady, nobody knows what to do! We're stuck here!" Said Luca, the waiter.

"We should go into the bathroom. Only the women's bathroom is safe because... because..."

I began to tear up at the thought of Charlie. We all ran into the bathroom and huddled up in a corner.

"While were in here, I'm gonna use the bathroom." Clarice said.

"You're joking, right?" Said Luca.

Apparently, she wasn't joking, because she walked right into the stall. Then we heard the sound of porcelain smashing again, followed by the all to familiar screaming.

"Oh, shit," said Luca. "We're screwed."

We got up and sprinted out of the bathroom, trying to get to the kitchen.

A tentacle came in and stabbed through Luca.

"Oh god!" I yelled.

I ran into the kitchen, panting and cursing under my breath.

When I finally caught my breath and stop swearing, I grabbed a pen and a napkin and huddled in the corner.

I began to write down what had happened.