Superglue Nightmare

Superglue Nightmare- A Short Story

On a cool, dark night, at midnight, Carl was about to leave work. He opened the door, causing the little bell on it to ring, and went out into the lot to make sure all of the cars he was going to sell the next day were secure. Once he was sure that there was no way they could be stolen, he smiled with satisfaction and walked back to the door of the shop to lock it.

After it was locked, Carl reached into his jacket pocket to be certain he had all of his things. He felt his keys, wallet, phone, comb, and a stick of gum he had put in there earlier that day. He grabbed the mint gum from his pocket, removed the wrapper, and put the gum in his mouth. Turning away from the door, he stuffed the wrapper back in his pocket and began to stroll toward his car.

Once he got to his small, dark blue car, he grabbed the door handle and tried to open the door. The door wouldn't open and there was something sticky on the handle. Removing his hand to inspect the sticky substance, he discovered that it was some sort of glue. He frowned, wiped his hand on his slacks, and began to look around.

"This isn't funny!" he called out into the empty lot. Nobody responded and he didn't see anyone but he thought the glue would have been dry if it wasn't recent. He shrugged, dismissing it and turning back toward his car, thinking maybe it was just a teenage prank. They probably left after putting the glue on his door.

Once Carl had wiped the glue off of the handle with a handkerchief he had pulled from his pocket, he realized the door hadn't opened earlier because he forgot to unlock it. Chuckling to himself, he used his key to unlock his door before opening it to get in. As he put a foot into the car, something suddenly collided with the back of his head.

Carl fell to the ground, hitting his head on the asphalt. He tried to curl up on his side but was kicked in the nose. He groaned, grabbed his bleeding nose and rolled onto his back to look up at his attacker, who was standing over him.

Carl's vision was blurry, but he could tell that the person was tall and wearing a white shirt with an unbuttoned, black shirt over it. He was also wearing an unusual mask, but Carl couldn't tell what it looked like exactly.

For the first time, Carl realized there hadn't been any cars coming down the road. He started to panic, knowing that nobody would see what was happening to him. He pushed himself up on his forearms and started to move backward clumsily, and slower than he'd like to have moved.

"L-look, if y-you want my wallet, it's in my pocket. Need a car? Y-you're surrounded by them. Take what you want," Carl said quietly and shakily, trying to reason with the masked man.

The man said nothing in response, only tilted his head to the side. He pulled something out of his pocket and started to walk toward Carl. Carl tried to move faster but only ended up moving even slower, falling and tearing his sleeves and scraping his arms. He looked up at the man, his vision now somewhat more focused, and saw that he was wearing a blue and red bear mask with jagged teeth.

As the man got closer and Carl still tried to move on his bleeding, aching arms, he realized with horror that the red parts of the mask could very possibly be blood.

The poor car salesman finally collapsed on the ground, bleeding and sobbing. His attacker stood next to Carl, watching him cry helplessly for a moment, before crouching down and grabbing his face with one hand. He used his other hand to set down the thing he had pulled out of his pocket, then removed the mask.

The man forced Carl to look up at him with his tear and panic-filled eyes. The masked man hadn't been a man at all, but a woman. Carl tried to pull himself out of her grasp but she shoved him back instead and his head smacked into the asphalt again. She grabbed what she had placed on the ground before pinning him to the ground and holding his head in place.

Carl realized, through the throbbing pain, that the thing in her hand was a bottle of superglue and became confused but started to flail around, trying to get away; she was too strong. She tore the cap off of the bottle with her teeth and held it up above his face. She tilted his head back and began to pour the glue into his nostrils. Carl was screaming and crying hysterically, struggling to breathe and trying to punch anywhere he could. It was pointless. She got as much of the glue in his nose as she could and then began to pour it in his mouth as he was screaming.

Carl closed his mouth to prevent it but she punched him in the jaw. He couldn't keep his mouth closed for long anyway because he couldn't breathe. He opened his mouth slightly, attempting to take in short, quick breaths through his glue covered lips before everything went black.

......

Detectives arrived at the scene the next morning. Carl was lying on the ground, several feet from his car, dead.

"Wilson, you found anything yet?" shouted Detective James from over by the police tape.

"Yes, sir. It looks like the murderer filled his nose and mouth with superglue."

"With what?!"

"Superglue, sir."

"How much?"

Detective Wilson crouched down and picked up the empty, discarded bottle off of the ground. "All of it, sir."