The Macabre

How it all started

It started off as a normal day, I was walking back home from the small grocery store, walking because my car broke down a week before and was still at the shop. I had one grocery bag with me. I walked slowly sipping on my soda and admiring the small shops. Being new in a different state and having no time to check around because of work, I took this moment to admire my surroundings. I had just transferred from a different state because of better work.I live in a small house with my two dogs, Mikey and Lulu.

While walking down the street passing many small stores, I saw one at the end of the street, as I got closer to it, my curiosity got the best of me and I started walking faster towards it. As I got closer, I saw it was a thrift store. 'Macabre' was the name on it, it was a bit older looking, small and dark. I had an odd vibe off of it, but I went inside anyway. A small chime indicated that I just walked in, a small kind looking older lady was at the counter watching me walk in. "Welcome to Macabre, where we sell the strange and unusual. My name is Janice, if you have any questions I'm here to answer them." she recited with a small and kind smile.

"Thank you." I said while looking around. The store was small and a bit crowded but it was nice, in one section was the furniture and at the opposite end was the jewelry, one section was the old collectible porcelain dolls, I've seen enough horror movies to stay away from those. At another section there were the pots, pans and dishes. I walked in a bit further, walking around and picking up anything that caught my attention. As I walked closer to the jewelry I saw a black ring with a blue sapphire on it. 'Wow.' I thought as I picked it up to take a closer look at it. 'Love Analise' it said on the inside. I picked it up and saw it had a tag on it, fifty dollars. I guess the person who tagged this thought it was fake. I took it to the cash register and saw that Janice was waiting patiently," I see that you found the ring, you might be the fifth person to buy it. I don't know why but every single person who bought it keeps returning it." she said while typing the numbers in the register. " Well, they are crazy to return such a beautiful ring like this one. You won't have to worry about me bringing it back in." I exclaimed while paying and taking the bag.

As I was walking out I had a strange feeling, but just brushed it off. 'Maybe I'm hungry.' I thought, having decided to look for a small cafe and get a sandwich. As I was walking to a cafe nearby, I took out the ring and decided to wear it. Once sliding it on my finger I got a cold chill run down my spine. I looked at it and saw that it was shinning in the light. 'Wow, it looks way better in the sunlight.' I found a small cafe and went to the counter to order a small iced coffee and a BLT sandwich. I went to the back and sat down to eat and browse the internet. As I was looking down at my phone, I felt like someone was looking at me. I looked up and didn't see anyone. As I finished my food, I started to clean up my mess and headed out the door.

I started to walk back home, I walked up my porch and heard Mikey and Lulu barking from the inside. I walked inside and saw the dogs sitting, just watching me pass by, which was weird normally they would pounce on me looking for scratches and hugs. Once I passed by them, they turned to look behind me and started to bark. I look to see if someone was behind me, but there was nothing there. They kept barking and out of nowhere they stopped and ran towards my room.

The rest of the day went uneventful, until the night. It started to rain, heavily. Then thunder and lighting came and it started to her dark and loud. I was sitting in bed, just watching TV. When the shadows around my room started to become weird in shape. I didn't think much into it, until they started to become into these almost human like shapes. I stared to get scared, I decided to just turn the lap that's on my wall next to my bed. I don't thing I will be able to sleep tonight. I decided to just start browsing the internet on my phone again.

I didn't notice how but I had fallen asleep. Until I heard my alarm clock go off the next morning. I saw that it was seven in the morning. Smacking down my hand onto the alarm clock, I laid back and looked up at the ceiling. I thought of what happened last night, and laughed. I was over exaggerating everything last nigh. It was silly of me to think that those shadows were anything but shadows. I got up, seeing as it was a Monday, I needed to head to work, this would be my second week here. I went to my closet and got my clothes and laid them out on my bed for when I got out of the shower. I got dressed and headed downstairs to get breakfast.

As I was setting down Mikey and Lulu's bowls and saw that they weren't even close to the kitchen. I went to go look for them and saw that they were both under my bed making no attempt at getting out. I just shrugged and let them be. I headed over to the bus stop and waited. As I was waiting, I was taking in my surroundings. It was quiet. The street almost empty, which was weird, it was a Monday morning most people are heading to work at this time. It started to get colder where I was standing. This almost heavy feeling started to surround me. My breath was starting to pick up, 'calm down, it probably going to rain later again. Stop overthinking things.' I thought to myself. As my anxiety started to act up, the bus pulled up. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding and started heading into the bus.