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(Page 4 of 4) Oblividon by Gregory Harvey
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The claw shot out of its position, and shimmered through the plexi-glass, without breaking it. The three prongs snapped together outside, in front of a terrified Reece, as if it was a dragon straight out of the middle ages. It staid suspended in the air for a moment longer, eyeing him off.
What, in the name of fucking Jesus Christ, was going...
The claw shot forward and latched onto Reece's face, rending the flesh aside as its grip punctured his cheeks. With unholy and supernatural strength, the claw pulled the screaming Reece forward, into the Oblividon Skill Tester, straight through the plexi-glass. The turtle dropped soullessly to the ground.
When Kate heard her last customer, a man who she had taken an instant disliking to, shout profanely into the air, she had left her counter to see what all the commotion was. Outside, she had watched as he banged on the game machine in front of Sue's Bakery, over and over again. Eventually he had recovered a small, green, toy turtle. She knew he was a wierdo but this was really too much... Kate had to stop herself from laughing.
But then something happened which Kate would find herself explaining to a psychiatrist over and over again for years to come. The claw had simply shot out of the machine, grabbed him, hauled him in, and the man had simply ceased to exist. He was there and then he wasn't. The plexi-glass had swallowed him hole. Eventually, the claw innocently returned to its normal position.
As the lights and sounds of the machine died down, eventually stopping completely, Kate hesitantly moved forward. On the ground was the toy turtle he had dropped. Keeping one eye on the machine, she bent down to pick it up. Kate examined it closely, finding a bizarre, wet stain on the lips of the creature. It was crimson red.
"What's going on?" She asked herself alou, "Wierd..."
Kate dropped the turtle, before heading back to the store and calling the police. As she waited for them to come, Kate was wondering whether someone had slipped her drugs of any sort. Seriously, people just didn't get pulled through plexi-glass screens by claws from Skill Testing machines and disappear... did they?
The OBLIVIDON SKILL TESTER remained silent the entire time.
Reece awoke to blue and red flashing lights, although he had not opened his eyes yet. Wherever he was resting, it was just to damn comfortable. What had happened? The last thing he remembered was being in front of the skill tester and then... what? Reece allowed his eyes to peer open a little bit.
As soon as he did so a large floodlight shone into them, almost blinding him. Or at least, he thought it was a floodlight. Reece looked again, and realized it was simply and oversized torch, being held by an insanely oversized police man. What the fuck?
Reece's eyes shot around, as he realized he couldn't move his body. He was in a crowded enclosure, full of stuffed, toy animals. No... shit like this didn't happen. He looked down at his hands... or paws as they now were. He was... he was a bear. A fluffy bear.
"Hey!" Reece yelled to the police man still examining the machine, "Let me out! For the love of Christ let me out!"
"Don't bother, man," A voice to his right said, "That glass is freakin' sound proof, mother fucker."
"Who..."
"To your right, the duck. Fucking funny, ain't it? Used to be the supplier for this whole fucking suburb, and now I'm a duck," the voice said, "Word of advice... see that claw above ya'?"
Reece looked upwards, no longer feeling able, or even the need, to speak.
"He's a real bad mother fucker. Sleepin' now. But when he's awake... you don't want to say a damn thing. Got that?"
The claw, dangling above them was more than imposing. It had teeth, for one. The damn thing had teeth.
"Welcome to Oblividon, my man. You gonna be here awhile..."
Awhile? How long was that?
Fuck.
Fuck.
FUCK!!!
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