Chapter 2 – Chap 2

Seems as though my original post was pretty popular. Despite me just talking about how bored I am with my job. Well turns out I guess I didn’t make it scary enough for most people. So to fix that I thought I would tell you guys a story from my second week of working at this Half Priced Voodoo shop. As a reward for you guys liking it so much.

Well, just in case you have no idea who I am and stumbled on this post before my last one, my name is Travis. And I work at Ol’ King Creole’s Half Priced Voodoo Shop. I run the desk as a clerk and overall just do my best to keep up with all the weird shit that happens here. Like what happened when I just started working here.

I had punched in like any other day before. Stabbing a pin into that doll template that just stares at me all day from its spot on the counter. At this point I was still struggling in vain to keep the counter clean, but alas to no avail. So I resigned myself to just fuck around on my phone until I saw some form of life.

“Travis, my boy!” Came the voice of my boss and owner of this fine establishment. King Creole himself. “How has the job been treating you?” He asked, his stitched up lips curled into a smile as he came around the counter and wrapped an arm around me. Causing me a decent amount of discomfort.

As I’ve mentioned before, King Creole has button eyes, a stitched up mouth, and a head being kept on his shoulders by some stitches. He always wears a nice black suit with a dark purple tie and a top hat. Yes even indoors and yes I know he looks ridiculous, but look man I’m trying to keep this job as long as possible so don’t blow this for me.

“It’s going okay, Mr. Creole,” I said awkwardly. Still at this point weirded out by his looks and his unnaturally chalk-white skin. He nodded happily at me and gave me a good smack on the back. Getting a loud ‘oof’ outta me.

“Fantastic to hear son! Now, remember. They come asking for a wish, you just come fetch ol’ King Creole and I’ll be right on over.” He hummed happily, finally letting go of me and standing back. I nodded since that was really the only thing I didn’t have to do here.

“By the way, I think one of the dolls is missing.” I pointed out to him. Pointing towards the wall of voodoo dolls that goes from the floor to the ceiling. Each of them is of a different design and of a different person so if one goes missing there’s usually a reason.

“Oh, well I’ll be.” He hummed, almost happily as his button eyes turned back to me and he gave me a yellow tooth smile behind his stitches. “I expect a customer will come in today.” He chuckled, walking past me and patting me on the shoulder. His hand was cold as ice.

Giving a bit of a shiver as he vanished to the office in the back, I sat my butt down on the uncomfortable stool that sat behind the counter and went back to looking at my phone. Periodically peaking at the doll on the counter and turning it back over whenever it somehow managed to turn and look at me.

About an hour into my shift the old rusty bell on the door clang, signaling me to get off my phone as I quickly hid it and looked over to the customer. It was a girl, about my age, maybe a year older. She looked around at the place a bit disgusted by all the cobwebs. Quickly coming closer to me. Luckily, she didn’t look at the wall of dolls, since their gaze followed her as she came up to the counter.

“Welcome to Ol’ King Creole’s Half Priced Voodoo Shop,” I said in my best, I do actually wanna be here voice. “What can I help you with?” I asked her. Putting my hands on the counter and looking down to make sure it wasn’t too dusty.

“Hi. Um, the sign outside said free wishes?” She asked me, with a raised brow. She seemed like the sporty kind of person. How did I know this? Because she was wearing workout gear in the middle of Fall. She obviously was jogging and saw our sign. “How exactly does that work?” She asked me.

“Yea I gotta go get my boss to handle that. Wait here while I go get him?” I asked her, and she nodded, still a bit skeptical about this place. And I really don’t blame her about that at all if I’m being honest.

Getting off my stool, I stretched a bit and made my way over to the King’s office. Flinching when whenever was in the basement started pounding on the door again. At this point, I was still afraid of it so I just quickly ran past it and to the boss man’s office. Knocking three times like I always was told to do.

“Hey, Mr. Creole? We have someone here asking about a wish?” I said. Receiving silence from the office. Raising a brow at that I tried again. Knocking another three times to get a response. Although the response I got was the girl at the counter screaming.

Turning quickly I saw that it was just my boss standing at the counter.

Looking back at the office and over to the counter, I scratched my head at how the hell he had gotten over there so quickly. But ultimately resigned myself to it just being not worth my time to think about it.

“I do apologize for startling you, darlin.” King Creole hummed, taking his hat off and putting it to his chest. “I do forget sometimes that my appearance does frighten the faint of heart.” He hummed with a chuckle. Yea I had had the same reaction as that girl when I had first seen him.

“It’s a little early for Halloween.” The girl pouted, backing up from him and I can imagine, really rethinking the idea of coming in here. I wouldn’t have blamed her if she had left right there. Would’ve saved me the trouble of cleaning up afterwards.

“What can I do for you, Melissa?” My boss asked, putting his hat back on that messy mat of black hair he owned and putting his hands out in front of him. Obviously throwing the girl off by knowing her name. She looked to me as if to see if I was having the same reaction. I just shrugged at her. He did the same thing to me so I didn’t know what she wanted.

“Well.” She began, looking back at him and pursing her lips in thought. “What does asking for a wish entail?” She asked him, crossing her arms at him. Not a bad question to ask in my own honest opinion.

“Ah, well. You ask little ol’ me for a wish and I grant it for you. No strings attached.” He hummed, holding his hands up and showing that some strings dangled down from his gloved fingers. “I do ask that you think your wish through very thoroughly. Wishes have a very bad tendency of backfiring.” He said with a sad tone.

I looked at my boss with a raised brow. That was the first time I’d seen him show any kind of emotion that wasn’t, well, creepy happy is the best way to describe him. Seemingly sensing I was staring at him, his attention turned to me.

“Travis, can you please get something out of my office?” He asked with a hum. I looked up at him confused since I was never really allowed in there. But hey, he pays me so I might as well do it, right?

“Sure. What do you need?” I asked. Looking to the counter and noticing that stupid doll was staring at me again.

“Get the brown satchel bag that’s under the desk. I’ll handle young Ms. Melissa.” He hummed, turning his attention back to her. His hands coming down to the dusty counter and drumming his hands on them.

“Sure thing, sir.” I shrugged, giving one last look to the girl before turning and going to his office. Not before that thing in the basement started banging again and startled me. Quickly rushing past it and into his office.

King Creole’s office was surprisingly spotless. I say that because the entire shop is covered in dust and cobwebs so seeing such a nice office was definitely jarring. I know you guys are expecting severed heads and dead bodies everywhere but really he just has a desk and some photos on the wall. All of them are scratched out though so I didn’t really pay too much attention to it. Going over to his desk and looking underneath it I did indeed see the satchel bag he told me to fetch.

Taking it and heading out of his office, I came back to Melissa shaking his gloved hand and both of their attention’s turned to me. “Travis! Good boy, you found it.” He hummed as he motioned for me to come closer to him. I did and handed him the satchel.

With a cheerful grin on his stitched-up mouth, he quickly slammed it down on the counter, kicking up dust and sending both me and Melissa into a coughing fit. He opened it up and searched inside of it for a bit. His smile growing wider and seemingly about to bust his stitches when he pulled out exactly what he was looking for. Pulling out a small can of what looked like skincare cream.

“Now then. Your exact wish was that you never wanted acne problems ever again. Correct?” He asked the girl. Tilting his head and waiting for an answer. From my angle at his side, I could notice that his head really strained the stitches on his neck. That would’ve been funny to see his head go rolling around the shop.

Melissa looked uncomfortable. Obviously self-conscious about my being there. But she nodded to the Voodoo salesman. Who in turn handed her the cream. She looked down at it and then up to him. A quizzical look on her face.

“Well go on darlin. Try it out.” Creole said. A smile still on his face. Melissa looked down at it and uncapped it. I tried to peak from my spot next to Creole from behind the counter into the jar. It was just a normal white cream. Like any other kind of skincare product.

Melissa sighed as she dipped her finger into the cream and got a conservative amount. Tapping it on her cheeks and face as she spread it out in circles on the surface. And when she was finished she pulled out her phone from her pocket and looked at herself. Eyes raised as she waited for something to happen.

And, well. Something did happen. She started screaming really loud. And her skin started sizzling and dripping off her face. Now I’m not squeamish much, but being caught off guard like that I backed up and away from the counter.

“What the fuck is in this?!” Melissa screamed as the skin on her face started dripping off her faster. Like a melting candle. Meanwhile, I was behind the counter struggling to keep my food down. Luckily for me, I had skipped breakfast so I just gagged a lot.

“You asked for not more acne, dear.” Creole hummed over her loud screams and the sizzling of her skin. “Now you won’t have to worry about that ever again.” He hummed with a soft chuckle as he watched her squirm and scream some more.

At this point, Melissa’s face was mostly on the floor in a bloody mess. She clawed at what was left of her skin, as it melted her down to her skull and sinews. Her hands weren’t spared either as they too started melting their skin off. It took less than two minutes for the girl called Melissa to have become nothing but a steaming pile of bones, blood, and other gross shit on the shop floor.

“Travis, be a good boy and clean up this mess, please?” Creole said as he turned his attention to me. I was still hacking and looked up to him like he was insane. I’d just watched some girl die in front of me and now he wanted me to get rid of her?! Just a little bit crazy don’t you think?

“I-I.” I started to stammer, holding my stomach and shivering some at what I’d just seen. But my gaze turned when he gripped me by the shoulder and stared into my eyes with his button eyes.

“Be a good boy. And clean this up. Put the pile of bones in a trash bag and toss it into the basement.” He hummed to me, raising his finger quickly when I tried to remind him that I wasn’t allowed in the basement. “I’ll be down there so don’t worry about it.” He hummed. Patting me hard on the back and walking over to the door. Unlocking it with a key he produced from his suit pocket and inserting it into the basement door. Opening it quickly he closed it behind him. I could hear his muffled yelling and whatever was downstairs scurrying away from the door as his footsteps disappeared down into the unknown.

Looking over at the pile of human bones and blood I sighed hard and looked behind the counter. Putting on rubber gloves and getting out a mop I went to work. Collecting all the bones by hand I put it in a trash bag and did my best to hold my breath. I didn’t know if he wanted the organs in there as well. So I just scooped them up quickly and shoved them into the bag. Gagging hard when I finally let them go into the bag. Setting that aside I did my best to mop up the leftover blood. I did a decent job for it being my first time and all.

Finally, I grabbed the bag and went over to the basement door. Looking at it and swallowing a lump in my throat before I opened the door and looked down into the pitch-black hole. Looking at the bag I tied it up as good as I could and chucked it down there. Closing the door again and sighing hard as I kept a hand on it and looked down at the floor. A little shining piece of broken porcelain caught my attention. Reaching down I grabbed it and looked at it. It was just a white piece. Maybe from a vase or something. So I shoved it in my pocket and went back to my stool. Pulling out my phone and shivering as I scrolled through it.

King Creole returned after 30 minutes. Slamming the door shut and locking it. Mumbling something to himself as he took off his hat and dusted it. Looking over to me his smile returned and he walked over to me. Peering over the counter to see my work.

“Excellent work Travis!” He hummed, wrapping an arm around me and looking at me. Like a proud father when his son caught his first fish. “Why don’t you take the rest of the day off? Here, for all your trouble.” He hummed, rolling his fingers like he was doing a card trick and producing $200.
Staring at that amount of money and then back at him, he could’ve asked me to lick the dusty counter and I woulda done it! Taking it from him I nodded and thanked him. Getting everything I came with (my phone and nothing else) I unstuck the pin from the voodoo doll and left without another word said.

Now, look. I know what you’re all thinking. I covered up some girl’s death or helped get rid of her body. And you’re right I did. But in my own defense, I did get paid a lot to do it. And it seems like everyone thought she just ran away. No police ever came to the shop and they never do whenever a wish goes bad. So don’t you start preaching to me!
Not like I’m the one telling people to make wishes without thinking them through!

So, if you ever end up at this shop. Think about your wishes. Okay? Now, I need to get back to work. A customer just walked in.