The ONE Archives

ONE ([0.002]): Skinny, Flesh and Bone

DISCLAIMERS: body horror, || (at end) meat, decay, missing limbs, organs.

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ARCHIVIST

Mmm, okay, so... Statement of Fan, regarding...?

FAN

A-A series of events in an unusual pet shop.

ARCHIVIST
Statement recorded directly from subject, 11, September 2016. Statement begins.

FAN

(sigh) I set my foot, ambling to find the one shop Test Tube had sent the directions to, U-uh, I believe it was called Scratchi' Claws. As soon as I got there, I noticed it was a different shape.The colours had pink and brown, slightly desaturated. The sign above was worn out but you could kinda still make it out. I looked at the picture of the pet shop on Google Maps, slightly puzzled and utterly bewildered. I figured maybe I was at a different address, but no. The address I was standing at, was the same place that Test Tube had sent me. I felt slightly disturbed by the pet shop, It felt more of a pound than a shop.

I wanted to tell Test Tube to send me another location to go to. But I decided not to. Instead I decided to gather up all my courage and enter the shop. I hoped to make an excellent first impression to one of the workers there. But as soon as I walked in, I noticed that all the lights were off, the walls were painted in a boring off white, the tiled ceiling was a light grey and the floor was wooden along with a beige colour. The aisles were filled with pet stuff, ranging from toys, foods, leashes, treats, you name it. I felt this sort of unease as I gazed around the area as if I was being watched. I tried shaking the feeling off before I noticed a guy sitting behind the desk beside me. He had a white visor, a slate and white uniform and blue eyes.

I don't know why but I detected something faintly off; there was this sort of tension, gut feeling that I should've run. I asked him if he was alone, his response was a simple no. As far as I know, there wasn't anyone in the pet shop other than him and me. He introduced himself as Airline. He seemed friendly and outgoing so why was I feeling this way?  I began to introduce myself to him, but he voiced that he already knew me, smiling. I felt this sort of unease and paranoia sink in my chest as I stepped away a bit. Despite the dread I was feeling, I remembered I needed a couple of things from the store since I was babysitting the neighbour's pet cat, Oliver, for a few weeks.

I asked Airline if he knew where the pet food section was before he got up and wandered down the aisle to the portion with the sign above it depicting, in neat, clean handwriting: Cat and Dog Kibble with a list of brands beneath it. I thanked him before I sauntered down the shelves; browsing for the Blue Buffalo brand I had on my Notes app. As I scampered down the aisle, I noticed another person in the clearing of my vision. Although it was very hard to make out, I could still see they had a red plaid hoodie with a flannel, and charcoal pants and grey boots. It took me a moment to realise; their face didn't look like a regular human would have. Instead of two eyes and a mouth, It was... multiple eyes, each arranged in a circle. They looked like cat eyes; a single slit down in the centre. Their arms didn't look like they were human. Halfway through the arms, they shifted into black claws and seemed as if they were a drawing with white spots still visible. They, whatever the thing was, stepped towards me. It... it looked interested in me. They circled around me; as if they were studying me like a newly discovered animal.

Before I could react, the thing closed all of its eyes, opened its mouth, lifted my arm and bit into it. I gasped as a large ounce of pain surged into me and I stumbled back. Looking at the humanoid creature who had just bit into my arm; a huge wave of disquiet and perturbation washes over me as I took a step back, seeing as the foreign alien walked towards me.

Out of pure fear, a rush of adrenaline came running into me as I turned around and began sprinting for my escape. Blinded by terror and shock, I tripped on a cat food can and scraped my knee. Despite the pain from my scraped knee, I quickly got up and proceeded to dash again, faster than usual. I didn't care if my legs and arms ached. My heartpace was pounding and I was practically sweating bullets as I rummaged further until I saw the moonlight shine through the barriers of the glass entrance doors. I needed to get the hell out of there, so I burst out of the store; not daring to look back at anyone. I ran down the lonely, dimly lit streets; the stars scintillating in the night sky opened a path.

The next day, I patched up my wounds and I heard a ring from the doorbell on my front porch. I went to open it; having received a pinkish grey box with the tag, "Thanks for Surviving!" I wondered if last night was a cruel, sick joke Airline had played on me. I shrugged it off, placing the box on the dining table. Opening the box, I found a Blue Buffalo branded cat-food and.. And...

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What else?

FAN
I've found a bone, Test Tube said it was a femur bone and it still had leftover tissue on each end.  There was a pink tag attached to it in sloppy handwriting: "Flesh and Bone." There was a mix of disgust and horror as I gazed at it. It seemed too real to be a pet-toy so I quickly disposed of it.

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(sigh) Thank you for telling me, We'll research more into this.

FAN

(reassured) Thank you, thank you. I'll.. I'll take my leave.

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Stay safe, Fan.

FAN

You too.

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Statement ends.

I can't say much about this one, but the pictures and the description of the pet store, Scratchi' Claws, on Google Maps seem oddly outdated and had last updated August 10th, 2015. Bryce and Amelia questioned the owner of the shop, Airline, if he was aware of the incident. Airline claimed to be unaware of the situation and was completely oblivious about the creature in the store. In the backroom, there seems to be remains of guts, livers, lungs, kidneys and more organs were plastered onto the floor with a horrible, sickly stench in the air. There are rotting human limbs hanging from fishlike hooks. Along with bite marks in some of them.

Bryce gathered that there were scratch marks, followed by tally marks carved on the walls almost like there was someone trapped in here. Turns out someone was shut in there and froze to death while eating themselves.

(slightly concerned and disgusted) Sweet mother of Cheesy HFJ! Guess, I won't be eating for a while now.

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A/N: jesus christ i think i went overboard with the gore and stuff ...