Justin had only one more pizza to deliver before he could end his shift. He grabbed the pizza and started walking toward the back exit of the restaurant. As he walks through the kitchen, Justin says goodbye to all the kitchen staff and continues through the back door. Justin sets the pizza in the backseat, puts the address into his GPS, and starts his final delivery of the night.
Justin flew through the streets, jumping from lane to lane carelessly. Justin was ready to call it a night. He had just finished working a 14-hour shift and wished for nothing more than a shower and sleep. Having the entire weekend off to do whatever he pleased, Justin planned for most of his time to be used up on sleeping and eating. He just graduated high school and was making a steady income from his job delivering pizza. A steady enough income to sustain him as long as he lived with his parents and there were no emergencies.
“1701, 1701 Melbourne Road. There it is,” said Justin as he pulled his car over in front of a green worn-down house at the far side of a dead-end road. On the left side of the house was a fence leading out into some wilderness. Justin turned his car off and opened his door. The sound of crickets and what appeared to be an animal howling at the moon startled Justin. Justin grabbed the pizza from the backseat and turned to the house. “What a creepy house. Had to be a dark dirty house for my last order.”
Justin approached the front door and raised his hand to knock. Before Justin touched the door, a knock came from the other side. Justin rhetorically responds, “Who is it?”
A girl’s voice responds, “Pizza delivery”
“Whoa now, are you sure you got the right address? I didn’t order a pizza,” said Justin while a smile slowly grew on his face.
The girl laughed. The door opened to reveal no one behind it except a staircase leading up.
“What the fuck? Where’s the first floor?” asked Justin
“Watch your language, Boy,” an older man’s voice said coming from upstairs.
“Nope, I’m not dealing with this,” Justin said as he turned around and walked toward the car. “Fuck the pizza, I’ll pay for it out of pocket if I have to. I’m not dealing with this.” Justin gets in his car. He puts the key in the ignition and turns it. The car doesn’t make a sound. “what?” Justin asks himself.
“You must finish your delivery,” said the little girl.
Justin jumped at the sound of her voice. He quickly examines his car, but no one was there. “Hello?”
“Hello again,” said the girl.
“Where are you?”
“I’m here,” said the girl.
Justin looked around again and once again he saw nothing. The voice seemed to be coming from the backseat but nothing was there except for the pizza. “can I help you?”
“Yes.”
“How can I help you?”
“Deliver the pizza.”
“I did but no one was home.”
“We are all home… waiting for you.”
“ I don’t go inside people’s homes, sorry.”
“Oh please, I must insist.”
Justin looked over to the front door which remained open. The house seemed even darker and more worn down than it did a moment ago. Although Justin sensed something was clearly wrong here. As he stared at the house, he was compelled to go inside and up the stairs. Justin was unsure what was compelling him. He did not want to go inside, but some sort of intuition told him to go inside. Justin fought this urge for a minute before attempting to start his car again.
Having yet again failed to start his car, Justin gives in. Justin gets out of his car once again and grabs the pizza.
“Thank you, Justin,” said the voice.
Justin never told the girl his name. Justin was sure of it. His heart started racing and he began to sweat profusely. As Justin got closer to the house, he noticed a light upstairs turn off. Justin stepped onto the porch and toward the door once again. Justin stopped outside the front door and exclaimed, “Pizza delivery.”
A dead silence came from the house.
“Hello,” said Justin.
“Come in,” said the girl.
“I can leave the pizza right here on the doorstep if you’d like.”
“I wouldn’t like for any animals to tamper with the food. Please, come in.”
“Oh, I’m sure no animals will get to it.”
“Come upstairs, Justin.”
Justin stood there for a moment. It was only a moment, but Justin had never contemplated so much in such a short span of time.
“I—” Justin begins to say.
“I’ll fix your car for you,” The girl said.
“Oh really, what do you know abou—,” Justin said
“Ok I’ll take a look then,” said the older man’s voice.
Justin was unable to turn away. His mind was firing every emergency flair it could, but the closer he got to the house, the more compelled he was to go inside. Now at the front door and with the promise of a working car, Justin cannot deny them any further.
Justin walks through the door. The door closes behind him and reveals the door does not have a doorknob on the inside. Justin looks up the stairs to see a little girl probably aged between 8-10 wearing a blue dress with a stuffed bunny. “Hello?”
“Hello,” a disembodied girl’s voice said.
The girl upstairs shakes her head and turns around. She takes a few slow steps up the stairs before dropping her bunny. She continued up the stairs and Jason followed her.
“Uhhh, Pizza delivery?” Justin said.
“Come in, Please, you must meet our family,” she said.
“Yes, Martha,” Justin said
“I see… You are with us now.”
“Yes, Martha,” Justin said.
Justin walked to the top of the stairs and he looked down at the bunny. He leaned over and with his free hand, he picks up the bunny. As he touches it, his body drops to the floor, and everything darkens.
“Hello?” Justin asked
“Now, you are us.”
Justin lay on the ground motionless until the little girl picked him up. She caressed his ears and rubbed his cheeks.
“Martha. Martha, where’s the pizza,” said the older man’s voice.
Martha looked down at the pizza bow on the floor.
“Its here, Abraham,” said the little girl.
“I brought it for us,” Justin said.
“And, Justin, are you lactose intolerant?” asked the older man’s voice.
“No, sir. Enjoy.”
Martha carefully placed the bunny down in the corner of the room, facing the center of the room. Walking over to her bed, she reaches out and grabs one of the many teddy bears that rested there.
“It is your turn, Mr. Abraham.”
She carried the teddy bear over to the fell body of Justin. She places him next to the body, and the teddy bear glows for a second. A painful screech came from Justin’s body.
“Ahh, Its been a minute since I’ve had a body to myself.”
“Abraham, you must eat. You said pizza. That was your one meal this time.”
Justin jumped up from the floor, stretching his arms and legs.
“But… what if I,” Abraham said from within Justin’s body.
Abraham’s sly grin on his face drove a chill through Justin Bunny body. Martha’s glare broke Abraham’s confident stance.
“I am the master of the soul… You cannot hide any ill intent from me, Abraham.”
“I… I”
“You were granted an opportunity for normalcy… and here we stand—”
“And your reign is over,” Abraham yells before striking at Martha. In the wind up to his attack, Abraham’s eyes lost color and his face went pale. Justin’s body fell to the ground once again, soulless.
“Please, I’m sorry, give me my body back.”
“You speak with great conviction… you say you are sorry, but you demand one of my vessels. Do you even know why you apologize?”
“Yes, Martha, I am sorry for speaking out of line.”
“It is not every day one can resist my presence the way you are right now,” she said.
Hearing this, Justin gained an extra level of confidence and attempted to move his body to no avail. He struggles and fights, but he can’t feel his arms or legs.
“A powerful soul is always nice to keep.”
Martha walked over to her, undoing her dress. She opens it up unveiling hundreds of teeth in a spiral shape.
“I will fuse this one with my own,” she said as placed the bunny in her dress, closing it.
Justin fought back with only his will.
“No,” Justin screamed out, his soul fighting out of the bunny and through the creases in her dress. Slowly finding its way to Justin’s body. Finally, his soul reached its body and re-integrated itself.
“Yes.” She completely removes her dress, tossing it on the body before he can get up.
The weight of the dress overwhelmed Justin, leaving him on the ground.
“you see… this fabric constricts the soul, luckily I have nothing for it to constrict.”
Justin slowly faded out and lost consciousness.
…
“It’s your turn today, Justin,” Martha said. “What is your meal of choice?”
Justin lay in a bed covered in stuffed teddy bears. “I’d like a pizza, please,” he said.
“A pizza? Yes, a pizza for you.”
Demian Brighina is an author from Miami beach Florida. He studies creative writing and loves writing comedy and horror stories.