Post by Barrel on Oct 7, 2007 12:08:37 GMT -8
It was a somewhat normal day in the little shop on Skid Row. The young man clad in a simple dress shirt and slacks, who was the new owner of the shop after the original owner's seemingly unfortunate accidental death, couldn't help but glance over his shoulder every few minutes. Seymour Krelbourn kept expecting the police to show up, especially after all that evidence. First the "Mushnik and Son" delivery bag left in that dentist's office, along with his baseball cap... the mysterious disappearance of both dentist and his boss... bloodstained dentist uniform hidden in one of the trashcans- and the red dots all over the linoleum. Seymour had told his co-worker that the red dots was just some Hawaiian Punch that he had spilled, and it had stained, but that was stretching the truth quite a bit. To be honest, he had stood (actually, sat in a dentist chair) while a sadistic drill-happy dentist laughed himself to death by overdosing on nitrous oxide, then he had lied to his boss when confronted about it, causing Gravis Mushnik to be devoured by the carnivore lurking near the front window of the shop.
Speaking of the carnivore... "Krelbourn, I'm hungry. FEED ME!" the Venus flytrap-butterwort crossbreed whined loudly. Seymour's workplace was indeed a flower shop. Thanks to his carnivorous plant, they had been getting a lot of customers, where just six short weeks before, they had been ready to go out of business.
"Shush, she'll be coming any minute now! I'll feed you later, I swear! I can't have her knowing the truth about you!" Seymour scolded. Normally, he'd ignore his rude plant, but his co-worker and sort-of girlfriend should be coming to work soon. Maybe she'd be early. At least she wouldn't be hours late, like she had been when her boyfriend the dentist was still alive. He mistreated her, giving her black eyes and other medical problems, and scared the wits out of the poor girl. She had looked so unhealthy all the time! Just hearing the way Dr. Orin Scrivello had talked to the blonde had made Seymour feel sick.
The front door opened, causing a small bell to jingle. Seymour glanced at the clock. "Right on time, Ms. Fulquard!" he said as he rushed to greet the woman in the somewhat revealing outfit- but ended up tripping and falling flat on his face. But he quickly got to his feet again, smiling.
The strangely slim Audrey Fulquard closed the door behind her, and flipped the sign on it over to read "Sorry, we're closed". "Seymour, nobody's gonna want to buy flowers today," she told the man, blushing a little as she looked away from the smiling Seymour. She had liked him since they met years ago, but hadn't been able to admit it because of her previous boyfriend. But now she felt guilty for being with Seymour, like she was cheating on her boyfriend or something. She didn't know what had really happened to the dentist, she just knew that the police claimed that he had "mysteriously vanished". So Audrey tried to keep the bond between them "just friends", even though she wanted to be Seymour's love so badly she couldn't see straight. But some things simply weren't meant to be.
Seymour blinked, confused. "Why not? Today's just as good a day as yesterday..." the young man said slowly. He had no idea that today was a holiday- Audrey's favorite holiday, in fact.
Audrey gasped. "You don't know what today is?" How could he not know about this day, the thirty-first of October? "It's Halloween!"
"Hallo-what?"
Audrey sighed. "It's Halloween. You dress up as something else, something strange and unusual- like your plant, that would work as an interesting costume- and give candy to cute little kids who ask for it!"
"And you're telling me this because...?" Seymour still didn't quite understand what his co-worker was hinting at. This was nice to know, but why was the blonde Audrey telling him this?
"Seymour, you might as well close the shop today. Nobody's gonna come in. Besides, you need to make a costume!" Audrey insisted. "I bet you have random pieces of clothes you can just throw together for a costume!" The blonde thought for a moment, then smiled at Seymour. "Dress up, and we can go... uptown. And give out candy and stuff." She sighed. "Orin always loved this time of year..."
Seymour looked away, biting his lip. A month, and Audrey was still talking about Orin as if the dentist was still alive, even though she knew he was dead. She had to know. If he had lived, he wouldn't have let some other, non-sadistic dentist take over his office, removing all the copies of "Pain" Magazine, taking out all of the dental torture tools, scrubbing blood off the walls...
"So... I'll see you later!" Seymour's friend chirped, turning and walking back out of the shop.
"Bye Audrey!" Seymour called after the blonde, then leaned on the counter. "Halloween? You dress up? Huh. Mushnik never told me about that." The florist had been adopted as a small boy by the late Mushnik, who had provided him a place to sleep under the counter and a job- he got every other Sunday off! And he got to meet Audrey; that was the highlight of the young man's life. It seemed like Audrey could brighten up even the worst day.
Seymour's thoughts were interrupted by the carnivorous plant hybrid. He had named it after Audrey- he called it the Audrey II. "Hey kid, I can help ya scare the bejeebers outta that Audrey girl and anyone else ys run into tonight," the plant hissed in it's somewhat masculine voice, nudging Seymour with a vine. "Whaddya say?"
"Well..." Audrey II's offer was tempting, but... This was a killer alien plant that was talking to him. "Fine. Sure. Just don't do anything... too weird, okay Twoey?" That was the botanist's nickname for Audrey II. Twoey. Of course, Seymour hadn't known that Audrey II's voice would sound like a guy's since plants are hermaphrodites; but if he had, he wouldn't have named it AUDREY Two. He'd have named it something else. But the plant didn't complain about the name, so it must've been fine.
"Ya gotta come closer then," Audrey II said with a smirk. Yeah, it was smirking. Seymour could tell. If anyone ever says that plants can't smirk, they've obviously never met Audrey II.
Seymour hesitated for a moment. Why would the plant want him to come closer? But he trusted it. It DID say that it wouldn't do anything too weird, after all. And he was the one that fed it, so it couldn't hurt him too badly. Reassured by that thought, the florist inched closer to his plant. "Okay, why'd ya want me to come closer?" he asked curiously.
"Oh, no reason!" Audrey II sneered as it drew itself up to its full height (twelve feet, if you must know). "I was just thinkin', y'know, that it's SUPPERTIME!"
Seymour couldn't react quickly enough. He heard the simple phrase he had grown to hate, eyes widening with horror as he turned to run. But then he shrieked as pain raced throughout his body. He struggled wildly, yelling at the top of his lungs and trying to escape the mouth of Audrey II, but he simply couldn't do it. He was weakening from the pain of the teeth digging into his flesh and the blood he was losing. He felt the plant's bud tilting back, then the teeth were roughly yanked from his body. The man felt himself sliding over Audrey II's rough, blue tongue, but was too weak to resist.
Audrey II's jaws snapped shut as it swallowed Seymour, smirking, then burped and spat out the man's glasses. The plant then lowered its bud to lap blood off of the floor, waiting for night to fall.
The sun was setting. The perfect time to go out into the streets. Audrey had put on a sweater because the night was sort of cold. Peering across the street, she frowned a little at the sight of the shop. The lights were off. She wasn't sure if that was good- or bad. The blonde cautiously crossed the street and entered the little shop. "Seymour?"
Audrey II chose that moment to let the three buds it had been sprouting droop. It kept its mouth shut, however, so Audrey would continue to assume it was a harmless giant plant. The blonde woman, of course, noticed the buds, and knelt down by them. "What's this?" She picked up the first and examined the flytrap. The mouth of the flytrap suddenly sprang open. "Oh God... Orin! Doctor!" Instead of the normal flytrap "mouth", the dentist's face was clearly visible. "What... how..." She stared, stunned, but then turned to the next flytrap bud. She pried that one open, and stared. "Mister Mushnik? But Seymour said..." Her co-worker couldn't have done this! He couldn't have killed her boyfriend and boss to feed them to this... this PLANT! Seymour had lied to her! That fact hurt. She wanted to just turn and run, out of the shop, out of Skid Row. But she was curious. Whose face would be in the last flytrap. She picked up the smallest flytrap bud, which slowly opened. "Oh... my... God..." the blonde gasped, eyes practically bugging out of her skull. "Seymour!" The man's face was indeed the one in the flytrap's mouth. Now Audrey couldn't stop the tears from forming in her eyes. She had secretly loved the man, and hadn't been able to work up the nerve to tell him that. Now she'd never be able to, thanks to... to... his plant. Tears trailing down her face, she lifted her head and glared at the plant named after her, now hating it. "You killed him!" she screeched angrily.
Audrey II smirked. "Sure did. What made ya figure that out, hm?" It then grinned, revealing rows of long, sharp teeth. A terrified Audrey stared for a moment, then slumped to the floor with a quiet whimper as she fainted. "Hehehe... Happy Halloween!" the plant crowed.
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Okay, I know I need a better title. And I need to figure out what genre this is. Yeah, it's for a contest on Quizilla. Jeez, genre, genre, genre... uh...? Any suggestions for a title and the genre of this piece would be greatly appreciated!
Speaking of the carnivore... "Krelbourn, I'm hungry. FEED ME!" the Venus flytrap-butterwort crossbreed whined loudly. Seymour's workplace was indeed a flower shop. Thanks to his carnivorous plant, they had been getting a lot of customers, where just six short weeks before, they had been ready to go out of business.
"Shush, she'll be coming any minute now! I'll feed you later, I swear! I can't have her knowing the truth about you!" Seymour scolded. Normally, he'd ignore his rude plant, but his co-worker and sort-of girlfriend should be coming to work soon. Maybe she'd be early. At least she wouldn't be hours late, like she had been when her boyfriend the dentist was still alive. He mistreated her, giving her black eyes and other medical problems, and scared the wits out of the poor girl. She had looked so unhealthy all the time! Just hearing the way Dr. Orin Scrivello had talked to the blonde had made Seymour feel sick.
The front door opened, causing a small bell to jingle. Seymour glanced at the clock. "Right on time, Ms. Fulquard!" he said as he rushed to greet the woman in the somewhat revealing outfit- but ended up tripping and falling flat on his face. But he quickly got to his feet again, smiling.
The strangely slim Audrey Fulquard closed the door behind her, and flipped the sign on it over to read "Sorry, we're closed". "Seymour, nobody's gonna want to buy flowers today," she told the man, blushing a little as she looked away from the smiling Seymour. She had liked him since they met years ago, but hadn't been able to admit it because of her previous boyfriend. But now she felt guilty for being with Seymour, like she was cheating on her boyfriend or something. She didn't know what had really happened to the dentist, she just knew that the police claimed that he had "mysteriously vanished". So Audrey tried to keep the bond between them "just friends", even though she wanted to be Seymour's love so badly she couldn't see straight. But some things simply weren't meant to be.
Seymour blinked, confused. "Why not? Today's just as good a day as yesterday..." the young man said slowly. He had no idea that today was a holiday- Audrey's favorite holiday, in fact.
Audrey gasped. "You don't know what today is?" How could he not know about this day, the thirty-first of October? "It's Halloween!"
"Hallo-what?"
Audrey sighed. "It's Halloween. You dress up as something else, something strange and unusual- like your plant, that would work as an interesting costume- and give candy to cute little kids who ask for it!"
"And you're telling me this because...?" Seymour still didn't quite understand what his co-worker was hinting at. This was nice to know, but why was the blonde Audrey telling him this?
"Seymour, you might as well close the shop today. Nobody's gonna come in. Besides, you need to make a costume!" Audrey insisted. "I bet you have random pieces of clothes you can just throw together for a costume!" The blonde thought for a moment, then smiled at Seymour. "Dress up, and we can go... uptown. And give out candy and stuff." She sighed. "Orin always loved this time of year..."
Seymour looked away, biting his lip. A month, and Audrey was still talking about Orin as if the dentist was still alive, even though she knew he was dead. She had to know. If he had lived, he wouldn't have let some other, non-sadistic dentist take over his office, removing all the copies of "Pain" Magazine, taking out all of the dental torture tools, scrubbing blood off the walls...
"So... I'll see you later!" Seymour's friend chirped, turning and walking back out of the shop.
"Bye Audrey!" Seymour called after the blonde, then leaned on the counter. "Halloween? You dress up? Huh. Mushnik never told me about that." The florist had been adopted as a small boy by the late Mushnik, who had provided him a place to sleep under the counter and a job- he got every other Sunday off! And he got to meet Audrey; that was the highlight of the young man's life. It seemed like Audrey could brighten up even the worst day.
Seymour's thoughts were interrupted by the carnivorous plant hybrid. He had named it after Audrey- he called it the Audrey II. "Hey kid, I can help ya scare the bejeebers outta that Audrey girl and anyone else ys run into tonight," the plant hissed in it's somewhat masculine voice, nudging Seymour with a vine. "Whaddya say?"
"Well..." Audrey II's offer was tempting, but... This was a killer alien plant that was talking to him. "Fine. Sure. Just don't do anything... too weird, okay Twoey?" That was the botanist's nickname for Audrey II. Twoey. Of course, Seymour hadn't known that Audrey II's voice would sound like a guy's since plants are hermaphrodites; but if he had, he wouldn't have named it AUDREY Two. He'd have named it something else. But the plant didn't complain about the name, so it must've been fine.
"Ya gotta come closer then," Audrey II said with a smirk. Yeah, it was smirking. Seymour could tell. If anyone ever says that plants can't smirk, they've obviously never met Audrey II.
Seymour hesitated for a moment. Why would the plant want him to come closer? But he trusted it. It DID say that it wouldn't do anything too weird, after all. And he was the one that fed it, so it couldn't hurt him too badly. Reassured by that thought, the florist inched closer to his plant. "Okay, why'd ya want me to come closer?" he asked curiously.
"Oh, no reason!" Audrey II sneered as it drew itself up to its full height (twelve feet, if you must know). "I was just thinkin', y'know, that it's SUPPERTIME!"
Seymour couldn't react quickly enough. He heard the simple phrase he had grown to hate, eyes widening with horror as he turned to run. But then he shrieked as pain raced throughout his body. He struggled wildly, yelling at the top of his lungs and trying to escape the mouth of Audrey II, but he simply couldn't do it. He was weakening from the pain of the teeth digging into his flesh and the blood he was losing. He felt the plant's bud tilting back, then the teeth were roughly yanked from his body. The man felt himself sliding over Audrey II's rough, blue tongue, but was too weak to resist.
Audrey II's jaws snapped shut as it swallowed Seymour, smirking, then burped and spat out the man's glasses. The plant then lowered its bud to lap blood off of the floor, waiting for night to fall.
The sun was setting. The perfect time to go out into the streets. Audrey had put on a sweater because the night was sort of cold. Peering across the street, she frowned a little at the sight of the shop. The lights were off. She wasn't sure if that was good- or bad. The blonde cautiously crossed the street and entered the little shop. "Seymour?"
Audrey II chose that moment to let the three buds it had been sprouting droop. It kept its mouth shut, however, so Audrey would continue to assume it was a harmless giant plant. The blonde woman, of course, noticed the buds, and knelt down by them. "What's this?" She picked up the first and examined the flytrap. The mouth of the flytrap suddenly sprang open. "Oh God... Orin! Doctor!" Instead of the normal flytrap "mouth", the dentist's face was clearly visible. "What... how..." She stared, stunned, but then turned to the next flytrap bud. She pried that one open, and stared. "Mister Mushnik? But Seymour said..." Her co-worker couldn't have done this! He couldn't have killed her boyfriend and boss to feed them to this... this PLANT! Seymour had lied to her! That fact hurt. She wanted to just turn and run, out of the shop, out of Skid Row. But she was curious. Whose face would be in the last flytrap. She picked up the smallest flytrap bud, which slowly opened. "Oh... my... God..." the blonde gasped, eyes practically bugging out of her skull. "Seymour!" The man's face was indeed the one in the flytrap's mouth. Now Audrey couldn't stop the tears from forming in her eyes. She had secretly loved the man, and hadn't been able to work up the nerve to tell him that. Now she'd never be able to, thanks to... to... his plant. Tears trailing down her face, she lifted her head and glared at the plant named after her, now hating it. "You killed him!" she screeched angrily.
Audrey II smirked. "Sure did. What made ya figure that out, hm?" It then grinned, revealing rows of long, sharp teeth. A terrified Audrey stared for a moment, then slumped to the floor with a quiet whimper as she fainted. "Hehehe... Happy Halloween!" the plant crowed.
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Okay, I know I need a better title. And I need to figure out what genre this is. Yeah, it's for a contest on Quizilla. Jeez, genre, genre, genre... uh...? Any suggestions for a title and the genre of this piece would be greatly appreciated!