MicroHorror

Whatever I want in all of the world could be mine with a simple click. A twitch of a muscle will press flesh to trigger, action to history, desire to fruition.

The offer is hard to refuse at the face of the usher. He possesses a secret hidden in the fold of his eyes. A simple crease maps out a limitless atlas of potential.

The page descends. His hand relaxes, untwists his grip on the greatest gift of all. The glint of nail casts sparks of light against the shadowed cloak.

And yet I do not relinquish. Could it truly be there? Could it come from this? The offer falls, picking up speed as every second passes before my eyes. The breath quickens, exhausting time on his face, in his mind, his generosity. The echo begins to fade, strike one, two, three clicks from my finger.

Four, five, six lights descend from his hand, his fingers, glowing across my face, my neck, around his cloak. Seven, eight, nine pulses open up the eye. Ten blinks to focus on his contract. Eleven wishes for brevity. Twelve.

The deal is done.

He takes his fee.

My leave is left.

The woman behind the counter of the department store insisted she could help me out.

“Sir, may I have a moment of your time?” I nodded, hoping to rush her through her pitch. “If I may say so, sir, your skin is looking a bit… dry. Lifeless. Almost like you don’t care for it anymore.”

“You don’t say,” I replied. I raised my open hand to my face and did feel a few dry patches.

“Oh yes, sir. And I have just the thing for you. We just got it into the department this morning. It’s a new three-step system that has been used for generations in Eastern Europe. Just apply every night before you go to bed and you’ll instantly feel like a new person.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. How could some lotion make me a new person? Eastern European secret, indeed.

“The best part, sir, is we are offering the introductory kit for only $4.95. If you’re not completely satisfied within one use, we’ll refund your money and exchange the kit for any item in the department. What do you say, sir? Care to give it a try?”

How could I say no to getting free cologne the very next day? Or, by a strange miracle, perfectly conditioned skin for under five bucks. I handed her my credit card and headed home for the night.

After a relaxing dinner, I was ready to go to bed. I almost forgot about the lotion kit from the department store. I lifted the small box out of the printed plastic bag and began to read the instructions.

“Step One: in a darkened room with a sink, apply a dime-sized amount of the blue disinfectant, labeled 1, to your face and neck.” I took off my glasses and walked into the bathroom with the bottles. The blue goop tingled against my skin as I massaged the product into my face.

I left the bathroom to read the rest of the instructions. The disinfectant warmed up my face as I continued the treatment.

“Step Two: spray exactly one and one half pumps of the toning foam, labeled 2, into the palm of your left hand and rub into your face.” I couldn’t read the label without my glasses, but I found the pump bottle and gave myself two good squirts. The green foam seemed to freeze the outer surface of my face. Refreshing.

“Step Three: before turning the light back on, spritz the top of your head, ears, and back of your neck with the revitalizing spray, labeled 3.” I walked back into the darkened bathroom and sprayed the red liquid all over my head. After rinsing off my hands, I massaged the product thoroughly into my scalp.

The freezing sensation was gone, but the spray seemed to tingle under the surface of my skin. I scratched at my scalp, digging deep into the soft flesh, clawing for relief from the unending vibrations. My fingers started to pulsate like an electric razor. I knew I had had enough.

I struggled to find the light switch in the darkened room. The sudden burst of light seemed to blind me. No. The light alone couldn’t have blurred my vision that much. I pressed my face against the door length mirror, but could only see dark shadows across the surface.

I rushed to the other room to find my glasses, but could no longer see anything but the blurred color of the walls. Even that seemed doubtful. My white shirt and pale skin seemed dark, almost alive with a fury of rushing water. It was then that I felt something plop against my exposed hand. I reached up with my other hand to feel the dripping wet surface of my face, as crimson tides overtook my vision.

The construction was almost complete. Giant wings of wire and iridescent leather hovered over the yard. An air compressor sung life into the gnarled face with bursts of thick pigmented ink. Eyes glowed with an intensity far beyond their LED origins. With the flip of a switch, a faint heartbeat began to pulse. Electrical veins pumped AC fury through metallic grey matter. The glowing skin moved slow at first, gaining energy with every flicker of circuitry. The creature knew its job. Time to scare up the trick-or-treaters.