I stabbed a customer today. Where do I begin? 

I work in retail so believe me when I say I've had some real dickheads stroll in to our store. I've fantasized about doing it, sure, but never actually acted on it. Until today. I don't know why I'm confessing this to you, I should have just called the police. Their family is probably worried sick.

I should explain. At least before I call the police on myself and get this all over with. In my defense, the customer was wrong. I don't mean that in a sarcastic way, like, 'haha the customer is always right except today he was wrong' kind of a thing. I mean, he isn't normal in any way.

Maybe I'm not explaining myself right. Here, let me just tell you what happened.

I work in a small time home improvement store. We aren't as huge as our competitors, but we manage to stay open and have many regulars that come in. In fact, the regulars over the years have pretty much been what's kept us afloat.

When I say we work with a skeletal crew, it's pretty much just me and the manager. We put in something like 60+ hours a week, but the pay is worth it. Since there are only two of us, he's able to pay me way more than a normal retail employee.

So, I've always loved my job. I help homeowners with their DIY projects and go home with a sense of pride.

I love people. I've always had a soft spot for helping them save money, or giving them advice. Granted, you always tend to get a few that make you question humanity, but most of the time people are good-spirited.

But, I digress.

Today I had to open the place myself and run it. Gene was feeling really ill. I knew it had to have been something really bad because he never misses a day. That man lives and breathes his company. Never really had any kids or a wife and he has to be pushing sixty. I'd just opened the store when two of my regulars greeted me at the door.

"Hey Anna," Mrs. Keller said, smiling up at me.

I grinned as I held open the door, "Hi Mrs. Keller. How are your new feeders working out?"

"Absolutely wonderfully. You know I saw a bee hummingbird the other morning? Tiniest little thing, you would have just died," she gushed as she stepped in. "As a matter of fact─" she dug through her purse before pulling out her phone, "I got a few pictures." She flipped through her gallery. I tried my best not to laugh as she scanned through all of her photos. She was doing it the way most old people do by going through all of them instead of just going from her main gallery and selecting it. Mr. Keller rolled his eyes, muttered a question about paint and I pointed over to the isle he needed. He nodded and then shuffled away. He isn't much of a talker, but for all his gruffness he adored how his wife fussed over things. Even his eye roll was met with a slight grin and wink. They were a joy.

We were both excitedly looking at the little guy when the doorbell sounded. My head shot up and I smiled warmly at the man that stepped in. My smile faded slightly, but I quickly recovered it and called, "Good morning sir. Can I help you?"

He paused, then glanced across the store before finally looking at me. We were ten feet from each other, but even from there I could tell that his eyes were the wrong color. Even his skin looked─ waxy. As if he was wearing a skin suit. In addition to his eyes not being a color I've seen before, they were also looking in almost every direction at once.

He took a step toward me, sniffed, and then kept his distance. "Yes," he said, "I would like to purchase a─" he paused, his eyes looking up to the right, then down to the left before continuing, "a pink flowering plant." He swallowed thickly, like it took a ton of effort, "A, heebiscut," he added quickly. His voice sounds like he needs to clear his throat. Like, flem bubbling in his lungs. I blinked a few times before I caught on to what he was asking for.

"Oh, a hibiscus?" I asked. He blinks once, cocks his head to the side and then nods.

Quick to be through with this, I point to the back of the store. "Walk all the way to the back and through the double doors. Our garden is outside. The hibiscus are out in the middle." I smiled briefly, and then turned back to Mrs. Keller. She was staring after the man as he disappeared into the back. Only after he wasn't visible did she move back toward me.

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I wasn't sure, but her smile seemed a little colder than usual. Before I could talk more with her, she excused herself and walked out the front door.

I expected the strange man to return shortly, but Mr. Keller had long paid for his paint and left before I really started to wonder if something had happened. There was only one way in and out at the front, so I knew he hadn't left the store. I'm not supposed to leave the registers unattended (even though they are both automatic) but I also needed to restock a few things this morning. So, I did what anyone would have in this situation, assumed that I was just seeing things and that I was tired.

I walked back to the double doors, pushed my way in and froze.

He was right there. A few feet from the door staring out at the garden. His back was turned to me, but since I'd opened the door I thought he might turn or acknowledge me. He didn't. In fact, he wasn't moving at all. Not even a sway, or breathing. It was like a statue made of glassy flesh.

Not wanting to spook him, I cleared my throat. "Um, sir, can I help you?" I hated how small I sounded. How frail and pathetic. You like to think you are strong and capable, but when something like this confronts you, all of that flies out the window. He didn't budge.

A rustle sounded in the back of the garden near the potted shrubs. I jumped and held my breath, staring over at them. I relaxed when nothing else happened. I let out a sigh and turned back toward him. I cursed and nearly fell on my ass. He was looking right at me.

While that may have elicited some sort of response, it wouldn't have been the reason I lost it like I did if this was a normal guy. His head was upside down and backwards. His neck was bent like a goddamned pipe, stretched long and thin. Impossibly thin. The head had two glassy eyes, a deep grey-green color made up of thousands of tiny luminescent worm-like...things. They wriggled soundlessly climbing on top of one another. The mouth was blackness, devoid of anything that I could see. Just a black, endless pit.

Even with the thing directly looking at me, it made no other movement. Not even a step. It remained completely still.

I eased back, pulled open the door and crawled back into the safety of the store.

As soon as the doors were back together, I locked them in place.

I wasn't sure what to do next, but I knew that I needed to get away and to not let whatever that was back in the store. I ran to the front and grabbed my cell phone, frantically dialing Gene's number. He picked up on the second ring.

"Hey Anna, is everything OK?" he sounded worried. My voice stuck in my throat as I thought on what I could possibly say. A monster? A man that was a monster? Who the hell would believe me? I have no idea why I'm even calling Gene. How can he help, anyway? As a matter of fact, the police definitely wouldn't. "There's a man..." I offer feebly. Gene coughs and sniffs before answering, his voice sounds strained, "Is he bothering you, honey? Do you need me to come up there, or call the police?" I instantly feel guilty. Gene is really sick and he sounds worse than he did this morning. I'm coming off like some whiny scared little girl.

I glance back at the double doors, still locked in place. What had I really seen? Was my mind playing tricks on me?

"It's OK, I think he's gone" I heard myself say. Gene coughed again, "OK sweetie. Well, if he comes back around again you just lock up the store and call the police, alright?" I thank him and hang up the phone.

What was I doing? Monsters? Come on, I'm twenty-four years old. These types of things don't exist. I convinced myself to walk back there and open the door.

I wished I hadn't.

The man was gone. I mean I checked the entire garden. Behind all the trees, under the shelves (as if he could fit there) and behind the counter. My first thought was that maybe he had hidden behind the door and then slipped out into the store. But, that didn't make any sense because there was a wall right next to them.

After searching the entire store, I knew that he had to have slipped out. I just didn’t know how.

The rest of the day went by uneventful and a few more of my regulars had come in. Five p.m. couldn't have gotten there any slower, but at last it was time to leave. I had thought of the man off and on throughout the day, but nothing more than a few uncomfortable feelings. It wasn't until I locked the door and started counting the registers that it started to bug me. I'm not sure why I was feeling nervous, nothing seemed out of place.

It hit me harder as I grabbed the cleaning supplies. You know that feeling you get when things are just...off? Like something bad is about to happen? Well, I was in full-on panic mode by the time I reached the closet in the back. It didn't help that it was less than five feet from the double doors. My chest tightened and my breath quickened as I reached for my gloves. I barely got them on when I heard a scraping sound from the front.

It was all the way back by the registers. I paused, listening for the sound again. When nothing sounded, I released the breath I was holding and glanced warily at the hedge trimmers. I knew some of the shrubs and the flowers were in desperate need to be pruned, but they could hold off until later. I just wanted to get the cleaning done and get the hell out of there.

"Hello, miss?"

I'm not proud to admit this next part, it wasn't my best moment in snap decisions...or the best reaction. I jumped, grabbed the trimmers and drove them into his stomach.

I didn't open my eyes again until I heard the thud.

That's when I realized my horrible mistake. It was a man, but it wasn't him. He wore the same face, but his eyes were a soft green instead of the mucus colored ones from before. He's even in the same t-shirt and jeans, but there is no unearthly aura or malice. It's just a man, lying dead on our floor.

I keep going over it, again and again. The only thing that makes sense in my mind is that I forgot to lock the front door or I somehow missed him from before and he was hiding.

I keep wanting this all to be a dream. A horrible, awful dream. But he's still here, staring up at the ceiling with his mouth and eyes twisted in horror. God, I will never forget his face.

I'm by the registers now, it's been at least an hour and I know I need to call the police. I nearly jumped out of my skin when someone pulls up outside. I frown, but crouch down and peer outside. Not now, I scream silently.

It's Mrs. Keller. She's pulled all the way up onto the curb and just a few inches shy of the front door. She's already to the front door before I realize that it may not be locked. I dive for it a half a second too late, but she doesn't reach for the handle. Instead, she's scratching at the door.

She's looking at me and I don't know what to do. There's something off about her, just like the man before. She's scratching at the glass, staring with those squirming, dead eyes. She won't come in, but how long will that last?

If I call the police, who would believe me?