part0018

They were the latest craze to hit before Christmas, and her six-year-old daughter, Lillymairose, had dearly wanted one. Like many other parents, she wasn’t able to buy it before it sold out. Searches on Ebay and other sites proved too pricey. They regularly went for about $40, but she only found them for $200-$300 each! She hated to let Lilly down, but as a single mother, there was no way she could afford that.

She quickly read it again, to make sure it wasn’t just another scalper site, and was surprised to find it was local. She clicked on the link, and was navigated to a website with the bold statement:

Missed those Hatch-A-Pets at Christmas? Easter is this Sunday, and what better surprise in your child’s basket, than a Hatch-A-Pet? Because of a warehouse overstock, we have 100 of these available for pickup. Click on the link, and reserve yours today. Once they are gone, they are gone!

She looked twice at the price, and immediately clicked on the “Reserve Now” button when she saw they were only $50 .

98? She had been pushing it; lucky she got in when she did. After following up with the email confirmation, she immediately received a response with an address to a local warehouse, to be there Friday, and the time. It also specified she bring cash. Slightly worried, she was beginning to think it was a black market thing, and was momentarily spooked. In the back of her mind she remembered the movie, ‘Child’s Play’. She remembered how that mother had gotten the Chucky doll, and what the ending to that was.

“Jean, you are being silly,” she laughed aloud, then glanced around to make sure Lilly hadn’t seen her computer screen. She’d have to take time off from work on Friday, but the look on Lilly’s face, Easter morning, would be worth it. Already, she was thinking of what she needed to do: map the location, and take some money out of the ATM…

She was disheartened when she arrived at the location on Friday. There were a lot of people there, and the warehouse looked a little shady. The more she thought about it, though, the better she felt. It may have been a suspicious deal, but she’d be safe with so many people around. She realized that all of them, like herself, were clutching their printed confirmation numbers. Only those who responded to the ad would receive the Hatch-A-Pet .

She glanced at her phone, and saw it was almost time for it to begin. All conversation ceased when they saw a man open the door and step outside. He was handsome, wearing a three-piece suit, and looking very out of place in a dirty warehouse, but he just oozed confidence, and the crowd collectively sighed in relief.

“Welcome, everyone! I’m Dean Samuel, the CEO here!” he called out, effortlessly. His voice carried over the entire crowd, as though he’d had stage training. “I hope you all have your confirmation numbers. Only those with them will be rewarded.”

Several people laughed and Jean thought to herself, Rewarded? What an odd choice of words. Her worry dissipated when she saw two men come out from behind ‘Mr. Suit’. They were each holding several Hatch-A-Pets. She was going to walk away with one today!

Someone standing closest to them yelled out, “Why are they pink and blue?” It suddenly got very quiet. “They are supposed to be white, like an egg!”

All heads spun in Dean’s direction, awaiting his response.

“Not to worry,” he reassured, “these were made for the newest batch. The pink are female Hatch-A-Pets and the blue are male.” He paused, before continuing, “I have a confession to make to you good people. These are not overstock. They are the first prototypes that we are planning to put out in a few months. We’re testing the market here with all of you. Included in the box is a website address. After the egg has hatched, we want your opinions, and a there will be a short survey to take. You are our test audience for a brand new version of Hatch-A- Pet! But it needs to be a secret. We didn’t want scalpers to simply come buy a bunch of them, then put them up on auction sites. I hope you can all understand that.”

Smiles and head nodding was seen everywhere. They loved the idea of being a part of something secret, something special. Many were already imagining their children’s faces when the new Hatch-A-Pet cracked open.

“They are all programmed to begin hatching at noon, local time. Make sure your children will be up, and have that egg out of the package,” he spoke, as he waved his hand behind him, and others brought out more boxes of Hatch-A-Pets, “Please have your confirmation and money already out, to speed up the process. Again, I thank you for your help in this. So, who’s first?”

“Will the Easter Bunny come and visit tonight, Mommy?” Lilly asked, as Jean was tucking her in for bed.

“Of course,” Jean replied, with a smile, “the baskets are in the living room waiting for him. I even left him a cookie, like you wanted.”

Lilly smiled sleepily, an empty spot revealed where a front tooth had come out a couple days ago. She’d already had a visit from the Tooth Fairy; now the Easter Bunny. This house was just full of magical creatures this week! She snuggled down into her pillow and fell asleep before Jean had finished reading her her bedtime story. Closing the book and setting it on the bedside table, Jean tiptoed out of the room, closing the door behind her .

She smiled, as she visibly relaxed. It was her time now. She was going to fill the basket with the Hatch-A-Pet and the candy she’d bought later, but wanted to relax with a glass of wine right now. She picked out a movie from her DVR that Lilly was too young to watch, and settled in for some romantic comedy.

By the time the movie was over, the bottle of wine was empty. She upended the bottle and chuckled. When was the last time she drank an entire bottle in one sitting? It was delicious, though. She’d have to buy more of this one. She dropped the bottle in the garbage can, as she went into the kitchen to put the basket together. She had everything hiding in the cabinet, high above the sink where Lilly couldn’t reach. Now, she had all the candy laid out on the counter, even those nasty Peeps that Lilly loved so much; bleh, too much sugar for Jean. The only thing left to get was the surprise. The Hatch-A-Pet had been pushed further back in the cabinet, and Jean needed a chair to reach it. She was a little unsteady as she stepped up, and realized how high she was. Maybe this wasn’t the smartest thing to do after drinking the entire bottle! Her fingertips were touching the smooth edge of the box, and she wiggled them a couple of times, to pull it closer. Just as she had it in her hand, she wobbled on the chair, and almost screamed when the chair tipped. She righted it, keeping herself from falling, but the box still slipped from her fingers, and hit the kitchen floor.

“Oh, shit!” she loudly whispered, mindful of Lilly asleep, deeper in the apartment. She picked up the box, and set it on the counter. She took the egg from the box and set it in the pink and green Easter grass in the basket. Luckily, she’d managed to procure a pink one, although Lilly would’ve been happy with a blue one.

“Oh, no! I can’t believe I did that!” There was a diagonal crack on the mottled surface of the egg. Briefly, she wondered why it had a rough surface, when they were supposed to be smooth, but she only worried about how to fix it. She frantically dug through her “junk” drawer to find some superglue. The crack was only on one side. If she faced it towards the back, and didn’t let Lilly touch it until it hatched, maybe she’d never notice.

The hatching! Would the fall damage that part of it? Would it still hatch at noon like all the others? What if she ruined it, and it never opened? Lilly would be heartbroken. She was so mad at herself, and wished she had never drunk the wine. The alcohol was getting to her head, her emotions were getting the better of her, and she began crying. Without thinking, she picked up a Peep, and popped it into her mouth. Her mouth puckered at the intense sugar rush; she was still chewing it, when she saw the egg move. What? She swallowed a huge chunk of sugar and marshmallow, almost gagging from the thickness of it, and looked closely at the egg. It was wobbling slightly, and she could hear faint scratching coming from inside the egg. She looked at the clock in horror. Only midnight! 12 hours early. Oh God, she really screwed this up! What could she do? She quickly got her cell phone, and turned on the video. If Lilly couldn’t see it hatch live, at least she could see it hatch on video. It was the best that Jean could do .

Since she wasn’t sure how long the hatching would take, she pulled out the built-in stand that her phone case had - she didn’t think she’d ever used it before - and propped it on the counter with the best view. Nervously, she pulled the chair closer to watch. She was tempted to go wake Lilly so she could watch, yet she hadn’t finished filling the basket.

That’s what I’ll do! I’ll fix it up, go get her, and tell her the Easter Bunny just left, but he told me that the egg was hatching early! Jean was excited with the idea, and artfully filled the candy around the egg in the basket. She was just pulling the eggs they had dyed out of the fridge, when she heard a loud crack.

She whirled around, and rushed back to the counter, glancing at the phone to make sure it was still recording. I should go get Lilly, before it completely hatches! She sat the dyed eggs on the counter, and took two steps away, when she heard a small, low-pitched growl.

Slowly, she turned, and picked up the egg. She watched the crack expand, as it grew and separated. Two little, glowing, pink eyes blinked at her. The eyes pushed closer to her, as a fuzzy, little nose pushed its way through the opening.

She reached out, with a tentative finger, to touch the nose, when the top of the egg flew off with a louder crack. She pulled back her finger, in horror. This was not a cute, little Hatch-A-Pet! She didn’t know what this was! It was small, only six inches tall, but had little pointed ears, with tiny tufts of fur on the ends, and glowing, pink, reptilian-shaped eyes! Its small snout was furred, with a cute, little black nose. When it opened its mouth, Jean saw that it was full of short, but sharp teeth. Its body was covered in black scales, which made the fur on its head look wild. A low growl rumbled from the back of its mouth, and as it reached for her, she saw four little arms with extra joints, ending in clawed hands that looked as sharp as its teeth. It also had four legs, with equally dangerous feet. She dropped the egg on the counter, and backed up too fast, smacking her butt into the counter on the other side. The little monster hissed and lowered its ears. Without warning, it pounced, landing on top of her head, its claws caught deep in her hair. She couldn’t see what it was doing, but she could feel it! It was biting her; tearing small chunks out of her scalp!

She wanted to scream, but was afraid that Lilly would come out, and be attacked as well. Right now, there was a closed door between her and this creature, and she needed to keep it that way. Reaching up to grab it, she felt an agonizing pain in her left hand. She quickly pulled her hands down, and saw her left index finger was missing up to the first knuckle. Pain and terror turned into anger, and she steeled herself against the pain, as she reached up again and tore the creature from her head. She had both hands around its skinny torso and saw chunks of her scalp with hair hanging off, still clutched in its claws. It opened its mouth, and she was stunned to see how far it opened; it was as if the jaws of this monster came unhinged. She pulled back to throw it against the wall, and almost yelled, when it bit down on her wrist. She tried pulling it off, but its teeth were in deep. It began slashing at, her with all its claws, and sliced open her wrist in several places. Blood immediately sprayed, and she knew she was in deep trouble. All she thought of was Lilly, and what would happen to her if she died without killing this creature.

She took two steps to the fridge, and let go with one hand. The creature struggled even more, and she very nearly lost her grip on it completely. Before that could happen, she opened the refrigerator door, positioning the creature in the opening. With what little strength she had left, she slammed the door on the creature’s head. It immediately stopped struggling, and wavered in her hand. Its teeth were still imbedded in her wrist and she felt it bite harder, so she slammed it again.

The little monster’s head fell back, and its teeth slid out of her wrist. All the little arms dropped, and spread out on her hand like the drooping petals of a dying flower. Blood trailed down her arm, as she held it out away from her. She looked around, trying to figure out what to do with it. She looked back at the fridge, and had an idea forming. She opened the freezer and quickly dropped it inside. Listening for any sound inside, she found some dishtowels to wrap her wounds before going to get Lilly. She was feeling weak, and leaned against the sink while she ran her wrists under the water. Although the bite was small, only the size of a walnut, it burned like fire, and wouldn’t stop bleeding. The missing finger seemed to hurt the least to her surprise. She still felt like she had the tip, and could swear she felt it bending. Her wrist was what worried her the most; she was pretty sure the beast tore open an artery. If she didn’t get that taken care of soon, she would bleed to death. As she bent over the running water, she felt the blood from her scalp wounds trailing down her face. Her head could wait. She needed to get out of here.

Three dishtowels later, she was turning to go and get her daughter, when she heard a series of popping sounds. She looked back in time to see four little claws pushing through the seals on the freezer door.

She watched in horror as the sharp claws sliced up and down, until they separated the rubber. She couldn’t move, as she watched the freezer door slowly open, long strips of the rubber sealing falling down, sliced into shreds. She saw the glowing pink eyes glaring at her, and her paralysis broke. She turned to run when it made a huge leap and landed on her face. It plunged one clawed hand into her right eye, and immediately all vision from that eye ceased. She almost screamed again.

Her only thought was to run outside, putting the front door between Lilly and the creature. Stumbling into furniture, she felt the creature slice her face over and over. Her knees hit the coffee table, and she fell forward, arms outstretched, almost plunging them through the glass top on the table. Using her left hand to push herself back up, she used the right to pull the creature off of her face. With only a single grip on it, there was more chance for it to wiggle and the creature bent down and bit off half of the index finger on her right hand, right before her eye.

Well, at least they match now , she thought hysterically.

Once up, she used her left hand to increase her hold on the monster.

It was getting harder to keep the monster in her hands, due to all the blood. She felt it getting loose, so she tried to adjust her grip, as she hurried to the door. Her eyes widened, as she saw the creature pop right out of her fist, like a banana squeezed from its peel. Again, it went straight for her face, and she felt the claws digging in her cheeks, her nose. Then, just before she reached the front door it tore out her left eye.

She was completely blind now, but she knew her front door was only a hand-stretch away. It didn’t matter what happened to her, once she got outside, and the door shut behind her; only that Lilly was safe. She reached for the door, then felt a massive flare of pain in her throat. She tried to croak out a sob, but nothing came out. When she reached up, she only felt a gaping hole, with blood flowing freely. Her mouth moved silently, as she tried to say her daughter’s name, but there were no vocal chords to set the word aloud; just the whistling, gurgling sound of her ruined throat.

She slowly dropped to the floor, as she couldn’t hold herself up any longer. She slid down the door, landing hard on the carpet. Her fingers trailed down the hard wood of the front door, and she realized it was still closed. She was crying as she died, and her last thought was that of Lilly.

Don’t forget to get your cameras ready to record the hatching! Make it a family affair! Bring everyone to see it hatch. We want the world to know about it, and we want it to spread far and wide! Your Hatch-A-Pet will be the start of something big! Something new! Something no one will ever forget!

Although there was no one to see it, the email had been cc’d to everyone who had bought a Hatch-A-Pets at the warehouse.

Jean’s cell phone played the theme song to “Game of Thrones” as the alarm she set for 8:00am had arrived. It played endlessly, and finally woke Lilly, who came out of her room. She stood in the doorway, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, “Mommy?”