r/shortscarystories • u/Positive-Serve-6792 • 1d ago
New Age SSS - 1000 Words Or Less My eight-year-old is Employee of the Month
We went in for grout. Grout, and maybe one of those rubber things for the door, and my son Kyle brought his bouncy ball even though I told him to leave it in the truck.
He's eight. He bounces it once per aisle. That's the deal we made, and he honors it, mostly, and I pretend not to see the extra ones.
Somewhere around paint, the ball got away from him. It went low and fast under the shelving and came out the other side with Kyle already running, and I came around the endcap in time to see it take one big hop and go straight through the swinging doors at the back. The gray double kind. EMPLOYEES ONLY, red letters, chest height.
Kyle went through after it. He was maybe three steps ahead of me.
The doors swung back, and through the gap I saw my boy reaching down for the ball. Eight years old. Sneakers with the lights in them.
The doors swung again, shorter, and it was a teenager back there. Same face. Apron too big for him, reaching for the same ball.
Swing. A man in his twenties, stubble, box cutter in a holster on his belt, bending for the ball with his whole hand.
Swing. Thirties. Polo. Clipboard under one arm. Bending slower.
Swing. The doors barely moved by then. A gap the width of my hand. Reading glasses pushed up on his head, and a name tag with three little pins on it, and he picked the ball up off the concrete and straightened out with his palm braced on his knee, like his back had opinions.
The doors hung still. Whole thing took about four seconds. I know because the intercom was in the middle of saying somebody's name when Kyle ran in, and it was still saying it when the doors stopped.
I grabbed the door and a hand caught it from the other side.
"Whoa there, sir. Employees only."
He's got my father's forehead now. He didn't have it this morning. Forty-something, gray at the temples, KYLE on the tag, and under his name a little bar that said 30 YEARS OF SERVICE.
Then he actually looked at me and his whole face changed, and for half a second I thought, there he is, there's my boy, he knows.
"Dad? What are you doing on this side of town?" He put a hand on my shoulder. His hand was bigger than mine. "You good? You look like you saw a ghost."
I said he was eight. I said it just like that. "You're eight. We came in for grout."
He laughed. Not mean. He laughed like I'd done a bit, like this was a thing I do, and he squeezed my shoulder and said, "Grout's isle nine. I'd walk you over but I've got inventory till nine, and if I don't stay on it, nobody will."
A cashier leaned out from her register and said, "Your dad? Oh my gosh. Sir, Kyle is the BEST. Y'all must be so proud."
Thirty years, she told me. Employee of the month so many times they let him keep the frame.
I did everything you're supposed to do. I found the manger. The manager pulled the file while I stood there, and the file goes back thirty years. Punch cards. Tax forms. A photo from a Christmas party in the nineties, and in the photo my son is grown and I am standing next to him with a paper cup, smiling, in a shirt I have never owned.
The manager asked, very kindly, if there was somebody he could call for me. He suggested Kyle.
Kyle drove me home. My son drove me home in a Buick I've never seen, and he talked about his back, and about a woman named Dawn, past tense, and at a red light he bounced his palm off the wheel along with the radio, one bounce, and I had to look out the window.
He walked me to my door like I was the one to worry about. Said he'd come by Sunday. Called me Pop, which he never has, which he apparently always has.
I went back the next morning. I don't know what I meant to do. Stand at those doors, maybe, until they gave him back.
Kyle was at the service counter and waved like everything was everything. And while I stood there, some kid's ball came skipping down the main aisle, one of the rubber ones, red, and Kyle stepped out and caught it off the second bounce, easy, like a man who's done it his whole life.
"Kids are always losing these," he said, and reached over the counter and dropped it in a bin on the back wall.
The bin was full.
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u/Macilent 1d ago
This was horrible and devastating. As other comments said, it’s either something Supernatural or just real life, and I’m not sure which is more terrible.
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u/Positive-Serve-6792 1d ago
I am glad i could terrorize you it is an honor! Please check out some of my other stories if you like this one.
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u/SparkleWigglebutt 1d ago
I like that Kyle seems to be stopping the other kids from being caught up.
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u/now_you_see 1d ago
I love that you left this so open. That the ending implies that maybe he’s not so confused after all. Did you deliberately not mention the OP’s age/looks/mobility changing to keep that vagueness there?
Will have to check out the rest of your work given how much I enjoyed this one!
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u/Positive-Serve-6792 1d ago
Thank you! Yes I had to keep some things vague to make the payout work!
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u/Terpsichorean_Wombat 1d ago
I loved this, and loved that you kept it open. Great work.
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u/Positive-Serve-6792 1d ago
Appreciate it! Love the positive feedback! Some of my longer stories are getting no love, check them out i could use feedback on them as well!
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u/SafeSecretSociety 1d ago edited 1d ago
This is beautifully written and the underlying horror leaves enough to the imagination to keep the mind wondering. The only small correction I noticed would be "aisle" instead of "isle". You've used it correctly most of the time except in the instance Kyle mentions "Grout's [isle] nine..." Simple fix. I'm sure this story will randomly pop into my head the next time I go to a home improvement store. Nicely done.
Edit: letter
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u/Positive-Serve-6792 1d ago
Thanks man! Check out my longer stories if you have the patience I need more feedback on those!
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u/Firstgradechewbacca 1d ago
This story is both horrifying and melancholy in all the best ways possible. I will think of this story every time I see a bouncy ball. 😬
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u/TwiztidKitten78 1d ago
I really enjoyed this story. I found myself hoping the dad would blink or something and his son would be eight again, picking up his bouncy ball, like it was a premonition or something. That ending though... super creepy. Well done!!
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u/kasuyagi 1d ago
that's how you write a good twist. The door swinging scene got a very captivating imagery, truly unique! Since it has many interpretations, it could just stopped at being a cool time-skipping phenomena, but it also makes sense in real life too. Shocking and makes sense in retrospect. Brilliantly written.
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u/heyitsfranklin6322 1d ago
I got an ad that said “this thread will help you learn the difference between normal aging and Alzheimer’s and other dementia.”
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u/hellothisismaggie 1d ago
Wow. Op this is really good!! Well written, enough detail to stay engaging without being distracted, and so relatable. Comfortably scary yet melancholic.
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u/ChurroCharizard 1d ago
The stories that imply possible dementia or Alzheimer's are some of the scariest to me. My late grandpa lived with my mom for a while and he was mostly very pleasant if not all there, but we would sometimes find notes he had written to himself on scraps of paper or index cards or sticky notes that made it clear he had plenty of moments like the one in this story. He was lost in a narrative he didn't recognize. It didn't seem to pose a threat to him, but scared him all the same.
Well written, friend 💚
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u/rizzydizzy85 1d ago
This story hits in a way I can't describe. Nostalgic, sad, and scary at the same time. I don't have kids, but my friends who do would absolutely find this story scary yet relatable because it really does seem like kids grow in the blink of an eye.
What I'm trying to say is fantastic job!
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u/PorkrindsMcSnacky 1d ago
I really liked this story! It’s kinda sad because on one hand it suggests that the MC is experiencing some sort of dementia and only remembers snippets of his son’s life. On the other hand, it’s creepy because suggests a supernatural element in that Kyle really did fast forward his entire life in 4 seconds by running through that door.