When I came to, I couldn’t move.
Not even my eyes. My body was completely frozen.
Right.
Cursed.
Before I could move on to the next step of panic - probably hyperventilation or screaming (can one still scream with lockjaw?) a voice sounded.
“Vaargus…what have we here?”
“Vaarg” CT grunted.
His voice I recognized.
How couldn’t I. It terrorized my dreams.
“Vaargus.” The tired voice countered.
If my face wasn’t frozen, I would have smiled.
“Just…how much will it cost for you to remove the curse,” CT ground out.
Silence for a moment.
What kind of store keeps a curse remover on call?
“You’re serious?”
The voice sounded surprised. Shocked even.
“Would you stop playing games and just get on with it?” CT sounded…tired.
It wasn’t an emotion I had ever heard from him. I didn’t know what to make of it.
“Tell you what. You tell me why you are bothering to get him de-cursed - I’ll do it for free,” the voice countered.
“He is an employee.” I could hear the eye roll as he said it.
Silence.
“Vaargus, my good, dear, wonderful friend,” the voice I decided to name Bloke (because why not) responded, his voice sickly sweet.
“The three cursed employees in the next room - some of whom have been cursed for years, beg to differ. Why is this one special?”
I felt my blood run cold. I was a bargaining chip in a game way out of my league.
“I’m sure I don’t know what you are talking about,” CT responded.
Bloke chuckled softly. It was then I noticed the silence. That background noise that was ever present in the store?
Gone.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
It made the quiet laugh feel much too loud.
“Oh Vaargus, this is wonderful” Bloke’s voice positively oozed venom, “Did you really think I wouldn’t milk you for all you have? I’m not one you can fool, goblin.”
I could have sworn I felt the temperature in the room drop. The thing that scared me, was that I could tell it was because of CT - Vaarg.
“I think you are very bold to threaten me,” Vaarg responded quietly.
“That, or very stupid.”
The stranger hissed. “Careful, goblin. I’ve eaten things for less,” it spat.
Then the store creaked. Except this time it wasn’t tired.
“I could say the same.” I could hear the smile on Vaarg’s face.
I heard footsteps as the creatures moved towards (what I assumed) was the door.
“You get the mop. For free.” Vaarg spoke up.
Instant silence.
The swish of a cloak.
“Done.”
A frozen hand clamped down around my head.
And then everything smelled of vengeful pickles and ozone.
——-
“Oh Beeeg,” Stupid was crooning beside me.
“Stupid?” I croaked slowly sitting up.
My head was killing me.
“Beeg!” She shrieked.
Gah!
“Stupid, shut up” a voice I recognized—Ugly’s—spoke up.
Thank you.
“Hi Stupid,” I croaked, fighting through the headache.
I cracked an eye.
Stupid sat there beaming at me, a little bit of peach fuzz starting to grow back on her head where she had blasted it off on my first day flashbang.
Behind her, Ugly sat on a stool.
“For Beeg!” She stage-whispered, handing me a cup.
I eyed it suspiciously, considering the last drink she had offered me had the explicit purpose of continuing my agony.
“Eez water! Stupid promises!”
I raised an eyebrow at Ugly.
He nodded.
I drank it.
“Boss says Beeg fell and hit his head!” Stupid crowed, grabbing and wringing her ears in worry.
At that moment, CT walked through the door.
“How are you feeling Beeg? Took quite a tumble there,” he said, taking a moment to actually look up from his clipboard.
He doesn’t know I could hear, I realized.
“I’m fine,” I responded. “I don’t remember what happened.”
CT nodded. “Good. Get back to work.”
And walked off.
“Vaarg!” I called out.
He turned, startled at hearing his name.
“What about workman’s comp?”
He stared at me for a moment.
What? It was worth a shot.
Then, he actually smiled.
“Now you’re talking like a goblin, Beeg! Go on - you’ll find workman’s comp on Aisle Three - go look for it there.”
He stopped to think for a moment.
“Oh, and don’t tidy the shelves. It’s making the store act up.”
