1. The Jar

"Antiques and Curiosities"

The words were written on the shop's front in faded ink and a script that was almost dead. Few people visited the shop these days, except some lost tourist who wanted to take away a slice of old world with him.

Inside the shop the old man who owned the shop was lying on the floor and having a heart attack.

He clutched his chest and breathed deep breaths, knowing that any breath could be his last. With a superhuman effort that betrayed his dying state, he pulled up to his counter and pressed a lever under the table. The wood on the floor under the counter slid back, and a jar emerged. It was filled with cloudy yellow liquid and something floated inside the jar.

The old man tried to push the jar to the ground when another spasm from his heart sent him flopping away from the jar. His spine arched like a bow and he thrashed on the floor like a fish out of water and in the frying pan. Smoke started to bubble from his ears and his eyes popped back in their sockets like flaccid balloons. His tongue darted from his mouth like a black snake and his hands clutched at his throat till he couldn't breathe any more.

His body relaxed and the smell of shit filled the air.

Inside the jar, a floating heart started to beat.
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More tomorrow, this is part one.