This Story Has a Happy Ending

This story has a happy ending. I promise. Please, no matter what happens, don't stop reading.

This story is about someone I'll call "Honey", who had a very bad night. There was nothing very special about Honey. They were just like anyone else, for the most part. Really, this could have happened to anyone.

It all began right before bed. Honey had stayed up a bit late, as you may have already guessed. There was no moon in the sky, and everything was dark save for the light in Honey's room and the glow of a computer monitor.

No, Honey wasn't special and Honey wasn't doing anything special, either. Looking up scary stories on the web was hardly a unique activity.

It wasn't until Honey reached the end of a particularly strange tale that they noticed something was, for lack of a better term, "off".

There was a strange smell in the room, something that had previously gone unnoticed. Something that almost seemed to belong, and only seemed out of place in that moment.

"Honey..." whispered some far-off voice from beyond the doorway. "Honey..."

Or was it simply imagined? It could have been a creak, or just something picked out of the white noise of an appliance.

Already a bit on edge from the night's reading, Honey was loathe to check on the source of this sound. Instead, Honey hunkered down and silently insisted it was just a trick of the mind.

Everything seemed fine for a while, and Honey started to relax.

"Honey!" called a man's voice. Clear. Loud. Unmistakable.

What followed was the sharp cry of an animal. Honey's beloved pet. Jumping from the chair in both shock and concern, Honey peered through the dark doorway for any sign of what could be going on.

Had someone broken in, or was the supposed voice simply a sick sound the animal had made before sounding that desperate, pained cry?

Something sailed through the air, through the doorway, and landed at Honey's feet with a wet, gruesome splat.

There, a mangled, crushed ball of bloody meat lay motionless.

Honey cried out in terror, and instantly felt sick from the sight, smell, and sound of the bloody entrails that were oozing out onto the floor. The idea of this much-adored animal now turned to twisted gore made the illness all the more overwhelming.

There was no doubt in Honey's mind now, as they raced to the telephone. Quickly, Honey dialed the authorities and placed the phone to their ear.

The voice on the other end of the line was terrifyingly familiar.

"What's wrong, Honey?"

The phone dropped to the floor as Honey moved to hide from whatever unnatural force had set upon them.

There was no time, however, as a bulky gray figure rushed into the room, its small head set with only the crudest, most basic concept of what could be eyes and a mouth. Two black dots, one black line.

"NOT SO FAST, HONEY!!"

With only the briefest flash of white-hot claws, Honey was looking down at their own arms twitching madly as they fell to the floor. Jaw open, eyes wide, pale and unable to speak, Honey looked into what passed for the thing's face.

Its thin black line of a mouth opened... and opened... and opened until it exposed a black void lined with small, thin flailing black tentacles in place of teeth. The gaping maw went over Honey's head and, despite all protest and struggle, it passed the shoulders, then the chest, then...

Well, I told you this story had a happy ending, and I wasn't lying. You see, none of that really happened!

Not yet, anyway.

Goodnight, Honey.