KetchUp

I've always had a love for ketchup, but seeing it in front of me now makes my stomach turn.

Looking around at all the people drowning their burgers and fries in ketchup made me feel sick, holding my breath and praying he wouldn't hear me was almost as difficult as keeping the food I just ate in my stomach and not on the floor.

How did I get here you may ask?

It all started when my family met up here at Rusty's Burger joint, we were going to test his new special burger, the “Monster burger”. As I always did, when I got mine I drenched it in ketchup, I love everything about ketchup, from its soft thick texture, to its sweet heavenly flavor.

Everyone thinks I'm weird for it but it comforts me, it's been there for me like no one else.

When the burger was placed in front of me I immediately fell in love, it was three times the size of their regular burgers, double the meat, and double the juiciness.

I dozed off and my eyes found their way to the “now hiring” sign, “this place is always hiring” I muffled quietly. After devouring my burger I felt a sudden urge to poop, but it wasn't just poop, it was diarrhea. Something wasn’t agreeing with my stomach and I couldn't hold it in much longer.

I rushed to the bathroom to find all the stalls taken, so I made a quick decision to check if the “employees only” bathroom in the back had any free stalls.

Sneaking past the counter and making my way into the back room was difficult, but I knew what to say if someone caught me “would you prefer me poop on the floor” it was perfect.

I finally reached what looked to be an outhouse and quickly locked the door behind me. The stench was almost as bad as looking into the dark hole of urine, I knew if I looked down diarrhea wouldn't be the only thing coming out of me.

Sitting there made me feel uneasy, maybe it was because I snuck into an employee only area, or because I was hovering over a mountain of other people's urine, I wasn't sure.

I got this disgusting urge to look down the hole, so I did.

Standing in complete horror, covering my mouth to hold in the urge to scream my guts out, there was nothing but bones and hair covered in MY urine. I was to the point of passing out but I had to shake it off and get out of there as quickly and quietly as possible.

But Something inside wanted me to keep looking around, I was curious, maybe what I saw wasn't what I thought it was, there could've been a reasonable explanation ( I told myself to calm down). So I snooped around the premises, I made my way into what looked like the kitchen.. But it was empty? Where were all the staff? Now I was more curious than ever.

Everything was normal stuff you'd find in a burger joint kitchen, so I made my way to the next room. This room looked like the break room, there was a desk, a few chairs, a microwave, and fridge, all normal stuff, but still no people.

On the opposite side of a room was another door, but this one was different, it was a heavy duty steel door.

I quietly made my way over to the door and carefully, ever so carefully opened it enough to peek through a crack.. It was completely empty, nothing, no chairs, no furniture, and no people. I pushed the door open the rest of the way, this room sent a cold shiver down my spine, although there was nothing insight I still felt unsafe.

Weirdly, there was nothing covering the walls but a thick foam, but I recognized this foam, on “take your kid to work day” I went with my dad to his current construction project, he was building a studio, and this was the foam they use to cancel out noise.. I was officially terrified but I couldn't stop my investigation yet, to my left was a staircase leading underground.

It took a while to gain the courage, but I was too curious not to go down.

I slowly made my way down the creaky wooden stairs.. Every step, getting closer and closer to the bottom, my footsteps started to echo, I stopped, a dull red light peered around the corner. There was no sound, yet the silence was deafening, there was heavy breathing, and it wasn't mine.

I peeked around the corner.. Staff uniforms scattered on the floor, blood stains on the concrete floor, and what looked like a giant blender and other materials like knives, bags, and.. Blindfolds?..

I was about to turn the corner when a scraggly old man entered through a side door, I quickly hid back behind the staircase wall, “that must be Rusty” I thought.

He was whistling a calming tune, but nothing about it was calming, he flicked a switch and the room turned bright red, the giant blender went from black, to clear.

Loud screams came from the blender, PEOPLE were in there, I watched in horror as the bodies blended and the screams slowly stopped.. Until every last one was nothing but mush.. As much as I wanted to I couldn't look away, he pressed another button and the red mush poured into two bins, one was blood and skin, two was hair and bones.. My mind was racing, “is this how he makes his food..” It all started to make sense, every time I ate here I got an upset stomach, then I remembered enjoying his new extra big burger and felt the most nauseous I've ever been.

He poured sugar and thickening into the blood and it created.. Ketchup? He was pouring it into the ketchup bottles we see on our tables, and he grilled the rest into patties.

Tears formed and I couldn't move, I was in severe shock, but I knew I had to move fast.

I looked up the stairs and everything went silent.. I slowly turned my head back around and his dark murderous eyes were staring right at me from the other side of the room..

My adrenaline rush kicked in and I screamed, I screamed like I never have before and bolted up the stairs like my life depended on it.. Because it did.

I ran to the kitchen and threw a pan into the break room to distract him. It worked, I hid behind a counter and could see everyone in the joint enjoying their “burgers” disgusted, I puked in my mouth and swallowed it back down.

I couldn't risk him seeing it, I didn't dare make a sound, as he entered the kitchen I stopped breathing.. He was smashing stuff around, soon everyone's attention was turned to him, it started to cause commotion, people were getting up and watching him.

A little girl pointed me out, I couldn't breathe, his head jerked around the corner and stomped over to me.

I struggled and screamed, my family must have recognized my scream because they rushed over, my dad ran into the kitchen and knocked him to the floor right next to me.

He looked me in the eye and smirked

“You have lovely skin. …”

"Ketch-Up" my dad yelled as he stormed out of the building.