FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

First day of work, I told myself in front of the mirror. I got out of the shower a couple of minutes ago, so my fur was still damp, but was drying quickly. I had nothing on safe of the towel around my waist, and I couldn't help but admire the effort I put into my body: the creamy white and russet hued fur that was pulled over my taught muscles. The fur that shaped them, and the black stripes that streaked across my body.

I was in no way buff but still . . . I could make the ladies turn their heads if I wanted--and if she was a tigress, the better.

I don't know why I was so excited, maybe because I'm twenty, and it's my first job that I got on my own. I remember grandpa telling me how proud he was getting his first job, course that was what? fifty years ago? It was hard the keep the kink out of my ropy tail, or the proud raise muzzle and perked ears. My tail swished happily.

The door opened and Mom stepped inside.

"Mom!" I yelled, clenching my towel, and turned my back to her. My tail bristled and lashed in agitation.

Mom chuffed, giggling into her paw. "Vince, it's not like I haven't seen you naked before."

I blushed under my fur. "I know . . . but still, it's embarrassing."

Mom rolled her bright blue eyes. "I just wanted to check on you and make sure you're getting ready for work."

I scuffed. "Of course," I said, quickly stepping into my boxers when she wasn't looking. I pulled my pants on, pulling my tail though the tail-loop of my black dress pants, and then put on my maroon colored short.

Mom came over and ran her fingers though my cheek ruff. "You look so handsome in that," she said, that warm, motherly smile on her stripped muzzle.

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Thanks." I gave myself a quick check in the mirror and brushed any fur that was out of place.

Again, she smiled, but wider. "Anyway, just wanted to wish you good luck on your first day, and to give you the keys." She reached into her pocket and produced the keys to the Jeep outside.

I snatched the keys and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before hoping down the steps two, three at a time. "Can I hang out with my friends after work?" I called out. "Yes! But only an hour, then head back home."

"Thanks!"

And out the door I went. I popped in my phone and played some music, flipping through my track list until I found a song I favored. It took me about twenty minutes before I pulled into the busy parking lot. Shit . . . I thought. And here I was hoping for a nice slow day for my first shift. But it was a Saturday, so of course we'd be busy.

I stared at the night sign that read "Mark 'n Bark" before heading inside. The place was swapped with people, just about every species you could think of, littered the place. Most--if not all of produce employee was dominated by prey: horses, sheep, gazelle, and a lot of hares, and meat market was the same with predators: foxes, wolves, tigers, and such. But there were a mix of each in each department.

Deli had a good mix of predator and prey as well. I thought it was kinda funny to see a rabbit in meat; his tall ears were pulled back away from the meat cutter, I believe.

I stopped by the service desk to ask for help. A tall female hyena stood by the counter and asked if I needed help.

"Yes," I said. "I'm Vince, this is my first official day."

"Ah yes," she said and disappeared behind a door to reappear with a name tag in her outstretched paw. "You know how to sign in, yes?"

I took the tag that had my name and clipped it to my shirt. "Yes, ma'am I do."

The hyena chuckled and her paw out. "Please, call me Brenda. I'm the supervising manager, so if you need help, just come by and ask."

I shook it and said, "Nice to meet you, I'm Vince."

"Good." She gave me a toothy grin. "As you can see we're real busy today, so I'm going to be up here most of the time, but go ahead and clock in and go look for Karmen. He'll help you out today. He's the fox on four." Brenda turned around and helped a dhole with a return.

The clock in machine beeped when I tried to scan my badge: BADGE NOT FOUND. Fuck . . . come on, work. I tried again and this time it didn't say anything.

"Hey," a voice said. A skinny fox walked over, and wow. His black ears were dyed the color of the rainbow, and it looked like the tip of his fluffy tail was dyed the same. Gee . . . gay much?

It's whatever, though. Whatever floats your boat--but I couldn't help but think it's true what they say about foxes.

"Here, let me help you," he said, and took my badge and swiped it before handing it back to me. "You're the new guy, right?"

I nodded.

"Alright, well, you're clocked in."

I just stared at the rainbow-colored fox. "What'd you do that?"

"Oh! You head it the wrong way." He held out his black furred paw. "My name's Karmen."

As if I couldn't read his badge, and I took his paw and shook it. Surprisingly he had a firm grip; I thought it'd be daintily and all. "Vince. Brenda said I'd be working with you."

The fox nodded. "Correct. Now, I know you were checker trained, but we'll a little short on baggers, so for now, you'll be bagging."

"Ok," I said, and into the deep end I was thrown. Karmen started me out with helping on small order to start off, switching me off to other registers whenever they had big orders. And it was fine for now, though I soon found out that I didn't like bagging with paper. It was just a pain in the ass.

Kamen had me do a little bit of everything, bagging mostly, but had me check sometimes if the lines were getting to long, or going outside to help with carts--holy hell! Was doing outside on a hot day and doing that for an hour was a bitch. No matter how times I put carts in, like three rolls be gone in flash. Shit.

The girly fox was nice enough. Didn't really yell at me whenever I messed up, which was good, and it seemed a lot of the emplyee's here really liked him. Foxes do have a charm about them, specially the queer ones.

By time I hit the forth hour mark, I was exhausted. I quickly learned that people were inconsiderate pricks too! I had on at least three occasion my tail was each stepped on or crushed by carts. I mean, how would they feel if someone did that to their own tails? It was like fifth grade all over again. A lot of us long-tailed cubs had it rough growing up.

"Alright," Karmen said. "Break time. Go ahead and head upstairs, and I'll meet you up there."

I grabbed something quick from the freezer section and drink, bought it, and headed up stairs to the break room. While my food was in the microwave, I plopped down at one of the empty table, pulling my phone out.

My phone vibrated in my paw; the caller ID said it was my friend Mario. "Hello?" I asked.

"Sup bitch," Mario (ferret) and my other friend Derek (skunk) said in unison.

"Sup fuckers?" I asked.

An elderly possum fixing her shirt gave me hard glare, and I rolled my eyes at her and turned away.

"Just chilling at Derek's playing the Xbox. You?"

"Nothing much," I said. "On my break."

"Oh," Mario said. "How's your first day?"

"Busy as all hell," I replied, swishing my stripped tail.

"Any hot girls there?" Derek asked.

"Your mom."

"Fucker." I laughed. "What would you know about hot anyway?"

I rolled my eyes even though I know he couldn't see them. "Whatever. Anyway, did you guys want to hang out after I get off?"

"Sure," they replied.

"Cool," I said, scratching my muzzle.

"We're going to get food," Derek said. "See you later, buddy."

The line clicked, and I placed my phone down. Fuck . . . I still had like three and half hours left. The rest of the day was going to be fun.

I rested my sore foot against my leg and messaged my aching feet pads, working my fingers through my skin and fur. The hot pavement outside was killer on my feet. It should be illegal to walk outside in that heat.

Just as I was about to get up and get me good, Karmen walked in and said, "Yes, I know. I'll bring some home tonight, love you." Before hanging up and placing phone in his pocket.

The fox sat down next to me and starched out before diving into this club sandwich.

"Boyfriend?" I asked.

"What?" Karmen asked, licking mayo off his lips and finger. "Oh yeah . . . how'd you guess?"

I looked up pointedly at his ears.

"Right." He reached up and brushed his finger pads against the back of his colorful left ear. "This doesn't bother you, does it?"

My brows raised. "No, it's whatever. I mean I don't understand a gay guys affinity for sucking cock, but it eh." I shrugged.

Karmen gave a wide canine grin. "Good," he said, and then whispers under his breath, "It's the twenty first centaury for God sake."

I give him a sideways look. "You know, as long as you don't ask me to join a threesome or anything . . ." I was unsure if I had to mention that or not. I don't know what gay guys are like.

Karmen looked up from his food and stared my dead in the eye. Then he burst out laughing, his body shaking with mirth.

I laughed nervously.

"Oh hon," he said, trying to suppress his giggling. "My husband and I are happily married, and I wouldn't do that to him--or you; I don't even really know you by the way, and if I did, I still won't ask. Not that kind of guy."

Married? "You-your married?"

"Yes, for" --he thought about it-- "Three years now, and coming up on our fourth."

Wow . . . "How old are you?" Karmen mocks being appalled. "I'm twenty-seven dear."

"You don't look that old."

"Why thank you." He smiled and wagged his tail. "Anyway, do you have a girlfriend or . . ."

He doesn't finish the sentence, but I can guess what he was going to ask.

"Nope," I said simply.

I must've not fully answered his question or he didn't understand because he asked, "So . . . you're . . ."

I smiled. "Straight as an arrow. But no, I'm don't have a girlfriend."

"Ah, you just haven't found the right tigress."

"Or any other girl. I'm not speciest."

"That's good to know."

Because I couldn't help it, I said, "It's the twenty first centaury for God sake."

Karmen just chuckled. "That was good, I will give you that."

For what remained of our short break, we continued to talk, and I found Karmen was a really nice guy. It was easy to see why he was such like. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's a little weird talking to a gay guy; no matter how hard I tried it was hard not to think about what he does with his boyfri--husband. I just tried to push that stuff out of my mind.

We told each other a little bit about ourselves and our hobbies and such.

The fox checked his phone and said, "Well, we should head back, we might have gone over just a little."

"Oops," I said, dusting crumbs off my pants and paws. "It was nice talking to you."

"Like wise," he said and clasped me on my shoulder, and we both headed downstairs, depending back into the chaos.

The rest of my shift went by pretty fast, and Karmen and I talked every now and then when it slowed down or if we had to open up on another register. By the time I had fifteen minutes I was more than ready to go. I don't think my feet or my tail could stand any more abuse for one day--but I did learn to keep my tail tucked in a little so it didn't get trampled on again.

"Hey Vince," Brenda said. I hardly said her, that I forgot she was here. "Would you mind going up to the Scary Room and grabbing a couple boxes of bags before you leave? You know where to room is?"

"Yes," I said. "Why is it called that, by the way?"

"You know, I'm not sure," she said, rubbing chin with a clawed finger. "It's always been called that. Since I've been working here." Brenda gave the key for the room and told me to grab a cart and take the elevator up.

"Ok," I said and walked away. Once at the door, I put and key in and squeezed inside. I don't understand why it was called the "Scary Room"; looked just like a storage closet. And here I was hoping it would be spooky or something. This blows' . . .

The florescent lights above flickered briefly, and I stopped dead my tracks. Little tingles of fear ran down my spine, and what felt like phantom like claws traced down my back. A cold breath washed over my neck, as if someone was breathing on me. But when I turned around no one was there.

What the fuck . . .

I shook my head and thwacked my tail in irritation, feeling a little light headed. Again, the lights flickered before the door pushed the cart outside, closing the door. Soon the room was engulfed in darkness. I saw . . . at least I think I saw a pair of glowing white eyes and a wide grin in darkness. It was there for a second or two, and then in a flash it was gone. The lights fluttered back on and the queasy feeling that gripped me vanished.

Shakenly I ran my paw between my ears and closed my eyes to clear my head. I was exhausted. My tired mind was playing tricks on me, that's all. All I need was a drink of water and everything will feel alright again. I hoped . . .

With the door propped back open, I placed the boxes into the cart and ambled for back to the elevator--taking a good drink of water before heading inside.

The frontend had calmed down a little while after I left. I pulled the cart to the service desk, letting Brenda know before clocking out.

"Hey Vince," Karmen said, jogging up to me. "Is everything ok? That took a little longer then it should've."

"Ah, sorry," I said. "I had a hard time figuring out which box had the bags."

"You sure you're ok?" He rested a paw on my shoulder, squeezing it comfortingly. His ears folded back and his muzzle and brows creased worriedly. "You look like you just saw a ghost or something."

Or Something . . .

My ears flicked at the mention of a ghost. "Yeah," I smiled. "It's just been a long day and I'm tired, is all."

"Okay . . ." His rainbow hued ears rose, but not by much. Gay men are way too emotional¸ I told myself.

"See you tomorrow than."

I grinned, swishing my tail. "Yep." And with that I walked away and headed back upstairs (keeping my eyes and ears on the Scary Room near the top), grabbed my shit and left. The drive to Derek's tiring, and with backed up, it took me even longer to get there.

After first I thought about ringing the door bell, but thought, fuck it. I entered the mildly scented house, saying hi to the Derek's mom before heading downstairs to his room. The two sat on the large futon couch centered in the room, playing Battlefield 1.

"What's up guys?" I asked, sitting in a chair opposite to them.

"Just playing a little bit of multiplayer," Derek said, flicking black ears my way. "How was work?"

I sighed. "Long."

"Yeah that sucks."

I looked around the clustered room, at the piles of cloths laying around, the stack of movies that occupied his dress, and at the line of soda cans and energy drinks on his desk. This place as kind of disgusting, not that I'm any better, but I wasn't going to get him to clean his room. That's what _his_mother is for.

The guys paused their game, and Mario turned the lights on, stretching his arms and legs out, and fluffing out his matted tail.

"Shit, it stinks in here," I said, waving a paw in front on my nose.

Derek gave me the dirtiest look. "Fuck you."

"Yeah, it smells like skunk in here," Mario laughed.

Derek splayed his ears. "It's not my fault my species has such a strong scent."

I grinned. "Just messing with you man. The one thing you're good at is de-scenting your room. It doesn't smell bad in here."

"Whatever," the skunk muttered. He scratched his muzzle and took a drink of the soda he had out. "You guys hungry?"

I nodded, and Mario gave him a thumb up, and three of us headed out for dinner. We went to a burger joint call Jacks Burgers. We all got their deluxe burger and extra helpings of fries. I asked Mario what he's been up too, and he said he's gotten a lot of hours at his dad's maintenance store, mostly working in the back. Derek said he's trying to look for another job since he got fired. Apparently, it's inappropriate to drink at the bar you work at while you're still on the job.

"Man, was mom pissed," he said, shoving fries into his muzzle.

"You don't say . . ." I teased.

Derek narrowed his eyes. "Hey! My girlfriend just broke up with me! I need a drink. It's a stupid policy anyway. All I had was two beers."

"And now you're out of a job."

Derek waved a black paw. "Eh . . . the job was ok, and the pay kind of sucked."

I shook my head and gave a toothy grin. "Mark N' Bark are hiring for florist. That might be the perfect job for you."

Derek snarled. "Fuck that! Only fags do that. You think I am one?"

My mind drifted to Karmen, and I felt guilty for making the joke. "No, so the flowers would mask your skunkness."

The skunk rolled his eyes. "Har har."

We all laughed about it, and Mario asked how work was. I told him it was long and tiresome. It was nice to hang out with my friends again. We've been so busy (expect for one of us) we just haven't had time.

Fifteen after it got dark, I drove the guys back and headed home. I said hi to Mom and Dad before slinking upstairs and collapsing onto my bed. My room was filled with sports and movie posters that littered the wall, a collect of movies and video games stacked across from my bed. The rotating fan above felt relaxing, the gently breeze felt great against my fur. It didn't take me long to doze off.

Mom came in shortly after, waking me up. "Hi sweetheart," she said, sitting on the edge of my bed. She rested a paw between my ears, gently scratching my left ear while her over paw stroked my tail, which was resting against my side.

"Hmm . . . Hi Mom," I said, rubbing sleep from my eyes.

"How was work?" she asked.

"Fine."

"Make any friends?" She continued her stroking and scratching, and the combination almost made my pass out again.

"Ye . . yes, a fox name Karmen."

"That great," she murmured, and then reached down and kissed my forehead. "Night sweetie."

"Night," I called before during onto my other side and buried my face into my pillow. I dozed off again shortly afterward.

"Vince . . ."

Wha?

"Vince . . ." Again, the voice said before that . . . face flashed in my dreams and I was ripped awake.

My heart jackhammered inside my chest, and my clothes were damp with sweat. I laid back against my bed and tried my best to fall back asleep, but couldn't. All I could see was--whatever the hell I was seeing. It was like I could see those eyes and grinning teeth, but couldn't at the same time. It was distorted and blurry.

What is going on with me?! Was I going crazy or some shit? This was starting to scare me, and I'm a little unsure what to do about it.

It took me a couple minutes to calm me down and an hour or so to finally sleep again. And when I woke up the next day, I felt so tired and restless, I was tempted to call into work. But I went in regardless. Today I got to work with Brenda which was fine, but I was hoping to see Karmen again. It was slow today, so it was a nice pace compared to the hectic day yesterday.

I got to work on the registers for two hours, and it was kinda cool. Like it felt more important than bagging. But I kept messing up and there, so I had to take it in stride. Thankfully the hyena was very patient with me.

The rest of the week went by fast, and I didn't have to go back into the Scary Room--I still don't understand why I feel uneasy every I pass. I've seen people go in there and come back without any probably. So why me? Why does this only appear to happen to me.

I was so happy by the end of the week, I treated myself and my friends to dinner--the Scary Room incident already forgotten. After such and awesome day, what could possibly go wrong?

At least, that's what I thought when the next week I was asked to go back into the storage room. The minutes I entered room, that fear and queasiness shook me, all the way from my ears to the tip of my tail. I expected to see _it_again but didn't, and the fact it was night time outside, didn't help.

This feeling I felt whenever I was inside stayed with me, all the way until the end of my shift. Things only got worse after. Every time I had to go into that room I got . . . worse, everything was going horribly wrong! I was honestly getting scared . . . no, not scared, terrified. My body and mind were under constant stress, and there were times after I had just showered, that I was losing fur, more than usual. It got to the point had to leave and go to the bathroom to puke my guts out, sobbing afterward. I wanted this to end, begged for it stop.

I couldn't, wouldn't, go to sleep or else I would see his face again and the accompanying nightmares that ensued. Because every time I dreamed, his face became clearer, still keeping the soulless eyes and nasty grin, but also formed the shape of a fox. It was a fox! Why it'd have to be a fucking fox?!

My parents . . . they were starting to get worried, but I couldn't tell them . . . how could I? They'd think I was crazy. Even I thought I was crazy already . . .

This continued for a week straight until one day I was asked to go in there again.

No. No, NO! I wanted to shout. I can't take this fucking shit much longer. But . . . I-I bit my tongue and headed up, the sense of trepidation coursed through every pour and nerve in my body, I think anyone walking by could smell the fear on me.

With shaking paws, I opened the door gingerly and made my way inside. Fuck, fuck, fuck! I don't want to be in here anymore! I was so scared that I was shaking uncontrollably and violently. My heart was racing in my chest and was so loud it deafened out everything.

_ _ Please . . . please, please, please God . . . please make this stop . . .

Little whispers flittered through my ears. "Vince . . . Vince, come please . . .Viiinnccceeee," it called out, a voice so light and cheerful it was almost childish--no, it was a child's voice. It was beckoning and playful, but I-I knew better!

I knew what laid underneath it's demeaner. I . . .

Without warning the door slammed shut, locking me inside. I ran to the door and pulled with all my might. The fucking doorknob moved down, but the door wouldn't budge. The fucker was taunting me! It was like it was saying, "rattle the doorknob all you want, but you're still trapped in here with me."

"Let me out, let me out, let me out!" I shouted--at least, I think I shouted--my fists slammed against the door in desperation, racking my claws against the metal. It was hard to hear anything else.

The room plunged into complete darkness as the light above flickered off. The voice only got louder after that.

"Vinnceeeeee . . . . VIIINNCCEEEEE . . ."

I squeezed my eyes shut and covered my ears. "STOP!"

"But Vince . . . I want to play . . ."

"No! Stop this, please."

"Vince," it said right against my cupped ears. The fox clamped my muzzled in his paw and raise it. "Open your eyes."

I didn't want to, but against my will they slowly fluttered open. I was face to face with it. It's wide, hideous grin smiled down at me, and it's glowing, lifeless eyes stared into mine.

"Now . . . let's play, shall we?" he said. He hooked his clawed fingers around my cheeks and ripped them open, stopping at the end of my muzzle.

I screamed . . .

Karmen eyed to door Vince went into. He was starting to get worried . . . the tiger has been there an awfully long time. He got up and fluffed out his tail before heading to the Scary Room.

"Vince," he called out, gently wrapping onto the door. His ears were perked for any sounds inside; no sound came though. He called again but got no reply. He signed began to walk away; maybe he shouldn't have teased him about the new tigress in produce. Vince seemed to really like her.

I'm such a moron, Karmen thought. Now he was getting the silent treatment.

As he turned around, he heard frantic pounding on the door and sounds of claws scratching at the door.

"Let me out, let me out, let me out!" Vince screamed. "Please!"

"Vince!" Karmen rushed back to the door and tried to open it. The door wouldn't budge and the key was gone. "Vince, what's the matter? What's going on?!"

"Please, I want to get out!" The banged got louder and more frantic.

Something cold and unsettling gripped the fox. Something horrible off about Vince's voice. Whatever it was, it made Karmen's fur and flesh crawl. His tail bristled out on instinct.

He ran and called his manager and told her what was happening. They were having trouble finding the spare key, Brenda told him.

Fuck. . . Karmen growled. What the fuck was happening in there?!

A small ground gathered around the door after hearing what the tiger was saying, whispering concern amongst each other. Other's stood off thinking the new guy was playing a trick or was having a mental breakdown.

"Get out of the way!" Brenda snarled, hurrying over, key clenched between her fingers.

Just as the hyena put the key in, they all her Vince scream and then everything got eerily quiet inside. The door was pushed open but there was no sign of Vince inside, and nothing was disturbed. It was like no one was in here in the first place.

But there was something there: the scent of fear, and a lot of it. For this with a stronger sense of smell, it made them sickly nauseas.

Within hours of the incident the full-on investigation was set up. The security cameras were checked and compile of witness were collected, but aside from that. There was no trace of Vince was inside there hours ago. It was like he vanished into thin air. No one could explain what happened inside the room, what they had heard.

Everyone was on edge for the next couple day as the investigation was still on going. The only thing is there was no evidence to be found, and a lot of eye witnesses whose stories corroborated.

After a week of no leads, the case was deemed unsolvable, and slowly things are Mark N' Bark returned to normal until that Sunday . . .

"Karmen . . ." someone whispered behind the door. Karmen stopped dead in his tracks. That sounded like . . . no . . . it couldn't have been.

"Karmen . . . come and play with me and Mr. Smiley . . ."

It was! It was Vince's voice, although something was off about it . . . Karmen couldn't place it. There was something about it sounded _very_wrong, and it made him feel frightened.

"Vince," he called, perking his ears forward. "Is that you?"

"Yes . . . come inside, and let's play . . ."

"Wha . . . what are you talking about?"

"Karmen . . . "_it called again. "_Come inside . . . I want everyone to see . . ."

Karmen ran and got Brenda and told her. She found the key, and once again, the Scary Room was opened. Brenda and Karmen screamed at what they saw.

Everyone there stared on in horror at the scene inside: there was Vince inside, bloodied and mutilated. Vince was barely pinned to the wall with long nails that protruded from his body--or lack there off. He was missing part of his body from the waist down . . . His arms were held above similar to a method of crucifixion, his wrists and arms barely held together save for a small amount of muscle and tendons.

His eyes . . . there was nothing their black voids of darkness, wide open. His lips were sliced open into a wide horrific grin. His detached tail was wrapped around his neck like a noose, and it seemed to be the only thing holding him up. The way the tail held his neck, made his head tilt slightly to the side.

"Come and play with Mr. Smiley" was carved into his chest.

"Come and play with Mr. Smiley . . ." flooded everyone's mind, and together saw a flash of Mr. Smiley's face, replacing Vince's. The muzzle began to move repeated the sentence, "Come and play with Mr. Smiley . . ."