Little Shop of Monsters, Chapter 2

[Cbarton]

Little Shop of Monsters
Chapter 2
by c_tickler and The Hawk​

“Whew, what a wild day,” Keeley exclaimed as they began to balance out the till. Katie had to admit, it had been a busy one. This had been the busiest one yet, both in people in the store and in total sales. TeeKee, the huge plant that Katie had brought in from her Ecuadorian bulbs, was quite an attraction. So tall that it reached the ceiling, with a large bud that any day could blossom, it was an overwhelming sight. The size and uniqueness of its look was drawing crowds from all over. She even was receiving phone call from the States to arrange interviews and photo ops.

The bell on the door jingled and Keeley looked up and squealed in delight, leaving the register. Katie tried to stop her until she looked up as well. They both saw Vicky, one of their chums, hurrying into the shop. Vicky was a singer/actress that was always auditioning and rarely winning parts. It always seemed that something would go wrong during her auditions. A fumbled word, a missed dance step, sickness, you name it. She was able to land the odd commercial or voice over, but could never get over the top.

“I got it! I got it!!” she screamed as she ran in.

“Got what?” the cynical Katie asked, “a chest cold?”

“No. I got the part! I’m the first understudy for the touring cast of “Wicked!” she exclaimed. Katie and Keeley were stunned. A part. A real part. Vicky had auditioned for and got a REAL PART! This was cause for a celebration! They pelted her with a million questions as they congratulated her. Vicky regaled them with how she had kept herself healthy and worked her butt off at the audition. Katie listened as she finished counting the till. After she had filled out the deposit slips and placed the money in the zippered pouch, she rejoined the other two.

“Let’s celebrate!” Keeley offered. Katie smirked at her cousin, for whom life seemed one endless party. Vicky agreed and the two were already picking out where they were going to eat and party. As they did, Katie walked over to check on TeeKee. She inspected some of its leaves and vines. They were beginning to look a little brown around the edges. Too much water? Not enough of some mineral or nutrient? She began to wonder if the plant had grown too big and was unable to sustain the growth. The rest of TeeKee looked healthy enough. She decided just to keep watching it. That plant was her cash cow right now, and she was not going to just let it die.

“Yeah, and look at the new shoes I’m gonna wear tonight!” Vicky offered. She lifted up her pants legs a little to reveal a new pair of purple ballet flats. “I bought them as a reward for working so hard for the part,” she explained. Vicky and Keeley were always shoe and clothes shopping. No surprise there. Katie grabbed the master key ring and motioned them out the door. It was closing time and Katie needed a break. They all agreed to meet at the pub for drinks before they headed out.

Katie went home and crashed, exhausted. All the hard work was worth it, but exhausting. She instantly fell asleep on the couch. She woke up an hour later. “Crap…I gotta hurry!” she muttered as she quickly got changed and headed for the pub to meet Keeley and Vicky.

Vicky was on the bus headed to the pub. But she had to make a detour first. She needed to call her agent about some clause in the contract, but could not find her cell phone anywhere. It was the only place she kept his number. She ransacked her apartment and could not find it. The only thing she could think of was that she may have left it at the nursery. So, she’d run over there real quick, get it, and meet them at the pub. She had on her short little dance skirt, very brief top and the matching new flats. She was ready to party on tonight!


She got off at the nearest bus stop and walked quickly to the nursery. When she got to the door, she tested it. It was locked. No problem, she used to work there part-time and knew how to get in. She counted three pots to the left, walked to it, and dug her fingers in the dirt. There, she found it. She pulled out the emergency key that Keeley always hid there, without Katie’s knowledge. She quickly unlocked the door and turned off the alarm, thankful the code had not been changed yet.

She looked around. Yes, there it was! She walked over to the table next to where the huge pot TeeKee was potted in. She quickly grabbed her cell phone. It was still charged, but not much. She turned it off to save power then turned around. She looked up at the humongous plant that was getting everyone’s attention. She was amazed at the size, but thought it overall looked pretty ugly. “Man, what kind of ugly thing are you, anyway?” she said as she looked at it. She shrugged. “To bad you can’t tell us what you are…” she smirked as she turned to face away from the plant.

She got out her phone and turned it back on. She started to search for Keeley’s phone number. As she did, small vines moved on the ground toward her feet. Right before she started to, she felt something around her feet. She looked down and saw vines around them. She shrieked and tried to kick them away. As she did, they began to wrap around her feet and shins. On her third kick, she lost her balance and fell. She braced herself for the fall, but her hands never hit the floor. Instead, the vines were around her had tightened around her shins and were lifting her from the floor! They held her upside down, suspended near the large bud, which now started to open.

Vicky shrieked when she looked inside the bud. She saw a large red object. At first she thought it was the pistle, but it moved around. As it opened further, she saw it was…a tongue! Then she saw the rows of teeth. Short at first, then progressively longer, tapered like small daggers. She began to fight with all her might, kicking, arms flailing as she realized what was about to happen. More vines began to move toward her. She swung and batted them away as fast as she could.

“He-hehehehehey!” she cried as she swung at another branch. She looked up to see that her flats had fallen off, and one vine was rubbing against her soles. It was a ticklish sensation that was hard to ignore. She tried to kick at it, but the vines on her ankles were too tight. The vine kept rubbing its leaves and stalk there. It was as if, it was doing it on purpose. “No…not fai-hair-hair-hair…stohahahahap tickling me….” She screamed out. She looked up now to see more vines moving toward her. But, instead of aiming for her arms, they shot to her belly, which was exposed as she hung upside down, her top being cropped to begin with. They were just out of reach as they ran their soft leaves slowly across her belly. Vicky was not normally very ticklish, but these leaves were softer than any feather she had every felt.

“Mmmmm….finally…a real meal for me…”

Vicky shuddered as she heard the voice come from the bud! It was low and ominous, right out of a horror flick. “Meal? No…Oh no you…” she started to say, but the distraction of the voice along with the tickling of the leaves distracted her just enough for the vines to grab and wrap around her arms. “NOOOO….LET ME GOOOOOOO!!!!!” she cried out, now unable to defend herself.

“Yes, I’m tired of fertilizer, rodents, and such. Time for a real meal. But first, so you fight me less as I swallow…” as he spoke, the leaves on the vines wrapped around her like a mummy started to vibrate. The sensation of hundreds of small feathers was intense. Everywhere that she had skin showing, which was most of her, felt the feather like leaves touching her. Even to the mildly ticklish Vicky, it was too much. She started to giggle quietly as the plant lifted her higher. She was like a babbling brook as she looked down and saw the bud-mouth opened fully wide.

TeeKee lowered her in, feet first. She felt it’s warm, sticky tongue lick and taste her soles thru the sheer black nylons. She screamed in laughter as he lowered her in further. As it did, the vines unwrapped. The exhausted Vicky had no fight left as she saw her hip enter the bud-mouth. She mustered a last reserve and fought more. Instead, the saliva from its mouth lubricated her enough that she sank into its maw deeper as she fought. Soon, her hands were trapped and she was in to her shoulders. She tried not to laugh or moan as she felt its tongue all over her. She cried for help one last time as her head slipped effortlessly into the bud. TeeKee licked its lips. There would be no more rabbits or mice for it. These creatures were more fun and tasty. It retracted its vines to the main trunk. As it did, Vicky’s brand new purple flats clattered to the floor behind the pot.


“I can’t believe Vicky stood us up last night!” Keeley uttered as she and Katie entered the shop. They had waited all night for her to show, plus she never answered her cell phone as they called her.

“Here’s why she didn’t answer,” Katie remarked, pointed to the cell phone sitting in the soil of TeeKee’s pot. “She must have left it here when she left. Who knows where she went after that. Must have seen some hot guy on the bus and partied with him. She’s done that before, you know…”

“Yeah…just mad at her. I hate it when she does that.”

Katie smiled and grabbed the watering can, filling it at the tap. She gave all the potted plants their morning water, saving TeeKee for last as Keeley took the outdoor pots out to the sunlight. Then Katie halted with a start. She looked down.

On the floor, behind TeeKee’s pot sat Vicky’s new shoes.

The ones she had left the store with. Her blue hair ribbon lay next to them.

“How did those get here?” she wondered.