It all started on a day of a week.
And the week of a month.
And the month of a year.
In a place I called “my house”.
And i was just standing there when,
The chair…
It stroke a deal with me.
A deal like no other.
I give it my soul,
And it gives me a pizza crumb.
…
I took the deal.
And it turned me into an incomplete fireplace.
I could feel my skin turn to bricks and stones, new crevices appearing in the form of a fireplace. My soul turning into the flame that keeps the wood burning.
But then,
Then…
The table
It stroke a deal.
A deal like one other.
I give it 90% of my flame.
And i get a pizza slice crust.
…
I took the deal.
I could feel my soul becoming fainter.
I rushed to turn off my air conditioner to prevent the loss of more of my soul.
And then,
Then…
From the air conditioner,
Demons came out because i couls no longer breathe air and i needed heat, making the job of the object they possesed worthless.
When they left, the air conditioner broke and fell. Along with it, a pipe fell. And from inside the pipe, a Tar Monster crawled out.
And i felt this compelling urge.
The urge to CONSUME.
I NEEDED TO CONSUME IT.
IT HAD TO BECOME ONE WITH ME.
And so i did.
I bolted towards it and ENGULFED it with my flames.
I FELT FULLFILLED.
But then,
Then…
I heard the bathroom speak.
And then i realised
It wasn’t the bathroom.
It was coming from the sewers. And so i crawled in there.
The rats,
They didn’t strike a deal like two other. They climbed on me and started chipping at me with their teeth.
The teeth got stuck in my stone, between my bricks.
After some time, they left.
And that’s when i got AN IDEA.
I went back to the chair and table,
They were mocking me.
I lunged at them, crushing and cutting them with my stonw, bricks and the rat teeth and then i charred them with my flames.
I inhaled the smoke.
I was able to get the 90% of my soul back.
But i also realised something,
After eating them, i started forming a furniture like surface. I engulfed more furniture with my flames and the surface got neater.
Maybe i could regain my human form back.
I HAD TO CONSUME
CONSUME FLESH, BONES, BLOOD AND ORGANS. HUMAN MEAT.
But how would i do that, i’m not very mobile.
And that’s when i got a WONDERFUL IDEA.
Put up posters “FIREPLACE FIR JUST ONE DOLLAR, FREE SHIPPMENT AND INSTALLATION”.
It was perfect.
Lots of families wanted one and it was the PERFECT DEAL.
So i got bought, i got there and installed myself. They thought it was some kind of NEW TECHNOLOGY. They were AMAZED.
And so i waited for night, for them to go to sleep.
And that’s when i made my move.
I got out and ENGULFED THEM, FIRST THE CHILDREN THEN THE PARENTS.
They were such an innocent and happy family!
But i also wanted to be happy…
AND I HAD TO CONSUME THEM FOR THAT.
IT WAS THE ONLY LOGICAL SOLUTION.
And so, after about 30 families eaten, i stopped waiting for them to go to sleep. It was more efficient that way. They were screaming. Filled with horror as i rose for the crevice i was “installed” in.
But who cares?
I was getting my form back.
I was slightly more humanoid looking. they found me more unsettling, but they found the price of one dollar worth it.
So i kept CONSUMING.
After about 50 more families, i gained significant human form. My trick would no longer work. I had to come up with something else.
And i got a MARVELOUS IDEA.
Go down the chimney, camounflage with the inside of fireplaces, wait for them to go to sleep AND CONSUME THEM.
IT WAS PERFECT.
And so i did, again after some time when i got used to the patterns, i stopped waiting for them to go to sleep.
After about 300 families massacred, i had gained an even more humanois form, i could no longer camounflage with the fireplaces.
I had to find another way
Another way to invade their homes ans KEEP CONSUMING THEM.
At this point i started having doubts, was this really the logical solution?
OF COURSE IT WAS, I NEED MY HUMAN FORM BACK. THEY’RE HAPPY FAMILIES AND I WANT TO BE HAPPY, THEREFORE I HAVE TO CONSUME THEM. IT’S THE ONLY LOGICAL PATH TO TAKE.
And so i did, I needed more BLOOD.
I needed my human properties back, not just my form.
But i needed an idea…
AND AN AMAZING IDEA I HAD.
Target families with small children,
The parents usually sleep together with the small children so i could rush them down and CONSUME THEM BEFORE THEY COULD EVEN CALL FOR HELP.
And so i did.
But after a couple more families, my bosy started pumping blood. And i needed air, i need air for the blood to not die. I NEEDED TO CONSUME LUNGS, HUMAN LUNGS. I COULDN’T BREATHE.
And so i stopped waiting for night at all, i was just going through shady, out of sight paths to their houses while wearing a trench coat.
It worked.
I could finally breathe again after CONSUMING THEM.
And so i thought “I NEED TO KEEP CONSUMING MORE ORGANS, I HAD BLOOD, FLESH AND BONES MIXED WITH MY STONE, BRICKS AND TAR. I JUST NEED TO CONSUME MORE UNTIL I BECOME HUMAN AGAIN, I’M A GENIUS.”
And so i did.
But the people started moving out, they noticed the strange dissapearences.
It became a ghost town.
But i still needed more
I NEEDED TO CONSUME THEM
HOW DARE THEY STARVE ME
I’LL MAKE THEM PAY
So i moved to the closest bigger city…
WHILE CONSUMING EVERYONE ALONG THE WAY.
IT WAS A NECESSARY SACRIFICE.
5000 families,
5000 HAPPY and INNOCENT families.
I NEED MORE
MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE.
I needed another idea, i could no longer sneak aroung in such a crowded place.
And that’s when i had an EXCELLENT IDEA.
A disguise. I’d disguise myself as a plumber in a trench coat. But i can’t speak to them because my voice is still not human… A MUTE PLUMBER, YES.
I didn’t think it’d work, but it did.
And i was able to CONSUME AGAIN, AFTER HOW LONG I’VE BEEN STARVED.
But i seemed to reach a limit, my voice was back, but my flesh was mixed with brick, my bones mixed with stone, organs mixed with tar, smoke and wood.
Was i able to become human again?
No, the question is DO I WANT TO BECOME HUMAN AGAIN?
Humans are miserable, i want to be HAPPY… AND THEY’RE TRYING TO TAKE THAT FROM ME, THEY WANT TO MAKE ME UNHAPPY, I’LL MAKE THEM SUFFER.
So i started killing them out of PURE SPITE. I wasn’t consuming anymore, i didn’ want to be human again.
I WANTED TO BURN THEM ALIVE, TURN THEM TO CHARR.
WHO COULD STOP ME ANYWAY?
Eventually, i massacred over 50000 families.
The people started leaving again, the city was being abandoned. I WAS BEING ABANDONED.
Was this truly the right thing to do?
“No”, i thought, surrounded by emptied out buildings. The silence was deafening.
But it made me realize something, i can’t just keep killing them forever, i need to go back to being a human, whether i despise them or not.
And so i moved to a new city.
I kept CONSUMING.
It took a long time, but i was able to become almost human.
I was alternating parts of the city as people started investigating the mass of disturbing “fire accidents”.
After a couple more cities and a long time, i was able to become almost human.
549999 families. 549999 Happy? and Innocent? families.
Were they Happy and Innocent? I didn’t care, I just wanted my human body back. I despised them all the same.
I could feel it, just one more family. But a normal family wouldn’t do, i needed a ROYAL FAMILY.
I made a deal with THEM. Who were THEY? Oh, just some people who wanted the queen and some relatives dead, and my goals aligned with that.
So I made the deal to kill the queen and relatives in exchange for fake documents, clearing my traces and providing an escape route.
THEY also provided my method of entering, by forging a contract between my presumed great grandfather and an old relative of theirs and he owed me some money.
And so i got in and had a neat conversation with them, disscusing the terms of the deal. I went out and came back because of an OH HOW SAD INCIDENT, my car broke down and i didn’t have a place to stay and since i was from another country, i couldn’t go back home and come back. So i pleaded for a room to stay the night in, even the most modest one they had.
It worked.
I watched the guards carefully, the whole time, until the family went to sleep and only the guards were awake.
I noticed a pattern and found an opening, swiftly going to the relatives rooms, one by one, and having A DELIGHTFUL MEAL.
I knew the queen was gonna be the hardest to get to, but i just had to consume her fast, her close guards could be consumed too, and so they were. IT WAS A MEAL FIT FOR A KING.
Now i just had to escape, i already set a fire in the opposite side of their home, so my escape wasn’t that hard. I almost got spotted by some guards on the way. I was gonna consume them, but then i realised,
I lost my fireplace attributes, i was just an average human now. I FINALLY got rid of the brick, stone, wood and the tar… at the WORST POSSIBLE TIME.
I hid quickly and tried finding another way to escape.
THE SEWERS. I went in a bathroom, ripped out the toilet and crawled through the pipe.
I JUST HAD TO ENDURE THIS ONE LAST CHALLENGE AND I COULD FINALLY BE HAPPY.
I was able to escape, THEY helped me leave the country and cover up any traces i left.
While on my killing spree, i also took all their money, thinking maybe i’d need it later. And i was pleased i did.
With my gathered money i bought a new home and settled down.
At some point i wasn’t sure if it was real or just a weird dream, but i felt like sharing it.
And so i found a website called starsrite, made an account, made a post called “The Hungry Fireplace” with just a dot as the content to see if i could find it in an incognito window without an account. An after i confirmed i could, i wrote the story as i remembered it and the rest is history.
Whether i did have those gruesome forms, after all, i am still just Stefan.
The End 😀
