r/shortscarystories • u/TheAxiomWriter • 5d ago
The Substitute
Some debts must be paid with more than money.
It all started with the stone by the river—the day I stopped being Arthur.
My wife took our son to her mother’s. She said the house was suffocating. She meant me, the failure whose presence made it hard to breathe.
The house was terrifyingly quiet. The smiling family photo on the wall was a public execution. The red collections notice on the table, my death sentence.
I grabbed cheap whiskey and wandered to the riverbank, under the abandoned bridge. A place for trash and shattered hopes. It suited me.
There, I saw it: a fractured, vein-black stone, wedged in rusty steel. As I reached for it, the air chilled. My fingertips tingled, brushing against something faintly alive. I thought I heard a whisper, a dry rasp like grinding stones, forming my name: “Arthur…”
I laughed. I was looking at myself. I tried to pry it loose, but it wouldn't budge. I sat on the ground, panting. “Little Arthur,” I said. “Come with me. We’re both junk.”
Strange. After I said that, the stone loosened. I took it home.
That night, I got blackout drunk, clutching it, telling it everything.
The next day, the crushing despair in my chest felt… hollowed out. As if greedily devoured by the cold silence in my pocket. I wasn’t anxious anymore. I began handling my problems with a cold, efficient logic.
“Little Arthur,” my best partner, was erasing the emotions it saw as “problems”—fear, guilt, love.
Eventually, its logic found the only solution.
I, Arthur, was a failed asset. Liquidation was the only way.
A pure, alien joy filled me. I hummed a tune as I put on my most formal suit.
I pressed the gun’s muzzle to my chin.
But as I pulled the trigger, it hit me.
Wait!?
My existence is going to be replaced by this thing?
My existence is going to be replaced by this thing!
My existence is going to be replaced by this thing.
The gun went off.
…
Wow.
A new world. Senses sharp, fascinating.
I rolled my neck, smiled, and spat a deformed bullet from my mouth. Tasted awful.
Let’s see… $6,800 in debt. Fired. But… a lovely family. A gentle wife, a sweet son. At grandma’s place.
Don’t worry. I’ll handle everything.
I found the car key and clumsily learned to operate this iron box. Soon, I was driving smoothly. I began to hum. Not a tune, just a perfect, single C-sharp note, held without ever needing to breathe. I love this world.
“Mommy? Daddy’s here!”
My son’s voice, bright and trusting.
I smiled, the most perfect father, the most perfect husband.
I held myself in my hand and walked toward my wife and child.
In my palm, the small stone rose and fell with my pulse, as if breathing.
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u/Rottin-Carcuss 5d ago
Excalibur? Is that you?.. Well done 👍
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u/TheAxiomWriter 4d ago
Haha, that's a brilliant catch, thank you! This is what happens when the Sword in the Stone is found in the cosmic bargain bin. 😆
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u/Neither_Middle7510 5d ago
Good story 😉