Bogleech.com's 2013 Horror Write-off:

"Der Starkemann"

Submitted by Connor

I've always been kind of quiet. I'm the type of guy who usually just blends into the background of daily life. This seems irrelevant at a glance, but it comes into play on the bus ride to work one morning, where an early 20th century-esque strongman surprised me by handing me a folded note, whilst nudging my arm with his elbow and raising and lowering his eyebrows knowingly, whilst saying "Nehmen du diese." I opened the note, but it was blank except for a picture of a a burger in a chef's hat, I looked at him oddly for a bit, but he merely winked as well, as if he had just shared a joke. This was an uneventful bus ride otherwise. As I drove home, I saw the same hamburger chef on a poster that read "OPIENING BUSIDESS!" and several paragraphs of utter gibberish symbols on the side of my house. I dashed inside to see what the poster was for and was appalled by an expansive room full up with cafeteria-style trays of unidentifiable slop. There were additionally a good deal of other people, some I knew, some I did not recognize, just standing and shoveling slop into their ever expanding mouths.

One I realized was my dear mother, who I pulled away from the "buffet" and inquired about the cafeteria, the people, and the "food". She merely mumbled something akin to "foood please help need food eat many yes food" and shuffled over to the trays, letting drop a container from her purse. It contained a picture of her and dad and a letter telling me of their new house. I recoiled in realization that I'll never see my dear mother sane again, as I heard a large ruckus. Everyone else in the room was clamoring around a new door in my wall.

Afraid of the result of going in the door, I waited until the crowd finished entering before I pensively cracked open the door and was immediately slapped with a skeletal metal arm with a jarringly cartoon-y white glove. The arm then revealed itself to be attached to an emaciated robotic
figure who immediately stomped into the room and attempted to impale me on a fleshy tendril protruding from a hole in its side. It missed and was embedded in the floor. I jumped behind it and hid behind the door the automaton came from and was greeted by a fleshy pit. As I fell, I heard a hellish moan. I write this here, on a tumorous mound of flesh. The moaning grows ever louder, and the acid rises higher ever slowly. If anyone finds this, do not trust the hamburger.