LATE NIGHT MUNCHIES
Jesse Jones was just another cog in the wheel of life. A factory worker at the Fort Myers PGT plant, his days were a blur of repetitive tasks and grating machinery noises. His marriage to his high school sweetheart, Bethany, was hanging by a thread, and his teenage son, Ryan, was a bundle of angst and disrespect. Jesse's life was a monotonous cycle, a never-ending grind. That was until Jennifer Collett started working the third shift.
Jennifer was a breath of fresh air in an otherwise stifling environment. She was married too, but there was a sadness in her eyes that mirrored Jesse’s own. They struck up a friendship, finding comfort in each other’s company during the long nights at the factory.
Monday, July 3rd, 2017
"Any plans for tomorrow?" Jesse questioned, passing the THC vape pen to Jennifer. Her eyes lit up with a giddy excitement as she accepted the offer, her hands shaking a little in her enthusiasm.
"Oh, yes please! Thanks, Jesse." She paused, taking a long pull from the vape, her lips wrapping around the device with a familiarity that stirred something deep within Jesse. Exhaling a thick cloud of vaporized marijuana into the exhaust fan of their workstation, she continued, "As for tomorrow, Diego is going to some work party that I’m not invited to, so I’ll probably just sleep, ha!"
"Damn, that’s cold. Going to a party without you?" Jesse's concern was genuine, dripping with an undertone of something darker, something more personal.
"Well, yeah. I thought so too, but I don’t want to go anyway. I don’t know anyone, and it’s going to be hot as fuck." Jennifer tried to dismiss his unspoken accusation of infidelity, her voice carrying an edge of defensiveness.
"I just know the feeling," Jesse sighed, his thoughts drifting to his own crumbling marriage. "Ryan is sixteen and doesn’t want anything to do with me. Anytime I try to ask him about school or girls or anything, he bites my head off and tells me to stop interrogating him. I bought three grand worth of fireworks for tomorrow, and he called me a child and said he had plans. I’m probably going to catch that new show everyone is tripping over. Night Time Munchies or something."
"Oh, yeah, I’ve heard about that. Diego was watching it the other morning. I couldn’t take my eyes off it. I was tired, so maybe I was just zoned out, but it was 4 AM, and Diego said he’d been watching it since 8 PM. Said he just couldn’t stop replaying it. Same episode over and over. He doesn’t even watch TV typically."
"Weird. Do you want to hit this again?" Jesse extended the vape pen toward Jennifer once more, his fingers brushing against hers as she took it.
"Hmm, yeah, might as well. We’ve got four hours left, Jess! So excited to jump into my bed!" Jennifer's casual mention of bed sent a pang through Jesse's chest. He wished he could jump into her bed with her, wished he could escape the prison of his own deteriorating marriage. Bethany had been spending more and more time with a colleague, and Jesse suspected she hadn’t been faithful. The evidence was mounting—late nights at the office, unexplained absences, the cold distance that had settled between them like a fog.
Bethany was a different person now, a stranger who shared his bed but not his heart. He remembered the early days of their relationship, the passion, the laughter, the sense of partnership. But now, those memories felt like echoes from a different lifetime, distorted and distant. Jesse felt trapped, suffocated by the weight of his unspoken suspicions and the gnawing ache of loneliness.
And then there was Jennifer. The bright spark in his otherwise gray existence. Her laughter, her warmth, the way her eyes sparkled when she smiled—it all made his heart beat a little faster, made him feel alive in a way he hadn’t in years. But it was a dangerous path, one with the potential for disaster. He knew he was playing with fire, but he couldn’t help himself. The temptation was too great, the desire too strong.
As Jennifer handed the vape pen back to him, their fingers lingered together for a moment longer than necessary. Jesse's heart raced, and he wondered if she felt it too, this electric current that seemed to pass between them.
"Thanks," she said, her voice soft, her eyes meeting his. There was something there, something unspoken but undeniable. Jesse felt a surge of hope, a flicker of possibility. Maybe, there was still a chance for happiness, a chance to escape his loveless marriage.
But for now, he would have to be content with stolen moments and unspoken feelings, with the hope that tomorrow might bring something better.
Tuesday, July 4th, 2017
It was during one of those random nights when Jesse didn't work his third shift, an anomaly in his otherwise monotonous existence. The house was a tomb, empty and echoing with the silence of neglect. He cracked open a few beers with the neighbor, the foam spilling over his fingers as they watched the kids play in the yard. Ryan left for a friend's house without a word, a silent rebellion that stung Jesse more than he'd ever admit. Bethany was about to head out the door, her excuses trailing behind her like the scent of cheap perfume, when Jesse stumbled upon the new late-night TV show called "Late Night Munchies."
The show was a bizarre spectacle, a surreal plunge into the mind of Vinny Venividivici, an erratic and egocentric host with a penchant for making delicious desserts. The screen flickered to life, and there was Vinny, his eyes wild and his movements erratic, jumping up and down in front of the camera with a manic energy that was both captivating and unsettling. His voice carried a slow, melodic rhythm as he prepared a cannoli, his hands moving with a hypnotic precision that mesmerized Jesse.
Vinny's face loomed close to the camera, his eyes locking onto the viewers with an intensity that felt almost personal. "This, my friends, is more than a dessert. This is a piece of my soul," he intoned, his voice dripping with a theatrical sincerity that sent shivers down Jesse's spine.
As Vinny placed the cannoli onto a baking sheet, a man in a respirator and a chef's hat emerged from the shadows. Covered in tattoos, his presence was as menacing as it was surreal. He took the cannoli and disappeared into the back, leaving Vinny alone with his thoughts. The camera lingered on Vinny's face, capturing the flicker of madness in his eyes.
Suddenly, Vinny erupted into a tirade, screaming about his tormented childhood, the bullies who had picked on him, the scars that had never healed. His voice rose to a fever pitch, his words a torrent of pain and rage. Just as abruptly, the tattooed chef returned, presenting the finished dessert with a flourish. Vinny's eyes gleamed with a manic hunger as he took a bite, and then all hell broke loose.
He became a whirlwind of fury, ripping at his clothes and attacking the tattooed chef with a primal ferocity. The camera struggled to keep up, capturing fragments of the chaos before abruptly cutting out. Jesse sat in stunned silence, his mind reeling from the spectacle he'd just witnessed. There was something off about Vinny, something deeply unsettling.
Jesse was compelled to watch again and again until he heard the door slam shut, snapping him back to the grim reality of existence. He glanced at his watch—4:30 AM. How long had he been a prisoner to that flickering screen? He knew it wasn’t after 9:30 PM when he first sat down. Where did the time go? How had he been seduced into this hellish vortex for so long? Another question gnawed at the edges of his mind: what was Bethany doing home so late? It was only after the fact that he realized he had heard the rumble of the old V8 engine belonging to her so-called co-worker and office buddy, Josh.
“Where were you? Fucking that skateboard pussy? Josh? Joshy Baby? You’re a fucking disgrace, a pitiful excuse for a human. You’re more vile than poison. Even fucking rats wouldn’t touch you. I’d love to pluck your fucking eyeballs out and use your face as a goddamn toilet!” The malice in his words was a venomous snake, striking with unexpected cruelty. Bethany, shocked by the sheer cruelty, sank to the floor and began to sob.
Jesse’s face twisted into a menacing mask of fury as he stalked toward her, nose to nose, his jaw clenched so tightly that his teeth ground together with a shrieking sound that cut into Bethany’s ears, making her jump and shudder uncontrollably.
“Dad? Mom? What the fuck are you doing? Did he fucking hit you?” Ryan’s voice cut through the tension like a razor as he walked in on his parents. Jesse felt a wave of dizziness and disorientation. The strange sensation of waking from a nightmare washed over him. He looked at his wife, trembling and terrified, then back at his son, the realization dawning that he had not been in control, not truly.
Wednesday, July 5th, 2017
The next night at work, Jesse saw Jennifer in a state of frenzied panic. Two of their co-workers had been brutally murdered by their wives and girlfriends. An uneasy feeling settled in Jesse’s stomach like a lead weight. There was something profoundly wrong, something tangled up with that show. He explained to Jennifer the bizarre events of his previous evening, the dark spiral he had been pulled into after watching the show.
Jennifer’s eyes widened as she confided in Jesse that Diego had almost hit her, his fist missing by a hair’s breadth. When he hurt his hand on the wall instead, it had jolted him back to sanity, leaving him horrified by what he had nearly done.
The night carried on at the factory, both Jesse and Jennifer deep inside their own heads, hardly spoke as the rest of the evening drug on. After their shift, as Jesse pulled into his driveway, he noticed a strange glow emanating from his bedroom window. The stove light was on, and shadows moved behind the curtains like restless spirits. Panic surged through him as he dashed inside, his heart pounding in his chest. The eerie flicker of Late Night Munchies played on every TV in the house, casting a hostile glow over everything. He sprinted up the stairs to his bedroom, his mind racing with dread and confusion.
The scene that greeted him defied all reason. Figures moved in the darkness, their faces contorted by the unnatural light of the screens, their eyes glazed over as if possessed by some outside force. Jesse’s breath caught in his throat as he realized that the show had seeped into his home, its insidious influence spreading like a virus.
“Bethany! Ryan!” he shouted, his voice cracking with desperation. The figures turned towards him, their eyes empty and unseeing.
Jesse stood frozen in the doorway, the unthinkable perversion before him burning itself into his mind. Bethany, the woman who had once been the very embodiment of love and trust, was now entwined in a sickening act of debauchery with not one, but three men. The scene was a disgusting mockery of the love and intimacy they had once shared, now twisted into something unrecognizable and repulsive.
Jesse's mind reeled, a torrent of memories crashing over him like a violent storm. He saw Bethany in their early days, her laughter a symphony that played in the background. He remembered summer afternoons in the park, their son toddling on unsteady legs as they watched with pride and joy. The quiet nights on the porch, sharing dreams and secrets under a blanket of stars. Each memory was a spike to his heart, seeing the nightmare unfolding in front of him.
"Bethany!" he roared, his voice breaking through the haze of shock. The word was a desperate plea, a cry from the depths of his soul. But it fell on deaf ears. The men turned, their faces twisted into grins of contempt and amusement. Bethany looked up, her eyes dark and cold, devoid of the warmth he had once known.
"You’re nothing, you little bitch," she spat, her voice dripping with venom. "And now, everyone will see." Throwing her head back in ecstasy quivering between two of the men.
Rage surged through him, a force that propelled him forward, lunging at the nearest man, his fists swinging wildly. But they were too many, too strong. In a matter of seconds, he was overpowered, his arms twisted behind his back, his body forced to the ground. The pain was immediate and sharp, but it was nothing compared to the agony in his heart.
As they tied him up, Jesse's mind flashed back to the day he had proposed to Bethany. They had been on a beach, the setting sun casting a golden glow over the waves. He had knelt in the sand, his heart pounding with nervous anticipation. She had said yes, her eyes shining with tears of happiness. They had kissed, their future unwritten before them, now a shattered illusion as Jesse finds himself in fear of his life.
Bethany stood over him, a knife in her hand. Her smile was a twisted mimic of the one she had worn on their wedding day. "You're pathetic," she snapped. "You've always been pathetic. You act like some tougher version of yourself. Portraying to be a real man, with your Planet Fitness muscles and douchbag tattoos. You haven’t made me cum since Ryan was been born, your fucking dick smells like burnt hair. I can’t fucking stand you, I’ve not only been fucking Josh, but all his friends too. New friends who just want to watch a husband be humiliated. Does it hurt? Doesn’t it make you feel like a fucking failure to know your wife has to fuck a team of young cocks because you can’t make her cum anymore?” Bethany screams with a high pitch jarring cry.
Jesse struggled against his bonds, his fury and pain mingling into a toxic brew. He felt a deep anger towards the men who had taken what was his, who had defiled the sanctity of his home. But beneath that anger was a profound sense of inferiority, a crushing realization that he had been powerless to stop them.
Just as Bethany raised the knife, an explosion ripped through the house, a deafening roar that shattered the windows and sent debris flying. The force of it threw everyone off balance, the room descending into chaos. Jesse's vision blurred, his mind teetering on the edge of consciousness.
When he awoke, he was in the back of Jennifer's SUV, the vehicle racing down the highway. His body ached, his head throbbed, but he was alive. He turned to look at Jennifer, her face pale and determined. "What happened?" he croaked, his voice barely more than a whisper.
Jennifer glanced at him, her eyes filled with a mixture of fear and determination. "Diego tried to kill me, i was sure it was happening with your wife too," she said. "I couldn't just leave you there."
The words were a lifeline, a glimmer of hope in the darkness. Jesse closed his eyes, his mind a whirlwind of emotions. The betrayal, the rage, the helplessness—they all swirled together. But beneath it all, there was a small, stubborn spark of determination. He wasn't done yet. He would find a way to make sense of this madness, to reclaim his life from the wreckage. In the harsh light of the passing streetlights, was a mad blur of neon chaos and twisted reality, Jesse's mind soaked in a cocktail of pain and confusion, the world around him warping and twisting into an unrecognizable scene.
"Jennifer?" he croaked, his voice barely more than a whisper, a rasp in the cacophony of their flight from hell.
"Jesse, thank God you're awake!" Jennifer's face was a mask of terror, her knuckles white as she gripped the steering wheel. "My husband tried to kill me, but he accidentally killed himself. Before he bled out, he told me everything."
Her words spewed out, a wild narrative that seemed ripped from the pages of a deranged pulp fiction novel. Vinny, the mad chef of "Late Night Munchies," was more than just a television lunatic. He was a product of dark and twisted origins—born in the alleys of Rome, Italy, a city that had seen the rise and fall of empires. As a child, Vinny had been bitten by a crazed diabetic man, who thought his fat arm was a cannoli. It transformed his mind into twisted lunacy where he would subliminally command his viewers to kill their families, a demonic creature.
"Vinny believes he can conquer the world with his desserts," Jennifer continued, her voice trembling with urgency. "He has subliminally been controlling people, he can spread madness and chaos, one twisted recipe at a time. We have to stop him."
The SUV sped through the night, the cityscape a blur of lights and shadows. They arrived at the studio where "Late Night Munchies" was filmed, only to be greeted by a storm of neon purple and green lightning, swirling around the building like the eye of a cosmic light storm. As they pulled up, the storm calmed, leaving an ominous violet hue hanging over the studio. Everything went silent.
A timer dinged from underneath the car, and in a flash, it exploded, a deafening roar that sent Jesse and Jennifer flying through the air. Jesse groaned, but he forced himself to his feet, pulling Jennifer to safety as the wreckage burned around them.
From the studio emerged Vinny, his movements erratic and inhuman, like a marionette controlled by a sadistic puppeteer. His form shifted, morphing into a zombie-like creature with massive forearms and hands, a monstrous model of the man he once was.
"We need to get inside," Jennifer gasped, limping towards an abandoned restaurant, her determination willing them in the chaos.
They barricaded themselves inside the restaurant, the scent of desperation was heavy in the ominous restaurant. Vinny's zombified form crept outside.
"I have an idea," Jennifer whispered, her voice barely audible over the pounding of their hearts. She pulled a giant marinade syringe from a drawer, her eyes shining with a wild hope. "I'll make my vegan dip. The nutrition and antioxidants might counteract the sugar that is driving him insane."
Jesse nodded, his mind too impaired by the non compos mentis of the night to question the plan. He would do anything to stop Vinny, to end the nightmare that had consumed their lives. He moved to distract Vinny, his body would be a shield against the horror outside, as Jennifer worked quickly, her hands furiously in a blur of motion.
But Vinny was too fast and strong. He burst through the barricade, his monstrous form a whirlwind of fury. He grabbed Jesse, his crippling hands ripping open his chest plate with a disgusting crunching and squishing sound, exposing his still-beating heart. The pain was excruciating, a white-hot flash that scorched through his entire being.
Vinny's snake tongue flicked out, licking the exposed organ, laughing with an evil delight. Jesse's vision blurred, the world around him fading into a haze of agony and hopelessness.
Jennifer screamed, her voice a raw, desperate plea. She jumped at Vinny, the large syringe in hand, plunging it into his neck with all the force she could muster. The non-dairy, meatless dip began to corse through his veins, a counteragent to the twisted psychosis that had consumed him.
Vinny groaned in pain, his body convulsing as the concoction took hold. He released Jesse, staggering back, his form shifting and writhing. The features melted away, leaving the man beneath—a broken, tormented soul, caught in the throes of his own insanity.
Jesse flopped to the floor, loose an lifeless, his breath ragged, his vision dimming. Jennifer knelt beside him, her face a blur of saddened concern. His jaw clinching with tension, the scent of burnt rubber and the metallic tang of blood swirling around him. His vision swam, a kaleidoscope of pain and confusion. He could feel Jennifer's hands on him, her touch a lifeline in the swirling demise.
"Stay with me, Jesse," she urged, her voice a warm light in the darkness. Just as it always had been for Jesse. "Please! Jesse, please stay with me! Please, God don’t let him go. I need you. Jesse I need you."
It was too late for Jesse. Jennifer watched in horror as Vinny's monstrous form bubbled and melted, his eyes rolling back into his head. With one final, guttural scream, Vinny sank into a heap of smoldering, gooey remains.
"Jesse!" Jennifer cried, cradling his head in her lap, tears streaming down her face. "Oh God, No!” Sobbing uncontrollably holding Jesse’s lifeless body.
Jennifer stood up, from the destruction, the cool breeze carrying the scent of freedom and the distant hum of the city. She began walking towards the river, she picked a single red rose from the restaurant entrance. Jesse's face flickered in her mind, a haunting juxtaposition of his lifeless body and the vibrant man he had once been. She remembered his enthralling smile, his warm comforting eyes that would look right through hers and stare into her soul. The ache in her heart was a cold realization to the love they'd shared and the future that had been stolen from them. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, opening a photo of her and Jesse, taken two days ago, a day when the world had seemed full of possibilities. She smiled through her tears, pressing the phone to her heart.
The violet hue that had once pulsed with sinister energy now seemed to recede, as if the very fabric of reality was mending itself. Jennifer's eyes, still red-rimmed from tears and exhaustion, dropped the rose into the water, following it’s journey downstream. It bobbed and weaved, a fragile representation of hope amidst the turbulence.
"We did it, Jesse," she whispered. "We stopped him."
She turned to leave, her eyes widening in shock. Standing at the water’s edge was Jesse, but not as she remembered him. His skin was pale and mottled, his eyes gray and lifeless. He was a hallow version of the man she knew, brought back by the very madness they had just fought to destroy.
Jennifer’s heart pounded in her chest as she took a step back. Jesse’s zombie form reached out to her, his movements slow and deliberate. But then, something unexpected happened. Jesse’s zombie eyes seemed to flicker with a spark of recognition and turned from gray to green. He looked at Jennifer, and for a brief moment, it was as if the real Jesse was looking back at her.
"Jennifer..." he rasped, his voice a ghostly echo of his former self.
Tears cascaded down Jennifer's anguished face, a torrent of sorrow and hopelessness as she approached the unnerving figure that was once her beloved Jesse.
"Jesse, I'm so sorry..." she whispered, her voice quivering with a mixture of grief and terror.
Jesse's zombie form lurching forward, his decaying hand trembling as it reached out to caress her cheek with cold, lifeless fingers.
"Thank you... for everything..." his voice rasped, a ghostly echo of the man he once was, a faint glimmer of humanity struggling to surface amidst the darkness that enveloped him.
As Jennifer leaned in to embrace him one last time, a glimmer of hope flickered within her, a desperate longing for a final moment of connection with the man she had loved.
In a cruel twist of fate, as she drew closer, Jesse's twisted form suddenly jerked forward, his teeth sinking into her fragile neck with a vicious chomp.
Agony, a cruel and unrelenting force, tore through Jennifer that drowned out all other sensations. Lying there helpless, she felt Jesse's insatiable hunger consuming her flesh, each bite sending shockwaves of excruciating pain. And yet, amidst the unbearable suffering, an unexpected sense of euphoria washed over her, a liberation as life began to slip away.
As Jesse sat up, blood dripping from his gnashing teeth, he gazed upon Jennifer's fading eyes, once vibrant hazel now clouded with the chill of gray death. A warm smile twisted his on decaying features, a parody of the joy he once knew in life. In that moment, as a soulless abomination, he reveled in the twisted triumph of finally being with Jennifer, even in death.
The macabre scene unfolded in a chilling tableau of horror and insanity, a display of predator and prey, love and monstrous obsession. As Jennifer's essence ebbed away, a haunting stillness settled over that forsaken river, a silent witness to the tragic culmination of their twisted fate. In the end, amidst the darkness and decay, Jesse and Jennifer found a chilling victory, a hollow triumph through the lifeless night as they walked hand and hand.