Search Worlds Without End

This is the story of story of a meat-eating plant named Max and his mad doctor keeper. Eating humans is nice, but after a while it starts to get old. However, with the arrival of a new female neighbor, Max's malaise may finally be over...

This story was originally published in the Christopher Golden anthology The Monster's Corner: Stories Through Inhuman Eyes (2011).

Read the full story for free at Tor.com.

When your best friend is just a tiny bit psychotic, you should never actually believe him when he says, "Trust me. This is gonna be awesome."

Of course, you probably wouldn't believe a voodoo doll could work either. Or that it could cause someone's leg to blow clean off with one quick prick. But I've seen it. It can happen.

And when there's suddenly a doll of YOU floating around out there—a doll that could be snatched by a Rottweiler and torn to shreds, or a gang of thugs ready to torch it, or any random family of cannibals (really, do you need the danger here spelled out for you?)—well, you know that's just gonna be a really bad day ...

"Jeff Strand is hilariously funny and truly deranged." —Christopher Golden, author of When Rose Wakes

Toby was just a boy the first time he saw the creature in the woods.  His parents convinced the terrified child it was only his imagination.  The next time Toby saw the creature he was a lonely, unhappy teenager without friends. But the creature would be his friend.  It would be there when Toby needed someone to talk to.  And it would take care of the bullies who wouldn't leave Toby alone. After all, the creature needed to eat.  And during their macabre, decades-long friendship, there will be other meals...

Alex stared at the red pocketknife shown to him by his daughter. A pocketknife owned by somebody he hadn’t seen in years...

-Children-

They met first in boarding school at age twelve. AlexFletcher, shy and scared. Darren Rust, always furiously scribbling away in a private journal. It was not an immediate friendship, but then one night Darren convinced his roommate to sneak off school grounds to see something glorious. There was a sleazy strip club, you see, and every once in a while the back door opened just long enough to maybe catch a quick glimpse... Though a bond was formed from their pre-pubescent interest in naked women, Darren had another interest. A morbid curiosity about death. A curiosity that turned into something much more sinister.

-Friends-

They crossed paths again in college and became the best of friends. But Darren wasn’t just looking for a friend. He had dark, ghastly urges squirming around in his head, and he believed he saw the same things — the urge to hurt, the urge to kill — in Alex. He was looking for somebody who understood. A partner. But Alex could never become a monster. Not even when Darren tried to bring out his friend’s most deeply buried feelings of rage. Not even when Darren tried to show him the euphoria of having that much power over another human being. It just couldn’t happen...right?

-Enemies-

Now Alex has a wife and a daughter. And Darren is back. He’s hiding. He’s patient. His mind is twisted in the worst possible way.

And he’s seeking a soul mate.