Sometimes, it’s the simplest things that can make a person happy. For me, a new book will always bring a smile to my face. For Samantha, it was shoes. It didn’t matter if they were heels, boots, or sneakers, she had to have them all.

This obsession was fine, and I even supported her when it came to finding limited edition shoes. That’s why when she came home raving about her newest find at this thrift store, I didn’t pay any mind to it. 

I’ve seen her wear and extensively take care of her shoes before, but never in this manner. They were a pretty pair of red heels, so I could understand her fascination, but sometimes she went too far. She wore the shoes everyday, and when she got home, she would briefly take them off to clean them only to put them right back on. One night I even saw her sleep in them. 

This new obsession eventually led to new and strange habits. Whenever she would walk, she would keep her head down when walking to make sure she didn’t scuff them. She made sure to thoroughly clean them every night with a special formula she concocted. 

I had a bad feeling about them, but I didn’t know why. I mean, they were just a pair of shoes. Despite this thought process though, I felt like I had to do something to get rid of them. One night I tried taking them off of her feet and throwing them away, but the next day they showed right back up on her. I did everything I could to get rid of them, short of setting off an explosion. But nothing that I did worked. They would always reappear on her feet.

The last day that I saw her, I tried to plead with her to just wear a different pair of shoes, but she didn’t listen to me. 

I wasn’t there when it happened, but I heard that as she was about to cross the street to work, she was looking down at her shoes, and she didn’t notice the truck heading her way. She was hit and died on impact.

All of her items that weren’t destroyed were returned to us, including those cursed shoes. When I saw them, their natural red coloring seemed to darken with her blood.