The old latch on the window was easy enough to break. All Tom had to do was slip a crowbar in between the latch and the window, and the frame popped wide open. He slid in feet first, lowering himself down by holding onto the window frame. It was still a bit of a drop, but not nearly as far as it would have been.
"Alright," Tom quietly celebrated as he was now in. Looking around the dark toy store, he saw whole lines of different stuffed toys and dolls. How a toy shop like this could be doing as well as his information reported, he had no idea. Stranger still was his little informant said there weren't any copies of him actually purchasing the toys either. It was shady enough for Tom to want to check out more. A little bit of information and he could probably get the old man running the shop to give him a nice chunk of change to stay quiet.
Tom looked at the picture of the map on his phone as he wandered through the store. Supposedly right behind the counter was a safe. An old combination lock was the only thing between him and the information that he wanted. However, an odd feeling washed over him as he went through the store. Seeing all the large button eyes staring at him as he passed them creeped him out. He'd never been afraid of things like this. Toy story wasn't exactly real. But still, there was a strange feeling coming from those shiny black eyes.
"In and out," he said, trying to fight off the shiver running through him. He hopped the glass and opened up the curtains hiding the safe. Slowly he went through the combination lock, feeling the slightest bit of a bump. Each time, knowing full well that he would have the correct number. The problem with these safes were that the older they got, the easier it was to feel that bump. Barely a few minutes passed before he had the three numbers to the safe and he pulled the large metal door open.
There were a few seconds of silence as Tom looked at the contents. What he was expecting was money, jewelry, some kind of deed or at least a gold bar. But instead, all that stood in the safe was a donkey plush. "What the hell?" he grabbed the plushie and threw it over his shoulder. These safes were known to have false bottoms. Maybe a false backing. But no. Nothing else. "You've got to be shitting me. That's all there is? I'm going to have to kill Frankie. That little piece of shit lied to me..."
A mixture of anger and frustration ran through Tom as he headed back towards the window he'd broken into. However, as he got there, he looked up and somehow his exit seemed significantly higher than it had been. He'd barely fallen a foot, yet now there seemed to be at least two if not three feet between him. He shrugged it off and tried to jump. Not even close. "What the hell!?" now it was just anger. This entire job turned out to be an entire bust. He scratched at his ear, trying to figure out what to do next. However, it wasn't where it had been.
Tom's anger disappeared as he ran his hand against the side of his face. No ear. Just a strange synthetic fur where his hair had been. Slowly he ran his hand to the top of his head to find a furry triangle on top of his head. Not one, but two. Confusion quickly turned to panic. He didn't know what was going on, but he had to get out of there. He tried jumping again. This time when he landed, his knees didn't properly bend. Tom feel backwards onto his ass.
It didn't hurt as much as it should have as it felt as though he'd landed on a soft cushion. However, that didn't comfort him in the slightest as he felt that same synthetic fur covering his butt. Tom tried to stand up but found that he couldn't move his legs. "Oh God! Oh God!" he cried out as he spun his body over onto his stomach and tried to army crawl out of the store. As he continued, he felt his pants fall off of him revealing two rounded plush dog legs with brown and black fur.
A strange tingling ran down his spine, as he felt something poking out of it, but Tom was too focused on the door to notice a curly tail erupt out of his backside. Nor did he notice that his tongue was hanging out of his open mouth. Slowly his face started to shift into a dog muzzle. His nose turned pitch black and molded itself into a button nose. The whites of his eyes turned pitch black as well as they stared forward. Tom continued to crawl hoping that he could make it to the door.
It became harder and harder for him to move his arms as they stiffened up. Cotton filling what had been blood and bone. His body continued to shrink to being just 1 foot tall. Tom continued for the door, trying to jump but finding impossible as none of his joints moved. He tried to raised himself up on the glass only to fall over on his side. "Bark. Bark." an almost robotic sound emanated from his mouth.
"Oh? Has a new friend joined us?" an old man entered into the shop and squatted down giving the plush German Shepard a pet on the head. Tom continued to bark, but the old man seemed to soothe his anxiety. "Don't worry. I'm sure you'll be making a lot of new friends soon."