Store 1 “The Empty Aisle”
The grocery on Wellington Street is known for a solid arrangement of local and regional products. From strange fruits to odd tools that many people have forgotten the use of, there is always something new to see whenever you find yourself passing through. However, it is also known for an unsettling dare that kids keep doing year after year.
The first thing that you will see when you get inside is an old Indian tobacco statue. The store doesn't sell cigarettes anymore, and the wooden Indian simply acts as a reminder of times past. Though the grocery is small, the shelves are stocked with a surprising variety of foods. This is true of all the aisles expect one, the furthest aisle that is labeled simply as 1A. This aisle used to be used for world foods. Now the one next to it accommodates the foods that used to be there. The reason for this is that the aisle is always dark, being far away from other windows and set below a set of broken lights. It is this that has given rise to the tale, and the dare that goes along with it.
The story goes that a drifter came into the town, a homeless man who was emaciated and deeply hungry. The nationality of the man is never known for sure, but it is said that he was from somewhere in Eastern Europe.
Unable to find anyone who would help him, he became desperate and broke into the grocery. The evidence for this, the kids say, is a replacement window in the place of one of the old panes of glass. Hungry, the man went and found the thing he wanted the most; a taste of home. So he headed to aisle 1A and began to eat. Shortly after, the local police converged on the location, reporting to the scene after an anonymous call.
By the time the police arrived the man was dead, one of the packages of food still in his hand. The man was removed from the store, and the food removed as well as the owners were unsure what had killed the man and what he had touched. Despite a great amount of effort on the part of police, they were unable to determine the identity of the man. He was later buried in the local cemetery.
When night came, the owners went to turn on the lights, only to find that the lights in that aisle would not turn on. Over the course of weeks, the owners tried to find a way to get the lights to work, but were unable to find a solution.
Legend has it that the man’s ghost remained in the aisle, keeping the lights off out of a fear of being caught. A couple of months later a dare began to circulate among the kids of the community. The instructions for it are simple. You go into the aisle by yourself and lay in the middle for an hour.
According to the dare, if you put your ear to the ground you can hear the sound of the man rummaging through the aisle. If you hear someone talking to you, the dare states that you are to respond in a whisper, identifying yourself as a friend. People have reported hearing crying, and feeling as if someone was lying next to them. The strangest rumor to be attached to this dare is that if you wait for the full hour you will find your shoes are wet, as if you had been traveling through grass damp with dew.
According to the owner, there are explanations for the occurrences. It is true that the lights do not work, but little attempt has been made to replace the system. This is partially due to the cost attached to it, but the larger reason is that the dare draws in business. The bare aisle has become part of the stores identity and has helped it remain popular over the years, even as other groceries have sprung up nearby. Stores come and stores go, but the local grocery remains, the aisle always dark as the rest of the store services the various tastes of the locals.
If you were to ask the owner about the death, they will vehemently deny it. There is a non-disclosure policy in place that keeps people from having to reveal the occurrence of nonviolent deaths on their property, specifically to potential buyers, so the owners could be hiding it. But whether they are lying or not, their denial only helps fuel the interest of the local children. It is true that there is a grave in the local cemetery with a worn away marker, but whether or not this is proof of the story in unknown as records of the specific plot were destroyed in a fire many years ago. However, this does not stop people from going to it and placing food by the tombstone.
It is not uncommon to arrive at the grocery late at night and find local children performing the dare. A single child lays down and claims to hear things, only to walk away a short time later a little paler than before.
If you ask the adults what they think of their kid’s participation, you can expect an extended conversation about how imaginative they are and how you shouldn't buy into such rumors. If you ask them to do it themselves though, they nervously laugh it off before walking away to break up the children, while the wooden statue looks on.
