The Shape-shifter of Vienna

Marcus Berger was working in a theatre and had only just stopped serving popcorn when a man stood in front of him. Marcus asked the man what he wanted from his stand, but the man didn’t answer him and instead reached over and touched his head leaving him unconscious on the ground. The man that had done this to him then turned into another object and watched on from a shelf as all manners of people rushed over to help Marcus out.

When Marcus recovered in hospital he told them about the man that had simply touched his head, but he was so heavy – handed that he made him collapse.

The nurse who heard his story then told him that they’d heard all about what’d happened. There was a man that’d entered the theatre and as he was about to serve him Marcus was touched on the head where he collapsed on the ground. The man then seemed to jump onto the shelf behind him and disappear.

Marcus couldn’t work out how that could’ve been the case since if he’d jumped on the shelf he surely would’ve stood out like a sore thumb? A doctor called Niki was close at hand and he said to him that he’d heard about a number of situations where this had happened before. The first case of its kind was back in the late nineteen-fifties and the initial person was killed. Ever since then on the anniversary of that date someone experiences a strange situation.

Niki told him that if this thing had intended to kill him he wouldn’t be here now, but he’d have to be wary about repeat incidents from this moment on since it sounded like the shape shifter of Vienna had singled him out for some special treatment. Marcus couldn’t figure out what he’d done wrong, but the doctor told him that all of the other attacks had come inside theatres where not just support staff were victims, but so were actors and actresses too.

Marcus had a bad thought and didn’t like where it was leading him, but the nurse urged him to contain himself and calm down until they could discharge him. Marcus hoped that Niki could come up with some kind of cure for coming into contact with the shape shifter, but Niki told him that there was no cure it was just something he’d have to learn to live with although there were going to be signs to watch out for.

The nurse wanted to find out about these signs and Niki wasted little time passing it on. He told them that the best way to avoid being attacked was to avoid being alone in a public place. He then told Marcus to quit his job at the theatre or else a repeat incident was very much on the cards for him. Marcus had – had this job for many years and didn’t really want to quit, but the nurse and Niki told him that he’d simply no other choice in the matter.

Marcus then asked once again about the signs? Niki said that if he ever felt like he was being watched he needed to make sure he was around other people, because this eradicated the threat of the shape shifter. If he ever experienced something out of the ordinary he needed to tell people about it rather than keep it to himself. Marcus knew that he was one of those that liked to keep things to himself, so this sounded like pretty solid advice.

A few days later Marcus was released from the hospital and told to rest, but he would be forever haunted by the day that the shape shifter of Vienna made his presence known to him and left him with a continued threat to think about from that moment on…