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The Flesh Market



Estimated reading time — 6 minutes

Have you ever visited Edinburgh? Beautiful city, no matter what time of year you go. The castle that sits at the centre of the city is awe-inspiring, looking down on the surrounding area from the Mount. The peaks and valleys of the land have resulted in a city that flows with the landscape. Streets that surround can be steep, with the numerous sprawling alleyways even steeper. It is here that we find Fleshmarket Close.

It could be mistaken for any other darkened causeway in the city. It sits among the shops and tourist traps, relatively non-threatening, and can be used as a short cut to get down to the station if you are in a hurry. The name has been justified, through some who point out that fleshmarkets were a local term for butchers, and through others who suggest it a hangout of women of the first vocation. These are incorrect. There is a market on the close, but flesh is not the product. It is the currency.

Market hours are dusk until dawn, and the entrance fee is one mouthful of your own blood. Prepare a glass, and progress down the alley. As you get halfway down, swig from the glass and spit it against the wall. The blood will bubble and spread across the wall, coagulating into a hardened scab. This will then start to flake and scatter. A rather anti-climatic door will be revealed beneath. Stepping through is disorientating as logic will tell you you are stepping into a building. The space you are stepping into has no walls, with darkness shrouding the edges. It is at the penumbra that a number of stalls are set up, run by individuals who look like market traders from across the globe, from Arabian merchants to Cockney grocers to New York street con-men. All of their clothes are splatted with blood and offal

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These figures will entice you to come speak with them and will gesture to numerous signs around their stalls regarding the sales they are currently having. Upon approaching one of the stalls they will start to pressure you to make a deal with them. You are certainly welcome to do so, and the products that are available are certainly worth consideration.

Starting at the cheap end of the spectrum, you may wish to offer one breath. A lungful will net you knowledge of the weather for the next day. In itself a rather pointless purchase in this age of smartphones and the Met office, but centuries ago invaluable. Taking this offer will result in the seller reaching out with his hand flattened, then quickly grasping it into a fist. The air will literally be stolen from your lungs, and cause a few moments of gasping as you catch your breath.

Are you attached to your fingers? How attached? I mean, do you reckon you could do without your little finger? This sale will provide you instant forgiveness from any one person you desire for any wrongs you may have encroached against them. Agreeing to this one will cause the trader to grin and shout “One Yubitsume Special, coming right up”. They will lunge forward and grab your wrist, pinning it to the table. Don’t resist, because no-one likes a tough sell. A flash of steel and you will be minus one digit. Just remember you can only pay twice.

Now make no mistake, it will hurt. There will probably be a lot of blood, and if you don’t take care of the wound, it may even get infected. As the price goes up you may want to consider taking precautions regarding what you trade. Tourniquets and sutures would certainly not go amiss.

Now some of the trades will seem familiar and may hark back to stories and legends that have existed for millenia. This is is the influence the market has had on our culture, leaching in over the centuries. A pound of flesh will make it impossible for the next person you make a trade with to renege on the deal. Especially useful if you don’t trust the company you keep. It has no use within the Market as all of the traders here are trustworthy, and will honour a purchase to the letter and the spirit. Best to leave this transaction until last.

How about one of your eyes? Depth perception is over-rated any way. Offering up one of them will allow you to converse with our avian friends. You will be able to call down the birds from the trees, and they will be able to answer any questions you may have. It is advisable that you avoid ravens. They have their own agenda, and it is not in your best interests. The salesman will grab you around the throat and slowly prise his fingers into the socket. A snap of the wrist and your visual organ will rest in their palm. Another snap, and it will disappear.

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It is at this point where you may want to consider stronger measures to ensure your survival of payment. In this strange little world or ours, the market is hardly the strangest. Artifacts and incantations exist that can allow the body to continue to function long past the point at which mortal coils would be shuffled from. One or two can be picked up here, but few are willing to live without their sexual organs. It seems eternity is that little bit colder without the ability to get your rocks off. I’m not going to go into the details as to how they are taken, suffice to say that it is unpleasant and messy.

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At this point the prices become a little more …..Vital. What would you take for your stomach? In this deal it would merit you the ability to understand the desires of anyone you talk to. Whilst you converse with them, your mind will be filled with the images of that which they covet the most. This would provide a significant advantage to any budding salesman, and the deal has been taken up by several of the stallholders themselves.

Some may argue that such a gift would be more poetically suited to the heart. That vascular muscle, however, is apart of an altogether different deal. By bartering with your heart, you can guarantee the happiness of any given individual for the rest of their life, however long that may be. The removal of these types of organs can be significantly painful, but the dealers will allow you a moment to prepare yourself before they will produce a short, keen blade. One practised swipe later, and they will be digging into your tissues. They have unerring accuracy and a level of cleanliness that rivals any surgeon.

Now it is acknowledged in some places that once the deal has been sealed, a buyer may have second thoughts and may want to back out. This is not one of those places. Most of the contract is left unspoken, but you are expected to have done your research. The buyout clauses are a killer.

Whilst most of the body can be put on the table, there are limitations.The fact of the matter is that the brain is the seat of sentience, and cannot be fully placed in. I say fully, there was one individual who offered to lobotomise the part of the brain that holds memory as a part of the deal. The problem is he cannot remember what it is he received in return. I hear he suffered night terrors for the rest of his days.

Now at this point I offer a warning. Up until now I have detailed the price list for your own body parts. What ever you do, do not attempt to purchase anything in the market with organs of another. Every figure in the market will stop and stare at you, and the one you attempted to defraud will scream “THAT IS NOT YOURS TO TRADE!”. What ever it is you have tried to barter will, that body part will be taken from you as punishment. A very literal eye for an eye.

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Despite whatever theological perspectives you may hold, offering your own soul will elicit the same result. There have been many theories postulated for this response, but the honest answer is we just don’t know.

The market has been trading in blood and bone for as long as civilization has existed, though the entrance has moved from city to city. Many have visited and shook hands with the butchers, though not quite as many got those hands back. A smart man would wonder how it is that these individuals are capable of honouring the deals they broker. A smarter man would ask himself why his body parts are of such high value in this economy. Just understand that it is supply and demand.

And as long as there are fools willing to supply, you shouldn’t need to concern yourself with who is doing the demanding.

Credit To – The Silicon Lemming

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33 thoughts on “The Flesh Market”

  1. Why is it in Scotland of all places? Why not a popular city, like Italy or something!? Why dont the popo notice? Why would you want to go into a market with flesh? There are like, NO people in Scotland. Why not call the cops and tell them the location?
    This is missing some common sense.

  2. I’m curious, how would they react to people that have had organ transplants? I mean, it’s technically their organ while at the same time not being their organ. I’d ask the same question about what’d they do about you giving them pieces of a cloned version of you. Is it still technically yours to give or not?
    What about limbs that you regrow on your own body? Like a artificially grown ear or something? Would that be a viable way to pay?

  3. This was good and you should feel good.

    Seriously though, this was really well written. I loved how detailed this was and all of the various rules and descriptions. I could honestly picture such a place existing, even though the concept is impossible. Good job and keep on writing.

  4. randomguy:
    Awful pasta. Seriously, how do you live without your heart or stomach.. Yeah, you can’t. No one is stupid enough to trade vital body parts for invaluable treasure since they know they’d die and not be able to even experience it. Not trying to be a jerk, but one of the worst pastas I’ve read on here. Made worse that it has a high rating. 2/10

    You CAN live without your stomach, and the heart thing was “one person of your choosing will be guaranteed happiness forever” or something like that. So it’s literally sacrificing your own life for someone else’s happiness. That was the best part in the entire thing, I’m sad that went over your head. And it’s already been covered in the comments that the story was never posted here.

  5. I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again: I love ritual pastas! Especially when they’re done well. I thought this one was brilliantly executed. It is a simple method of entry (I mean, it’s gross, but the steps are simple at least), and then variable risk depending on what you want or have to offer. Really liked the note that you might need to seek out additional charms/spells/etc to survive some of the consequences (such as no stomach or heart), as it makes it appear even more desperation driven. I also thought the progression of risk/reward was really evenly done, and it made sense how that would escalate. Also, smart to include the caveats about souls and others’ bodies. It gives the market an established feel, since there are such clearly delineated rules and boundaries. Well written, good congenial but informational tone, and such a cool idea! Thanks for the story, and happy writing!

  6. I liked this story a lot! However, I have also read a story almost exactly like this on this website.

  7. Awful pasta. Seriously, how do you live without your heart or stomach.. Yeah, you can’t. No one is stupid enough to trade vital body parts for invaluable treasure since they know they’d die and not be able to even experience it. Not trying to be a jerk, but one of the worst pastas I’ve read on here. Made worse that it has a high rating. 2/10

  8. The Best Opinion

    This has to be one of the most sagacious creepy pastas that I’ve read very well plotted 9/10 from me. Hope to read more of your stories.

  9. I really liked this. Disturbing and original entry. I would have liked to hear about even more deals.

  10. Whenever I read these types of pastas I always wonder if they’ll actually work and I get this strange urge to go and try them.
    I wouldn’t miss a mouthful of blood…

  11. I like the concept. That would be pretty cool if such a market truly existed! Although, I don’t know if I would dare to go within 10 feet of such a place!

  12. Another portion of moronic instructions. Damn do I hate instruction stories here. This particular one is better than the others I have read here, I must admit. The instructions always lack common sense and provoke many questions:
    1. Why are these people trading if they can just kill the person and take all they want? The market is obviously secret and illegal and cops don’t seem to ever visit it.
    2. Why would anyone want to sell body parts for totally useless products?
    3. Why would anyone buy a lungful of breath in exchange for knowing the next day’s weather?
    4. What’s the point of selling a finger for someone’s forgiveness?
    5. Why would someone sell an eye to have birds answer his/her questions? Considering that birds have tiny brain, the information they can offer is simply useless.
    6. Most importantly, if this is an illegal secret market where a client may die, why will I trade when I can slaughter these “traders” and take their stuff?

    1. 1) Why buy when can murder?
      2) To buy magic? What is for?
      3) I do not read story?
      4) Magic? Is crazy!
      5) Why BUY when can MURDER?

    2. Remember that these “traders” are not normal. At the end he mentioned the “demand” and mysterious demander. In all likelihood the “traders” are some form of supernatural being that requires the flesh of humans (willingly given) for something. As such, it is unlikely that you or I could kill them. Even if we managed to kill one, the others will probably kill you.
      The size of a brain is irrelevant in a world with supernatural beings.
      If you want something bad enough, humans can accomplish great feats and sacrifice a great deal.
      As mentioned knowing tomorrow’s weather was invaluable once upon a time.
      Why would you spend money to beat a level of Candy Crush?
      See my first answer.

  13. Why is this the new post for today? I am positive I have read this in the past on this site. >.>

    Still a decent read though.

      1. If anyone can actually pull up where it was posted before on THIS website, I’ll remove it. However, I can’t find it and I’m not sure why the author would re-submit something already accepted here.

        I’ve run some searches on the text, author, and title and while he has posted this elsewhere as well, no hits on this site come up.

        Please do remember that since we don’t claim ownership or demand exclusive rights to submissions, you may sometimes see stories that you’ve read elsewhere.

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