"Don't Take Gifts From Strangers"

A man came up to Pete and opened his coat wide.

"Hello there, young man. Fancy anything you see?" he asked. A hood was covering most of his face. His voice was a sort of scratchy whisper, but with an ominous undertone Pete found unnerving.

He began to look at the objects sticking out of the pockets inside the large jacket. It was all mostly junk- silver spoons here, a pocket calculator there... until his eyes rested upon a pencil that was sticking out of its own pocket. He looked closer and found that a silver ring was looped around it. It wasn't particularly attractive in any way, but there was something special about it and Pete had a hard time looking away.

"How much for the ring?" he asked.

"Oh, this old thing?" the man replied, and took the ring off the pencil. "You my friend, can have this free of charge." With that, he placed the ring gently into Pete's open hand. It was cold to the touch, and felt... electric.

"Gee, thanks a lot mister." He was about to place the band in his jeans pocket when the man asked, "Well aren't you gunna try it on? See if she fits?"

"Uh... sure why not?" He raised the ring to his right index finger and, as soon as he slid it on, Pete's eyes went blank. His pupils were gone, along with his mind.

"That's better, isn't it sonny?" the man exclaimed happily, and put a pair of large dark sunglasses over the boy's eyes.

"Come along now, I have a lot of work for you to do." he said, and Pete followed him obediently down the street, never to be seen again.