'Could have been a bad ending': Horror find in little boy's second-hand Xbox game

A mum’s worst nightmare nearly came true after finding her son clasping a bag of pills he pulled from inside the case of a new video game.

Bianca Emmerson took her seven-year-old son Carter to spend a Christmas gift card at EB Games inside the Peninsula Fair shopping centre at Kippa Ring, in Queensland’s Moreton Bay Region on Monday.

When they got home Carter walked towards her with the small sealed bag containing five tablets, which he said he found inside the case beneath its information booklet.

“He was shocked like me, and with the way I reacted, he thought he might have been in trouble,” Ms Emmerson told Yahoo News Australia.

Fortunately it was a rare instance that Carter didn’t hand the case to his 14-month-old brother, who on a regular day would have sat on the ground and entertained himself with the case.

“I’m glad that he found it because it could have been a bad ending,” she said.

Despite the dangerous threat posed to both her young children, Ms Emmerson said she held no malice towards the retailer and instead wanted to warn others to be vigilant when shopping for their kids.

• Man's creepy question to woman, 23, before terrifying abduction attempt

• Two police officers shot and homes on fire in active Hawaii shooting

• 'I called the cops': Internet's kind act for Target manager after customer's bizarre complaint

“There were drugs in my seven-year-old’s hand and that should never have happened,” she said.

Ms Emmerson said Carter initially thought the pills were seeds they could plant in the garden, forcing her into explaining the difficult topic more prematurely than she always hoped.

“That was a hard conversation. Trying to explain what drugs are to a seven-year-old isn’t as easy as what you’d think,” she said.

“I was just trying to explain that they’re drugs, people take them, and they make nightmares come true.”

She said she paid $2 for the second-hand game, which she said could have been sitting in the store for years without anyone knowing its sinister contents.

“I was just shocked that it could have been in anything pre-owned or used, which made me think, because I also op-shop a lot.”

After making the discovery, the mum reported it to police and delivered the drugs to officers at the Redcliffe Police Station.

A Queensland Police spokesperson told Yahoo News Australia that preliminary investigations had indicated the pills found inside the case appeared to be over-the-counter medication.

In a re-enactment video of how Carter said he found the drugs, Ms Emmerson opened the case before lifting up the information booklet to reveal the parcel beneath.

She said the small size of the pills made it easily concealable inside the tight compartment.

Yahoo News Australia has contacted EB Games for comment.

Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play.