"JAMMMMEYYYY!!!" The loud squeaky voice woke him up. Pulling the pillow to cover his face while he groaned.
"Please, let me sleep 5 minutes more" he begged silently to no avail. Suddenly a small body bounded onto his chest, hugging him tightly. Almost to the point where he couldn't breathe. "Alright, I'm up!" He said patting the eight year old girl on the head when she let go of his body. Taking a deep breath in. "Good morning to you too, Dorothy." A small grin on his face.
"Jamey come play with me, pleeeasse!" Dorothy said with her adorable sad puppy dog eyes that he just couldn't say no to even if he wanted to.
She pouted her bottom lip deeply so James sighed deeply and replied "ok, but only for a little bit. I have an appointment with our therapist later, and I can't be late."
She smiled adorably "YAAAAY!" She screamed happily. Insistingly she grabbed his hand and pulled "come on, come on Jamey!"
"Okay, ok jeez quit pulling" he told her.
"Okay, close your eyes" she said, in a gleeful voice. He did this then she went silent for a few moments and he heard the sounds of scampering feet, and then. "Marco!" James yelled
"POLO" she yelled from somewhere, probably he guessed from the floor above.
James opened his eyes and slyly smiled and opened his mouth and said "Marco!" He went down the long hallway and clambered swiftly up the stairs to the third floor. "POLO!" She screamed back.
"Marco!" He shouted down the corridor, grinning he briskly walked from room to room. On the fourth door on the right he looked in and for a split second he thought he saw a small impish looking creature grinning up at him. He blinked deeply and hoped it was all just a hallucination. When he opened his eyes the creature was still in the place it was before, staring at him. But now it wasn't moving anymore it was grinning at him frozen. Going down on his knees slowly, he crawled toward it. In a moment of impulse recklessness he poked its cheek and it reacted with lightning fast reflexes. But he quickly pulled his hand back before it could bite his hand off. Then the creature did something unexpected, its short form ran to him close and sniffed at him. Cautious and a little bit alarmed he started to back away. He only stopped when it bared its sharp teeth at him. As it got closer James could hear its little voice grumbling to itself.
"The Master will be very pleased with me" it said "I've discovered the boy. Lifetime of riches for Grimly" the creature had a horrible little smile on its wrinkly face.
"What are you talking about?" James said, finally mustering the courage to speak. "Is Grimly your name?" He asked.
when the creature didn't respond and just stood and stared with a smill he took it as a yes, he nodded. When James spoke up and the creature noticed, it shrieked in a rasp and scampered away to the far side of the bed near the window.
"It speaks, the vessel speaks" the creature said. Then it started doing something in a loud sound that James soon realized was laughter.
Then Dorothy ran into the room with a disappointed look on her face.
"Jamey, what are you doing" she asked crossing her arms. "I called 'POLO' but you didn't reply, what happened?"
"I have a really good excuse, Dorothy" he answered "I saw this strange creature that I can swear is not from Earth."
"Really" she said "I'm eight, not stupid. You'll have to do better than that".
"Come on, do you really think I'd talk about it if it wasn't true" he defended himself. Turning around he saw the creature. "There!" He pointed at it "it's right there! I told you!"
"I don't see anything James" she said, she only called him James when she was worried about him. "Are you sure you're ok" she asked looking up at him.
"Silly Vessel, normal humans can't see my kind" it laughed in its raspy tone. Its laughter echoing in the bedroom.
He looked down at the annoying little creature that insulted him. James decided to ignore the creature.
'It's ok, James. It's all in your head. It'll all be ok, just go to your therapist and get a higher dose for your sleeping pills' he thought to himself.
"Yeah" James said nodding at her. "I'm ok, don't worry. I'm sorry that I have to go but my appointment can't be rescheduled." He told Dorothy.
"Yeah" she said "go do that".