Nothing scared me during the daytime, but at night, the creepy-crawlies wreaked havoc with my mind. I lived in a tightly packed forest community. From my back window, I could see the glamourous shimmer of the infinitely dazzling Juno City's lights in the distance, but it was very far away. The distance from here to the city might as well have been from here to the moon.
So far, I'd lived a comfortably boringly regular life if I were to be my own judge. I went to the local schools, swam in the same local rivers as my parents before me, ate at local restaurants, and enjoyed occasional local festivals like everyone else.
Despite my home - Howard Creek - being remote, its vastness was spectacular in its own way. Along with a massive grid of homely houses, it had buildings that were unusual and impressive for its remoteness. We had our own everything, so we seldom went to the city. Even the main river that flowed through Juno City actually starts somewhere in the middle of the massive forest that enclosed us in a near perfect circle.
You would think that we would grow up and venture to the city like in the movies, but no. City folks were strange, and we did not like strange much. Everyone who has ever left the village has returned without ever leaving again. That's enough proof that there is nothing to covet in that city.
Still, my dream is to write movies to be watched in the big City theatres. I want to be a famously mysterious novelist and script writer. No one would know where to find me, but everyone would love my movies. The thought made me smile a little.
I was getting carried away with my fantasy when I felt a searing pain on the underside of my upper arm.
"Ouch. Really, Tianna?" I stared at her in mock-disbelief. She pinched me again and I pulled away groaning. She's lucky she's a girl.
She ignored my complaints, "What you writing?" she asked with a not-so-subtle hint of mockery. "For a boy, you love books though."
The hint of an accent I could not place would occasionally remind me that she's not actually from here. I often wondered where it's from, but after a few failed attempts, I gave up asking. She's a transfer student that arrived in our town in the past year. She didn't share much about herself but still, we had gotten close in that time, annoying sibling type of close.
I turned away from her, but she wriggled her way under my arms and snatched the book.
When she skipped backwards, she almost fell over her too-long uniform. I reached for her instinctively, but my concern for her dissipated as her teasing laughter grew to grate on my nerves. She held the book open inches from her face and continued walking backwards.
"'…The monsters crawled form beneath the bridge and oozed into the gully...the birds squawked, hidden in the tress...it was all so uncanny'....tee hee. Greg, you are uncanny. Isn't a story supposed to be at least a little bit believable? I wonder what really go on up there."
She tapped on her head with one eye closed as she said that. I lounged at her at the same time she through the book up in the air. That move left me wide open for one of her 'playful' assaults as I positioned myself to catch my novel in the making. My blockbuster movie draft fell into my hands a half a second before the final school bell sounded, and her impending not-so-gentle palm strike stopped halfway. She looked at her watch before galloping full speed in the direction I could swear she had come from.
As she ran, she called out something to me that could not hear clearly over the cacophony of students chatting as they left their classes to head home. I barely caught the words "wait," " clubroom" and "home together." My heart flipped involuntarily. Something weird always happens every time I follow her home. For a moment I considered not understanding her request since I really did not hear it all.
Once, when I walked her home, nineteen dogs chased me all the way to my home. I swear it was twenty, but one fell in a pothole at one side of the road. Another time I followed her home, I ended up on a strange street with no sound – like the community was on mute. She laughs at the things I write and call me weird but most of the more outlandish material I write about are records of my experiences after I walk her home. They really are just a tad embellished for entertainment purposes.
The anxiety she inspires in me is enough to make anyone reconsider being anything more than an acquaintance with her. But she's all I've got, my best friend really. Before she transferred to my school, no one ever talked to me so when she took a liking to me, I was ecstatic. I mean, at first, I thought she only spoke to me because she was a transfer student who didn't know better. But after we hung out a few times, we sort of clicked. And yes, I'm in the friendzone but she's so aggressive that I don't mind. Friendship is all my anxiety can handle with Tianna.
Today we hid from our seventh period class. We both hated accounts lessons- the teacher was so easily distracted. All the idle students had to do was say 'soccer' is better than 'golf' and Mr. Wright would forget his 'lesson plan' to prove them wrong. I preferred to relax under the old oak tree in the far right of the football field. It helped that over-grown shrubs hid anyone at this side of the field.
After a little over half an hour, I decided to go searching for Tianna at Cadet club, but no one was at their usual spot. I went to the barracks where they usually changed back from their cadet uniform to school uniform, but there was no signs of anyone actually being at that part of school at all. That's when it hit me. Something weird was happening again. I turned to run back to where I had been originally, but a loud "caaw" from a giant crow made me stumble, and twist my ankles mid-turn before falling smack on my butt.
"Relax Greg," I soothed myself. "This is a school, there are no dogs here and you have not lost your hearing."
Gingerly I used placed one hand on the ground, pushing my body up, and forcing myself to walk at a regular place. The whole time, I fought to swallow the increasingly painful lump in my throat. My heartbeat pounded at a deafening volume in my ear. After what felt like forever, I made it back to where the place Tianna had asked me to wait.
Heaving a sigh of the relief, I realize then that I had been holding my breath. The last few students were heading home from their various clubs. I asked a few for Tianna. Erica and Justine, two of Tianna's classmates, looked at each other before looking at me as if I said something strange. They both insisted Tianna did not show up at school today. I did not press the issue. Did she skip all her classes? This did not make sense. We both disliked accounts and would occasionally skip it but Tianna was generally diligent in her lessons.
I decided to head to her house. Maybe we had missed each other, and she headed home thinking I was gone. As I threw my bag over my shoulder, I heard her voice.
"Weirdo," she called. "I told you to wait for me. I'm going to go get my bag."
I did not see her, but I knew her voice better than anyone else's at school. Still, I wasn't willing to stand there like a statue doing nothing, so I followed her voice through a few trees, around a wall and into the gymnasium. It was dark and the emptiness caused my shoes to echo with each step on the wooden floor. I heard other echoes of footsteps and assumed it was hers.
I followed it and called out, "Tianna!"
An eerie cackle responded. This was too creepy. I backtracked immediately. I didn't stop until my back hit the gym's double door a split second after it slammed shut. The double thud of my back against door and door against door made the gymnasium sound extra empty. I wrestled with the doors' old handles until one fell to the floor with a clank. Did I accidentally lock myself in?
What was happening? I banged on the doors and called frantically as I peered through the keyhole. The maintenance guy was out there. He didn't seem to hear. He passed me at least two times without seeming to hear me shouting and banging at the door. On the third time he passed, he looked me dead in the eye through the keyhole, smiled and put a finger to his lips, shushing me. I screamed on top of my lungs like a wild animal.
The maintenance guy's smile widened as he mouthed, "Kaijuu like to eat in silence."
"Kaijuu" I mouthed in response. What nonsense was he spouting instead of helping out?
My body froze as I realized that my hairs have been standing on end for a while. Now that I was quiet, I heard distinct breathing behind me. Now I remember that there were footsteps earlier so someone else is in here. My fear now seems irrational. It's not as though today is Friday, the worse case scenario is that I'd have to sleep here 'til the morning.
Realizing I was straining to keep my bladder in check, I squeezed my thighs together, calmed my breathing, and turned slowly. Barely believing I was in a horror movie, I opened my mouth but nothing came out but a whimper. This can't be real. In seconds, I was face to face with a vision only possible in the worst nightmare.
"Why me?" I cried as my bladder involuntarily relieved itself.
I thought about all the ways I could have possibly gotten out of this situation. My mind was blank. The blood raced with renewed vigor to my eardrums like violent waves crashing and clotting till I felt my head fill to the point of near explosion. My knees failed me. Was I fainting? Thick, stinky slobber from the beef-brown beast fell like goo and covered my body. I coughed hoarsely as some got in my mouth. It tasted like earwax. Coughing it up did not help; all I got was a round two attack on the back of my tongue as the coughs turned into a violent vomiting episode. The last thing I saw before its anciently wrinkled, greasy face descended on my limp body, was its elephantine body vibrating to an intense rhythm.
The beast's yellow eyes and enormous mouth grew closer and closer, all the while vibrating in the most ridiculous way. In one surprisingly fast swing of its open jaws, it engulfed me in its mouth, and I suffocated a little in the stench of its breath. Again, no scream came. I whimpered pathetically as I died a horrific death. This beast had at least three rows of razor-sharp teeth that pierced my body in the rhythm it was vibrating in. Wait, why is it vibrating? I lost consciousness when I felt my body being pierced the third time.
***
The vibration must have followed me into death.
When it stopped, my mother said very sternly, obviously annoyed, "Greg, for the love of God, get up. You're going to be late for school...again."
I did not respond. I just stared at the alarm clock. It was one of those alarms that did not stop unless you got up and turned it off yourself. I had placed it across the room to force myself to get up and turn it off in the morning. It didn't work. It had been alarming for fifteen minutes straight.
When I saw the time, I jumped out of bed and into the shower. My mother had long since disappeared to get back to her own bed. She worked night shift, so she was always asleep when I left for school. I got dressed in a jiffy and headed to meet Tianna at her house. I had to tell her about my bizarre dream.
When I got to her gate, I let myself in like I always did and banged at the front door repeatedly. An old man with a crumpled, disgruntled face unlocked the door slowly. His eyes drooped and his dented right cheek sagged in the direction of his unlit wet-looking cigarette. I imagined he slept with it there. That would explain his breath.
"What do you want?" He growled, barely containing his annoyance.
I did not know him. Maybe he was a visiting relative. I asked for Tianna. He told me there was no one at the house by that name. I insisted and he slammed the door in my face.
Walking back through the small iron gate, I was thoroughly confused. I had been following Tianna home for at least half a year. I dismissed the geezer and headed straight to school for which I was late. Tianna must have left extra early today. A sinister growl from behind low bushes stopped me in my tracks. At least four giant bulldogs were crouching low, one lower on the right hind side where it might have had a previous injury. It looked the most ferocious. I was already in range. They launched each other at me. Wait, what? No, they all jumped at me at incredible speed, completely in sync. There was no time to hurl a single thing at them. They bit into my body all over as I screamed in agony. I was being mauled. It felt like I was being chewed by a giant monster. A surprisingly familiar stench assailed my nostrils and I almost passed out. My eyes had been tightly shut as I screamed in agony.
***
When I thought I could take no more, the chewing stopped. I was sure I would wake up now. I did, but my body was limp, mangled on the floor. What was going on? A click-click of multiple locks let me know an enormous door close to me had become unlocked. My body made repeated short spasms because of the pain. I was bloody all over, and I could not move voluntarily. Trust me to not only pass out, but to also dream when I'm being eaten alive. It would be nice if death would hurry. I'm pretty sure my body is useless now: plus, I'm exhausted.
"Dis one wasn't it either," I heard Tianna grumble loudly. Her accent tinged with what sounded like an irritated growl.
She sounded both disappointed and annoyed. Through bloodied eyes, I saw her wipe something dripping dark red from her mouth. The sound of her footsteps turned from barely audible to not there in seconds. The beast was gone too, like it disappeared. Did I imagine it all? My mangled body evidenced otherwise.
"I'll clean this mess up," came a gruff reply. "You'll have to start working on another prey tomorrow."
"Over a year feeling him out wasted. He had the scent. Crap!" Her voice sounded more normal now.
I heard nothing after that and saw nothing until the caretaker's aged, blurry face appeared before my eyes.
"Tough luck, kid," he said to me softly before he started vibrating in a familiar rhythm.