"Dear diary, hopefully, I made it to day seven in this remote orphanage penitentiary. Due to recent happenings, my plans of starting a normal life don't seem to be working out as I wished. Maybe I'm just meant to be different.
I no longer feel safe within the fortified walls of this so-called holy ground, since something mysterious has been able to get through, somehow. I'm still yet to detect the monster that has been cautiously stalking me for the past three days. I have a feeling we might have a lot in common, for it to have mastered my signature and handwriting. Yet, it still remains a mystery, how..."
Oliver suddenly stopped writing and dropped his pen on his diary book. Raising an inquiring eyebrow, he swiftly sprang up from his reading desk and dashed towards the door to bolt the latches. Having done that, he rushed and closed the window shutters.
He had been hearing a series of low clattering sounds, coming from under Max's bed. He heard it again. He immediately grabbed a baseball bat that was hung horizontally on the wall next to Max's bed.
"I know you're in here. Show yourself now," he said in a very low tone, almost in a whisper.
He held the bat firmly in both hands and slowly went towards the bed, cautious not to make any slight sound with his feet. He gave a slight kick by the side of the bed, then took a step backward. The response was a low creak sound.
"Will you come out peacefully, or do you wanna do it the hard way?"
He held out the bat firmly, with hands that were a bit cold and clammy. He was so curious to know what was stalking him, and its reason for doing so, but he was also a bit scared that it might be something dangerous.
There came another rattling sound. Oliver quietly and carefully bent over and peered under the bed. There were several junk items stuck under it. A rickety electric guitar with loosed strings, an old boom box player, a skateboard, a pair of gamepads, and a pile of ruffled books.
Oliver didn't detect any unusual thing or movement. He guessed it might be hiding amidst the stuffed objects. He tried using the baseball bat to shift the objects, but there was no sound heard, or sign that some living thing was there.
He went to the other side and knelt over to check. He made sure all the objects were shifted and overturned for him to search completely. In the end, there was nothing else he could find under the bed, except the unnecessary belongings of his Russian roommate.
Oliver heaved a sigh of disappointment.
"I guess I was only hearing things, then," he muttered.
He was going to stand up to his feet now, but as he raised his head, something immediately got his attention, and from there, he was frozen to the spot, with both knees and hands on the rug. A strange-looking creature was standing right in front of him, by the corner of the wall.
"Holy craps..." Oliver muttered, in sheer astonishment, with his eyebrows raised slightly.
At this point, Oliver was sure he had finally seen his stalker. The creature even appeared to be more terrified than he was when he saw it. It shook furiously, glaring widely at Oliver.
Oliver had never seen anything like that before. Also, unlike what he expected from a stalker who was so smart to have mastered his signature, and so creepy to have not been easily noticed, the creature looked rather harmless and laughable. Its appearance almost made Oliver chuckle, as humorless as he was.
Even though Oliver had never seen anything like it before, with its physical appearance, he was able to detect that it was a blue elf.
The strange creature standing before Oliver was about 1 foot and 7 inches (48cm) in height. It had large, tennis-ball-like greenish-yellow eyes, long bat-like pointed ears, and a pencil-like nose. The only feature about it that Oliver had predicted, was its pale blue complexion. It was clothed with a brown body covering sack bag, with food stains and patches at several parts. It was knotted on both shoulders, like a sleeveless garment.
The poor little creature looked completely scared to death. It took off suddenly through the space under the bed and dashed to the other side of the room. Oliver tried to grab it, but it was so fast that it took him unawares. Oliver went after it immediately.
The elf ran in a manner that was so absurd and hilarious, raising its feet to reach its knee level, while swinging its tiny little arms carelessly. It also bumped into pieces of furniture, and other items that were on the way.
"Where do you think you're going?" Oliver mumbled as he chased after him.
"Quit it, you little... Ahh!" He drove his right knee into the wooden bedpost.
"I'll kill you..." he grunted painfully.
The creature made low whimpering sounds, as he ran.
Oliver managed to trap him at the corner of the wall, for the moment. The funny-looking creature stood there at the corner, bitting its tiny fingers, nervously, with its skinny legs wobbly in fear.
Oliver was so calm. He bent over it, with inquiring eyes.
"Easy now, there's nowhere to run," he said.
As Oliver was there, he didn't know when it swiftly hopped upon his back, and down to his bed. Oliver quickly turned to go after the creature, but he accidentally knocked down the lamp on his drawer, in the process.
"Oh, no..." he muttered.
Oliver picked up the lamp. There were several visible cracks around the glass. He carefully kept it down. He was really pissed at this point. He looked up and saw the blue elf at the door area. It was hopping, desperately trying to reach for the knob.
"Okay, little one, now you've crossed a line."
The creature looked back at him, with terrified green eyes. Oliver was slowly approaching it. Its large eyes kept on darting from side to side. Its eyes reached the half-open bathroom door. Oliver traced its gaze and realized what it was thinking. He had forgotten to close the door.
Their eyes locked at this point.
"Hay, don't you dare..." Oliver warned.
The elf smiled cunningly, and before Oliver knew it, it darted off, right into the half-open bathroom.
Oliver was really panicking. He went after it immediately.
Inside the bathroom, what Oliver saw nearly caused a fresh swell of rage to rise in him, but he managed to keep his frustration in check. The creature had left a series of muddy footprints on the white tiles. His eyes followed the prints, and he saw it, struggling to climb onto the toilet seat.
Oliver closed the door and watched to see what the creature had in mind.
What it had successfully mounted upon the toilet seat, it swung on the handle, then jumped inside the seat, in an attempt to flush itself away. When Oliver saw what was happening, he went immediately, and caught it by the ears, forcing it out of the hole.
"Yuck!" exclaimed Oliver, wrinkling his face in disgust. The elf was completely soaked in toilet water.
It kept on kicking its legs and struggling to set free, but Oliver held it tightly, preventing any escape.
"Finally, I've got you," Oliver said.
It continued struggling to be set free. Oliver pressed it against the wall.
"Oh, I could do this all day. Give up?" he asked it.
It continued kicking. Oliver applied more pressure on it.
"Give up?" Oliver gave it a second chance.
The elf tapped his hands furiously on the wall, signaling surrender.
"Wise choice," Oliver said, taking him from the wall.
Oliver carried him out of the bathroom, to the main room. He kept him on the floor but held his arms to prevent it from escaping. The creature looked like he was about to burst into tears. Oliver looked so irritated.
"You pathetic little creature, you're gonna tell me why you've been stalking me since," Oliver said.
The pale blue elf gave no reply, just low whimpers.
"Wow, so you think you can make me believe that you don't understand me? Nice try"
"Talk!" Oliver yelled, shaking him aggressively.
The creature clasped its lips together, with its hand. Oliver stripped it off, violently.
"I need you to start talking right now," Oliver said.
The creature suddenly burst into tears, wailing out loud in an annoying manner. Oliver was starting to panic now. He was scared that someone might hear the sound of its cry. Oliver quickly found a sock under Max's bed and tied it around the mouth of the elf. He carried it over to the wall, and hung it on a hook, with its sack bag clothing. It was still sobbing uncontrollably, with the socks around its mouth.
"Shut the hell up, you," Oliver ordered, but it wouldn't stop.
Oliver went to his reading desk and took his pen. He went back to the wall where the elf was hung and held up the pen at it.
"Now, will you shut up?" he asked, threatening to stab it with his pen.
The elf immediately became quiet.
"Now that's a good boy," Oliver said.
He removed the socks from the mouth of the elf.
"Listen to me, you have 5 minutes to explain to me who you are, and why you've been stalking me, or I wouldn't mind putting this pen through that tiny little neck of yours, understood?" Oliver said.
It nodded in fear.
"Go ahead. First of all, what are you, I mean... who are you?" Oliver asked.
"Uh... Ugly," it muttered.
Oliver's forehead wrinkled in confusion.
"You mean, ugly? Like that's your name?" Oliver asked.
"Yyy... yes," it replied.
"What kind of a name is that?" Oliver muttered to himself.
"So, ugly, why are you stalking me, what do you want from me?" he asked.
"He, he, he, he..." It began to pound its head on the wall, continuously making a funny sound, as it did so.
"Hay, stop that," Oliver said, but it continued hitting its head on the wall.
Oliver tried so many ways to stop it from hurting itself but just wouldn't stop. He even tried threatening it with his pen, but it still refused to stop.
"Hay, just stop this, okay? Why are you hurting yourself?" Oliver was worried.
Suddenly, it stopped hitting its head on the wall. It began to weep silently. Oliver was puzzled.
"Hay, it's okay, I'm not gonna hurt you," Oliver said, dropping the pen.
"I just want to know why you're doing this, that's all. I won't hurt you, I promise," Oliver said.
"Ugly does not want to harm Oliver, Ugly does not want to be killed by master," it said in a low voice.
Oliver's forehead wrinkled in confusion.
"But why are you here, who is your master?" Oliver asked.
Knock* knock* knock*
Someone knocked on the room door.
"Oh no," Oliver muttered.
He immediately brought Ugly down from the wall. He put him inside an empty drawer.
"Shhh..." Oliver said, before sliding it close.
The knock came again. Oliver quickly opened the shutters and closed the bathroom door, then he went to the room door, opening it just a little crack. It was Max standing there at the door.