running for hours

is the car far behind?

noises in the woods

racing in my mind

he can't get me again

i enter the hotel

does he know that i'm here

is that his car? i can't tell

panting, ans sweating

the cleark asks if im okay

i describe what happened

his height and his face

i go to my room

empty and silent

except the sound of a fan

i get in she shower

and wash off the blood as best as i can

a sound from the closet

run out the door without any clothes

his tall dark figure

pulls me in, the door creaks to a close

i sceam bloody murder

this town wasn't safe

the last thing a saw

was a smile on his face

[i tried, the town idea was hard haha]

I don't want to wrap myself

in synthetic wool sweater &

sip a hot tea in that painted

place nor eat scones within

the dense two-dimensional

fabrication of oily escape

in which no one breaths

when night wall descends...

Instead I want to wrap

myself in blank canvas

of riverside mountains

and examine the weft

and the weave of the

landscape found beneath

with magnifying glasses

...who knows what hills

& verdant snow coated

valleys might be found

to be drawn out with

fresh mixed pigment

in the unframed

midnight hours...

I have sat and sat

above the carriage house

where antiques are sold

and common folk of

undefined vintage

are oft trading

stories that send

goose chills and

ebegeebees along

the crested ridge

of the spine that

twists down to

the waters there

beyond treelined

pathway of the

mind that hides

all the peering of

the undefined...

those creatures

of which you

speak, that keep

us from venturing

out after dark...

with eye lids shut.

06.12.2023

This Place Folklore challenge @BJLeCrae

“Scratch, scratch.”

I am still sleeping on the bed with the thick covers. I did not open my eyes until it scratched my right thigh. I woke up and flipped the covers over the creature, which stood there gazing at the wall like a statue.

I ran to open the door and turned around to see the creature with scars all over his right face. The dark red and wavy lines like Ruffles chips were his scars. I wondered if he could move and run after me. It did not.

I ran limping through the hallway and slowly stepped on the stairs as my right hand was on my right thigh, which still hurt from scratch. When I reached the first floor, the dining room was completely dark.

All of a sudden, I whipped my head around. The creature was right behind me. He looked so familiar to me. But how?

Without a second thought, I reached for the door and ran to jump over the fence. All this took me five minutes. The creature was already behind the fence, looking at me. The claws were on top of the fence.

Away from the claws, I ran through the roads. My right thigh bled, which I did not see. I kept on moving slowly. When I reached the next block, I stopped and grabbed a rake from the light pole. I looked back as the creature advanced. I hit his head, but the pair of claws catch it fast. I pushed down with all my might. He forced the rake at me. I fell in pain, but no scream came out of my mouth.

He jumped over to scratch my face. I moved away before the claws. I crawled out. He then scratched my back. I ignored the pain to grab the water hose and wrapped it around his neck to choke on his own. Well, it worked.

I stood quickly and ran into someone, a girl with the name Bubbles. She asked, almost crying, “Where are you going at night?”

“I was…” My finger pointed at the creature on the block, who struggled until the hose loosened around his neck. “That one is going to kill me.”

Her eyes found my right thigh bleeding. So she gave my thigh her cloth, and she tied my thigh hard. I did not feel the pain. She said, “You were bleeding right there.”

I looked down on my thigh. I said, “It scratched me while I slept on my bed.”

Surprisingly, Bubbles showed me her right thigh with the big band-aid. She explained that it was the creature, who scratched her for no reason. She wanted to tell me more.

I looked around quickly. He was not there with the hose. I looked back at the creature, who abducted Bubbles. It snarled at me or her. I shrugged carelessly.

Then, Bubbles punched him in the stomach and kicked his head. He fell on his belly. She screamed, “Run back to the house!”

I said before I left, “You should do the same.”

“Go!” she shouted.

I ran back to the house and jumped over the fence. I reached for the door, opened it, and shut it. I put the locks on the door and moved the heavy storage box. I looked at the window for signs of Bubbles or the creature. It was silent for another hour before the sun arrived.

Now, it was morning. I looked out the window for anyone to show up and banged on the door. But no. I yawned loudly. Then, Bubbles showed up at the window. I looked at her without judgment. She said, “The creature ran off when it was daylight.”

“So you are alive?” I asked.

“Yes, I did. Many times.”

After I moved the locks and the box, she entered tirelessly and sat on the chair. I gave her a glass of water from the kitchen. Then, she drank it. She told me her story. “About a month ago, the same creature with scars, scratched my right thigh on the bed. I kicked his nuts and grabbed a stick to knock him out. He stood and snarled to make me look weak by stabbing my right thigh again.

“Without a scream, I hit his head and back. Any weak spots? He fell on the carpet, bleeding. I wanted to make sure that the thing was dead. I put the stick over his nose. He woke up suddenly and scratched the end of the stick. Shockingly, a stick was half gone. I gave up quickly.

“Running from my house every night was tiring but good for my body’s health. What I did not know was Mint, my brother, who has claws outside stabbed some innocent girls walking in the street almost till morning. He did not look like the one who attacked me on night one. He acted like one. What made him do that? I wondered.

“I approached him from the back of the house. He sensed someone behind him, so he turned without the scars. He looked normal to me. Already, he has claws attached to his hands. I was horrified and escaped.

“When it was day, he came to the house and acted normal. I feared him. I sat far away from him and ate breakfast alone. He looked at me without question. He got near me. He asked, ‘What is wrong, sis?’

“I went outside to avoid his gaze. My mother ran after me. She whispered to my ears, ‘I feared him as well. He is not the only one. Your father is acting like one from the night. I was…’ My mother picked up her skirt to show me her right thigh was stabbed just like me.

“As we heard footsteps toward us, she put her skirt down. My father shouted at my mom, who was already distressed about the situation. She went inside to wash the dishes in the kitchen. Then, my father stared at me for a minute.

“I went inside without his command. My brother stopped me and said, ‘Sis, did you talk about something?’

“I walked away to the house. He made a fist and bled his hand. He grunted and shouted, ‘She is keeping things to herself, Dad!’

“The father agreed, ‘Man, I wish they talk easily and be normal like we always do.’

“Before my brother spoke, I knew they were not just people in the house. They were much more sinister than their looks. My mother called out to me for some time alone.

“We were looking at the old books written long ago in her room. She showed me some truths about the nightly creatures. ‘Nightly creatures,’ she reads, ‘were the transformation of the males, who were loved or cared for by most females.’

“I said bluntly, ‘Our father and brother.’

“‘That is correct, dear,’ my mother said. ‘However, the females irritated the males to be the worst at dark times. Males turned into creatures with claws and hurt the females. One that stood out was the main creature and the wavy scars on his face. That one would kill a youth instantly or leave a female alive just for his mark. His name was Hooker.’” Bubbles looked at me with worry.

I said, “You can continue the story, Bubbles.”

“It is not that, Buttercup. I encountered him on night one, but I still did not understand the mark he goes to a female?”

“We all encountered him on different nights,” I said.

Bubbles wanted another glass of water. I grabbed the glass and entered the kitchen. I thought I saw a hand with claws on the sink reaching for me. I squinted. Bubbles shouted at me. I dropped the glass on the floor. Immediately, she said, “Did you see something, Buttercup?”

I went down to pick up the pieces. Then, I got a scratch. My right hand was bleeding slowly. I looked for a nearby towel to wrap around it. Then, Bubbles saw me doing that and said, “You are bleeding. How?”

I stood, saying, “You scared me.”

“How I scare you?”

I looked for the broom and dustpan to remove the glass particles on the floor and put the debris in the trash can. After that, I looked at the sink, it was nothing. Bubbles said, “I will check on my mom. I will be back later.”

I heard the door open and shut. Bubbles was gone from the house. I looked around the kitchen for any weird signs. I hope unimagining things like the claws. My heart ached as I put away the broom and dustpan in the corner.

Meanwhile, Bubbles reached her house. Her mom was crouching like a ball and crying hard. Bubble comforted her. Her mother said, “They are the nightly creatures. I am so afraid of them. They kicked me out. I cannot be inside with them.”

“Mom, are you alright? Any scratches? New ones?” Bubbles concerned.

“It is just getting scary and out of hand.”

“What about the books?”

“I have my bag with me, thank the heavens.”

Bubbles smiled, “At least this one saved.”

Her mother’s bag was thick and old, still covering the old books that she kept reading and remembered by heart. Bubbles picked her up.

Unexpectedly, Mint walked quickly toward them. Bubbles turned her mother around. Her mother hid her bag behind her. Her mother hoped that he was not looking for the books. Instead, he asked Bubbles to talk with him under a tree.

Bubbles refused, “Not going.”

“Sis, come on. Just a few minutes.”

Bubbles obliged. Both were sitting under a tree. Bubbles crossed her chest and pretended to be angry and fearful. Mint touched her right thigh with a purpose in mind. She said, “Stop touching there.”

“Does it hurt?” he asked.

She looked at the corner of her eye. She shook her head, pretending that was no pain.

“It is supposed to be hurt by now, sis. If not hurt, I will kill you tonight.”

Bubbles stood and ran to tell her mother about his intentions. Both females looked at him fearfully. He approached them with pace. He said, “The pain is supposed to be hurt. You are a liar, sis. I can tell.”

Her mother stopped him. “You do not want to know the truth that you were… You and your father are acting odd around the house. I cannot stand it. We cannot stand the stress from you, males.”

Before he could catch the mother’s hair with his hand, I came walking and distracted him by saying, “Mint, be nice.”

Then, he looked at me evenly. He dropped his hand and said cooly, “You are the one marked.”

“What?” I mouthed and was surprised at what he said. He turned around and went into the house. Bubbles and her mother were shocked at me. I looked down at the towel wrapped around my right hand, which had stopped bleeding. Also, my right thigh stopped hurting.

I turned back towards Bubbles and her mother, who still looked shocked. I said, “He is lying. He is playing around with outcomes. He does not even know the future about us living here on earth.”

Bubbles grabbed my hand. We all went to my house. She put me on the chair, and we talked with her mother about the books and the nightly creatures. I found it amusing that I was told once by Bubbles. But this time, there were many truths to discover about the sides of males and their strengths.

Before the night, we prepared the sharp tools around my house. I dug with the shovel while Bubbles installed the tools into the ground, and her mother just gave instructions from the book. The neighbors around my house found this suspicious. A lady with the baby approached the mother, who only said, “We protect ourselves from the invaders.”

The lady found this odd and shared a personal story about her male children. “They never came back at night until morning. They were tearing the wooden stuff in my house. I never knew why, and I was about to call the police. My children stared at me with dead eyes. So I did not call for help.”

“You can stay with us if you want,” the mother said.

“I want to, but my children need me now.”

“What do they need?” Bubbles asked after finishing the installation. “If they need your pain, they are the nightly creatures.”

“I heard about the term but never thought of this now. I should be afraid and form a team to fight back,” she said.

I was about to wash my hands with the hose. I felt my right thigh asking me quietly, “Do you want to feel the pain? Or being marked?”

Bubbles noticed I was holding the hose but did not switch it on. She found me strange and snapped her fingers behind me. I looked at the hose and her. I said, “What?”

“Are you going to wash your hands?”

I washed my hands with the water from the hose. I turned it off. I stood while Bubbles washed her hands next to me. I overheard that they would be forming a team in my house. I gasped, “You should not. I do not have that many spaces. I only lived and can only allow Bubbles and her mother.”

The lady with the baby glared at me. “So? That is your house. You should be gone from here. We are forming a team tonight.”

I went inside the house as Bubbles found this unnerving. I ran upstairs and tripped, and entered the room by crawling. I shut the door slowly. I cannot believe that she is acting like the owner of my house and doing whatever she wants. What if she is? Just go away and never come back!

Bubbles said, “If you knew my friend was a homeowner, why do you not care for your children now? That would be fair and square.”

The lady with the baby said, “Then, what are you two doing here and putting all the garbage around her house.”

“Just leave,” her mother said.

The lady and her baby left with muttering under her breath. Bubbles and her mother went inside the house before dark. I sat on the floor. I heard the door opened and closed. I moved as the claws underneath the blanket reached out for me. My hand was on the doorknob and twisted as the creature came fully. He snarled at me.

Before the door opened, I turned to see him. He was snarling at me once again. I looked at my right hand and my right thigh. I did not move until he lashed out his claws, and the door pushed me forward. I fell, and he stared at my body. Who opened the door was Bubbles, who glared at Hooker, who rushed to cut her throat. She fell on her back. She tried to grab a hangar from the floor and knocked the creature out.

I woke up thirty minutes later and was still on the floor. I got up and turned to see blood stained on the floor. I followed out in the hallway. Bubbles was half alive while Hooker breathed hard in the other room.

I paused when Bubbles’ mother screamed downstairs. I wanted to move but could not. Hooker crawled out of the room and went downstairs to kill her instantly. That would be a bad outcome for Bubbles, who was still hurt.

Hooker killed her mother downstairs with his claws. He moved the stuff from the door and noticed the sharp tools circling the house. He went upstairs to find me cleaning the blood on Bubbles’ neck. He grabbed my hand and pulled me away from her. Bubbles snatched my other hand and shouted weakly, “Let her go Hooker.”

He snarled and pulled me out of her hand. We both went downstairs and out of the house. Bubbles cannot move due to the tightness of the clothes I put on her neck. So she relaxed a bit.

Before the arrival of the sun, Hooker jumped many tools to reach for Mint, who stood waiting outside the block. He stared at Hooker and me. Hooker said, “You say to her that she is my mark.”

“She is your mark, Hooker.”

I blurted out, “You do not know the future, guys. How can you tell? I am stabbed in my right thigh and hurt by the glass piece on my right hand. Also, this has nothing to do with the mark you said to me.”

“Stop playing dumb,” Hooker said.

“And you guys hurt the females as the payback. I want a payback to hurt you, too.” Before I did that, Hooker’s claws stabbed my body, and I fell on the grass. I was asleep. He said, “Mint, go get your sister.”

“What if she refused?” Mint asked.

“Then, kill her.”