Nightly Creatures (part 2)

Mint reached the house, where the sharp tools crowded at its perimeter. He sighed deeply and entered to find his sister upstairs. Before he could do that, he found his mother’s blood trailing on the floor. He did not weep. Instead, he searched for her body in the hallway next to the kitchen. Her face distorted. He had never seen an adult that weak in his eyes.

He turned around and went upstairs. Bubbles immediately thought was Hooker, shouting at him, “Get away from me!”

Mint paused his hand over his heart, “Sis, I am your brother. Respect me.”

“Ah, sorry,” her voice sounded half-dazed. “I was tired.”

Mint approached her, his hand on her neck, and asked, “Who did it to you?”

Her eyes widened, alert. “Hooker came and hurt me.”

“I found our mother dead on the floor, bleeding in the hallway,” he said coldly.

“I want to kill Hooker!” she shouted.

Mint snatched her neck. “If you do that, you are unable to follow my lead. Sis, you ended up dead like our mother.”

“Stop hurting me,” she squeaked. His hand tightened the clothes around her neck. He wanted to choke her and let her body there. He released her as the rays of the sun brightened the sky.

He said, “I will come for you later, sis.”

She glanced at him before he ran off the stairs. He quickly open the door and went back to the house. Hooker said to me, “Do not be dumb. You can do whatever you want before the nightfall.”

I tug his arm wanting him to stay as the sun rose high in the 12’o clock noon. He snarled. I let go then, he rushed into the house to be with Mint. Probably, they would be talking. Who knows.

I went back to my house carefully with the sharp tools. I wanted them removed, but it was too much work. That would not be enough time. I went inside to follow the blood trail and found Bubbles’ mother dead. My heart sank, whispered, “But that does not make sense. She is a survivor, but why kill her?”

Without wasting any time, I rushed upstairs to see Bubbles asleep against the wall. I slowly removed the clothes around her neck. I said, “Sorry, Bubbles.”

She opened her eyes and thought about her mother. “She is gone now. But my brother has come, and he will be back later.”

“I saw him passed by Hooker and me earlier today.”

“Did he just go to the house? Man, he is one idiot!”

“I think so,” I said.

“I have to get the books from my mother before the nightly creatures know.”

“I can help you with that.”

I helped Bubbles stand on her feet. Bubbles’ back and legs are hurt from the fall last night. She walks slowly down the stairs. I led her to the kitchen and the hallway. I bent down to grab the bag that contained the books. I gave that to Bubbles, who searched the bag for one book. She said, “This has to be the solution to kill the nightly creatures once and for all.”

“What if Mint comes by tonight?” I asked with concern.

“I can make a poison for him so he drinks and dies quickly.”

“There is no solution against the males,” I began. “It could mean that the females must let them be out of control to follow them around and stay alive.”

“I do not want to be a slave to my brother.”

“I do not want to be marked by Hooker.”

“This is way too hard to live like this,” Bubbles said. “Females cannot do anything to hurt the males. The males ended up being the nightly creatures at night, and so on. I hated my brother so much more than my father. It was both.”

I hold hands with her. “Hooker said to me that I can do whatever I want. But I was confused by his words.”

“You are marked by him, so… that is boring for you.”

“I guess so.”

“What should I do, Buttercup? You have been marked so…?” Bubbles held the bag of books close to her chest.

“I do not know.”

“Did the mark makes you feel powerful or weaker?”

I shrugged.

“No effect?”

“I want to say yes. I still want to play dumber around Hooker to annoy him so he can unmark me.”

“There is no turning back, now.”

“He made a wrong choice.”

“I want water. I am thirsty.”

I went into the kitchen to grab a glass and filled it with water. A thought burst into my mind as the claws searched for me out of the sink. I blinked and turned around to give the glass to Bubbles. Then she said, “Thanks.”

I said, “I see things that I should have not.”

“What things?”

“Claws from the sink.”

Her face shocked me. She points her finger at the sink. I followed her finger and said, “Not just things, then, the claws were. But why do they? This is daylight!”

The claws shrunk back to the hole of the sink. We ran outside, and I helped Bubbles to get around the sharp tools. She complained once. “I hate this, and it is not helping to kill the nightly creatures.”

We were in the streets at 3 pm., a few hours before the nightfall. Bubbles said behind me, “Let’s avoid looking at the male children.”

I looked at the male children, who gazed at me with affection. They were shorter than my waists. One of them giggled next to him. I said, “You should be with your mother, kids.”

One kid laughed loudly, which made Bubbles uneasy. Bubbles got annoyed real quick. “Can you put them in the perimeter, Buttercup?”

I ignored her and led the children to their mother, who carried a baby at the corner of the block. She was looking at me. “I saw you before.”

I rushed to Bubbles. We walked away as the mother shouted at me, “You are someone I know!”

Her male children played with her skirt. She was embarrassed that one of them went inside to lick her leg. She said, “Eww, kids.”

The other child of hers slapped her face with his hand. He laughed so hard that the first one came out of her skirt and laughed. The baby in her arms did not follow their stupid laughs, and she remained silent. Their mother was hurt.

Meanwhile, we walked a few blocks from my house. Bubbles found it relaxing while limping. I helped her walk, but I felt a sting in my heart. I shook my head to forget the idea of claws from the sink, Hooker, and the nightly creatures. They were part of my imagination. “Look!” Bubbles said with her finger.

I stared at the front of her. What is that? A claw? Hooker? It cannot be either. They must be more pointed wooden stakes around the side of the neighborhood. “It may be for the females to be stabbed to death,” I suggested.

Bubbles looked and said, “Will you remove them for me?”

Without disappointing her, I tried to move the wooden stakes away from me. One stake hit my right hand. I threw one out, which was about to hit Bubbles in her head. Luckily, she dodged it. She ducked some more when I threw more stakes in her direction.

I shouted after the removal of stakes, “Done!”

Bubbles limbed towards me. I turned around to help. We walked some more blocks before the night. We ended up in the center of the town. Bubbles was nervous. I gave her a burger from the available restaurant in the entire town. She could eat it.

A few minutes later, Mint came to the center of the town. He looked at us with excitement. I went forward. I said, “Do not think anything, nightly creature.”

“Relax, the one who is already marked. I can take my sister back to me.”

I looked at Bubbles, who stopped eating the burger. Mint rushed to eat her burger. He said, “Tastes like chicken.”

I stopped him before he touched her. I said, “What will you do to her?”

He looked at me. “Go to your boyfriend, Buttercup.”

I blushed. “I do not even have a boyfriend. He is not my boyfriend. He is-- uh, erm….”

“Just go to him. He needs you, now.”

If I were gone, my friend would be dead like her mother. The same fate was already on the corner. So I made a deal with Mint not to touch her while I was gone.

Hooker was already behind me. His face touched my head. I said, “You are there, Hooker.”

“I see that you are in charge of your friend. Just let her go. Let Mint takes care of her.”

“I do not want to see him harming her.”

He sighed beside my hair. “You smell good, Buttercup.”

I looked at him. Mint took Bubbles away to the forest. I said to Hooker, “You smell dry and stinky.”

“Just follow to the house. We have things to do tonight.”

“Like what?”

He took my hand. We went away. I took a glance back to where Bubbles used to be with Mint. Both were gone. I was furious to pause, so he felt the tug. He knew that I was angry about my friend’s disappearance. He said, “Buttercup, we have important things to do tonight.”

“Then, my friend’s gone?”

He touched my face with his claws. I feared his nasty fingers would tear my skin apart. Finally, I am unmarked. But his hands were sweating from his body. He said, “I am not threatening you for your dumbness. I want to care about you, Buttercup.”

“What does it mean?”

“Remember, you are marked, and you are important tonight.”

I groaned. Here we are at the house, a block away from my house. I sat on the chair by the long table. I avoided the eyes of Bubbles’ father, Hooker, and some nightly creatures I did not recognize. I wanted this to get over within a second.

The meeting was boring to me. I talked the most about the nightly creatures and why they were at the table. Some of them dare to touch me with their claws. Hooker cut their claws with his claws. I feel a little trust in him.

While Mint and Bubbles were sitting at the edge of the fountain, the water ran normally. Mint looked at her sweetly. Bubbles found him scarier and stayed away from him. She kept on saying, “Just let me go.”

He saw the bag that she carried along with her. He said, “The books in that bag. Give me that, sis.”

“Never! I will never surrender to the nightly creatures.”

“I am your brother, sis. Respect me.”

“No!”

“Come on, sis. You can understand me better than other people in the house.”

“We are not equal! You are one terrifying creature, who killed my mother.”

“That’s it!” He jumped at her. Then, she fell to the ground. He scratched her face and got the bag of books. “Sweet!”

He got up and walked away to the house. Bubbles’ face was unrecognizable, and her body lay on the ground untouched. Blood drooled from her face.

I spoke for ten minutes. I used the restroom. Hopefully, the meeting ended well. I washed my hands in the sink. The claws came out to touch my wet hands. I smashed them into the sink. I rushed to get a towel and whip out the claws in the sink. The claws vanished, then the door opened. It was Hooker.

I lowered the towel. He looked at me with concern. “What did you see, Buttercup?”

I said. “Nothing.”

“What did you see?”

“Claws.”

“Like mine?” He showed me his claws. They were long and thin. The ones I saw from the sink were thicker than his.

“Slightly thicker.”

He touched my back and led me to the table. The nightly creatures looked at me. I saw Mint with the bag of books. I rushed to steal it from him. Mint said, “I got it first.”

“You kill my friend Bubbles.”

He looked away from me as Hooker said, “Who is bothering the marked one?”

Everyone looked at him so am I. He reworded it differently, “Who bothered Buttercup from the restroom?”

No one raised their hands. I approached and whispered to his ears. “Maybe, it is not the nightly creature. It can be something bigger than this.”

“Stop playing dumb,” he said.

My eyes returned to the opened door that led to the restroom. It cannot be that restroom only. It can be in my kitchen sink as well. It can be at the faucet or the hose at my house. It can be somewhere near the water or sewer. These are not the nightly creature’s claws, but thicker and bigger. Who was the next creature after me? Is it because I have been marked by Hooker?