Nightly Creatures (part 3)

Mint has a bag of books in the house. He gave that to Hooker. I snatched the bag before he could see it. His eyes were on me. I explained, “I can keep the bag and the books from Bubbles. She trusted me.”

Mint was about to say, “I already killed my sis. I deserve to earn a reward. You are just too much for him.”

I glared at him, his mouth shut with an x mark. I imagined the x mark in my head. He better be that way than to protest or whatever he can do. I said, “I would like to read the books and figure out who was chasing after me.”

“I chase after you,” Hooker began.

“I mean the big creature with thicker claws,” I said.

Mint was scared, “I might have seen it somewhere in my sis’s room while my father just--”

“Mint? Where is her room?” I demanded.

Hooker and I followed him to the back of the house. Her room was deserted, except for the big hole in the floor. Beneath the hole was a set of white pipes. My jaw opened without a sound. Mint was terrified when he said, “My father came during the day to find her room empty. It scared the crap out of him. It made me scared as well. So I thought to kill my sis to end her misery. But it was worse than I thought. The creature could have been hurting my sis all along.”

“But!” Hooker said. “The big creature was not after her. He was after the marked one, which was Buttercup.”

I crossed my chest and looked at Mint with anger. “You killed her because you were scared of the big creature, who chased after me. I mean, it can give me signals of its claws.”

I took the book from the bag and searched for that particular creature. I found one page only. You cannot be that serious, Bubbles’ mother. Is she a writer for the books? Heck, there was no name on the front cover or between the pages.

“Did you find any?” Hooker asked impatiently.

I explained from the reading, “The creature is big with thick claws. It can live both day and night through water and dirty water. But it did not harm the residents in the neighborhood years ago. What makes it eager to show up? It is still unknown to this day.”

Both Hooker and Mint gasped at the last phrase. I kept reading the next paragraph, “People in the neighborhood found this intrigue and explored its origins so deeply. As if watching a grudge from an old television that she-- I will skip that. So the creature still living in the depth of waters and still breathing underwater…”

Mint said, “And it is dangerous to come to the house. My house! This is modern, not some old urban legend to discover.”

I slammed the book and put it in the bag. I rushed to the restroom for the plastic cup of water. The claws reached for my wrist when I knew to throw water at it. Instead of sizzling in heat, it went away fast. The house rumbled afterward. Mint falls into the hole while Hooker tries to catch him but is afraid of the unknown.

I came back to the room. Hooker’s back bent over the hole as his hand reached for Mint. He said, “I lost one of my nightly creatures. I do not expect that he is gone.”

I found Mint’s father by the table to tell him that Mint disappeared. His father rushed to the room and jumped it. Hooker cannot take it anymore. “My nightly creatures! Why they, they can go down there!”

“If I were you, I go down there and save my nightly creatures.”

He sighed deeply, “Fine.”

“What about the rest of your nightly creatures? They should come to?”

He stood and walked to the table to tell them not to go through any water/sewer source. Any unknown will hurt Hooker’s reputation. The rest agreed not to go down there. He added quickly, “Do not go in at any time. Each of us has one heart. This can kill one nightly creature instantly.”

One nightly creature ran with a scream. Everybody else stayed silent and not being an idiot like him. Hooker came to the room. We jumped into the hole. It was pitch black.

Hooker’s claws catch something metal, remove it and swing to hit himself. A thud was next to me. I looked behind me. It was Hooker. I grabbed his shirt and moved to a place where the light hit. I quickly realized he cannot be in the daylight, so I shoved him into darkness. He woke up saying, “Ou!”

“It is morning.”

“I hate the sun!”

“You should stay in darkness. While I looked for Mint and his father.”

Hooker reached for my hand. His tears fell. Then, I got spooked. Can the tears make the creature appear? I put my body over Hooker’s face with my hands around his torso. The creature passed us quietly.

It seemed in a rush. I wanted to laugh, but I saw Hooker’s face was so small child's. He looked so innocent. He said, “Let’s find my nightly creatures quickly before that thing kills them.”

“It can kill yours?”

“It can kill one by one fast.”

With no time to waste, we moved forward through the dark tunnel. We did not step or touch the metal or pointed items. One of us can scream and die. I shook my head not to think even the possibility of death towards Mint and his father.

The duo was almost at the end of the tunnel. However, the metal grate prevented their path, and the sun was hot. It burned Mint’s skin. Mint did not weep. His father was breathing hard. He wanted to say something, but he was too thirsty.

Mint pushed his father closed to him and felt the whoosh in the tunnel. He moved to the side, so the creature crashed into the grate. The nightly creatures fell into the garbage. The claws stuck in the grate.

The entire tunnel rumbled, and we moved forward slowly. We were halfway in the tunnel. I sensed the creature at the end of the tunnel stuck by the grate. I looked at Hooker’s face, and he said, “No.”

I looked back at the creature’s big tail. It was almost like a reptile to me. It can live in the waters. It can live in the sewers. It can live in both day and night. It gets stuck by metal objects like a grate. It even reminded me of the sharp tools around my house. The trap was for the big creature that I was supposed to face.

I turned around. Hooker was gone. I looked back and walked towards the creature. I stepped on the metal rod with my shoe. The creature’s tail raised in my direction and slammed me down. Hooker was in the garbage looking for the nightly creatures. He found his father first. A few seconds later, he found Mint holding onto the metal wall. Hooker removed him from the wall. The sound pierced through the grate, so the reptile smashed it with its strength. It felt the human skin underneath its tail.

The nightly creatures went to hiding as the reptile circled back to see me flat on the ground like a thin paper. I did not move or make any sound. Its eyes locked on my face. Then, it looked at the bag of books, and it returned to my face. It thought that I was the one who wrote the books and searched for nonexistent creatures, so its tail raised over me.

I thought the reptile would see me as an item of affection. Well, no. Why are its claws thicker to reach for me? I am marked, you idiot!

Slam! My face and body were flat. My teeth broke under high pressure. Seriously, I had to get out of here before I die!

Hooker came out to scratch its back. The reptile noticed it and whipped around to catch his claws. Hooker shouted at me, “Run!”

I appeared out of the ground and moved to the light. I left the bag of books behind. The duo followed me out and rushed behind the bushes. Hooker was fighting off a giant reptile. Hooker said, “You are the one who scratched my face. I cannot forgive you, cold-blooded creature.”

I ran back to the tunnel to find Hooker. Hooker battled the reptile with all his claws and strengths. He was fast, but not fast that the big tail hit his belly. I rushed my arms out. He fell right into my arms. I looked up as the reptile was looking at me evenly.

I moved to the right. The creature smacked its head in the grate. I put Hooker behind the bushes, where the nightly creatures were cooling. I looked back at the head stuck in the grate. I said, “You are not scary. You look like a mere reptile. Nobody is afraid of you. But you afraid of me.”

One eye locked mine. It reads, “The reptile is a coward fearing her. She is the marked one instead.”

Its head disappeared from me. I rushed into the bushes just in case it chased after me. It did not. It was still in a tunnel looking for answers. I looked down, and no bag was attached to me.

Before I moved, Hooker’s claws were on my arm. He said, “Look at me, Buttercup.”

I found his face burned from the sun. I pushed his head down so he cooled down. He whimpered, “I hate the sun.”

I thought of a plan to grab a box. Put all three in the box to move it to the house and the air conditioner is in the house. At the same time, I worried about the books getting eaten by the reptile. Mint came out in the grass and said, “I can go in the sun and find something to cover Hooker.”

“Do that,” I said.

He said, “What about you, Buttercup?”

“I will stay here with Hooker.”

Mint was gone. His father stared at me weirdly. His hand was on my head. Then, Hooker scratched him. “Do not touch her!” He said.

His father let go of my head and turned to see the sun in his eyes. He said, “I missed the summer vacation. I missed my wife and daughter.”

I ignored him and my tears. Hooker embraced me. We moved to another location. He said, “That guy has already weirded me out.”

“He did the same at the meeting.”

“I should have eliminated him sooner.”

“I thought that you cared about your nightly creatures.”

“I can eliminate them if I want.”

“You are worse than the reptile.”

“Do not compare me to it, which was stronger than me. Stronger than the nightly creatures.”

Mint came back with the blankets. He only finds his father staring at the sun. He called out. His father looked back and ran to him, who received a blanket. He said, “They went that way.” His finger pointed to the area surrounded by fewer trees.

Mint followed that way. He found out that Hooker and I make out. Mint dropped the blanket over us. He rushed to his father. Both went to the house. I was out first while Hooker stayed inside the blanket.

He murmured something that I could not hear. I removed the blanket so he said, “Just like that, Mint.”

I said, “I did that to you as well.”

“May I be in your bed for the day?”

“Sure.”

After I led him to my house, he rushed upstairs and was in my room. He slept in my bed with the covers around him. I took one glance at him and went away as fast as I could to the tunnel. I wanted to find the bag before the creature did.

The door won’t bulge to Mint’s house. I sighed deeply and went out to find the trees we were making out of earlier. I rushed to the end of the tunnel. I went inside and stopped. What if I lose the bag of books to the creature and I never get those now? This defeats the purpose of me going inside and facing the monster of my entire life.

During the afternoon, I kept on searching for the bag. I found none for three hours straight. I was daydreaming of receiving from the reptile effectively. But that was short-lived. I went out of the tunnel through the same opening. I did not look back, I wanted to forget about the books, the bag, and Bubbles. I cannot find it.

I paused before the stop sign. The male children were walking with joy. I walked around the block to my house to avoid them. I even avoided their mother, the one who talked big. I made it to my house before dark. I locked the door and went into the restroom to wash my hands with soap and water. The claws reached for my hands. Once again, I smashed them into the sink. I ran out and told Hooker was at the door. He scratched his eyes at the side of his palm. He said sleepily, “Again, that creature.”

“How to make it stop?”

“Not sure.”

I looked back at the sink. There were no signs of claws or blood. It was the reptile from the tunnel still terrorizing me! I wanted it to stop reimagining such a thing. Hooker tapped my shoulder. He warned me, “Are you pulling your hair out?”

I looked in the mirror. My hair is a mess from pulling strands with my bare hands. “Heck, no.”

“I need to use the restroom,” he said.

I stepped out, and he closed the door. I did not wait for him. I went outside to look at the hose. I was not putting my hand on there and expected the claws to come forward and reap my hands off. I took a piece of grass from the yard and landed it on the faucet. The claws did not appear. The grass has water. Plus, I wanted to shout.

Hooker was in the hallway and moved the dead body to the yard. He put that in the mud, hoping the reptile ate it in the mud. Hooker came behind me, and one of his claws poke my thigh. I paused and heard his breathing beside me. My eyes were alarmed. Then, I turned around, “You should be inside, Hooker.”

“I am under the shade.”

I led him to my house and locked the door so he did not go out in the sun. Still hot and humid outside, I thought. Hooker was licking his claws. I sensed that he already moved Bubbles’ mother’s corpse outside. “What did you do with her body?”

He was silent. My heart panicked for Bubbles’ corpse. But the giant reptile came to the mud to grab a snack. It was gone. The next second, it got another snack by the fountain. I sweat so hard. Hooker wiped my face with the towel he got from the table. I should stop sweating. It lured the creature.

Almost to my house, the towel absorbed my stinky sweats. Hooker squeezed the water into the sink. One moment it was quiet. The next moment, the claws caught the towel. Hooker snatched it away. Then, the claws came forward to grab his face. I went to the kitchen and grabbed a knife from the drawer to poke one of the thicker claws. I said, “Stay back!”

The claw paused while I cut it without a doubt. The rest of the claws went back to the sinkhole and never returned for once. I looked like a killer trying to kill that thing out of my way. Hooker said, “Thanks for saving me.”

I said without looking at him, “I tried not to sweat again.”