Nightly Creatures (part 7)

Did I see Bubbles in her usual outfit? The big band-aid on her right thigh lost adhesiveness on her skin when she ran toward me. I did not expect her appearance to glow and dream. Is she real? Do I hug her? Do I cry?

We were in a big hug. She touches my body with all the strength she has, and her heart beats normally. She has showered and shampoo usually. She is with the knowledge and kept me safe from the nightly creatures.

“Run, Buttercup!”

“To where?”

“Go to your house.”

I was in the pitch black hole. “Where do I go? Then, where is my house? Where is the door? Where is the window? Where is the ground? Is this real?”

“Just run!”

I looked at her. Then, the reptile, the same one I saw earlier ate her up. My mouth opened. I could not scream her name. The reptile ate her entire body. Her blood spilled over the darkness.

Then, her mother rushed to hide somewhere. I cannot move. I cannot say anything. Her mother came out with the books saying to expel the monster, which finished eating and turned to her. It stared at her awhile.

Her mother said to make it gone and never come to the town. As a result, the creature ate her up. I wanted to move.

“Poke! Buttercup.” The snarling voice called me.

I slept more and wanted to find out more about the alternative ending for Bubbles and her mother. The ending is supposed to be good, not sad. Bubbles and her mother would be alive and well. I smiled at the bed while my eyes shut. Hooker was feeling impatient.

He removed the blankets from the bed. My hand was searching for the blankets. It touched his leg by accident. He snarled and scratched my right hand. I woke suddenly and saw my right-hand bleeding. “Not again,” I said.

I sat on the bed, and he looked at me coldly. His teeth were sharp. I did not look at him. I looked at the door. I got up and twisted the knob. There was no body of Bubbles. I turned to the nightly creature, who froze.

I remembered the scratch marks on my right thigh, limping down the stairs, jumping out of the house, and looking for the hose to choke on his neck. He even hurts Bubbles across from the house. He- he should have…

Hooker was on the floor looking up. I followed his eyes wider than his scars. He seemed worried about me. Then, I saw the bed with blankets. I went to bed, and he caught me. He said, “Stop sleeping too much. You have slept the entire day!”

“I want to fix the ending for Bubbles and her mother,” I said sheepishly.

He kissed my head. “You are not dead. But the creature is on the loose. Buttercup, you need to do it now!”

I said, “That creature rejects me. I am not. Whatever.”

“Let’s get the others in your house.” Hooker left the house. I froze and moved downstairs to wash my hands. Instead of thick claws appearance, it was water streaming down on my hands as if the creature did not matter to hurt me anymore.

Hooker landed on the porch of Mint’s house. He heard stuff between Brittney, Bryan, Mint, and his father talking about how Hooker brought the kids to hurt his father. Hooker felt it was necessary to finish off. So he called the children to come over and kill Mint.

Then, there was a knock heard on the door. Mint’s father took notice of the savage children. He locked the door with a special lock. His eyes say it all, “Run, everyone!”

Bryan came to the door to remove the locks and found the children on the porch. He said, “They look innocent.”

Mint wore the usual clothes. He looked thinner than he wore the toga and wreath. He said, “Close the door!”

Bryan let them into the house just like his sister swallowed into the Backrooms without warning. Mint and his father ran to the back and opened the back door. His father closed the door carefully. Hooker was waiting for them. His arms crossed his chest. He said, “Running away from your punishment, you are supposed to fight them without cowardice.”

Mint said, “Let us go.”

“Never!”

“Where is your girlfriend, Buttercup?” Mint asked.

“Do not mind her.”

“She may be missing you out.”

“She passed out from meeting the creature. She needs time to rest.”

“Did she die?” Mint asked.

Hooker grabbed his throat while his father kicked him. The males struggled on the ground. Mint was choking while his father punched and kicked Hooker’s back. Hooker wanted Mint to die first.

Meanwhile, the children were in the house searching for Mint. Instead, they found Brittney sitting by the table. They went for a hug. One nightly creature put a broom in front of her so the kids touched the hay. He said, “A girl like you should run because these savages are ruining our lives here.”

“What do you mean ruining our lives? You mean they were not innocent.”

Then, the broom was half broken. “You better escape,” he said.

Brittney ran towards Bryan. Both went outside and figured out what happened inside the house. They were confused and ran another block to get away from misshapenness.

I was on the porch. I saw them running passed my house. I wondered what was going on. I checked on them. They were escaping from Mint’s house. I caught up to Brittney and Bryan, who almost got a heart attack. I said, “What happened at Mint’s house?”

Brittney said it first, “The children were breaking the broom--”

“We ran,” Bryan explained.

“I will go there and take care of the problem.” I was in front of Mint’s house. I went in slowly and found a nightly creature fighting against the male children. I put myself in between them and shouted, “Stop!”

The children bite the chair. One of them slapped his head, the piece of a chair thrown on the floor. The nightly creature on my left side, said, “They started the fight.”

“Children, just chill.”

They looked at me with wide eyes. They thought I was their mother. I said, “Leave or get eaten by the reptile.”

The children walked away with tears on their faces. I looked at the nightly creature on my left. He caught his breath and said, “First time seeing you protect the nightly creatures from hurting themselves.”

I heard the shouts from the back of the house. I rushed to open the door and found Mint beating Hooker with the flower pot while his father kicked him in the legs. I pushed Mint and his father out of the way. “You should not be doing this to Hooker!”

“Who comes to save the day?” Mint turned, frowning. “Is just Buttercup the marked on?”

“Why are you hurting Hooker?”

His father said bluntly, “Hooker is the one to blame for starting a fight against my son.”

I observed Hooker on the grass. His face was more scarier than his scars. He looked almost unrecognizable. I pulled him off the ground. He looked at me with sad eyes. Then, he walked away from me. “Hooker!” I called after him.

Mint almost said to himself, “He thought he lost you.”

“What? Are you playing dumb? You and your father should step out of the town or get eaten by the reptile.”

“Why did you do that to me?” Mint asked. “Plus, you are wearing the toga and wreath to look miserable.”

I looked down to my feet, then to my upper body. I removed the wreath from my head and put it down. Next to the wreath was the toga. I was in my used dress since everything happened a week ago. Plus, I had not showered. I said, “Leave or die.”

Mint and his father went away. His father drove the trunk, which contained a quarter of fuel. It took them a few minutes to leave the town and be in Safe Haven. What awaits them could be a reptile.

I sighed deeply and found Hooker on the porch of my house. His head down. I called after him. He looked up and then, he looked down. I approached him and touched his head. He snarled. “You are always hissing at me. Did I do wrong? Do you want to hurt me?”

His eyes locked on mine. “Mint says I will lose you.”

“I am here, Hooker.” I tapped on his head. He looked pissed, and I stopped before he could scratch my hand. “You are impatient at times. But I allowed the children, Mint, and his father to leave here or get eaten by a reptile.”

His eyes were on me. “Did you do what?”

“They leave or get eaten by a reptile,” I summarized.

There was silence between us until Brittney and Bryan showed up without warning. They spooked me. I fell as Hooker caught me. He said, “What is the yelling?”

They mumbled so quickly that we could not understand their words. We exchanged glances, and Hooker asked, “What seemed to be the trouble?”

Brittney said, “I saw the big one with scales and black skin roaming around the town.”

“It was chasing after someone,” Bryan explained.

“Chasing who?” I asked.

“Probably the small kid,” Brittney said.

We were silent while the children ran from the reptile. How are the children can get close to the creature? We never cared, except for Hooker.

Hooker showed up and scratched the giant reptile. Before he could do that, the children were moving toward him. Hooker moved out of the way, so they entered my house. I ran after them. Hooker turned, pushed by the tail. He went flying, and his torso hit the tree trunk. He shouted, “Come over here!”

The reptile ignored him, searching for the little kids to snack on. Hooker fell on the ground and caught after it. His claws stretched and sharpened to prepare for the battle.

Meanwhile, I found the kids grabbing whatever was sharp and went outside to continue the chase. I found this has to stop ruining the furniture. Brittney and Bryan moved out of the way as the kids looked like soldiers ready to battle the big one.

I went out and chased after them while the siblings were dumbfounded. Instead of waiting for me, they went inside to have a drink and relax.

The kids paused before the stop sign and wondered where the creature was. It was behind the trees gazing at them through the tiny holes of the trees. The kids moved as the creature’s mouth opened for one kid. They screamed as Hooker rushed to put a hose around its snout. The kids caught their breaths. Hooker landed on the ground and said, “You better not eat them alive!”

Its right eye glanced sharply, “I am hungry! I have not eaten a snack. I want snacks!”

I found the children next to Hooker. I abducted them with my arms. Then, I looked at Hooker’s back. It was firm. He stood at the creature, whose snout was closed by the same hose I used to choke Hooker. I released the children, who escaped to another block. I tapped his right arm and said, “Sorry, Hooker.”

“Now, it was not the time to chat, Buttercup.”

The creature then looked at me. My head was down. It reads carefully, “You are not what I think about. You are not…”

Hooker stabbed its right eye. “Stop giving her annoyance. I do not tolerate this type of trash talk.”

I looked up and shouted, “Be careful!”

Hooker was slammed to the ground by the tail. The hose unraveled the creature’s snout. The creature roared for the first time. It never sounded in centuries, I thought. The roar sounded like it was in pain and a dino or… a mixture of T-rex, crocodile, and snake for a big roar.

The giant fell on its side. It slept for approximately ten minutes. I moved Hooker to my house, and he lay on the sofa. He breathed calmly and gazed at the siblings. They were drinking refreshments. Hooker asked for a drink.

I moved first into the kitchen and grabbed a wine bottle for him. He said, “I do not drink wine.”

“Wine is cold, good for your health.”

“I want juice.”

I returned the bottle to the refrigerator. Brittney gave Hooker her glass of juice. “There you go, stranger.”

He grabbed it. She sat next to her brother, who finished drinking the juice. I came back to the table and found Hooker has a glass. Before I asked, I looked at Brittney’s empty hand. I rushed to the restroom and screamed. Hooker put the glass on the table and rush to find me. He knocked on the closed door. “Everything’s fine?” he asked, concerned.

I opened the door for him and pulled him into the restroom and did the unthinkable. I kissed him on his lips. He closed his eyes. I let go of him and said, “Just for a distraction, Hooker.”

“I thought the claws caught you off guard.”

“Hooker, have you marked me as your…” my voice trailed off. I expected him to finish my sentence.

He was silent. “I would have…” his tears fell on his face. “But I chose not to.”

“You would have what?” I raised my eyebrow.

“I would have stabbed you to death on your right thigh, but I did not fully grasp the idea of death while I was in bed. I looked too comfortable with the blankets around me. Cozy, it is. I did not feel warmth but cold outside in the dark. You sheltered me, and you have taken care of me.”

I was dazed. “Did I adopt him?” I thought quietly. “Did I adopt you by any chance?” I said the question out loud.

He kissed my cheek. “With love, it is.”

I realized the creature was awakened and moved blindly through the town in the dark. “We have to finish the giant!”

“Right.”