Life Itself [joshler]

two

Josh was pretty sure it was four in the morning when he awoke to the same whirring sound, but he couldn't be certain. He had been beyond deep in the clutches of sleep, or so he had thought, but the slightest noise seemed to have woken him. Much strength and willpower was required to force his eyes open, and they stung once they came into contact with the dark air. His eyes flicked to where the egg was supposed to be in its box, but there appeared to be nothing out of the ordinary. Then, he saw it.

The silhouette of a creature, huddled and shivering in the corner of his room. That's where the sound was coming from. Josh couldn't tell if he was seeing things, but from what he could gather, he could have sworn he saw the paper clutched in the creature's hand tightly. The thing shook like a rag doll, fiddling with the paper now and again. Every few seconds it muttered something in an unknown dialect of which Josh couldn't make out. It's tone was small and crazed, almost; it appeared to be in great distress. So much, that it hadn't noticed that Josh was wide awake and watching it intently.

And when it eventually did come to this realization, Josh sat up in bed, not uttering a peep to the character. They both stared at each other for some time, maybe a good ten to twenty seconds. Its eyes, if it had any, were anything but visible, but Josh was well aware of the gaze being burned into him.

And as though it was broken from the trance, the creature released an earsplitting screech in a pitch so high and irritating Josh found it hard to believe that he could still hear anything after having heard that. It slumped over onto all fours, paper still in hand, and it crawled across Josh's wooden floor, clacking noises sounding as it went. Josh could hear it breathing, a soft, pained wheeze coming from its chest. It was beyond terrified of Josh, more than Josh of it.

Or so Josh thought.

The low whines soon receded, it was under Josh's bed now, watching his every move with a keen eye. Josh swung his legs over his bed and dropped onto his chest, attempting to spot the being again. The monster hissed at him, and Josh could feel a sticky substance, what he was hoping was saliva, splatter onto his face. He considered moving to turn on the light, but thought better of it. Instead, he stood up and slowly slithered slyly to where the egg had been.

Keywords: had been.

Now all that remained were shards of eggshell and a gooey blue puddle on the towel.

Did that thing come from this? Josh thought. How in God's name did that come from this?

Josh froze solid, he could feel ice creeping up his spine. He knew by the odd feeling that the creature was directly behind him, all senses trained on Josh. Josh was more than panicked, he couldn't manage a single move, not even to take a breath of air. Gradually, the boy rotated, and to his surprise, the being wasn't nearly as close as he'd first presumed it to be.

Josh pressed his back against his office chair, shock taking over yet again. The creature--or whatever it was--seemed displeased at the squeak of the plastic chair. It growled and bared its teeth enough for Josh to decide he didn't want them anywhere near him.

Josh could make out more of its figure by the lamplight, though it was still near impossible to totally decipher its anatomy and appearance as a whole. It vaguely resembled a human, but with a hint of everyone's worst nightmare embodied.

"What are you?" Josh questioned, before he could even think about how ridiculous that was to ask of something that seemingly appeared out of thin air. It didn't seem to even acknowledge what he said, and settled for snarling at Josh's cat, Tamale. "Didn't have to be so rude," Josh muttered, watching Tamale scamper away, paws thudding rapidly on the carpet.

Another growl shook him from his thoughts, startling him. He took a step back. It was standing at its full height, and unfortunately, it was definitely taller than Josh. It towered over him, to be exact, its strange figure was hanging over him menacingly. Josh turned in the slightest, still facing it, and cautiously back pedaled toward his door. It whirled around at his sudden movements, its arm, or whatever appendage it was, slamming into Josh's desk. A delicate glass animal, one of many from which Josh had collected, wobbled dangerously along the edge of the shelf above his desk. Josh winced, his heart dropping when it tipped over and shattered upon coming into contact with his desk. The creature hissed in response, a sickly substance slipping from whatever tongue it had.

"Jesus." Josh continued his efforts to get away from it, walking backwards until his back hit the doorknob of his bedroom door painfully. "Fuck." Josh had never turned on a dime so fast, hands scrambling to open the door, finally getting out, and successfully slamming it shut. He started down the hallway before thinking better of it and shoving a cabinet in front of his door.

Tamale padded past him, meowing insistently and clawing at Josh's bare legs. He cringed at the pricking sensation before picking her up and taking his phone out. He dialed Brendon, who certainly wasn't the best person to ask for help in a situation like this, but he was the only one sure to be awake at this hour while Josh was more than desperate.

"Hey, Josh," Brendon's sleepy voice spoke from the other end, "What's up?" Josh mumbled a quick 'thank you' to the heavens while pulling on his faded black Converse.

"Brendon, my guy, you're not going to believe this shit." Screeching came from his bedroom, followed by the twinkling crash of glass coming into contact with a hard object. He sighed in displeasure, it was more than likely another one of his little glass animals. "Oh, fuck me."

"What was that? Sounded like a dying cat." Brendon chuckled before he started whispering, "Your cat's okay, right?"

"Yep, yep, everything is swell," He convinced himself more than Brendon, his tone indicating that he was struggling with something. Tamale squirmed in an attempt to escape his grasp, but the boy held on tight. "B, don't hate me for this, but I need you to drive over here. If not, I'm driving over there myself and picking you up. I need your help."

"Dude what's wrong? If it's an emergency you gotta call the cops or an ambulance, you know that. Are you okay? What's going on?"

"Everything is fine, really." Another shriek. "Everything is dandy. Just hurry, please."

"I'm on the way. Stay safe. And get out of the fucking house if you need to, Josh."

Josh shoved his phone into his pocket, trying to ignore the way his heart jumped every time the creature hurled itself into his door. Tamale clawed at him relentlessly, desperately wanting to escape the commotion. Josh finally complied, not setting her down, but carrying her to another part of the house where the monster was hardly audible. He drummed his fingers nervously along the tile floor in his bathroom, where he and Tamale sat together, fearsome of what the character was, or what it might do. Josh was so drained he could hardly tell up from down. His body craved sleep, and it took more than an enormous amount of strength to keep his eyes from shutting. He stroked Tamale, finding comfort in her silk fur. His gaze kept teetering back and forth between Tamale and his cell phone.

He hoped Brendon would arrive soon.