Chapter 1
Bone brought shadows drifting across the glass. Cracked fingers pried open the frame with practiced precision. Screeches, absent in the night, were now a reverberating echo of warning. It inched the protective cover further away from the latch, careful not to let any unnecessary sounds awaken the frigid coven inside. Pleased with the gap It had created, allowing only the smallest of gusts to enter, four nimble fingers quickly seeped into the bedroom intent on fulfilling a thought.
Traversing the entry floor, limbs bent towards right-angles and loose skin curled tightly, clutching Its frame. It morphed its central mass as needed to fit through the gap until two limbs stabilized its body on the ground. A sufficiently open surface enabled It to rise to full height, allowing its gaze over the whole enclosed area. The space was more compact than before, almost too compact. High-tipped surfaces, which before were inconveniences, now reached the first bend on Its body, even Its breath was stricken by a stiff atmosphere.
Beyond its feet, sourced from the break in the wall, a light of moldy color scattered the formless body onto the disheveled ground, creating opposition with the night-darkness. The unlatched wall would have to be closed. Though lifeless, the formless structure was still a menace in the night, inviting unpleasantries aside from noise that would make the atmosphere restless for countless cycles. It grasped the metallic sphere then bent It’s arms to gain momentum in order to push the wall closed. Just before surfaces clashed together, It slowed it’s momentum to fractions, minimizing the outcome of such an event. Only the tiniest echo of wood-hitting-wood reverberated through the air.
With the air-streams a little more still, It glanced around for the bundle. The other side, touching the other walls. Even in pitch black, It saw the indents beneath the fabrics. Long, skinny lumps wound the fabrics tightly together, twisting the surface into clumping folds. Layers of fabrics sprawled over the box they rested on. It traced the indentations further up until the fabric was no more and bare skin appeared, a furry head, resting on higher ground. A pillow, the thing was called.
It reached out towards the bundle but was just shy of reaching it. It curled it’s fingers back in. Another attempt was needed. Things were scattered across the floor overlaying and interlacing with woven intricacy to create a convoluted ground full of hazards. Light no longer glanced off reflective surfaces. It would have to switch senses and use the surfaces themselves for guidance. It gathered its galumph membranes, nesting them close to its frame, then bent down and paralleled it’s body to the floor. Without breaking sight of the bundle, it limbered towards the bed, adjusting height as needed as to stay close to the ground and not disturb the bundle. Each step challenged Its pace. Movement was slow, sometimes enforcing it to doubling back up in an attempt to find a better pathway.
Once withing sufficient reach, It rose to height and looked down at the bundle stirring from rest. Bare skin caught Its sight. The neck was uncovered, available anytime It wished. It reach out again, slowly bending it’s limbs, adjusting with the currents. The bundle was a fragile sleeper. Times could be remembered when It awakened the little thing swiftly just by hearing little more than skin brush against a wandering breeze. Acknowledging the previous tries, It pulled the mangled blanket above the shoulders in moderation as to not create sudden gusts.
Muffled movements adjusted Its carefully laid work. The bundle’s skinny limbs bent inwards then pushed the fabrics outwards until more skin shown than the fabrics. Bits of skin opened. Black on white circles navigated the circumferential boundaries until they settled on It. A brief moment passed, until the bundle grabbed a thick edge of fabric and pulled the thing up to the neck. The bundle scuttled backwards then raised parts of the body. With each movement, minute squeaks resonated from the box below, spiking a silent alarm. The head turned towards It, eyes shifted up and down quizzically gathering the sight after the senses were silenced for a time. Messy tendrils dangled from the skin, ravaging the air all around. It looked underneath the ragged covering to the bundle underneath.
Aging had decayed the skin past recovery. What used to be smooth, was now made of cracks, withered and frayed, belittling the skin to fragile tissues that clung to the body desperately for mere seconds more of vitality. The cycles were counting down with unwavering pace. Its time here would soon be at an end. But what then? The one contract given to it had been sealed into the body laid before It. There would be no more hosts to bond with and no more feeding.
“The crooked body left the door open. I closed it for you. I will lay here for the night.”
The bundle looked away for a moment, setting the sights on the cracked wall behind It. A limb rose above the head, grabbing a bundle on tendrils and shaking them until the previous look was gone. It raised a claw to the face, containing a shiver of excitement. Its thin nails, fragile in appearance, swiped away loose strands of tendril, each of which threatened to shatter at the touch. “I will watch for the night.”
The bundle seemed to grasp Its words. The head nodded, slowly lowering down before quickly faltered the body’s disheveled movements. The bundle raised a skinny limb, directing a tiny claw to Its body. It traced the invisible line downwards, sensing the trail until It settled on its claws. A smear of liquid grazed the surface, tracing gravitational currents downwards or upwards that connected Its claws and skin. The liquid had thickened since first contact, becoming little more that a sticky substance that wouldn’t falter during minuscule strides.
“An encounter sometime ago. Before the moon-rise.”
The bundle nodded. A muffled whisper fluttered through the air, dancing along the edge of silence, pricking Its senses until It wondered whether the sound was still there or just a gripping memory. It moved in closer towards the box making quick adjustments to avoid bumping it. The fabrics were still wrinkled after the bundle pushed them around. It grasped the tips with a gentle touch, pulling them upwards until they were lengthened, and readjusted them to contour to the bundle’s body. Tranquil breathing soon swirled around the space relieving both bodies from expected words. The invisible sense that prickled Its skin ebbed away.
It turned direction to sense what was surrounding it. A broken picture frame on the floor, half buried under small piece of fabric, caught its glance. The familiar shape was bent and shattered letting It wonder what the cause was. There were several of these around the confined border, The bundle would briefly noise about the significant of keeping memories out of the head and onto a fragile surface. It passed a claw over the thing. A thin, brittle substance was shattered into multiple pieces across the frame. Ravaged on or disregarded, the pieces were no longer held in place, slipping at any moment through the cracks in the frame.
It hung a claw over the thing. A shallow glow etched a thin curvature in its skin, peeling away the edges. It only every used light when needed, but, as the object in sight had no texture to sense, now seemed a time to use its other senses. Three bodies, copied appearances of the bundle, centered the object. Small details separated their looks enough to differentiate at close sight. The lower-right body resembled the bundle the most with the form only being slightly younger and the tendrils shorter and kept. A weathered tear, smaller than Its newest claws, severed the bundle’s neck from the body.
It placed the object back in place, careful to recreate the environment so that the bundle would not be weary of tampering after the planet’s light came again. It glanced around some more, curiosity pulling it along to view the changes scattered about the boundaries. A thin metal tool lay on the floor void of attention. The thinnest point glistened a story as It picked up the object and held the thing in its palm. A thick liquid, similar to the one on its claws, clung to the edge contouring to the hardened surface. By chance or planning, the bundle seemed to have had an unexpected encounter. It looked briefly through the crack in the wall pondering the cause of the cut, but quickly ceased speculation. It did not come to leave.
An indiscernible squeal scattered its thoughts towards non-retrievable distances. High pitched howls rushed through the narrow crack in the wall, piercing Its senses. It rushed over to the wall, cautious of grazing something, and pushed its body against the surface to feel out where the noise came from. The squeal came again, this sound more familiar. It ruffled the air often while It was here, time seemed different at first, but then ebbed into a familiar hearing. The disturbance would be over in a few moments.
It moved away from the door, finding a leveled area to settle down on. The foreign world in the sky shone briefly for the first sighting. It was colder than the other, almost absent to the senses. On the box, The bundle was resting in the wrappings, silent during recovery, untouched for the remaining cycle. It tucked it’s limbs inwards, making sure each was safe from the unexpected, then settled down on a vacant spot, deciding only to leave when the natural light shone through the barriers.
“You can do anything to anyone you wish, just not to them” That was the deal we engraved on our skins. It sat in dark, pondering which words included the bundle.
