SilverHoops

Part 5

I ran over to where he lay, face-down in the dirt. Great now I’ve got to get him somewhere safe. I picked him up by the waist. Softly tapping his cheek trying to bring him back into consciousness and I checked his breathing- still breathing- still alive.

“Come on Chris, If you can hear me, I need you to stand on your feet or maybe just.. wiggle your fingers? Or toes? Just… something.”

No luck.

His head lolled to the side and I could see inside his mouth, no more fangs or snake-tongue. I started making my way to the other side of the road where my house was, dragging Chris backwards using my elbows. I held on to the back of his head, holding it over my shoulder with one hand and wrapped the other round his slim waist.  Huffing and puffing I reached halfway across the road and dropped my human package in the gutter, his legs landing awkwardly. Sorry. I took out my keys to successfully unlock the gate. I looked over to Chris to see how he was faring, he seemed… the same. I picked him up again.

the gate. I looked over to Chris to see how he was faring, he seemed… the same. I picked him up again.
Without warning, blood started trickling out of his mouth, onto his neck and then stomach, where my hands were. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. I sat him up off ground and supported his back. The blood flowed at a steady pace, until it was gushing out like a small stream.

“What do I do? What do I do?!” More blood spilled out of his mouth, he began to bleed out through his ears and eyes. I took out my phone, fumbling, trying to call an ambulance, but his arm snapped up and snatched the phone from my hands, crushing it to a fine dust. He continued to bleed and breathe raggedly. 

His laboured breathing stopped and his body went still, still bleeding.  Oh, no. Did he die? Did I kill him? Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no. He can’t be dead.

For the second time tonight a strange noise sounded, but it wasn’t coming from the surrounding darkness, but from Chris himself. A deep eerie curdling sound seemed to emanate from his -now slightly open- bleeding mouth.

His body convulsed, falling to the ground, until it started twisting and cracking at the joints. His arms began doing complete turns in their sockets- elbows, knees and neck snapping and cracking.

The mutilation stopped and he shot up onto his feet. An enormous spasm went through his body, caving in at the chest, arms cracking to a halt across his chest as if he was in pure agony. The screaming came to a stop. Everything went quiet. The street light illuminated his figure, bloody and broken, yet standing on his own two feet, head hanging low. His earring glimmering in the pale light- almost as much as his body drenched in blood.

A giant screech ripped out of his mouth, deep and eerie. His head cracked back, mouth hinged open and eyes wide, levitating. His chest writhed and something erupted up and out of his blood covered face, ripping the corners of his lips. A ghost-like creature had emerged.

Softly glowing, it stopped in its place, no longer screaming. It was huge, flowing, face-less. Like a giant sheet of gas. It had a pair of magnificent curling horns atop- of what I assumed to be- its head, and armlike appendages it used to fully dislodge itself out of Chris’ body elevated under it. It stayed there, hovering and flowing over his paralysed, floating body, gazing at it.

It stayed like that for quite some time, silently observing the almost dead body before it. It’s bloody exterior and it’s gaping jaw. It screeched for the last time, a long, slow cry, almost joyous. It propelled itself into the night sky, only to come rushing down at the ground and dive into the earth, leaving Chris’ body to fall harshly onto the road.