Wiccan Act One: Occult

22 | Splinter

Dedicated to -TheWritingFox

Cyrus

XXII

A minute slowed to a century.

After seeing it take Hazel, Cyrus had convinced himself he would never have to lay eyes on the creature again. However, the glowing purple holes in its head said otherwise. He attempted to run, to hide, to do anything other than stand there petrified but his body refused to listen.

It was more horrifying in daylight, both heads grinning unnaturally. There were no shadows to hide its towering malnourished form, revealing all the blue veins running under its rubbery dead skin. It had more teeth than all three boys combined, each a tiny knife bursting out of its gums ready to bite into prey. What truly made Cyrus quiver were its hands. The same ones it used to grab Hazel. The ones it was currently using as a second pair of legs. Bony fingers sprawled across the wood, nearly a foot long morphing into claws without the need for nails.

"What the hell is that thing?" Aiden asked under his breath. He didn't hold the level of fear Cyrus thought he would, instead the other boy seemed confused.

The creature let out a low growl, saliva pouring out its mouth and down its arm. It barely moved, slowly inching to their left.

Without warning it lunged, tearing at the floorboards beneath it. At that moment, Cyrus was thrown back into his body from a few weeks ago, frozen in the car unable to do anything. He wanted more than anything to move, screaming at his legs to work to no avail.

Aiden moved faster, thrusting both him and Cyrus to the ground just in time for it to leap over them. It crashed into the wall with a thud, the creature brushing off the impact like it was nothing. Changing focus, it glared at Christian from outside the room, his face filled with panic.

Was Cyrus about to sit here and watch as this thing took another one of his loved ones away from him?

Move!

A booming roar leapt out of its mouth, the force knocking Christian back further into the room. He scrambled to collect himself, scurrying backwards. Pouncing on him, he whaled from the creature's fingers tearing through his jacket and drawing blood.

Cyrus continued to yell at himself, reaching for any will he had to get over his fear and do something. Aiden reached forward, stopping himself when he realised what entering that room again would do to him.

All of a sudden it shrieked, letting out a cry similar to the one Aiden's mother made as it grabbed hold of its head and thrashed around. Knocking into the shelves and walls, it couldn't collect itself, completely forgetting about Christian. It was in pain and that fact brought Cyrus back to his senses. He wasn't that same boy in that car. Now, he could do something to hurt that thing.

Flashing a glare with his eyes, the creature shot out of the room and to the floor, its body going limp.

The room affected anything supernatural.

Christian got up clutching his arm to slow the bleeding. He peeked his head out to see if the monster was still breathing. Cyrus immediately stopped him.

That was not enough to kill it. Can monsters even be knocked unconscious?

"Christian get back." He commanded. "Don't get out of that room. It can't stay in there either."

"Which means it's trapped out here with us." Aiden pointed out, motioning to the creature's twitching leg. It scrambled back to its feet before their very eyes. "Move!"