The Stronghold

Creepy Baby Demon Thing

We ran until we could run no more and then we jogged until we could jog no more and then walked until we reached a nice, cheap hotel. Paying for two rooms and ordering that neither of us be disturbed unless there were police about Tom and I retired. I fell asleep the second my head hit the pillow and didn't move until the next day.

*

I glanced at my watch lay out on the table next to my head and frowned. It was saying that it was nine in the afternoon, something that was impossible. The nine was where the three was so in theory it should be three o'clock...

"That's pretty odd," I murmured, stumbling off my bed and landing face down on the floor. The fact that my head didn't explode into a mess of white lights was a good sign that I'd slept off any hangover I might have had.

"It's nine in the afternoon, your eyes are the size of the moon," I sang as I walked around my room tidying things. There was a bedside table next to a narrow single bed with blue sheets, positioned against the wall with a ornately carved headboard. The window was clouded and I wiped my sleeve over it to see a breathtaking view over the city outside. I was on the top floor of the hotel and it was at the peak of a hill, looking out over the entire town. People were walking around, ants to me. Cars were the size of matchboxes and buses rattled along like a doll's rollerboots. I was the owner of a toy world, a giant amongst my own people.

"Did you have a good night's sleep?" Tom asked, making me jump. I turned around and raised an eyebrow. There was nobody behind me, or indeed in the room with me.

"Over here." A hand waved from underneath me bed. With building concern I crouched and screamed as I saw two orange eyes grinning back at me.

"What the hell is going on?" the real Tom cried, bursting into the room. I pointed at the bed, speechless as a scaly creature with human hands, a fish head and monkey legs darted across the room, mimicking my scream.

"What the bloody hell is that?" Salt asked in alarm, ducking as the beast threw itself at his head. "And how can it see me?"

"It's going to eat me!" I wailed, covering my head with my hands as the black blur bounced off the wall and landed on my face, gripping my ears. Its fangs bit down on my forehead and I screamed again.

"Get it off!" I yelled, my voice cracking as I began to cry in pain and fear. "Get it off, Goddammit!"

"I'm trying," Tom growled. Pressure was released off my face briefly, giving me a chance to breathe. The creature snarled and spun its head 180 degrees and spat something green at Tom's face. He shouted out and wiped his eyes rapidly, flicking the gooey liquid off his fingers onto the floor.

There was a sizzling noise as the liquid burnt through the carpet and I heard the creature giggle. It released its hold oh so slightly and I threw myself face-first into the wall, smashing its skull. Inky blue blood splattered across the murky wallpaper and all over me, getting in my mouth, my eyes, my every crevice.

"Well that was interesting. What was that, do you reckon?" Tom said eventually. There was still black goo on his face and he peeled it off, wincing. Underneath his skin was red and raw, coming out in a rash with white hives.

"I don't know. A creepy baby demon thing. And ouch," I added pityingly. "Look in a mirror, man. You're not going to get many girls now."

As Tom examined his reflection in the tiny bathroom mirror I started to plan out the day ahead in my mind. After a wash get new clothes, for a start. Then start a new life, probably. Detach myself from any of my past and be an entirely new person. I could be a supervillain, work for a charity, a campaigner for some kind of rights. I could be a ringmaster, a popstar, an internet sensation. I could buy the world or burn it.

I had a chance to right all my wrongs and be a normal person.