Gracie Abrams is eking out a solitary existence, fighting day-in, day-out against the drain of working customer service and nursing two newborn kittens in her off time. Out on her own ever since her sister moved in with her boyfriend, the burden of...
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Darkness was upon us at last, and with it came uncomfortable whispers. I thought it was the wind weaving through the trees. Some of them still had leaves on them; it wouldn't be that much of a reach.
But the wind didn't usually feel like...this. Even on the spookiest nights, there was a difference between feeling like something "might be" out there, versus...
Giant slivers of white peered at us all around, like we were trapped in a box. Those slivers developed pupils and sharp teeth. What was a startling sight within the screen of my iPad took on an intertextuality that I could not stand. Those gaping maws, those grinning eyes—all pieces of the monstrous creature inside of Pride's harmless-looking outer shell. They...dripped saliva. Plops of wetness landed around us like a trickling rain. Veins stood out in each eye, their red like a scientific diagram of cell reproduction. What phase was that? Anaphase?
When they blinked, they left behind fuzzies that mixed with the next round of eyes peering down at us. It looked like they were moving, but were they, or was I just turning dizzy from all the after-illusions? Like we were trapped in a demonic funhouse, I had trouble telling which direction was up, and which was down. I began to wonder if I was still on the blacktop, or if I had somehow moved to sit in this invisible box. Was I on the left side? Could I levitate like that? Would I feel it if I moved?
I could no longer tell. Even the slightest turn of my head caused a splitting headache bursting from behind my eyes. It felt as if the veins in them had spiderwebbed discomfort through their viney little reaches. Blinking hurt, too.
A searing light broke through the darkness. I took note of Kirishima, head in his hands, body studded out with his Hardening quirk. Sam lay dazed, still on the ground, staring up at the grinning faces above us. So we hadn't moved.
The hole in the illusion showed me a streetlamp. A quick flash of bare shoulders and a silvery head, and I glimpsed Kakashi flash past the entrance. Was he fighting Pride's body inside that little boy? Was he fighting the High Priestess of the Sinissippa witches?
As soon as I'd caught a glimpse of Kakashi, the searing, sizzling sound of electricity teased its way through the hole in the illusion. Before I could think to move, to get out of this cursed funhouse, Kirishima gave a muffled grunt.
I turned, only to see one of the monstrous mouths funneled into a sharp point. It stabbed viciously at the boy, and despite knowing how strong his quirk was, my heart stopped beating for a terrifying moment.
"Kiri—"
Kirishima dove, and I watched that nightmarish stalagmite retreat, dipping in for another attack. It moved both like some alien worm and not. It was almost like the tooth of a monstrous creature, crunching down on a tasty morsel.
I was shoved out of the way, crash-landing straight onto Sam. The girl gave a muffled groan of pain. "Sorry," I said quickly, watching Kirishima grab hold of that spiky shadow.
