gemora | a short story

THERE MAY HAVE BEEN A CREATURE

AN AMBER LIGHT shone through the fox curtains Elizabeth had been gifted eons ago as a child. There was only the sound of birds and a few drops of water hitting the concrete outside, followed by the usual sound of her parents' alarm clock. Even through the wall that separated them, she could hear them groan about the time they had to wake up each morning.

"Elizabeth! Come downstairs and make your mother some coffee!" It wasn't the first time her father had reprimanded her for screaming from another room and then gone and done it himself. She forced herself out of bed and lurched forward with the sound of her father's want to shout again.

When she finally arrived, her family - consisting of Emmanuel, her brother, Essop, her other brother, and her parents, John and Cassidy - were all sitting around the table, her brothers on the left and parents on the right. Essop was arguing with their mother about the old olive-colored dining set of furniture they were planning to sell. "But we've had it for years! We can't just..." He waved his fork around in the air, looking for the right word. "Take it away!" This proved to be the wrong group of words, because their mother just frowned. "Essop, it's leaving. And don't exaggerate. It's disgusting, this thing." She pushed it with a huff of irritation, causing the thing to collapse even more.

Their father removed his cup of coffee from the cupboard, glaring slightly at Elizabeth. She just turned her head, focusing back on the strange conversation her brother and mother were insisting on. "Well, I propose a sit-in." Those were the first words Emmanuel had spoken for the entirety of the morning, other than a brief hello. "What's a sit-in?" Essop looked intrigued. "That's when you want something to happen, or refuse to do something, so you sit-in and don't do anything until your problem is solved." Essop looked ecstatic by the time Emmanuel had finished his breakfast, not uttering a word and walking silently up the stairs. "I want to have a sit-in."

This wasn't Essop's best moment- sitting on the entire dining set for over three hours, watching as the family left the house, one by one. Elizabeth stayed behind, carefully observing his every move. "So, tiger. Is this your plan?" He nodded, focusing extremely hard on sitting on his precious set that was currently in shambles. "I'm going to go, Essy. Have fun." Their father emerged from his bedroom, hugging his daughter from the side. "Be safe, Bettie." She nodded as well as her brother always did, and grinned when she felt the air brush her hair. "I will."

And with those words, she vanished into the outside world.

THE AIR WAS surprisingly cold for June, but it didn't matter. Coffee in hand, tattered jeans on bottom, Elizabeth set out for the Art Museum. Her first time being there was as a child- she'd loved it since then - with her school. She had stolen a small piece of a relic from the World War II exhibition, but no one knew that, even until now.

There was only the busy city sounds, but those were quite far away from her home.

She clutched her coffee tighter as she crossed the road that would lead her to her beloved Art Museum. As she entered the Museum, she knew something was wrong: she could feel it.

The building was deserted, except for two people who were very, very far from her. At the sound of voices echoing against the pillars near her, she ducked behind another pillar, jogging towards the security desk.

"Another mission accomplished, ay?"

The footsteps sounded closer, so Elizabeth ducked her head inward, where she then saw the security guard.

He was frightening, unlike the one she'd seen a week ago. His face was distorted, unusually morphed and colourful. She tried not to stare, but it intrigued her greatly. The security guard, looking more like a creature, advanced closer, and as she was about to look closer-