The Flip Side

Crawler

     My vision fades in for a second, then back out. It fades in for a little bit longer before fading out again. This process repeats multiple times. From the short times I'm conscious, I can tell a few things. One, I'm being dragged. Two, I'm tied up. Three, we're approaching an abandoned-looking house. I can't tell who's dragging me, but I can vaguely make out what appears to be a large scythe in their hand.
            Another thing I notice, which may be my eyes deceiving me, but whoever this is, or rather, whatever this is, it sure isn't human. It's skin(?) is all black. Its long, thin arms are hanging limp at its sides, and its fingers feel like long snakes around my ankle.
            I black out completely again, waking up in the house. There's a thick rope wrapped around both my ankles and my wrists are tied together behind my back. I'm laying sideways on the cold hardwood floor. It feels like they haven't been swept or treated in years.
            I hear a loud clang from the corner of the room behind me. I quickly turn towards the source of the sound. The corner is dark due to the weakness of the single light in the center of the room, but there's a metal rod on the ground. I can see the end of it, and the rest is hidden in the shadows.
            I try to scoot myself closer to at least get a better look at the object. Before I can make it to the corner, the rod slides back into the shadows. I stop, and look up. My heart stops.
            In the shadows, there's two glowing white orbs. They look like eyes. A quick blink confirms that. I start to scoot away quickly, trying to scream. No sound comes out. I can tell that whatever that thing is, it's getting closer. I pull on the ropes around my ankles, trying to break them.
            The tip of a large scythe pierces the ground right next to my face. I freeze, letting go of the ropes. I look up to the handle of the scythe, and wrapped around the base is a pair of jet-black hands with snake-like fingers. I look up, and the large, glowing white eyes are staring down at me.
            The thing steps forward out of the shadow. It's disgusting. It looks like a man, but its arms go down to its knees, and its entire body is jet-black. Its skin looks rough, like one of those burlap dolls. Its eyes are way too big for its face, and they bulge out of their sockets. It doesn't have a mouth, but I think that's for the best. It's standing hunched over, like its arms are weighing it down. It looks like it hasn't eaten in months. I can see where its ribcage ends, and I can almost see the bones in its arms and legs.
            It pulls the scythe out of the ground and rests it on its shoulder. It limps towards me, and I kick my legs, trying to back away from it. It stops and watches me struggle, tilting its head slightly. I stop, looking up at it. It looks confused, as if I startled it by trying to back away. It drops the scythe off of its shoulder, letting the head hit the ground with a loud clang.
     It starts limping towards me again, dragging the scythe behind it. I look frantically around the room, trying to find an escape or some form of defense. The door must be behind it, hidden in the shadows. If I could break my restraints, I might be able to slip past it and through the door. But how?
     Then it hits me. Use your flames, stupid! I ignite my forearms, and the rope practically disintegrates. I burn through the ropes around my ankles and jump to my feet, holding my arms in front of me. The thing jumps slightly in surprise, and picks up the scythe, pulling it back to swing.
     It swings, and I duck beneath the blade. I lunge forward, and grab the thing's ankles. My flames go out. I can feel my face go pale. I look up at it, trying to re-ignite my flames. It's not working. The thing readies the scythe, holding it above its head. I take one hand off of its ankle, hitting it desperately in an attempt to at least startle it like I did earlier.
     I hear a nasty crack and the thing drops the scythe behind it, and falls limp to the ground. I let go of its ankles and scoot away. My hands feel weird. I look down at them, and see a weird black slime covering them. I quickly wipe it off on my shirt, and my flames re-ignite. That thing must be covered in this stuff. It's like it takes away my ability. I put out my flames, and look up at the door.
     I see a familiar smile. No Name steps into the dim light, wiping the black slime off on the black side of his hoodie. I can see his eyes too, but they're just plain white orbs. They almost look like that thing's eyes, but not as big and bulging. No Name reaches out a hand to me, offering to help me up. I grab his hand, and he pulls me to my feet.
     His hands are cold. He looks at me, smiling softly. He nods, and I nod back. My vision blacks, and I wake up on the sidewalk outside Cass' house. No Name isn't here. I sit down on the curb, knowing that I won't be welcome back in the house just yet.
     I can't stop thinking about that thing. It almost looked alien. The slimy, black skin and the bulging eyes looked like something straight out of a sci-fi film. No Name did something to stop it, but judging by the sound I don't think I want to know how.
     No Name. How did he know? What was up with his eyes? Does he know what that thing was? My mind is racing with question after question. The sound of a door closing behind me brings me back to reality.
     I look over towards the door. It's Cass. She's walking towards me, with my phone in her hand. She hands it to me, and tells me it's ok if I come in, and dinner is ready.
     I follow her up to the door, and inside. Jay is sitting at the table eating. He doesn't look up when we walk in. Cass ushers me over to the table, and I sit down across from him. Cass sits at the third chair as usual, and motions to the casserole in the middle of the table. I grab my plate and serve myself a small portion of casserole.
     We all sit and eat silently, and Jay keeps his eyes focused on his plate the whole meal. I finish my serving and stand up, carrying my plate to the kitchen. I rinse it off and place it in the sink. I go to my room, change into my pajamas, and lay down in bed for the night. My phone buzzes.
     I pick it up, checking the messages. Another from No Name. One word. Crawler. I can only assume he's referring to the strange creature from earlier. The name suits it. It looked like something that would crawl on all fours like a crazed man.
     I shut my phone and lay back down, shutting my eyes. I fall asleep quickly, my energy drained from the stress-filled day. Before drifting off, I hear Jay's door shut across the hall. Nobody has said a word. The house is silent as my eyes get heavy and I fall asleep.