Killer Protector: REDUX (JTK story)

Chapter 4

[ I LIIIIIIVE.

Also fffffuCK this college semester. All my homies HATE online schooling and professors that give more work than they normally would just because we're online and they think we're home all the damn time.

Anyway, enjoy! ]

Chapter 4

Mom made a really big dinner tonight. Deep dish pasta, chicken parmigiana, garlic breads, Caesar salads, chocolate cake for dessert. And all of that with a big bottle of Parmesan in the middle because she and Dad know I like to put too much. Hell, I even get to drink some wine. Mom usually doesn't do something so elaborate unless it's a very special occasion, like my birthday or an anniversary. I don't recall what day it is today.

Everything was amazing, every single bite. Dad and I couldn't really get enough, and Mom had to refrain from scolding us for our mess. But even if she seemed irritated, there was always a smile on her fair face. Cheekbones like little plums, Dad says, when she smiles big like that.

After dinner was over and we devoured our slices of cake, I finally had the thought to ask Mom what all of this was for.

Mom chuckled and answered casually, "For making it out alive, Ellie-bear."

I froze from the initial confusion and held my final bite of cake on my fork. Furrowing my brow, I questioned, "What do you mean by that?"

Dad jumped in this time. "You made it out alive and now you're back home, safe and sound with us. Now finish up your cake or I'll take that bite for you—!"

"Wh-What did I make it out of? You guys aren't telling me."

"You're here and you're alive," Mom stated, completely ignoring my real question.

I shook my head. "Can you tell me what happened?"

"You're here and you're alive, Ellie-bear," Dad cheered, then grabbed for my hand. "You made it out of that house! You ran free! You're alive! You...are alive, aren't you?"

I suddenly didn't feel like finishing my dessert any more, and promptly excused myself from the table. Meanwhile, I could feel my parents' stares burning into the back of my head as they remained completely and inhumanly silent. I went to the only place I knew to comfort me—my bedroom. As soon as I was in, I locked the door and hurried into bed, trying not to think about my parents' unnerving behavior. Maybe it was all that wine they were drinking. Maybe it was—

I felt something viscous and wet touch the side of my leg and jolted from the surprise sensation. Panicking, I threw off my blankets to see what exactly I touched, and was met with the sight of an eviscerated, pulpy face of what was once a living human's head. And despite that the eyes were misplaced and buried in torn flesh, both of them rolled forward to stare at me, crying brown, impure fluid.

I screamed and scrambled out of bed, only to be grabbed at my ankle by something squishy, and then I fell across the floor. When I turned around, I saw the detached head under my bed, and its tongue was far longer than any animals' on this Earth. And as its horrifying tongue throbbed against my skin and went up my leg to my inner thigh, I wailed for help and clawed at the floor for anchorage.

And as that repulsive tongue drew ever closer to violate me, my vision was going hazy and I kept screaming and the tongue kept getting closer and closer and closer—

I awoke to a dimly lit hospital room and the sound of an irregular beeping to my right. At first, I couldn't really move as my mind was processing the dream—nightmare—I just escaped from. Once I figured out I wasn't paralyzed from the shock, I wiggled my fingers and held my hand to my chest. That's where I felt the electrodes that recorded my weird heartbeat for the EKG monitor to tell the world. I stopped touching them and just laid there, staring at the blank ceiling.