Creature

I remember it vividly.

I, age 8, my hair ruffled, and my eyes half shut, walked out of the bathroom door and sneaked my way through the hallway. I did not sneak because I did something wrong, but if my parents found me awake at this hour, not even an urgent need for the bathroom would save me.



When I reached my room, I opened the door softly. And then.

Tut, Tut, Tut.

The noise was soft, like footsteps on a carpet. Was it my parents? Had they found me? I looked behind me, but only saw the blank space of the hallway. No parents, nothing.

I must be hearing things, I thought childishly.



I walked into the darkness of my spacious-to-an-eight-year-old bedroom, smelling the smell of a bedroom that an eight-year-old would have. I felt my way to the small light switch, which I knew was white from experience.

Tick!



As light illuminated the once dark space, I saw it. It was fully gray. I should have been afraid, but something kept me from being scared. I first noticed its bulb-like, round head. It was a sphere, with one dripping, bloodshot eye with no eyelids in the middle. It had a frame as thin as someone who had never eaten, disproportionate to its head. It had arms and legs as thin as sticks, with no hands or feet, just stubs.



What struck me most was the skin. It had lizard-like skin, that fluttered and reflected the light off it-

Oh, wait.

Surely it was just a laundry basket. Before I noticed it fully, it was gone. I slowly crept my way to the front of my bed, still searching for the creature. Then I climbed onto my bed, read the devotions I forgot to do before my bathroom break, and fell asleep after turning out the light.

I had just seen things, or so I thought.



That was twelve years ago.