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- Story Listed as: Fiction For Adults
- Theme: Horror
- Subject: Creatures & Monsters
- Published: 02/04/2020
You've Got to be Kidding!
Born 1976, M, from Whitechapel, AustraliaGavin's legs pumped battery acid and his guts wrenched. He stopped and crouched behind a dumpster; the stench was almost comforting in light of the cover afforded by its source. Taking a hard tug on his asthma inhaler, Gavin wished he'd been born a jock. His skinny thighs and doughy abdomen bore testimony to more days spent playing online role-playing games than doing anything physical. He steeled himself for another bout of awkward sprinting and made to stand up. That's when he heard the sound of raspy breathing that wasn't his own. Gavin screamed and took off, pushing his body far beyond its perceived limits. He scrambled over fence after fence, stopping haphazardly to pound on the backdoor of a restaurant or rear store window. He wanted desperately to leave the labyrinthine network of alley-ways but he had no intention of leading the thing out into the public where it could do real damage. Gavin had barely completed his thought when, ironically, a member of said public came wandering down a side-lane into the danger zone. "Get back! Go back onto the main street!" was what Gavin meant to say. What came out was a cross between a hiss and a croak. Gavin's heart sank when he saw that it was a little old lady who had meandered onto the set of his personal horror film. He rushed the woman and did the only thing he could think of: he grabbed at her purse. The woman screamed and ran back toward streetlights and people and sanity. Gavin breathed a sigh of relief before taking off into the endless shadows of the city's bowels.
Gavin's momentum was interrupted as a shadow skipped across his line of sight. His heart drummed and his mouth went dry and Gavin fell to his knees. Shiny, yellow eyes peered at him from under a burnt-out sedan and Gavin made the welcome realization that the voyeur was a black alley-cat. The moggy had jumped out through a broken window, possibly in pursuit of a rat. Gavin grimly accepted that tonight, he was the rat in that scenario. That's when a bulky shape loomed up behind him. The assailant was on Gavin in an instant, grabbing him by the shoulders and spinning him around. Adrenaline and cortisol pumped through Gavin's slight frame, propelling him away from his attacker. His sneakers lost traction on the slick stone pathway and Gavin felt like a cartoon running on the spot, barely touching the ground. He finally lurched forward and slammed into a brick wall, clumsily feeling about for a hand-hold. Thick fingers wrapped around Gavin's slender arms and he spun deftly, grunting with the effort. His hands were sticky where they met the soft flesh of the man's stomach. The knife-sharp shard of window glass had done its job. The pursuer dropped, landing face-first in the detritus of the urban jungle. "You monster!" yelled the small clown skidding to a halt just shy of the macabre scene. The little person's rage was evident in spite of his thick carnival make-up. The clown ran over to the large man and rolled him over, tenderly stroking a deathly pale cheek. Gavin stuttered something of an explanation, "He was... ch-chasing me. I d-didn't know what to do."
"He's just a roustabout. He has the mind of a child... Plus he's mute as a mound of peanut shells. At least he was." Trails of watery grease-paint ran down the clown's face and dripped onto the dead man's dirty forehead.
"Oh God! I'm s-sorry."
"Sorry's not going to bring my Mungo back. He always stood up for me."
"I'm... Why was he chasing me?" Something howled in the distance.
"Come see the only living Wolf Man in captivity!"
"What?"
"That's why you came, right? Bloody thing escaped; just like I told them it would! Mungo was trying to bring it back and probably save you into the bargain. He was the only one who could calm it down. I think it warmed to him cos' he was, you know: special."
"..."
"You're not special."
More howling. Gavin looked up toward the source of the blood-curdling noise. The silhouette Gavin saw on the rooftops chilled him to his core. He looked down to see the little clown disappearing into the night.
"You've got to be kidding."
You've Got to be Kidding!(Jason James Parker)
Gavin's legs pumped battery acid and his guts wrenched. He stopped and crouched behind a dumpster; the stench was almost comforting in light of the cover afforded by its source. Taking a hard tug on his asthma inhaler, Gavin wished he'd been born a jock. His skinny thighs and doughy abdomen bore testimony to more days spent playing online role-playing games than doing anything physical. He steeled himself for another bout of awkward sprinting and made to stand up. That's when he heard the sound of raspy breathing that wasn't his own. Gavin screamed and took off, pushing his body far beyond its perceived limits. He scrambled over fence after fence, stopping haphazardly to pound on the backdoor of a restaurant or rear store window. He wanted desperately to leave the labyrinthine network of alley-ways but he had no intention of leading the thing out into the public where it could do real damage. Gavin had barely completed his thought when, ironically, a member of said public came wandering down a side-lane into the danger zone. "Get back! Go back onto the main street!" was what Gavin meant to say. What came out was a cross between a hiss and a croak. Gavin's heart sank when he saw that it was a little old lady who had meandered onto the set of his personal horror film. He rushed the woman and did the only thing he could think of: he grabbed at her purse. The woman screamed and ran back toward streetlights and people and sanity. Gavin breathed a sigh of relief before taking off into the endless shadows of the city's bowels.
Gavin's momentum was interrupted as a shadow skipped across his line of sight. His heart drummed and his mouth went dry and Gavin fell to his knees. Shiny, yellow eyes peered at him from under a burnt-out sedan and Gavin made the welcome realization that the voyeur was a black alley-cat. The moggy had jumped out through a broken window, possibly in pursuit of a rat. Gavin grimly accepted that tonight, he was the rat in that scenario. That's when a bulky shape loomed up behind him. The assailant was on Gavin in an instant, grabbing him by the shoulders and spinning him around. Adrenaline and cortisol pumped through Gavin's slight frame, propelling him away from his attacker. His sneakers lost traction on the slick stone pathway and Gavin felt like a cartoon running on the spot, barely touching the ground. He finally lurched forward and slammed into a brick wall, clumsily feeling about for a hand-hold. Thick fingers wrapped around Gavin's slender arms and he spun deftly, grunting with the effort. His hands were sticky where they met the soft flesh of the man's stomach. The knife-sharp shard of window glass had done its job. The pursuer dropped, landing face-first in the detritus of the urban jungle. "You monster!" yelled the small clown skidding to a halt just shy of the macabre scene. The little person's rage was evident in spite of his thick carnival make-up. The clown ran over to the large man and rolled him over, tenderly stroking a deathly pale cheek. Gavin stuttered something of an explanation, "He was... ch-chasing me. I d-didn't know what to do."
"He's just a roustabout. He has the mind of a child... Plus he's mute as a mound of peanut shells. At least he was." Trails of watery grease-paint ran down the clown's face and dripped onto the dead man's dirty forehead.
"Oh God! I'm s-sorry."
"Sorry's not going to bring my Mungo back. He always stood up for me."
"I'm... Why was he chasing me?" Something howled in the distance.
"Come see the only living Wolf Man in captivity!"
"What?"
"That's why you came, right? Bloody thing escaped; just like I told them it would! Mungo was trying to bring it back and probably save you into the bargain. He was the only one who could calm it down. I think it warmed to him cos' he was, you know: special."
"..."
"You're not special."
More howling. Gavin looked up toward the source of the blood-curdling noise. The silhouette Gavin saw on the rooftops chilled him to his core. He looked down to see the little clown disappearing into the night.
"You've got to be kidding."
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