08: An Uninvited Guest

"Water? Check. Shelter? Yeah, I… guess."

I sat in the same half-standing structure I slept in the night before. Proximity to the fountain was nice, and my choice of something that would keep the outside… out was severely lacking. The closest thing to a silver lining was the natural white noise of the water filling the fountain. At least, when the sound didn’t make me have to pee.

"Food? It’s… something."

Before returning to my new home away from home, I dug up and grabbed more of the dirt-flavored things. I left my branches and twigs behind in favor of the meager harvest. I tried to tell myself they were something else. Unfortunately, the only food they remotely resembled was a potato, and that taste? Yuck. I stacked the tubers I collected in another corner of the room I slept in.

"Beggars can’t be choosers, right? I’d give anything for a burger, though."

The leaves I stuffed in my pajamas the night before sat in a pile. They weren’t as comfortable as a pillow-top mattress, but getting enough to stuff my pajamas or add to the pile seemed better than doing nothing. I spent the rest of the day using my shirt as a makeshift sack, storing leaves that hung low enough or had already fallen to take back to my sleeping spot. Some of that time was just picking up what slipped through tears in the shirt. That might have been a great pillow, but then I’d have nowhere to stuff the leaves during the night to keep warm except my pants. Hooray for underwear, otherwise that could have been so itchy.

Worn out again, a splash of the surprisingly frigid water from the fountain was the best I could hope for instead of a refreshing shower. Afterwards, I resigned to my new bed of leaves. I had a belly full of water and lackluster leftovers from the food I brought back, but the way it all sat in my stomach was the equivalent of trying to digest mud. Eventually, I cleared my mind enough to fall asleep.

There was no telling how long I’d been asleep, but when I woke up, the pale light of the moon wasn’t enough to make me even consider that morning had arrived. Maybe if I’d done more physical work during the day, I might have worn myself out enough to get a better sleep, or at least sleep through the night. Then I might not have noticed the sharp bite of the wind, or the way it blew through the holes of my shelter, whistling between the buildings and the forest.

"Great… That’ll sing me right to sleep."

I clamped my hands over my ears to block it out. The shivering and eerie howl of the wind did anything but help. I’d start dozing off, then my hands would slip away, and I'd hear a shriek when the wind picked up speed again through the ruins. Hours of potential sleep passed, I think. I had no clue without a watch, and all the clouds obscured the moon’s position and intermittent light. Because of the alarming amount of clouds, I hoped rain wasn't about to make things worse.

When the wind eventually died down, I breathed a sigh of relief. Trading in the leafy bed for a blanket to bury myself under, I curled up and found a little comfort. Thankfully, the wind was less likely to blow my small pile of warmth away.

My eyelids refused to stay open any longer. If I was lucky, I’d slip back to sleep without further distractions. My body relaxed completely. Precious sleep. I felt it taking over.

Schlorp… plop… plop… pop… hngh—! Schlorp… plop… pop…

Wet, bubbling sounds mixed with a high-pitched wheeze snapped me back. The disturbing sound was close. Any hope of sleep vanished.

What the hell… was that?

Silence.

Please… if you're hungry, just stay away. I… am not food. I am… NOT food.

My breath was shallow, my pulse raced, and I covered my mouth to prevent any noise from accidentally slipping out. I had no means to protect myself, so I remained frozen and hoped the thing would leave soon.

It was too dark to see anything in the shadows, but my sore eyes refused to stay closed longer than necessary. I strained them, searching for a glimpse of anything to explain the noise. Even the smallest clue might have helped put me at ease.

Only the sound of the fountain reached me.

Is it… gone?

Nothing.

I uncovered my mouth, and another sigh escaped. The strange noise must have been my imagination. A sound like that was too bizarre to be anything other than a weird, sleep deprived hallucination brought on while I teetered at the edge of a dream. After all, I’d been chasing those… birds in the tree after finding that mushroom. I was just overtired. A yawn led me to believe that’s what it had to be.

Schlorplop… pop… schlorp… plop… hngh!

Dammit! Come on… Really? What in the—?! Do I even WANT to know what it is?

It didn’t sound natural, but how would I know what was or wasn’t natural in the ruins? Two days did not make me an expert. My body remained locked in a fetal position—unmoving—and I prayed the sound wasn’t a hungry predator searching for a Skyler-flavored meal.

The noise continued on and off throughout the night. Anytime I thought it was safe to sleep, it returned. When the sun finally made an appearance, shedding some much needed light on the world, the noise had been absent for a while. It didn’t matter, though. I couldn’t let myself fall back to sleep, not without knowing I was definitely safe and alone.

Light leisurely filled my shelter through the missing sections of walls. This was it. I’d find out what it was. I never heard anything leave. My tormentor was still there with me. Waiting. Just like me.

Come on… Show yourself. What’s been keeping me up all—?

"Nothing? There’s… But I-I know what I… Something was here… right?"

I scrambled out of the pile of leaves on my hands and knees, frantically searching every corner of my shelter. Nothing. Just me, my leaves, and… It was gone. My food was missing. The dirt-flavored things I had saved for breakfast were gone.

My stomach plummeted inside, and my pulse raced. Something hungry—an animal, a creature—had been with me during the night. The noise wasn’t a dream. The thing was all too real. My imagination definitely wasn't the culprit. My sleep-deprived mind never conjured anything to haunt me.

"Am… I n-next? Is it… g-gonna come back f-for… me? Is… Is anywhere… safe?"

I scrambled back into the corner with my pile of leaves. Nothing could sneak up on me if I was against the wall. I brought my knees to my chest, hugged them tight, and waited. My body was on high alert. Watching and listening for any sign of the thing that spent the night with me.