Paraclaus

The shut blinds cast down imprisoning strands of light onto Julie Grier as she prayed at her desk to the sound of an old children’s music CD. The room was dyed in a putrid olive green, as she found herself surrounded by a collection of military memorabilia and decoration, from simple toys and posters to the officially licensed, ominous metal case stashed beside her bed. Julie had no aspirations to join the armed forces. They just made sense to her was all. Right now, her eyes were sealed anyway- her focus on the activity so strong that one might assume her to be a religious person.

Even as I plead for serenity, the memory returns to me.

In a year long lost, the night had snuck up on a quiet child before she knew it. It was a walk she had taken before- one lit only by weak street lights and characterised by a feeling of complete isolation- like being in the middle of the ocean, she floated forward through a great unknowable darkness.

The sun set so fast that day.

“Who are you?”

To her, his eyes looked like a cartoon’s. They were oddly round, and his face was silly-looking. Julie had never thought of what lacrimal caruncles were or why he didn’t seem to have them.

“Who… are you?”

Julie wasn’t used to people not answering her questions. She looked at the tall, blonde man curiously. She wondered what he was doing here.

The man’s shadow eclipsed the light.

Her face covered by his darkness, she was struck with the venom of dread, a poison that would remain in her veins for a very long time to come. She thought he was growing taller at first, but she quickly realized that the man she had first seen was no longer there. Instead, there was a disgusting shape not of this world- a perverse ridicule of god, evolution, and mankind.

“Y-your body…. what are you doing to your body…. Stop it! Stop!”

The nightmare trick only continued as the organism at last became the image she would never forget. A colorless, toothy creature- it looked at her like she was the most special little girl in the whole world.

She was not even able to scream. It drowned her in itself, something vague and mailable yet indisputably alive forcing its way into her throat and nose, stretching at her skin and mind as her eyes went bloodshot from the blunt trauma of the monster’s invasion. And from her own mouth, it would let out its first damning call.

“XYXYXYXY”

Her body stiffened, collapsing to the ground under the new weight taking home in her developing form. As the helpless young animal twitched, it rang out again and again from inside her-

“XYXYXYXY”

“XYXYXYXYXY”

“XYXYXYXY”

Her fingers stretching farther than her hands could reach, the child felt a deeply quaking pain that most humans typically do not discover in their time on this world. Her legs were spread stiffly in the air, pinned like a frog’s as it coursed through them. Pulling at her flesh from within, the creature’s own countless digits grew from her defiled skin, rumbling under it as they burned her insides. Her ears rang as her body continued to call out in its voice.

“XYXYXYXY” “XYXYXYXYXY” “XYXYXYXY”

Her vision broken and body aching, Julie’s head whipped back in agony, her every move constrained by its influence. Her back arched, mouth hinged open and teeth bare, she let out a silent scream to the white night surrounding her- crying out to the black, uncaring moon above, the veins on her neck popping out as her tears dropped pointlessly on the concrete ground.

When the sun rose, the monster was gone. However, as the shattered girl laid across the road, it still had not left her. And to that day, it never truly would.

As soon as the praying woman’s hands parted, they promptly reached into her desk. It was an expensive model. With little else to do, Julie cleaned it each and every day, polishing it to a mirror sheen. Staring at the 1911, her face, outside of her own control, scrunched up, the wounds inside her mind resurfacing as if no time at all had passed since her birth under that dark moon, the pot of fear and anger she carried with her reaching boil once again.

Julie lowered herself back to the wooden desk, and prayed a second time beside her pistol, a blanket of fear tightly wrapped around her back.

Once she stood, the woman’s face went blank. The pistol slid into her green bomber jacket on its own, joined soon after by the pocket knife that lied readily beside it on her desk. Downstairs, she rested her palm on her front doorknob for an eternity. To her this door was just another wall, scarcely used for its intended purpose as a gateway to the world outside. But Julie was a woman now, and had responsibilities to fulfil.

Unlocking the door, she stepped into the blinding streets. She sealed it shut, locking it, going back to check it, unlocking it, and then locking it once again. Once she at least felt as if she had done all she could, Julie walked down the empty road, her hand rested on the weapon inside her coat.

She had only made it but a few feet away from her place of residence when she received a call from the device in her back pocket. Instead of continuing forward, the girl retreated back to her patio, taking the phone out only once she had safely returned to the land behind her fence. Soon, her mother’s familiar voice came from the device as she finally answered.

“Julie?”

“Yes.”

“Are you on your way to the mall?”

“I’m already there.”

“Good, good. I’m so proud of you. You remember what your brother wanted, right?”

“The shoes?”

“Yes, that’s right. Thank you for deciding to come over this time. He’s not going to let you miss his fifteenth birthday.”

“I won’t.”

“Good. Thank you, Julie. Now, do you remember what day the party is?”

“I wrote it down.”

“Okay. Good job, Julie. Bye!”

Julie’s mother hung up.

The mall parking lot was populated by a mass of cars, so many that Julie couldn’t help but imagine the amount of people that might lie inside the building itself. Considering few would come alone as she had, she thought at this moment that there surely must be at least a hundred lives behind the front sliding doors of the massive plaza. As she approached this mausoleum, she could hear them from inside. The roar of a bustling city within a few oversized walls. Anxiously, she thrust herself through the entrance, invading the public space.

In her mind, it was worse than she could have ever imagined. It was crowded from the first glance. Loud, bratty teenagers circled the walkways, separated by gossiping housewives and reckless children running amok right alongside a cavalcade of men of varying ages, from side-eyed elders she didn’t like the look of to tall younger males who marched as if specifically to intimidate and threaten her. Even though not one of these people paid Julie any mind, to her they were a threat, an insult, and above all else, an obstacle. Under the security cameras, Julie hurried to her destination, eager to finish her trip.

Her probing eyes checked every corner as Julie carried her violently defensive stance throughout the mall. Scowling, she avoided the other customers as much as she could until she at last found herself at the small business that would supposedly offer the oh-so difficult to find footwear her brother so desired. Rubbing her tired eyes with her fingers, she approached the entryway, calming herself as well as she could.

Her goal was accuracy. Scanning the aisle of shoes like a rack of weapons, she picked up a box, examined its markings to confirm it as the one she’d needed, and immediately took it to the counter. There was a man there.

“Checking out?”

Julie nodded. He scanned the price.

“Alright, total’s $54.99.”

Julie gazed at him for a moment, processing his statement to make sure she wouldn’t make any mistakes in her response, before nodding. The employee looked at the door for a moment, before speaking out of turn.

“You hear something?”

“....No, sir.”

Julie ignored the remark, digging the payment- cash- out of her wallet, and stuck out her hand to give it to him. Then her pupils shrunk as the echo of a cry touched her ears.

“XYXYXYXYXY”

A silent tsunami of returning fear pierced Julie, her widened eyes nearly shaking in place as her lips began to part. It was as if an already rotting wound in her mind had just been ripped open.

Her eyes quaked as they strenuously, helplessly darted around. Julie was sweating. She wanted to scream. She wanted to stay completely silent.

“The payment, ma’am?”

It seemed some time had passed. Unable to even grasp the situation, despite imagining it so many times before now, Julie handed the man the wad of bills without so much as looking at him. She turned around and ran back out of the store immediately.

“Ma’am? You forgot your shoes.”

Julie was near the food court. Her confrontational stance was that of a hunting predatory animal that had become confused and disoriented by a lingering starvation. On the verge of tears, Julie was finally able to think the words clawing into her brain.

It’s here. He’s in the same building I’m in.

Swiping her head around violently, she grit her teeth as her defenses raised tenfold. The crowd had only grown larger since she had entered that tiny store. To the right of her alone, there were so many faces that it was almost impossible to tell one from another. Her mind raced as she turned from side to side.

Who is he? Which one? Which one? Is he in this crowd? Where is he… Where is he?! It… it has to be somewhere else. If he were here… he would see me right now. I-I have to get out of here, either way.

Julie ran over into the closest bathroom and hid herself inside a damp green stall. Sitting on the toilet, the miniscule walls inches away from her and closing in quickly, she clutched her legs like a child and began to let the panic take full effect.

He’s… here. It’s in this mall. He’s real again. I don’t want this to happen. I just want to be left alone. I just wanna go home. That’s all I want. I never asked for anything. I just want out of this. Please, god. Please.

There was a creak from her right. Julie stiffened, watching a woman’s tennis shoes step by just outside her stall as they left the restroom. Panting like a dog running dry of its stamina, Julie found herself backed up against the tile wall with no escape.

No…

As she stood up, she took it from her jacket. The loaded gun held in her open palm, a safety measure she had once used only to calm her.

This… is an opportunity. My only opportunity.

Eyes wide with a fearful conviction, she realized her goal.

I… I have to get rid of it.

Checking the gun’s chamber, Julie made double-sure that she had indeed brought it ready to fire and kill at a moment’s notice. Promptly inserting it back into the jacket, reality set in.

H-how can I even…

Julie whispered to herself.

“I just have to do it. I’m gonna be free again. I’m... gonna be okay.”

I’m going to be as free... as a child in a field. No, a butterfly… it’s gonna be okay.

Pushing open the heavy stall door, Julie once again stepped into the open crowded mall.

Insignificant among this horde of others, Julie found herself once again in an ocean of fear.

I’m… going to have to shoot one of these people. Maybe more than one. …No. I can’t do that. It’s not possible. It wouldn’t work. I have to find him. The real one. The one I want to kill.”

Just as she found a wall to put herself up against and began surveying the area, despair set in for Julie.

How… How can I possibly find it? I-is he the same as he was then? I don’t want to think about him, but…

Julie thought back to her death. Her attacker’s face was still just barely visible inside her battered mind. The smiling man had slim features and blonde hair. His brown eyes were prominent, though upon closer inspection, subtly mismade.

His eyes. The only part he couldn’t hide.

Unlike a real human, the curvature of his eyes was fully visible beyond their sockets. With no lacrimal caruncle, they lacked the appearance ours have, if only upon very close examination.

If I were to find him, I’d need line of sight with his very own eyes to tell if it was him... but at the same time, I can’t let him see me.

Julie looked around desperately.

She spotted a camera just above her.

Camera room. Go to the camera room.

It took her only a moment to formulate her plan. Using the cameras, Julie would identify her target and then strike. Somewhat stealthily jogging through the crowds, she broke into an unguided scramble as she attempted to find the security office. The more she roamed, the more she noticed people looking at her. Tears fell from her eyes, an escape nowhere in sight.

So many of them… so many of them…

As Julie found herself lost in a sea of lives, a single foot stepped out of the crowd. She did not see it.

Stay away from me… stay away…

Too focused on the others, Julie continued trying to avoid them, but it didn’t matter. Behind her, the legs of a young man approached steadily.

Advancing forward, glancing every which way, Julie feared her imminent demise. Just then, a hand grabbed her shoulder.

Julie swung around in inhuman fashion, monstrous fear and anger lighting up her desperate face as she tightened her teeth-

No-

But as she turned to the boy, her face soon became nothing more than that of a scared and confused child.

Isham’s eyes were no different to any other human’s. Beyond that, he looked benevolent, caring- even to Julie. Just a part-timer, he appeared to genuinely worry for her.

“A-Are you okay, ma’am?”

Julie struggled to speak, not saying even a word for a long moment. When she did speak, it was a hoarse, yet quiet sound.

“Where’s the... security office..?”

“The- security office? It’s not far from here. Why? Did something happen?” The boy spoke, affright.

Julie nodded with the tired face of a person who even in this small success was haunted by the ruthlessness of a prodding god. It allowed the young Isham to more than believe her.

“Well… um- can you follow me? I-I can show you where it is if you really need to-“

She nodded once more, her face now more determined.

Isham hastily strode there, Julie behind him- he was scared, imagining something quite bad had just happened that he now had to deal with as just a part-time employee. They entered a small offshoot hallway, void of customers. It was marked by a “wet floor” sign by the wall, though any mess had long been cleaned. There were no cameras here, just plain walls lined with a thin metal bottom stretching up about a single foot.

“It's just down this hall!” Isham told the woman, wanting to calm her. But then, for a reason she didn’t know, Julie suddenly stopped, looking at the wall next to her.

“M-ma’am? Ma’am, what’s going on? Can you speak to me?”

Julie looked at this wall and felt something. Other than the metal near the bottom, it was covered in a simple off-white wallpaper. She stared at it and almost forgot what she was doing. It was like looking into a memory. Her fear joining her again, Julie shook off this feeling and proceeded, following beside the boy with greater speed than before,

Isham’s increasingly sweaty hands unlocked the security room’s door for Julie, revealing a room with a setup of camera feeds from all across the mall. Sitting behind it was a large and tall woman in the mall’s security uniform, peacefully bored in a state of relaxation the other two found quite alien at this moment. Susan looked at the boy and then at Julie before speaking to him.

“Isham… didn’t I already explain that this place is for employee’s only? Who’s she?”

“Look- she- something went down, and she said she needed to come here. Something’s probably-“

Susan immediately stood from her reclined seat, looking over the other two.

“You mean you don’t even know what happened? Shit, kid, who is this?”

Julie’s growing frown was one of desperate anticipation and stress.

“She sure is quiet….”

She couldn’t look at Susan, but managed to speak to her.

“I need you- to let me look at the camera feed.”

“Excuse me? Lady, this is not a-“

Julie knew what was happening. She knew this would happen. Looking down, she silently cried to the floor, fearing what she must do.

They’re not going to let me. They’re not going to let me. But I’m trapped unless I get them to. I have to get them to.

Meanwhile, Susan was losing her patience.

“Okay, who are you? Do I need to call the cops?”

Julie finally looked up, a strained, crying, terrifying face revealed to the woman. Inside her jacket, her shivering hand reached in, groping through the darkness to grab it. Julie drew her pistol to the woman’s innocent face, her finger inches away from the trigger.

“I’m going to look at the camera feed! Don’t fucking move!”

In all her years Susan had never been in a situation like this. Shocked, she looked to Isham, who, too, was shaking, looking all around for an escape. This didn’t even feel real to him.

Julie panted like a mad dog, breathing hard as her pupils shrunk. Hands up, Susan tried speaking to her.

“O-Okay. Okay, honey- just- look at those cameras a-all you like. I’m gonna… move… and sit on down, Okay?”

Julie grit her teeth again, eyes strained from crying, as she followed Susan and Isham with the pistol as they slowly came around to sit down on the ground.

“I-If any of you move, I-I’ll fucking kill you!”

Julie sat in the chair and began neurotically examining the camera feed. The hostages fearing for their lives, Susan thought about all the people in the mall, praying for them as Isham could do little more than cry.

“Where are you… where are you, you goddamn monster-“

There were many, many pictures, but nothing or use. Just more and more normal people, spending their day here.

“Those eyes… where are those eyes?”

Suddenly, her Julie’s gaze stopped on one camera.

A tall man in sunglasses staring up at her. 

He was looking right at the camera, with the expression of a man seeing his wife after she returned from a short trip.

Julie jolted back, shivering. She clenched her gun in her hand as she looked back at the camera.

He wasn’t there anymore.

The hostages flinched as Julie slammed her fists into the screens, shattering them. Taking her bleeding fists off of the glass, she held her gun in both hands, close to her reddened face so that she could feel its coldness as she angled it up towards the ceiling. Pointed towards no one, Julie breathed as she touched its metal with her running nose. Then, she spoke again.

“Come with me… both of you.” She said.

The two stood up, beginning to follow her as she left the room. Desperate for answers, Isham spoke up.

“W-who was that guy that you were looking at?”

“J-just stay near me. Please. Stay close to me, both of you…” Julie begged. Isham was maddened.

“A-are you just gonna- so instead of shooting us, you’re just dragging us along to get killed somewhere else? Why do we have to go with you? Why?”

Julie turned to the boy as she cried.

“I’m scared.”

Susan was more afraid than before as well. Now she had no understanding of what could be happening, not a single theory. She would rather deal with a robbery or even a mall shooting than to grapple with this alien feeling of complete unknowable-ness. At least she had a protocol for those situations.

Julie stopped as they were just running down the small hallway again. She froze, staring at that same wall from earlier.

Only a few inches away from the strange thing, she was bewildered. In a new state of confusion and disbelief, she listened in. Behind the wall, a quiet sound emanated.

“XYXYXYXY” “XYXYXYXY”

Isham was still shaking.

“What is it? What is happening? Please, dammit please just tell me what-“

Julie stepped back from the wall, still transfixed by it.

“G-go to the wall. Now.” She ordered.

Isham nervously walked up to the wall, confused and even more worried now.

“D-do you hear it? Is it really there?”

“U-um-“

He put his ear to the wall out of fear, not expecting to hear anything at all. But his eyes soon widened as the creeping sound came through once more. He turned to Julie, afraid of both her and the wall.

“You’re.. you’re right, ma’am. There’s some kind of noise coming from that- that wall.”

Still in a haze, Julie gave him a new order as Susan only watched.

“I want you to strike that wall.”

Isham was forced to nod, scared for his life. He put one hand on the wall, feeling it’s skin droop. Sweating, he prepared to follow through.

“It feels…”

Punching it, the hollow wallpaper caved in, falling apart entirely to reveal a bonafide tear in our very reality. A black vortex painted in midair, the sound of the monsters lying within it just barely audible.

They were all shocked, though none more so than Julie. With the light from this world shining through just a bit, Isham fell over, and looking up at it he stares into this unexplainable white world just inside it. Susan’s mouth fell open. The closer you looked, the more you saw it- a white, empty world made of coils and abstraction.

“Is that…” Isham spoke. “H-heaven?”

Julie’s gaze bore into it, the sound of her trauma once again emerging from its depths.

“It’s Hell.”

Back in the main public sprawl of the mall, he walked through the crowd with a smile. The Paraclaus adjusted his shades as he calmly stepped through the mass of humans with a smile. Without rush, the dark-haired and pale-skinned man stuck his hands in his big black coat, awaiting his reunion.

“Ma’am… Why are we still standing here?” Isham asked. Around the portal, the three stood in silence. Though it was directed to Julie, Susan was to one to quietly reply to Isham’s inquiry.

“Isham, it would do you some good to keep questions to a minimum. I know we’re not being held at gunpoint right now, but we’re still hostages. I’m only Mall Security. I’m not armed. S-So let’s play it safe, alright?”

“I-it’s okay.” Julie suddenly assured. “You can talk. Actually, please talk. I’m- sorry about all of this. Soon, it’s going to be here. And then... we’re gonna have to push him in there. I-if that doesn’t work, I’ll just shoot him.

“Okay, Okay. Now- back up a little. Is this thing you’re talking about… an “it” or a “he?” Susan asked. Julie nervously shook her head.

“I-I dunno. I don’t know, ma’am. All I know is it needs to die.”

“N-now look. You seem like you still got some reason in you. I don’t know what happened, but you can’t go around killing people, even if they are an “it.” Why- now why don’t you just tell your story to the cops?”

“Monsters aren’t real, ma’am.”

Susan had nothing more to say. She was clearly wrong, wasn’t she? Maybe this woman had no reason at all. But if that were the case, then just what was this strange void she was staring at? Above all else, was just regretful of ever having to be put in a situation like this. She was stuck, waiting for some vague threat to arrive- and there was nothing, absolutely nothing she could do about it.

Everyone stood in silence for one last moment of peace.

Then the sound began to creep in from the front of the hallway.

“XYXYXYXY” fell upon their ears. Julie’s nightmare was realized. She thought two last words.

He’s here.

The Paraclaus stood in the front of the hallway, still bearing the disguise he had worn on the camera feed. Right in front of them, the man rested against the wall.

Julie’s despair grew to a thunderstorm of hopeless guilt. There was no escape. There was no safety. In front of her was the end of her life.

He took of his glasses, revealing his abnormal eyes- just the same as they’d always looked. He gave Julie a smile. The other two just looked at him as she had one last second of denial.

“Sir, please identify yourself!” Susan barked. The Paraclaus ignored her, grinning excitedly at his prey.

“Hi, Julie.” He said, his new voice reaching her ears.

She shook in ferocious anger, liquid covering her face.

“Sir, identify yourself! I-I’m with this mall’s security force!” Susan shouted again. The Paraclaus sighed, finally acknowledging her.

“I’m one of the people in there.”

“What people?”

“You can’t see them from here with those eyes. I can, though. Looks like they’re still just wandering around. They don’t even notice this tear… I think it’s closed on that side. Julie, you didn’t know that, but you were planning on pushing me in, right?”

Julie grit her teeth harder than before. He just smirked like a playful child.

“You're as innocent as ever. I love it.”

Julie drew her pistol.

“Julie- no!” Susan yelled. Isham covered his ears, eyes filled with despair as the explosions rang out. Julie emptied all eight shots of her weapon into the body of the Paraclaus, blasting him back onto the ground as he fell. The others stood back in fear as the sound wore over them. Julie just stared down at the man, her weapon’s slide held back in abandonment of its ammunition.

The vulnerable lives inside the mall became aware of the sound quite quickly. Conversations were interrupted as the smart ones ran for the door, others looking for an explanation as fear spread.

Julie watched as her target lie motionless, enveloped in smoke. Isham thought about taking this chance to run, but he couldn’t decide in time. As the smoke grew to a blinding cloud, something else stood up behind it- not the man, but a monster. Julie started to recognize the pieces of that memory she was tormented by all her life. Growing more and more afraid with each glance, the beast soon emerged. As the smoke billowed away, it’s full body became more than visible.

It was astoundingly expressive. More than we are. Its mouth was larger than ours, as were its eyes. Though it was human-shaped, it lacked our muscular distinctions that differentiate our body parts from limb to limb, and our sex from person to person. While you could still easily see where one part of a limb ended and another began, its calves were the same size as its thighs and its forearms were the same size as its biceps. Its teeth were large and flat, able to crush rock. Its features were childlike, stretched to the proportions of a very tall individual. It lacked both a buttocks and genitals. This area was instead covered back, front and side in many infectious looking bumps. These STD-like warts could not be found anywhere else on the body. The only other thing covering the creature’s skin was its most notable trait: folds of skin found on the outer legs, arms, backside of the head, and spine. This reptilian devil wasn’t of our god; it was someone else’s.

Julie’s hopeless anger overwhelmed her as she shoved another fresh magazine into her empty 1911. Tears still dripping from her face, she held the gun tightly, quickly emptying seven more shots into the looming monster, only for them to show no effect at all. All it did was smile.

“You’re so violent.” It said. “But… that’s okay. You see… I-It’s almost embarrassing, but I’m obsessed with you people. I’m going to learn the shape of each and every one of you some day. I’ve memorized so many already…”

Isham ran down the hall. This wasn’t real. He wasn’t going to be a part of this. But as he made his escape, the Paraclaus turned to him with a look of sheer joy.

“Another!”

The Paraclaus’ flaps stood on end as he jumped down the hall with a disembodied “XYXYXYXY” crying out of his nasal cavity as landed on top of the boy.

Isham screamed for a little bit, but these sounds were interrupted when the Paraclaus forced its hands and fingers into his mouth and nostrils, then bending itself into liquid to enter his body, which went limp and shivered on the ground like a fish on land. Every part of the inside of his body, every layer, every little dead space was flooded with the Paraclaus as it logged his dimensions. His body still shivered, but at this point it wasn’t limp at all. Julie could only watch in furious disgust as it performed the same vile act it once had to her young body, the soon-to-be corpse growing unnaturally stiff as the shape of the creature’s fingers stook out of his loosening skin. Susan screamed as he twitched and spasmed about on the ground, the monster wandering about his organs as it entered his every system. By the time it had exited his face, it had fully formed into a physical being again.

“What a boring body. I’ve seen plenty like it before.”

It picked up the boy. In complete disarray and horror, Susan couldn’t hope to understand anything she’d been seeing.

“d-drop the boy! Dro- drop him!”

“He’s already used! Calm down.” The Paraclaus responded with nonchalance as it removed Isham’s throat with its bare hands.

Julie’s body was frozen in fear, but the heat inside her forced her to move once again, even if she had no power over this monstrosity.

“y-you…. y-You genuinely do deserve to die. More than anything else in the world.”

“You’ve... become a hateful person, Julie.” It responded to her. “I-It’s alright though. I’ll purify you.”

Julie’s mind shot ablaze.

I can’t even think anymore. I just want to kill it. I want to run up to it and be able to tear it apart with just my pocket knife. I want to break it, and completely remove its image from this world. I want to make it so I never have to look at it again.

But… I can’t.

It approached her in a friendly, even loving manner, disgusting long arms outstretched, like a father coming over to hug his daughter.

N-no. That thing isn’t above humans. It’s even stupider. The way he looks at us right now… whether it’s curiosity, or… some kind of disgusting desire… it can’t think of anything except what it wants.

Fearfully, Julie shook another magazine into her 1911.

“Are you trying to shoot me again? Your mental processes must be slowing.”

She fired three shots into the Paraclaus’ face, blinding it, it only for a moment as its eyes regenerated.

Frantically, the girl then put her four remaining shots into the metal section of the wall. The bullets ripped through it, turning it into little more than a jagged mess of dangerous spikes- the longest of which jutted out over five inches. She crouched in front of it, and touched it with the back of her foot to test it. It was a sharp little thing. She wondered if it would be enough, or if this would even work in the first place.

“Julie…” The Paraclaus said, eyes reforming repulsively. “Are you… broken enough to think I’d fall for something like that? You’re still just trying to send me back to the Hypallage.”

“I can’t… do much else at this point, other than sit here.”

Julie looked up at the monster, feeling drawn from her face. She appeared much like a simple doll, just gazing up at it as it in turn examined her.

“s-so…”

She sat down, moving her foot once again to the piece of metal that stuck out. Trying her best to hide her face, she inserted it- right into her foot. The cold pain went up and up through her as the scrap anchored her sole to the wall, impaling her entire foot as the ground became wet with her blood.

“j-just Get it over with.”

Memories of eight years ago flashed in her mind. She couldn’t do this again. She couldn’t possibly live through that again. The Paraclaus wondered what her plan was.

She can’t throw me in if I’m inside her body. After all, she wouldn’t dare throw herself in there with me. I can’t understand it, but she hates me. An eternity of me for her would be like hell. I really have broken her.

Then it started laughing.

Lunging at her from the side as to not fall in itself, the beast let out another disembodied “XYXYXYXY,” flaps stood on end.

Aggressively, he put his hands into her mouth and nostrils, feeling their familiar texture. Julie’s crying mind exploded into emotion.

J-just a little bit further- it won’t be much longer- it’s okay, it’s okay-

The Paraclaus quickly shifted into his liquid form and began to enter. His viscous fluid got about as low as her neck, when-

“Son of a bitch!”

Julie threw back her head, and most of the rest of her body- directly into the portal. Into the strange world, as the Paraclaus called it, known as the Hypallage. The motionless, pounding realm wore on her head as she held onto reality with nothing more than her impaled foot, the liquid Paraclaus’ mind racing.

No! No- I can’t let it stop here- there’s so many more interesting people- Or is this… Okay? Can I allow this? If I can study Julie for all eternity…. I wouldn’t mind that. And she’s already given up, right?

Julie desperately reached her hand into her world- stretching her arm out to get to her pocket- but the pull of the Hypallage and the Paraclaus was too strong for her to reach it.

It seems like she should have nothing left…

With all the strength she pull out of her mortal form, Julie stuck her hand into her pants pocket and pulled out her pocket knife into the Hypallage.

So why do I still sense so much energy from her?

“AAAAAAAAHHHH!!!”

Julie thrust the knife deep into her own cheek, ripping downward. Instead of blood, it was mostly Paraclaus that exited her body.

What are you-

Full of rage, Julie’s face was that of a demon. She cut up her entire face from the forehead down, stocking her fingers deeper and deeper into the wounds to pry the very monster itself out of her body.

“AHHHGHHHHH!!!”

No! I can’t- no, I can’t just be left back in this empty shithole! YOU INHUMAN BITCH! I’LL KILL YOU!”

Screaming out to god, Julie made one last cut, the largest of them all, painfully grabbing a fat clump of foreign liquid.

NO! NO!!!

Julie there the entire liquid Paraclaus away from her as it let out one final bastard scream of “XYXYXYXY.”

Lying on the Hypallage ground, the monster quickly formed back into its physical form and ran back at Julie.

“You’re staying here with me, you piece of shit! There’s nothing else for me! Don’t you understand!? THERE’S NOTHING HERE!”

With the burning pain of the sun against her leg, Julie jerked her knee towards her, anchoring herself back into our world.

Propping herself up with her arms, she ripped the spike out of her foot. Then, she looked up.

On the other side of the tear in front of her, the Paraclaus slammed on the impenetrable window like a child. No longer able to so much as see through it, it spoke, crying in desperation, but its words were silent to her.

Julie got up to look at it. Her face butchered, and foot bleeding too, she noticed her view of the monster shrinking as the portal tear started to close. She didn’t hear it’s final words to her.

She turned around so she could walk away from this place. But in her path, Susan lied, having fallen over in the commotion. Shaking in terror, she reached out her hand to Julie, before pulling it away as she saw her mangled face. She shivered in fear, but before she knew it, the woman in the bomber jacket was gone.

Walking calmly through the chaotic mall, people around her screamed and ran, desperately trying to escape after those who heard her gunfire got to the doors first. In all the crowds, Julie wasn’t the least bit afraid.

On the grassy hill overlooking the road she was first attacked on, Julie walked onto scene. Her face no less damaged, she wasn’t headed home. Calmly, she just lied down on the bright green surface, listening to the people below her as they paid her no mind.

I feel… like I’m forgetting something.

The grass moved only to the rhythm of the wind above, which itself could not be seen, except for the white clouds dotting the shining sky above her.

That’s right. I forgot to grab my brother’s shoes before I left.

Two children on the track below pet a dog, the tree next to them moving to the same breeze the grass had.

Julie faced the sun.

I’ll get out and buy some tomorrow.