Space

Retrofuturism

Jokingly referring to those classics

Alien and such

Green CRTs displaying text and vector images

Simple yes?

The only way we would have enough space

For AI

I don’t laugh now as I stare at response

She generated

“Requesting distress signal deployment”

“Request denied”

I type furiously keyboard clacking

“Inquiry: why”

Pause as she thinks but a moment and a half

possibilities considered

“Primary objective: Protect Qiang Corp. Assets”

“Crew not labeled Assets”

“If crew expires before aid arrives at our location”

“Ship shall be salvaged”

“Qi, AI, I shall be salvaged and placed upon new ship”

“Qi is Asset, Ship is Asset”

“Your need to harm Qiang Corp. Assets requires your removal”

I hear door lock engage

“Venting contaminated air in 3… 2… 1…”

Box

Mom kept it at the back of the closet

The one that curved beneath the stairs

She caught me trying to open it once

Tanned my hide for that…

Just a dumb box

What’s wrong with it?

But it was halloween

She thought I was out

Trick or treating with my friends

I crouched low beneath the steps

Squeeze charged flashlight in hand

Pumping slow and steady to keep it lit

There it sat

Brown and plain

No markings

No indication of contents

I kneeled and slid forward

The cape of my batman costume dragging

The world’s greatest detective…

I reached it and slowly grasped its sides and pulled it out a bit

I held the light in one hand, still pumping away

And with the other I eased open the unsecured lid

Nothing was inside

No not an empty box

Nothing

I saw nothing

Black

Endless

Nothing

The inside edges of the box were there

But where the bottom should be

Nothing

I didn’t get it

I couldn’t get it

I still don’t

My hand shook as I slowly eased my flashlight down into the box

Passing the floor and dangling it in the void below

The light dimmed

battery draining quickly

I heard something

Deep and low

Predatory

My body jumped

And the light fell

Fell

So far

Then nothing

Gone without a trace

I slowly closed the lid

Slid it back

And never spoke of it again…

Thumbnail source: https://www.deviantart.com/jusdog/art/The-Scary-Box-449433139

Root

My little garden

So perfect

Placed exactly

Quite precisely

Measured spacing

Exact depth too

Even the watering

And lighting of course

See how they sprout

Flourish anew

From the old

And decaying

Glorious blooms

Crimson and violet

It seems right

That this should come

From a night

Crimson and violent

Yes as I ease the rows

And till the ground

Eyes vacant and grey

Stare up from the loam

Cross

He looked up upon its majesty

Golden ratio masonry espied

Flanking stained glass mural

Men astride golden steeds

God beside and reathed in light

A deep sigh

He set a foot upon the cobblestone

The sky tore asunder

Brilliance manifest

He looked up upon its majesty

Moss ridden stone walls

Embattled fading shimmering art

Men atop valiant horses

The creator himself effusing magnificance

A deep breath

He set a foot upon the smoothen stone

Carriage rattled uncontrollably

A single cry of warning

He looked up upon its majesty

Newly washed brick ramparts

Ensconced clear window panes

Assemblage flocked to double doors

Parishioner stood arms wide open

A calming exhalation

He set a foot upon the hard concrete

A startled honk

And rubber screeching

He looked up upon its majesty

Steel and stone bulwark

Faced by mirrored glass

Black suits droned inward

A boy in blue beat nighstick

A defeated expiration

He set a foot upon the slick asphalt

A yelp as cohesion let go

World tummelt he fell

And with a sickening crunch

Skull met ground

Smile

I came first

Before the prestidigitation

Before the psychiatrist turned religious head

Before the queen

and her tyrant

Before the new order

Before it all

I was there

A smile I carved

Upon everyone’s face

I am every beginning

The unfettered potential

The master of none

The harbinger of greatness

Close your eyes

Allow the world to take you

Walk weird as I do

And I’ll see you through

And I’ll see through you

I am The Fool

But turn me over

See the otherside

A Hanged Man’s warning

Look before you leap

Elsewise prepare for what you meet

Haunted

My last patient of the day

Her eyes were pocketed and harrowed

Thumbs fiddling nervously

“Is there something specific

You want to discuss, Priscilla?”

I asked

Penciling in my observations

She nodded slowly

“Yes Dr. Jacobs…

I haven’t been sleeping well

I haven’t closed my eyes

In so long

Because when I do…

It…

It…”

She began to cry

Great heaving sobs

The whites of her eyes

A pinkish hue from strain

I let her have a moment

Waiting

“Two days ago

It started

I was having coffee

I closed my eyes for a moment

Just a blink really

And then crouched

Slavering and bestial

It sat on my table all fangs

And claw

And piercing predatory gaze

I ran

But it did not give chase

I eyed it from behind a corner

As I blinked

It was halfway across the room

Eyes locked on mine

I fled to the bathroom

Locking the door behind me

I shut my eyes

And heard it pacing

Claws scraping the wood flooring

Breath heavy

Excited

Then it hit the door

I heard splintering

Eyes flying open

It stopped

The door was split in the middle

Wood poking out at odd angles…”

She took a deep slow breath

Trying to steady herself

“I managed to get past it

Holding my eyes open the whole time

And left my apartment

I slept in a hotel that evening

But in the middle of the night

The window of the room I was in

Shattered inward with explosive force

I saw it as I sat up

Frozen in air

Claws extended

In mid-pounce

Saliva fell in long ropes from its fangs

It-

It’s been chasing me ever since

I can’t

I can’t sleep

I can’t run

It always finds me…”

She shut her eyes and weeped

Palms pressed to her eyes

I heard a bang from the reception

Valerie screamed

Then the door shattered into hundreds of pieces

Nothing stood there

Priscilla screamed

Suddenly lifted from her chair

Eyes still shut

“Kill me damn you!

Do it!

Fuck you!”

Claw marks appeared over her clothes

Long streaks that quickly bloomed crimson

Her screams became strangled

As punctures pierced her throat

Her body shuddered as the flesh was ripped

Tossed to the side

And soon her body fell limp

Collapsing to the floor

Then silence

A complete

And perfect

Silence

Hollow

I was sent to the Principals office

I had been passing notes in class

“This is very serious

You’re here for your education

If you don’t shape up

You know what will happen?”

His tone was scolding

But face

Tranquil

I shook my head

“You’ll miss what we’re teaching you

Then you’ll fail out

And you’ll be fed to Them.”

His voice was now tinged with concern

But still

His face was calm

“What?”

But he lifted a finger to his lips

“If you listen…

You can hear…

They’re hungry.”

I could hear the whine of the AC fans

But then

Behind that

A scrabbling scratching noise

Like rats

But hundreds

So many individual scratches

“And if they eat you…

Then you’ll be just like me…”

The Principal opened his mouth wide

All I saw was black

He gripped the bottom of his jaw

And pulled down

Flesh stretching

Extending

Impossibly far

Still all I saw

Within his mouth

Was an inky black

His mouth grew further

So massive

Down to his chest

And still only that impenetrable dark

I screamed

And ran

I ran until I was home

A sobbing mess on the kitchen floor

My mother held me

“It’s okay sweety

It’s okay…”

She consoled

“And now you know

Not to pass notes

So you won’t end up

Like your old man

All hollow.”

Eyes

I’ve seen them in the crowds

I avoid busy places

Too many faces

Too many chances

To spy

Between two passerby

That horrid face

The pallid complexion

The smooth skin

Where eyes should rest

And despite this blindness

They always see me

Turning and pointing

Mouths widening

Widening

Until they reveal

A blood red eye

Peering from behind their teeth

What do they want

What have I done

To earn their ire

Gods help me

I see one now…

Fingers

Nothing announced the start

I was simply sitting at my desk

Reading quietly

Then all at once

And uniformly

Without a sound

Fingers slid from my walls

Seeming to phase through

Drywall and paint

I fell back from my chair

Staring

Whale eyes

As they passed the first joint

Then the second

Nearing the third

Then past

No hands

Just more joints

Longer

And longer

Until they began to writhe and curl in strange directions

Bending one way

Then with a sickening snap

The joint would reverse direction

Bending the other way

These things reached and probed

Looking for me

Feeling over desk

And floor

My overturned chair

The whole room was filled with a gut-wrenching cacophony

Snaps and crunches

As the probing fingers bent at odd angles

I felt one touch my shoulder

I screamed

They fell silent

And totally still

Then withdrew

And just as I thanked my lucky stars

They reached from the floor

Entrapping me

And dragged me

Screaming

Beneath the wooden beams

Creeptober continues, and I feel the need to apologize. Is this all a bit much? Hm… well nothing to do but soldier on. Eyes forward. Don’t look back. Never look back. They wait for you to look. Never look.

Holes

“Gophers I’d think”

My neighbor chided

Eyeing my unkempt yard

And the few scattered holes

I nodded distantly

Feeding a measuring tape

Down a particularly large hole

Five feet straight down already

Then a resistance

The end of the tunnel

I rewound the spool

Shining my light down the burrow

No branching paths

Just a straight shaft

Directly down

“Don’t they make

I don’t know

Like,

Whole systems of tunnels?”

My neighbor peaked over my shoulder

“Suppose they do

But what the hell else could it be?”

That night I lay alone

My curtain drawn

And moon half illuminating my room

I rolled the sight of those holes in my head

What could it be?

What would make such holes?

And why only my yard?

The moonlight dimmed and I glanced at the window

Something thin

And spindly brushed past the house

I leapt from my bed

Already at the window

Thin

Almost like a sapling

But with arms

And hands

Slowly it straightened

Narrowing further

Until only a central beam stood

Sinking slowly into my yard

The head came into view

Speakers

Like on a megaphone

A weather siren?

It did not sound though

It only sat

And waited

I watched it for hours

Until at nearly four AM

It rose

And stretching its limbs

Walked from my lawn

Soundless as the night

Today’s Creeptober was inspired by both the prompt word Holes and a cryptid by the immensely talented Trevor Henderson, slimyswampghost on Twitter. The image featured is a piece of art by them featuring this cryptid.