Skurdulka the Cryptid (a nonbinary scary story)

Part 8: 'Normal'

 A moment of shock stabbed through my pounding head when Skurdulka scooped me up off the floor. They picked me up with such ease, as if I was a child.

"What are you doing?" Panic sharpened Ash's voice.

Skurdulka started towards the stairs. "Come with me."

Even with my head and face throbbing, shock overwhelmed me. Being so close to the cryptid, I could hardly breathe.  Hugged close to them, I felt the heat from their chest. Despite their thin frame, Skurdulka's body felt like wire and steel. Their ragged clothes smelled like the house, like dirt and plants, but underneath there was something else, something flowery and comforting. I couldn't tell if it was lavender or rose, or maybe both.

As they ascended the stairs, Ash following close behind, they looked down at me. "I am sorry," they said softly. "I should not have done that."

I swallowed. Their face, even so close, was still hazy. But I realized that there was something different about their face. It was their eyes—the red was gone, replaced by a hypnotic green-brown.

Skurdulka brought me back through the dark halls upstairs, deeper into the house this time. Reaching the end of a nearly black hallway, Skurdulka nodded to the door. "Open that."

Ash hesitated, then fumbled for the knob. The door creaked open.

Skurdulka laid me gently down on a bed. Blinking, I held my head as I looked around. With royal purple velvet and lavender silk curtains drawn over the windows and cascading down the four-poster bed, it was a stark contrast from the rest of the house. It looked almost regal. The furniture was old and ornate, made from curved and sculpted dark wood adorned with gold patterns. The room would've been beautiful, except it was so dark.

The pillows under my head smelled of that gentle, flowery rose and lavender. The realization struck me somewhere behind the pain in my head: Was this Skurdulka's room?

I saw Ash peering around the room too, with about a million questions and many more fears written on his face.

Skurdulka grabbed a chair from the edge of the room and pulled it up to the bed. I thought they might sit down, but they gestured for Ash to sit.

"Do not fall asleep," they said to me. The hissing snarl in their voice had softened into something sonorous and comforting. They looked at Ash. "I will be back. Do not leave. Do not let them sleep. Watch them carefully." They turned towards the door.

"Wait," Ash protested. "Where are you going?"

Skurdulka turned a moment. "Do not leave. Please." They closed the door gently behind them.

Ash and I locked eyes. A silent moment of shock passed between us.

"That's. Skurdulka." Ash laughed breathlessly, on the edge of panic.

I gave a grimacing half-grin. "Yeah."

"They really... they're really... oh my God."

"I know."

"How did you...? How?"

Holding my head, I sat up. "I came here on Halloween. That big black dog tried to chase me off, but I came in instead."

"Why?"

I scoffed. "Same reason you sat there shitting yourself when it attacked you."

"Okay, fine. But, like, that dog—that's Skurdulka?"

"Uh huh." Seeing Ash's slack-jawed face, I just nodded. "I know."

Silence fell between us again. I poked gingerly at my face, feeling a bruise already starting near my temple.