My best friend is an idiot crushing on a jerk. Instead of eating peanut butter cups at his house on Halloween, I'm throwing rocks at Skurdulka's house. That's how it started.
I actually lay eyes on a shapeshifting cryptid and I'm not going to live...
"I didn't tell Dad, I swear to God," Ash whispered.
Sharing a twin bed with Ash, his giant stuffed Charmander, three enormous pillows, and his fat, ancient beagle-pug-mix, Pudge, I felt simultaneously scared and safe. One wrong move and I'd go careening off the bed, but right then I was nestled in Pillow Mountain, resting my head on Ash's shoulder. Glow-in-the-dark stick-on stars lined the ceiling and the glow from the streetlamps outside lit on the blue curtains, painting the room in blue-gray darkness. A small fan buzzed steadily on the nightstand behind me, the breeze just skimming my shoulder. It wasn't to keep anybody cool—the room was plenty cool in November, even when we were crammed together on the tiny bed—it was just for the sound. And it meant we could whisper without waking up Ash's parents in the next room.
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"I believe you."
"Really?" I nodded and Ash went on, hesitant, "I'm kinda worried."
"What do you mean?"
"Do you think they'll..." He stopped. "Do you think Skurdulka's, like—killed people?"
When I hide a body, no one finds it. It seemed like Skurdulka had calmed down over the last few days, but their threats were still fresh as an open cut on my mind. Maybe they were just trying to freak me out before. I wanted to believe that. But I didn't. "I don't know. Maybe."
Laying so close, I heard Ash swallow. "Do you think they'd do something? Like, to hurt Dad?"
I didn't want to think of that either. But I didn't know.
Snorting, Pudge looked up. He barked softly at the window, a sound more like an old-man cough than a real dog bark.
I tried to turn and look at the window without falling off the bed, but barely got a glimpse of star-speckled blue curtains.
Tick-tick-tick
The sharp, fast tapping made me tense. I looked at Ash. "Did you hear that?"
His eyes fixed on the window.
Tick-tick-tick
Pudge growled quietly and attempted another bark.
"What is that?" I tried again to turn.
Ash didn't move. "It's coming from the window."
Tick-tick-tick-tick-tick!
Just when I managed a view of the window, Charmander slipped out from under me. The physics-defying balance of Pillow Mountain collapsed, sending me over the edge. Luckily, the over-sized Pokemon softened my fall and kept me from waking the whole house.
Getting up, I crept to the window.
"What are you doing?" Ash whispered.
Wheezing, Pudge struggled to sit up. Ash did the same through the pillows.
