”I have a talent. Talent is probably not the best way to describe this ability. Frankly, I create things from my imagination. I know… I know that sounds tame, pink elephants and cutesy things but I’ve always been a fearful person. That monster in your closet or the monster under the bed… Not things you want to have become real. I wish I could imagine pink elephants but they would probably trample me.”
Redd Church
I have a tiny bladder or some diagnosed bladder condition that wakes me up multiple times a night. Most nights I’m up around 2:00 am. My bathroom is a quick jog around the corner. It is through a tiny hallway and past a small room, without a door.
I opened the door and did my business. I placed my left hand on the wall when the kernel of a thought slid into my mind.
A hiss emanated from outside the bathroom door. I heard a heavy thump followed by a crash. The bathroom door was open slightly. I saw a shadow pass then a fleshy tentacle grabbed the door and opened it. Several more tentacles swatted at the air as I quickly buttoned up. I attempted to remove my knife from its sheathing. It wasn’t there, I had left it with my pants by my bed.
The tentacled monster moved forward. Three more tentacles grabbed at the air, it felt the door frame, grabbed bathroom things, and took them away.
I had seconds to think of a way to protect myself. I grabbed a roll of toilet paper and threw it at, what I assumed was the creature in the hallway. It made a clicking sound. It’s tentacles retracted for a moment only to return. The creature moved into the doorframe.
The tentacles were three-foot long, almost like human arms but lacking any bone or hands. They tapered to a round-ish end and had circular, octopus-like suckers. Behind the tentacles was a six-foot gelatinous creature. A triangular beak in the center, which it opened and closed furiously. Above the beak was a large round, bright green eye. I watched as the creature searched the room till its smaller black iris found me standing in front of the toilet defenseless.
The creature stood forward upon two final tentacles. It’s remaining six reached for me so I stepped back an almost tripped over the bathtub. I fell backward and knocked the shower curtain and rod down. It fell with a crash which seemed to encourage the monster to approach faster. Half the creature was inside my small four-foot squared bathroom. My sink, which sat to my left stopped the creature from coming closer.
I lost my chance to use the plunger as a weapon or the toilet brush. Above me was the detachable shower head. I grabbed the shower head and swung at the creature hitting a few of the tentacles. The creature recoiled the wounded tentacles for a moment to recalculate only to come back at me harder seconds later. The shower head had a hose but it was still attached to the wall. I swung the shower head like a mace but I couldn’t get near the head nor eye of the creature. The creature was too big for this tiny bathroom, advantage me, and was stuck between the toilet and the sink. It grabbed the shower head and wrapped a tentacle around it, almost taking my hand with it.
I pulled my hand from its grip. I stepped into the bathtub and threw a bottle of shampoo at the large eye, missed it but hit above it.
The creature’s gelatin head fell back. Its clawed beak clicked angrily. The tentacles scrambled to catch the offending object they had missed moments earlier.
I pulled the shower curtain and curtain rod down. I spun the rod toward the creature, and caught it on the sink faucet. I pulled the rod back and hit the wall. Turned toward the creature and pushed it forward.
The large green eye turned to me immediately. The hair on my arms stood and a tinge of fear waft through my head but I pushed on.
I shoved the rod into the gelatinous creature. I found that the semi-transparent body was tougher than I had thought. I was able to push the creature back through the door.
The creature was unhappy. An aluminum rod in its weird chest but I walked it back further through the small hallway and into the larger dining room.
I have a weird relationship with these creatures. I hate when they appear but a detest killing them. It’s not their fault they appear here, pulled from the Aether and cursed to haunt Teraphobia. This is where it gets hard because it’s my goal to capture and contain them.
My green-eyed nemesis is just a scared alien to this world. An alien place, an alien language. With my curse, it’s my responsibility so I try.
The green-eyed gelatinous creature grabbed the shower rod with several tentacles and lifted it abruptly striking my chin. I fell back against the closet wall on my left. Blood dripping from a wound.
I cursed and attempted to grab the rod but the creature swung wildly. I had to step back into the bathroom doorway to avoid being hit a second time. The creature’s eye searched the room, crazy with rage. It approached the hallway again when I heard a heavy chest close in the other room. I took a breath because I knew I had help. My wife Sherrie was awake and could approach the creature from the side. That chest had several nets and my knife.
I heard her curse as she sorted out the tools, she moved from the bedroom and I watched as the green eye looked right and then turned. It clicked the small beak below the eye and dropped the shower rod.
I picked up the shower rod, the curtain barely hanging from it. The creature noticed, and I prepared to push it backward. To get the creature it would have to be in the center of the large room so I pushed the creature back. Sherrie approached from the room on the right as I stepped from the hallway.
“I told you, goddamnit, to fold up the nets nicely. F#*k, it makes them hard to get out in an emergency,” she spat.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I do my best.”
She grumbled and held a net with both hands. “Dangerous?” She asked.
“I don’t think so, just scared,” I replied.
“Ok.”
I watched, the creature watched, as Sherrie stepped into the dining room with the net. Its tentacles wrapped around the shower curtain but I felt this might change quickly. I pushed the curtain rod into the chest of the gelatin to regain its attention but the eye was focused on Sherrie.
“Sherrie, it’s going to go after you,” I said predicting its moves.
“I can feel it Redd,” she replied.
“Throw the net now,” I commanded as the creature began to raise itself with the tentacles near its bottom. It began to release the shower curtain rod. I needed to pull the rod away to avoid getting in the way of the net.
I saw Sherrie throw the net. The room went white and I woke on the floor.
I screamed Sherrie’s name, the hallway still felt brighter than it should have been.
“Did you throw a flash-bang,” she asked.
“No, you?” I replied. I held the wall as I stood, my knees felt paper thin.
“I think I have a name for this creature,” said from the dining room.
I rubbed my eyes for a moment and regained the correct contrast. I looked into the dining room to see the tentacled octopod lying on the floor. It was asleep, knocked unconscious from the chemical-laden capture net.
I stepped around the net to my wife sitting beside a broken dining room chair.
“I hope you’re ok?”
“I’m fine Redd,” she said as I helped her stand.
“I have a name for this creature.”
“Sure, what is it,” I asked.
“Flash-bang Octopus.”
“That makes sense, you think the light came from the creature?”
“I know it did,” she replied.
We took a moment to collect ourselves before calling the Zoo.
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