Come on down!

Castillo's little shack was cold, and poorly insulated, and the wind whistled past so loud that he couldn't even nap.

There were two benefits; it kept the rain off, and the view when he stepped outside to drink his coffee.

He'd been thinking about getting into watercolours.

The thing that climbed down from Castillo's ceiling certainly wasn't a perk.

It moved like a snake uncoiling from its latest unlucky prey. Looked like one, too.

If you ignored the chest.

And the glowing green...thing behind her. Like a tail, or something a big had.

How did she sneak that in here?

Finally, it reached the ground. Its lower claws touched down, the tail whisked behind it, and it settled into a crouch.

Which still left it taller than Castillo.

He took a step back.

The monster took a step forward.

Castillo took a step back.

And ran into something soft.

Two somethings.

Around his head level.

Before he could turn around, before he could do everything but flinch, two strong hands grabbed him. Something coiled around his waist, and pulled him deeper.

And then something else pressed into his back.

Something lower.

The first monster kept coming. It still had his phone. Which it held out, close enough to reach out and grab.

...if he could move his arms.

It wiggled his phone in front of him, studied his face, and smiled.

Why...Why is it teasing me?

Then it let the phone drop. Castillo heard the crack, but he couldn't look away, as the monster leaned in closer.

And smiled.

It didn't have any eyes.

"Well," it said, "looks like we get to have some fun after all."

COMMENTARY to the right->