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The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/Malikalein on 2024-11-29 22:30:59+00:00.

“Shaviit, put that magazine away, it’s dinner time!”, my mother calls out to me from the doorway. I roll my eyes without facing her, heavens know I would not survive that, resisting the urge to correct her. It’s a comic book, not a magazine. In a small act of defiance, I stay in my spot on the living room floor, flipping another page. In the background, someone on the radio chimes on about a recent uptake in Mountian Cat attacks. The next comic panel shows a woman, screaming in terror as the man, she had believed to be her husband reveals himself as an alien. The creature peels away the husband’s blue skin, revealing its own pale one. Its mouth, filled with sharp teeth opens as it shrieks, bright, three-colored eyes fixate on the woman with wicked, murderous intent.

Something grabs my legs and begins pulling me across the room!

I scream out in shock, which is answered by a burst of loud laughter. I turn around and glare up at the offender, my older brother! “Tharviik, you ass!”, I yell, hitting at his legs, but he only laughs harder.

“Shaviit! Language!”, Mom yells from the kitchen.

“Tharviik scared me!”, I yell back.

“Well if you put that magazine away, like I told you to, he would not have had the chance!”

Through all this, my brother continues laughing. I huff in irritation, kicking Tharviik’s shin for good measure, catching him off guard. He yells out in pain.

“You little shit!”

“Don’t scare me, you-!”

“Boys!”

“Shaviit! Tharviik!”, a new voice joins the conversation. Both my brother and I turn around at the same time. Our father is coming down the stairs. “Stop fighting you two!”, he says with exasperation. Tharviik steps away and I finally get up from the floor. We are still glaring at each other. Dad walks across the living room, picking up my comic. “Invasion of the Puppet Makers? Aren’t you a bit too young for this, Shaviit?” I pout at his comment. I’m already twelve! "It’s not that bad.“, I argue, “Besides, everybody at school reads it.”

Dad frowns at me “And if everybody jumps off a building, you’d do the same?”

I groan. With this again?! “It’s not the same!” I’m left to fume, as Dad grins at me, having gotten the reaction he wanted out of me. He hands the comic back to me, and reaches out to ruffle my white hair, “Don’t you dare wake your mother when you have nightmares.” Only Mom? Oh right, Dad has the nightshifts at the quarry this week. Mom walks into the living room, “It’s your fault for allowing him to listen to this alien war radio show.”, she says to Dad, but she is smiling while doing so. Tharviik snorts, “Well there are no aliens, so no reason to be scared in the first place.”

I turn around to face him, “You don’t know that! The universe is gigantic! We don’t know what’s out there!”

“Okay, and why would they come all the way here to steel our skin?”

I don’t have an answer to this.

The doorbell saves me from making a fool out of myself. I hurry to open it, only to freeze as soon as I see, who stands there. It’s one of Dad‘s colleagues, Avaatli. I don’t like this man, he feels, I don’t know, off? I don’t know how to describe it. He looks normal, tall, with blue skin, medium-length white hair, and monochrome black eyes, but still, he’s odd. He always seems sort of clumsy, walking somewhat stiff, sometimes wobbling ever so slightly, and sometimes he scruches his face in a weird way. He reminds me of something but I can’t remember what. “Hello Shaviit.”, his lips are always pressed to his teeth while talking. “Is your father at home? We must hurry if we do not want to be late.” his pronunciation is slightly off too. I don’t answer, just stare. “What are you reading?”, he asks, bending down, a little too stiffly to look at my comic’s cover. The drawing on it shows one of the aliens going after some people, the shed skin of its first victim falling off of it like an old cloak. Avaatli scrunches his face in this odd fashion again, before he looks back at me, giving me a too tightly-lipped smile. “I have heard that they are making a television program out of this. Did your father not say, that he would buy a Television soon so that you all can watch the landing on the main moon? Are you not a lucky one?” Why does this sound like a threat?

Dad appears in the hallway, I didn’t hear him coming in. “Avaatli! Sorry, I’m running a little late!” Dad bents down and hugs me “Good night Shaviit, sleep well. And don’t fight with your brother.” He kisses the top of my head and then he’s out the door, followed by his strange colleague. I stand at the door for a second longer, staring at it. My gaze drifts to my comic. This is what Avaatli reminds me of! He acts kinda like the Puppet Makers in the Comics. A cold shiver goes down my spine. Should I tell Mom? No. The last time I told both my parents about Avaatli’s odd behavior they lectured me about not being rude to Dad’s friend and that I read too many comics.

“Shaviit!”, my brother’s voice pulls me out of my thoughts. “Get in here! Dinner is ready!”

I shake my head, to get rid of these strange thoughts. As much as it pains me to admit it, but Tharviik is right about at least one thing. There are no Puppet Makeres. Why should aliens travel across space, just to steal my skin? I hurry into the kitchen, where Mom’s smelling food is waiting for me.

***

I kick a rock across the sidewalk, grumbling to myself. In my right hand, I hold a flashlight, and in the other a small metal container with soup in it. Dad’s dinner. Which he forgot on the kitchen counter. And now I have to bring it to him because Tharviik had claimed that he had schoolwork to do, as if, and Mom had, well, Mom-things to do. What do Moms‘ do after Dinner? Anyway, that only left me to bring Dad his dinner, which in actuality means to hand the food to the foreman and turn back around. I wasn’t too worried about the chore itself. It’s not too late yet, and most of the way leads down the well-lit streets of our neighborhood and the quarry wasn’t too far away. The only problem is the last stretch between the town and the quarry. It’s just a few hundred feet but there are only three streetlights, and those are more to mark the three junctions off the road than to give any actual light. Hence the flashlight. I hate that section of the way. I always have the feeling that something is watching me, that something is moving just beyond the shine of my flashlight. As if on cue, some stones rattle near the path. I pick up my pace. The sooner I get to the quarry the sooner I’m back home. Again some stones clatter on the path. I suppress the urge to run. Maybe, just maybe, Mom is right. Maybe I shouldn’t read my comics in the evening. Some more stones clatter.

Maybe I should run after all.

I lift my flashlight. And freeze as the light hits a shape right in front of me. There is something on the path. Something big. It’s nearly as dark as the night around us, I can only see it because the shine of my flashlight reflects off of it. What is that? Maybe it’s a rock? Then it moves! A Mountain Cat! It gets bigger, stretching four sturdy-looking scaly, black legs. This is not a Mountain Cat! It makes a strange, otherworldly sound, a mixture of clicking and growling, as four appendages unfurl from its body. Clawed hands gleam in the shine of the flashlight.  

My thoughts are racing. I want to run. Want to scream. Want to do anything! Something! But I can’t. My body doesn’t obey me! I can‘t move! I just stand there, frozen as this Thing, this -Monster!- moves towards me. Two of the clawed hands reach for me.

Finally, my legs obey me! I drop the flashlight and soup and start running as fast as I possibly can! That thing is faster. Way faster! Pain flashes across my back, and I stumble, hitting the gravel path hard, and cutting my hand open on the sharp stones. I’m vaguely aware of my blue blood seeping through the gravel. I feel something grabs my legs. I’m dragged across the path, before being lifted head down in the air, a scream stuck in my throat. Something warm runs down my back and onto my neck. I can’t see the monster in the dark, but I can feel it! Cold claws hold onto my ankles, as warm Breath hits my face from below me. Tears roll down my cheeks. I don’t want this! I want to go home! I want Mommy and Daddy! I don’t want to die!

BZZIPP!

A strange sound cut through the night. Almost at the same time, the monster drops me, as it shrieks loudly. I hit the floor as the sound comes again. And again. And again. And again. Something warm and sticky splashes onto my face. Then there is a heavy thud next to me. The flashlight, which is still lying on the path where I dropped it, illuminates the monster’s feet, now lying motionless on the path. I hear the sound of footsteps on the gravel. A pair of heavy-looking workboots appear in the flashlight’s shine, approaching me. I try to look up, but my vision goes blurry and I don’t have the strength to move. The last thing I notice is someone kneeling down beside me. Then the world goes truly dark.

***

There is a dull pain across my back. It’s the first thing I notice when I wake up. Did I fall somewhere? My room is dark. I sleepily reach for the small lamp on my nightstand but can’t find it. It’s not there. And neither is my nightstand. Wait!

Memories come flooding back to me. I was supposed to bring Dad his dinner, but I was attacked by some sort of monster! It hit me in the back! Now the burning of the abrasions al…

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