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I felt my bones tremble, as a great roar rumbled through the city.
A monster had appeared in the city.
That… that thing had to be Kerosyne, right? The white fur with patterned red streaks, the metal piping weaving in and out of its skin, the segmented claws, and just, despite being so different, too much of it had the signature signs of Kerosyne’s favourite form.
And it was gigantic. A behemoth of a beast, towering over the skyscrapers like a mimic of Godzilla, covered in eyes and feathers and limbs. Looking like an angel of death.
And thankfully, far too big to take notice of little, tiny, me.
At least, I had incorrectly hoped.
Like a genie's twisting of a wish, I felt the blood drain from my face, as it turned its head, all its eyes focused on me. With far too many teeth, it grinned.
No. No no no no please no.
It took a step in my direction, and I bolted down the street.
I had to loose line of sight, and fast, knowing bolting into a nearby store would doom all its occupants with me, if they were even open, if they let me inside. I watched upon my approach as someone noticed me, and locked the door tight, it far too obvious on the empty street that the monster was after me.
I nearly tripped as each of its steps shook the ground beneath me, the monster able to keep at a walking pace and still catch up to me with ease, one step equaling hundreds of mine.
It was going to catch me. It was going to crush me.
And then, like a saviour, an alleyway opened to my right, and I ducked down it, looking for a place to hide.
No where. No place, but a car parked upon the other side.
I had no choice. I just had to hope it wouldn’t catch a glimpse of me, as I bolted with everything I had, before rolling beneath it, doing my best to tuck every limb out of sight as I struggled to catch my breath.
Now all I had to do was wait, and pray.
Each footstep made my heart skyrocket, the earth trembling beneath its weight, as I waited, breath baited. A shadow fell over my hideaway, and I waited, as it suddenly became far too quiet.
Could it hear me breathe? Could it hear my heart's frantic unsteady beat?
And then, after far too long, I heard it breathe, a gust of rotten breath sweeping under the car with its warmth. Too close. Far too close.
I heard the car above me squeak, before my solstice was ripped away, leaving me exposed on the pavement like a bug from under a rock.
Its. Its face was right there, hot breath gushing over me, teeth over twice my size. Inescapably big.
It found me.
Smothered in overwhelming fear and panic, I froze, limbs shutting down and refusing to move, as I lay there on the ground, unable to do anything more than twitch as it came closer, its hot sulfurous breath making me sweat.
I couldn’t run. It was too much. I couldn’t. I couldn’t.
It opened its jaws wide, its rows of too many teeth gleaming with blood and saliva.
I could do nothing but twitch and tremble, as my body refused to move, only able to make a broken whimper.
Please don't.
But the words never formed in my trembling jaw, a keening noise being the last thing out my lips, before my body fully gave up, and went limp.
And yet, my eyes were still wide and watching, as its jaws descended down on me.
Only. I never felt the teeth.
Its massive tongue scooped me up, nearly smothering me, and pulling my limp body inside, past the teeth, before its jaws closed, sealing me inside. Hot humid air clogged my already struggling lungs, stars dancing in my blurry vision.
I… I was still alive. The cruel bastard still wanted a toy to play with, even at their current size.
Or… worse.
Already knowing what was going to happen, that didn’t stop the nauseating dread, as I was pushed to the back of the throat.
Another broken pathetic noise squeaked out of me, my body still far too overwhelmed to even let me beg and plead.
I couldn't even see it coming, in the darkness of its mouth, until I suddenly felt myself falling, and I…
With a gasp and jerk, consciousness returned, as I felt my body being squeezed, wet flesh smothering me in the darkness.
Another drop, a stuttering gasp choking out of me in the shock of it, before I hit a soft fleshy bottom, like a sac, like hammock.
Like a stomach.
But. But it was far far too small for something so gigantic, the walls cradling me as my limbs twitched, still far too overwhelmed to move.
And then, something else broke, as instead of stuttering whimpers, I cried. Pathetic, loud, wet, I could feel my tears and mucus run down my face, voice cracking with uneven sobs.
And then, in the darkness bled away, as a starry sky of watching eyes emerged from the walls of my prison, their soft ambient indigo glow being my only light.
“Hush, little morsel, and rest.”
A cacophony of voices spoken all at once, a soft choir whispering to me, all gentle, all surrounding.
But I didn’t want to rest, too afraid these last moments, of being swallowed by a titanic monster who knew me, hunted little tiny me down personally, would be the last time I was conscious, before my pathetic little body inevitably became a part of it.
A beat of silence, as the eyes watched my trembling little body.
“Don’t worry, we made this place just for you.”
It. It really had been too small to be its true stomach. It had personally made one, just for me. It should've been more terrifying, a stomach made just to digest me. And yet.
I'd never felt any burning. Only the overwhelming heat of its breath. And yet, it was somehow cooler in here, the air no longer chokingly humid, the rancid dampness gone.
“Nothing else can hurt you now.”
Nothing… but them. But they hadn't. They hadn't crushed me. Their teeth had never even touched my skin.
They'd, they'd probably toy with me again, whenever they changed back to their old self. Piercing blue eyes biting into me, the cruel shapeshifter never tiring of hunting me, watching and playing with me like a cat and a mouse, a predator toying with its prey.
And yet, maybe, it was okay to trust them. At least, just this once.
“Rest well.”
The eyes closed, their indigo glow leaving with them, and plunging me back into darkness.
I hadn't even realized I’d stopped crying.
I felt my personal prison shift to support me, soft flesh cushioning and cradling me.
Maybe everything would be okay. It was out of my hands. It had been this whole time. But now, the crushing terror tempered, it felt okay to willingly give up.
I closed my eyes, and let sleep swallow me whole.
