Invasion: Whitney’s Side

The chirp of crickets rang throughout the summer night though the open window as Mary made her way down the stairs quietly; her two boys had finally gone to sleep and she was taking no chances in waking them up.

Finally downstairs Mary breathed a sigh of relief as she plopped herself down on the couch, tilting her head backwards. The end of the day Netflix binge was one of her guilty pleasures and she was ready to indulge in it to its fullest. Tonight, the usual ritual of searching for hours on end would be circumvented as the newest season of Castlevania had just debuted. Mary chuckled as she pressed play; it had only been a few weeks since an actual vampire had turned up in their neck of the woods...and that whole affair with Suzie. She didn’t know much, no one did other then that Old Man Harold seemed to remember him quite fondly. However Susie’s blowout was another matter entirely and her sudden departure...well she wouldn’t tell anyone else this, was welcome.

However, as Mary watched the show in the comfort of her seat, an uneasy feeling came up over her. Gradually, but surely the air around her seemed to get colder and the shadows seemed to grow darker in contrast to the bright light of the television screen. Mary did her best to ignore the ever changing atmosphere as she pulled a blanket over herself. But that did little to ease the now worrying sense of eerie dread that grew more and more potent with each passing minute. Finally, Mary reached out to the remote and pressed pause as she stood upright quickly. While not admitting it to herself, she needed something new to distract herself from the bizarrely dark nature of her own home.

Arriving at the light switch Mary flicked it casually with her finger as she had done a thousand times before. For but an instant there was a flash of light but on its heels came a startling POP and the once bright kitchen light was reduced to a dim flickering pulse that cast a sickly light across every surface it touched. The television as well seemed to be affected, as its bright white light darkened into a murky display. While normally she would have let out an irritated sigh at what could easily be explained as a power surge Mary instead felt her heart begin to beat faster in her chest. Under the broken bulb’s glow her familiar walls and countertop seemed warped and wrong...but not in a way she could truly describe.

Then, something caught her eye. Across to the far wall was a stain, a dark and growing blemish across the wall. Despite her unease the sudden phenomenon gave her something new to focus on...and a possible rational explanation.

“...Freaking pipes!” Mary muttered to herself as she made her way towards the wall as to access the damage; which she could now only assume included electrical.

Leaning in close, squinting Mary began to examine the growing dark mark. It didn’t smell like the water she was used to...it was stale, and empty; like a puddle in on the floor of some forgotten tomb. However, a string of panic was plucked in Mary’s brain as the distance from the spot to the counter jumped to the forefront of her mind.

There wasn’t any water pipe here.

Just at that very moment the dark spot in the wall pulsed, visibly as it rose off the plaster; the mark darkened evermore as its texture changed drastically, resembling that of a thick black mold choked in crude oil. And it began to spread.

Falling backwards onto her behind a scream lodged in her throat Mary looked in with horror as the sickly substance spread outwards like an infection across her wall, within seconds growing to the size of a person.

No sooner then it had formed; Mary was frozen in terror as from within the inky blackness a pale hand emerged from its supposed depths; it was clearly a woman’s. Quickly, but seemingly deliberately the terrifying woman emerged from the darkness, pulling from the caustic substance as if it were water to her. Until at last, under the flickering light she stood. Cast in an alien and unnatural light Mary could still clearly see the unwelcome guest in her home. It was a very tall, lanky woman with pale skin and jet black hair. She wore a tall black boots and a pair of purple hotpants, on her back was a ratty, patchwork open purple jacket; nothing on underneath only the flaps serving to cover her. Finally was her face, intense green irises stared out from distinct eyes themselves with unusual markings above and below. The whites of her eyes seemed to pick up whatever little light there was as they seemed to glow with each flicker. Her mouth opened up to a smile, revealing a mouth full of sharp triangular teeth.

Then, in the midst of her terror a sole thought rang out like a bell. Her children. She had to protect her children from this woman, whoever she was. The fullness of the moon and her own racing heart made a spontaneous change easy. At once Mary shredded her lounge clothes as she exploded into her werewolf form; rising up as her frame burst with power and deadly claws sprouted, now even in height with the immensely tall intruder.

With a blind, instinctive strike Mary launched her arm forwards in a savage lunge towards the intruder’s head. As it sailed past, the woman’s head violently twisted around as her neck seemingly snapped like a twig. Her face now 180 degrees in the opposite direction, body completely frozen in place.

Regaining her bearings Mary huffed and puffed in terror as her werewolf form heaved with every shaky breath. Confused and in terror’s grip her thoughts still raced. She had won? What should have been a cause for celebration only alarmed her further as her fangs clenched together.

“But...I didn’t feel any contact...”

Just then, as Mary finished her thought any sense of calm was shattered into a million pieces as to her overwhelming horror the head of the unnatural woman had only stayed still but for a few moments until it continued to turn in the wrong direction. As her piercing eyes came into view so did her expression...it was one of sadistic glee. Smile wide as her eyes narrowed chuckling softly as she seemed to drink the terror that poured out of the werewolf before her.

With a casual motion the woman placed her hands on Mary’s shoulders, the werewolf mother too petrified to even move. With a squeeze with as much effort as you would a to a child’s head out of affection Mary felt her shoulder first splinter and then crush into dust within only a second. Finally letting out a scream Mary fell to the floor and onto her back as the woman stood above her. The woman then lowly crouched down bit by bit as Mary writhed, completely incapacitated; she was sure she could hear screaming...screaming from outside, all around. But all of it was so muffled...so far away within the suffocating atmosphere of her own home.

Finally looking up Mary was locked within the gaze of the terrifying woman above her...no, this thing was not a woman. Her entire home seemed to had turned against her, every wall, floorboard and piece of furniture pulsed with the sick and dark energy that practically oozed out of the thing before her. Her eyes, which grew ever closer as the woman-thing crouched down ever more came into view. In the center of her terrifyingly intense, green irises was a dark abyss; more then just a pupil it was a hole from which nothing but the thing that wore this face as a mask resided.

Before Mary had any time to have another thought the woman’s mouth opened, wide; wider then what should have been possible. In a lightning flash, Mary’s head disappeared into the the gaping maw and then, blackness.

Rising up, swallowing the remains of the werewolf’s head she had just consumed the woman let out a gust of air as her mouth opened once more. He would be upset with her for sure, after all the both of them had been told to keep everyone alive...however merely everything was a suggestion. She would never be bound by absolutes, not ever, this, this was too much fun. She had only ever once followed a command, for name for which to be called by; Whitney is what she had chosen.

Closing her eyes Whitney allowed herself to feel all of the homes that her essence now penetrated. From house to house she flicked by like TV Chanel’s seeing and commanding the walls to turn against them, the terrified wolves ran from their formerly save homes and into the presence of Jane. Whom by the commotion outside Whitney could only deduce she was preforming her task to the letter, as she always did.

Opening her eyes Whitney decided to let her work run its corse. After all, there was something new that grabbed her attention. The children upstairs, surely they had been awoken by now; hiding in their beds under the covers. Screaming and crying from the outside and mom herself gone quiet, all alone. Whitney’s smile widened.

Falling back into the dark mark on the wall Whitney splashed in, and willed her emerged from the floor underside of the bed on the right of the children’s room. Sure enough, the terrified hushed voices of the two were clear to her...one was trying to call for mom, the other trying to quiet him. The inflection made it clear while worried for his own safety he was more so for his brother; as to not draw attention to whatever was befalling the outside.

Whitney’s smile widened. So much fun to have tonight.