Brother Lucas ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Part VII Lucas turned, very slowly, to face the box. By the time he managed to force himself to look, young Charlie had heard the sound as well. They both saw it at the same time. Charlie squealed in horror as a black tendril slithered out of the box, pushing the plushie out of its way and onto the floor. Lucas nearly froze in horror, but found himself released by the thought of a single name--Grimace. He then remembered his other grandkids at his daughter's house, and knew he had to deal with this one fast to get there in time. In a blindingly fast blur of motion, Lucas slammed the lid back on the box before the creature could fully emerge. He grabbed it and ran for the kitchen as fast as he could. He had no idea why; just that he had to get out, fast. He scanned the room, trying to think how he could kill this thing. It was then that Grimace's will came to him, calming him, allowing him to think clearly. He approached the kitchen sink, the box rattling and thumping every step of the way as the creature tried to escape. He flopped the box upside down in the sink over the drain, knowing that at any second it would break through the thin walls of its cardboard prison, already weakened by the child's ravages in opening it. He calmly turned on the water in the sink, and reached over for the switch on the wall. A low, rumbling sound filled the kitchen, the counter top vibrating slightly as a motor churned its way to life. Lucas grinned slightly as he reached over, grabbed a meat fork, turned it over in his hand, and started ramming it through the box, encouraging the creature inside to seek a way out as quickly as possible. There was a sudden quick popping sound as he punctured the box each time, and after about the third blow there was another sound that followed, another pop of cardboard not made by the fork. The creature had just made its own exit through the boxtop into the drain. The creature charged out of the box-turned-deathtrap through its new exit, directly into the drain, where its tentacles met with flowing water and whirling cutting blades. It squealed frantically, trying to escape, but it was too late. The machinery dragged it into its maw with a crescendo of rumbling and crunching. Within a few seconds, the high-pitched squealing ceased, and the sounds in the kitchen returned to those of a rumbling motor and flowing water. Lucas carefully lifted the box. Only a thick, almost tar-like syrupy substance remained. He washed the remains down the drain, and took the box out to the burn barrel where he set it ablaze.. He had time enough to comfort Charlie and get him started watching Sesame Street before his mother returned, at which point he made a hasty exit, saying something about going to visit his other grandchildren and that his daughter had called. She hadn't, of course, but it sounded a lot better than saying he had to go save them from a slimy black thing with tentacles. In a few minutes, he was on his way across town on a city bus. Lucas arrived at his daughter's house 15 minutes later. He only hoped it was soon enough... He knocked on the door and walked in exactly as he usually did. He immediately knew something was wrong, though; Cindy and Kelly didn't run out to greet him as they usually did. Somehow they always knew who it was before he was through the door, yet neither had come to see him yet. He slowly wandered down to the living room, where he heard the TV on. Just as he feared, there was a box lying in the entry to the living room, just like the other one. He turned the corner in time to see the... thing... come slithering out of the back of the plushie. The children stirred slightly at his arrival, turning from the tape to see their grandfather... and the mass of black tentacles on the floor. They both screamed at the top of their lungs, making his ears ring. Instinct took over yet again as he reached over to his daughter's sewing desk and pulled out a long pair of scissors. As he did so, the beast turned and bared its rows of razor sharp teeth, the only defining feature on its "face". He stepped towards it, and it raced towards him with amazing speed. He pivoted, kicking the thing as hard as he possibly could and sending it flying against the wall of the hallway. It hit with a sickening kind of slapping noise, then instantly was off in a rush of motion yet again, headed for the door. Lucas gave chase, but was too slow as it found its way out the doggie door, shot across the lawn, and was gone. He shook his head, and returned to his screaming granddaughters, putting the scissors back in the desk as he went by. He calmly shut off the tape and took each of the girls up in his powerful arms. Just then his daughter came running in. "What happened? Why are they screaming?" she demanded. "I have no idea; they were watching TV when I came in and started screaming. It was that tape..." "Grampa chased off an icky monster," whimpered Kelly. "uh huh," chimed in the younger Cindy. After a little while, the girls calmed down and practically demanded that the tape and plushie be burned. Their wishes were not turned down. The rest of the day was a cake walk next to the first few hours. The only other incident was a phone call from a distraught son, wondering why his son wouldn't go near the plushie and was so incredibly terrified of it. He claimed he had no idea, but eventually his son just gave up and got rid of it as well. They were safe... for now. ----------- To Be Continued in Brother Lucas Part VIII "Brother Lucas" Copyright 1996 David R. Hibbs -- ______________________________________________________________________________ "In the end there will be only one OS, The Mind.. Ponder that for a while..." --unknown "But if the mind is an OS, then there will be infinite OS's, and a vast majority of them will still suck." --me ______________________________________________________________________________