Marlene pushed the creature's hand off her shoulder. She screamed at it. She called it a killer. It may not have pulled the trigger but it killed Meeks just the same. The old man was dead. They lived in his house, took over his life, and now he was dead. No, the creature did. It was all him.

Right?

She shoved the backdoor open and stomped down the steps. The creature didn't follow. She felt responsible. She could have found help; she could have run into town. One plan she had involved that, going to the police at night, hoping the creature would arrive and be gunned down. It wasn't bullet proof, right?

But there was no guarantee, and already a trail of the dead from Washington to Oklahoma.

She couldn't even remember their names.

Outside the air felt warm, she could feel sweat prickling on her back. She sobbed and wiped her eyes, which burned. The insects chirped and the little bit of moon illuminated the backyard. The moon shines and the insects chirp. The sun sets and rises. The world never slows its turning, does it? Not for her, not for her father.

Marlene looked at the shed. She stomped closer to it. Along the ground the paint wore away, what remained was faded. The building seems so ramshackle. But it kept the building locked, it didn't do that with its own bedroom.

What was in here? The rest of people the creature stole? What was happening to them?

When would this end?

She cried out and kicked the shed as hard as she could, then dropped as the pain surged from her toes to her foot and ankle. The dead grass and dried, cracked earth scraped her elbow. She pounded her fists on the ground and cursed under her breath. Marlene sat up and scooted to the shed, resting her back against it.

Knock.

Marlene scrambled away. Another knock. Soft, almost a tap.

Knock.

On hands and knees, Marlene crawled closer to the front of the shed, where the knocks continued, all located near the ground, at the bottom of the locked opening. She could see movement, something pale wiggling. Fingers.

Marlene gasped and tried to open the door. She kicked at the lock. She looked around for a tool, anything. Glancing down, she stopped. A hand struggled out from under the door, the skin on the back of it raw. The bloodied fingers clawed at the edging around the bottom of the opening.

Enough. This was enough.

She ran inside and almost glide up the stairs. The forced open the decorum door, the door crunching against the pile of sticks and limbs intertwined with each other to create a massive nest, like something monster bird would create. The smell of earth overwhelmed her.

"Marlene!" The creature gasped.

She started to ask, no, demand he open the shed. That he let them go. But she saw it then, clutched in the creature's clawed hands.

There, cradled in skeletal hands, rested her father's head. Decay had done its work, but somehow enough was preserved that she recognized him. Sunken eyes and a gaping mouth, a frozen scream, looked back at her. She heard his scream in her head, form the day the creature took, when he vanished into the fog.

Marlene didn't scream. She only ran, with the creature calling after her.

Bursting from the front door, she jumped down the front steps and landed hard on the concrete sidewalk. She got to her feet, one of her ankles felt tight and weird, and she moved down the side walk with a limp.

She glanced back at the house and collided into someone. She fell back.

"Shit. I'm sorry!" Sebastian said. "I thought I heard yelling. Are you okay?"

He helepd her to her feet. Tears ran from her eyes and she sniffed, trying to swallow the sobs.

"You're not okay," Sebastian said.

"No, not at all," Marlene said. She wrapped her arms around Sebastian and buried her face in his shoulder. She had to tell him, she thought. How could she?

"Is it Meeks? You can come to my house," Sebastian said.

But when Marlene pulled away to explain, she could see a shape rising behind Sebastian. The creature. He wasn't wearing his mask. He tilted his head to the side. His wings unfurled and he leapt into the air, vanishing.

Marlene pushed him away. "I'm fine. I'm fine."

"You're not fine."

"It's okay! I'm just being dramatic. I have to go."

"No, listen, I can help," Sebastian said.

"You can't!" She screamed. "No one can!"

Sebastian reached out and grabbed her arm. "Please, we can tell my parents, they can call the cops, you don't have to go back!"

She wrenched her arm free. "Just leave me the fuck alone, you fucking loser! I'm only friends with you until I can go to school and make real friends. Not sad-ass fucking losers."

Sebastian stepped back. He lowered his head.

"Just go home," Marlene said. She turned around and made the short march back to Meeks' house. The only safe place for the people she cared about. He'd forget about her in time. He'd make friends, we all do eventually, right?

There was no where to run that wouldn't cost someone dearly, and Marlene couldn't handle any more deaths. No more nameless victims. Not one more.

The creature was inside. When she stepped in it reach behind her and shut the door. The room felt empty, vast even, without Meeks standing as a sentry.

"Why aren't the cops here?" Marlene asked, looking at the space where Meeks often stood.

"Some have visited." It raised an arm, a quill sliding from its wrist. "They have been convinced to look elsewhere."

"You can't keep this up, it has to end."

"What did you tell the boy?"

"To stay away from me."

"You did the right thing. My hand may have been forced."

Marlene nodded.

"Your father, I felt I owed him. I tell him things. About you. Our kind doesn't last after dead, we crumble. To hold onto someone like that is impossible."

"When I'm gone are you gonna talk to my skull too?"

The creature said nothing. Marlene made her way to her room. She shut the door behind her.

The creature could only think of his own child, the one who died alone and desperate for help. She is alone too, even with him wide awake. They are all alone.