In the Shelter

A teenager lounged in front of the cameras, bored out of her ever-loving mind, eyes listlessly going over the empty hallways around the shelter. Everyone else was playing board games all around her.

“When will this Tormented Zone end? It has been at least 10 hours!” Claire groaned out loud to her friend next to her.

Al pulled his black hat down over his resting bitch face and grumbled “I don’t know, and I didn’t know the first billion times you asked...”

To most outside observers though, it sounded like “Midnno ‘n’ midnnofstbilln tahmes uasst."

Claire gave Al a glare and punched him lightly in the shoulder, though there was no real heat to it. She went back to lounging, trying to get her ADHD ass settled. She fidgeted, with her chair squeaking and groaning as she tried to find a comfortable position.

Out of the corner of her current view of the ceiling, a blur moved onto the screen. She shot up and focused on the many figures moving into view of the camera.

Her eyebrows rose as high as they could, with her mouth forming an O-shape and her eyes widening in shock.

The most adorable girl-creature-thing she had ever seen just walked onto the screen, huddling in a way-too big jacket. She was surrounded by an entire group of Anathema servants like a princess surrounded by body guards. The contrast between the two - Anathema? She was unsure whether the kid was an Anathema. She was just too cute - was stark.

The girl on the screen lit up as she looked at the shelter, skipping forward out of the circle of servants that had formed. She was just too cute!

SO CUTE!!!

“Hey, are you ok?”

SO FREAKIN’ CUTE!

“HEY! What’s wrong with you!?”

JUST IMPOSSIBLY CUTE!!!

*smack*

“OWW?! What was that for... SO CUTE!”

*SMACK*

Claire shakes herself off, grimacing as she pulls herself off the floor.

“Why did you hit me, dude?!”

“Girl, you were freakin’ drooling like you found the ultimate cat meme!” he shouted, gesticulating wildly in worry. While he did so, he made sure to studiously avoid looking at the screen, not trusting that he wouldn’t fall to the same trap.

He too was a fellow admirer of cat memes.

“What?! No, I wasn’t...” she brought her hand up to her mouth, coming away with slobber. “Ew! I was!” By now, everyone had gladly left the board games in favor of watching the drama going on.

An absolutely adorable giggle came from the screen, and the teenagers looked at each other in terror. They slowly turned to the camera; the voice completely irresistible.

A huge, purple eye stared at everyone through the camera, covered with amethyst tendrils of crystal, like frost under the purple light of an Aurorae Borealis. The iris looked around manically, the eye devoid of any iris.

The cat-girl/monster pulled back a little bit, allowing everyone to see her smile. The grin crept across her impossibly attractive face, widening way too big.

Then the cheek started to separate.

Someone puked up their rations.

Flesh popped and separated, strings of white fat and red flesh doing a poor job covering the awful maw of rows upon rows of bone-white, conical teeth. Both of the teenagers shivered, and a couple more people puked.

Everyone physically winced with each *POP* and *SNAP* as the strings of flesh snapped like violin strings under duress, dangling like macabre garlands.

The one kid huddling in the corners well-known to be conscripted to benefit the gangs barely restrained her chuckles at the pitiful people who were sick at such a tame sight.

The girl-monster-thing retracted back to her ADORABLE SMALL FIGURE!

Both Claire and her friend, along with some others, started getting sucked in again, before tearing their eyes away with visible effort.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Unfortunately, all of the students’ willpower was only overridden by mere sentences uttered by the creature.

“Anyone want to play chess? I have been stuck out here since the whooshy purple magic came zoomin’ to class," said the adorable little child, twiddling her hands nervously. The girl on the screen twisted side-to-side with barely restrained energy.

You could practically hear the shattering of hearts of everyone in the room at that sentence. At once, everyone felt absolutely terrible at leaving this poor child outside.

One of the teachers stood up.

He said firmly, “We cannot let the monster trick us. We all know that Anathema can be devious in the utmost. It is obviously mimicking a child. Just look at its eyes. That is NOT human. This monster must be trying to manipulate us. Surviving this long in a Tormented Zone without the System is an impossibility, particularly for a child.”

The teachers nodded seriously, in addition to some other students, though quite a few still snuck furtive glances at the camera.

“We should put cloth over the camera. We can use one of the shelter blankets,” said one of the teachers.

They quickly put it over the screens.

The two teenagers were forced to leave their entertainment and watch an intense Monopoly game for an hour. By then, they were sure that the monster had left. The teenagers were certain there was no way an Anathema would just wait there when their ploys weren’t working.

She whispered into her friend’s ear and he nodded, a calm smile on his face. They disentangled themselves from the game and sneak to the screens.

One of the teachers sighed in the midst of a game of Candy Land with her Grade 9 students. She whispered to herself, “Kids, you think I don’t have a skill that lets me know what is going on my class? My Perception is 30 times more than yours.”

“Well, it’s not my problem...” she said, pushing up her glasses in exasperation. She turned back to the board game.

“Now kids, let’s see who wins.”

“Ha. Looks like I have the Gloppy card, kids.”

“Awww, man!” chorused the children.

The teenagers snuck towards the cameras, lifting the sheets off of the bright screens. The sight before them was absolutely heartbreaking, the effect of unbelievable Charisma on top of the depressingly sad slump the child completely did their hearts in the way of the dinosaur.

Claire and her friend observed the girl swaying back and forth in exhaustion, before she yawned way too large. Claire flinched back at the predatorial teeth, before feeling bad as the girl covers her mouth in embarrassment, her perfect gray skin blushing darker in embarrassment. The girl looked around frantically to make sure nobody saw her before visibly slumping in relief along with her large ears, not realizing that people in the shelter were watching her.

Was this really the creepy individual staring into the camera? She thought aloud. I mean, it’s not like being cute is a crime.

“What do you think, Al? Do you think she really is an Anathema?” she whispered to him.

“I mean, she isn’t human. Could be corrupted or a demon though,” her best friend, Al, posited.

“I was thinking that too,” Claire settled into a thinking pose on her comfy chair.

“I just don’t understand how she could have survived so long if she isn’t an Anathema though. She should be dead. I feel really bad that I am just watching what looks like a child surrounded by monsters wait in front of shelter.” she muttered to him.

“Same.”

On the screen, the kid suddenly slumped down to the ground with the kind of dejection only children can have, looking absolutely miserable. Her long hair pools around her as she groans in dejection. She turns her head to the most serious-looking servant/Anathema.

“Mr. Butler, sir, are the rest of my class not here? I don’t understand why they don’t want to play. They always wanted to play when the teacher was away!” the kid groaned towards him.

The butler tilted its head to its left, not even understanding what the kid is saying.

The two teenagers felt shame turn their ears bright red as they just watched the poor kid who has been waiting for someone to play with her for an entire hour, all alone in solitude. She may have been creepy, but was that really her fault? And she has been surrounded by awful monsters that she is giving meaning to their actions that doesn’t even exist. It’s like watching a kid pretending her dolls are her dead parents.

Suddenly, the kid leapt up with hands on her hips in a Superwoman pose and then ran up to the – well, apparently the butler. She leaps up and gives him a fierce hug as if she desperately wanted solace.

“THANKS MR. BUTLER, SIR!”

She disentangled herself from the hug, before firming herself up with confidence. She frowned adorably with intensity and marched up to the vault doors like a comically cute policewoman.

“Um, I’m not sure if you didn’t hear me, but I was wondering if anyone wants to be my friend?” she asked, her confidence quickly fleeing.

All of the sudden the teenagers felt really pressured to give her some answer; any answer at all would work.

By now, quite a few had decided not to listen to the teachers’ decision not to watch the cameras, and had joined Claire and Al in watching the poor kid looking like a kicked puppy waiting to be let in.

“Oh... I see. You guys think I’m... annoying too.” she nervously ran her hands through her hair in a habitual tic.

If this had been an anime, a cartoon arrow would have stabbed everyone who was watching the cameras straight through their hearts.

“I’m sorry if I was bugging you guys. I understand. I think I am annoying too.”

More than a few cartoon arrows would have joined that singular arrow if it had been an anime. A few people even whimpered at the pitiful scene.

Everyone watched as the child walked dejectedly away from the vault, further cementing in their mind that she was not an Anathema. That horrific scene of her cheek splitting apart to reveal a carnivorous maw of teeth still niggled in the back of their head though.

The scene was sad on its known, but everything about it just pushed their buttons perfectly, making it one of the saddest things they had ever seen. They tried to hold back tears yet to no avail.

The teachers tried to be annoyed at so many of the kids defying them. Yet tears ran down their faces too as a chill formed in their heart, seeing a defenseless child walk away surrounded by monsters.

It was horror by way of sympathy. They desperately wanted to protect the diminutive child but were helpless. Something that felt far worse than anything a gory movie could have brought about.

Everyone’s morale was well and truly crushed as the child walked away hand-in-hand with the monster next to her.