image [https://i.imgur.com/ACreZS0.jpeg]
Krellak skittered across his dark cave, eight legs clicking as he hunched over a glowing object—a phone from his most recent victim. At first, it had been nothing but a curiosity that is until he discovered Instagram. The monster, a grotesque mix of spider and crab, had become addicted to social media.
He clumsily tapped the screen with one of his claw tips, scrolling through Instagram with surprising ease for a creature without thumbs. A flood of Halloween-themed posts flashed by, each more grotesque and death-obsessed than the last. Humans loved death in October, it seemed. The more blood and horror, the more likes and shares they gave.
Krellak's fangs clicked in excitement. "Trendsss," he hissed to himself, his voice a low, guttural rasp. "Death... sso popular this month."
He opened his own account—@Krellak_Kills, naturally—admiring the handful of posts he’d already uploaded. Pictures of webs strung with bones, artistic shots of his prey before he drained them, all taken with the phone’s cracked camera. They had earned a few likes from curious onlookers, but nothing near what some of the big accounts were getting. He needed more. More death, more horror, more carnage.
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Scrolling further, he paused at a particularly popular post—a human influencer covered in fake blood, captioned "Spooky Season Slay 🩸💀 #DeathIsInTheAir." Thousands of likes.
Krellak's eyes narrowed. Fake blood? Pathetic. His victims didn’t need props to die.
"More," he muttered, tapping through profiles of accounts with thousands of followers. "I need more death... real death. To trend..."
With a newfound sense of purpose, Krellak clicked his claws together, sending a web shooting out to snare another unfortunate passerby. He could already see it in his mind— a perfect shot of the victim wrapped tightly in silk, captioned "New Look for Fall 🍂 #RestInPieces #ScreamsForDays." The likes would pour in.
The victim struggled, screaming, but Krellak paid no mind. "Hush now," he said, holding up the phone to frame the perfect shot. "You’ll be famouss."
As the victim’s screams echoed through the cave, Krellak posted the photo and refreshed his feed eagerly. Within moments, the likes began to tick upward. Not fast enough, though. Not nearly fast enough.
"I’ll need more," he whispered, excitement buzzing through his chitinous limbs. "Sso much more."
The month wasn’t over, and he had plenty of victims to find before Halloween ended. Death was trending, and Krellak was ready to make a killing.
With a sinister laugh, he scuttled out of his cave, claws ready for the hunt, phone in tow.