Radley's Home for Horny Monsters, Annabelle Hawthorne [howl and other poems TXT] 📗

just outside it was Jenny, hands on her hips. Backpedaling, Beth slipped on the moist floor of her bathroom, and her head smacked into the edge of the tub as she went over. Everything from her shoulders up cried out in agony as she tried to rise, and the last thing she saw was Jenny’s tiny figure standing on her stomach.

MIKE RAN DOWN THE STAIRS, pulling his shirt over his head.

“Tink!” he hollered. The goblin poked her head out of the kitchen, a screwdriver in her hand. She wore a cute yellow shirt that she had modified into a tiny dress that came down to mid-thigh.

“No yell. Tink listen.” She stepped into the hallway.

“You didn’t order pizza again, did you?” The bell rang again, somehow sounding impatient.

“No magic screen without permission,” she said, rolling her eyes dramatically.

“Then who could it be?” Mike looked out the living room window. “Oh. It’s Beth.” He moved to open the front door, pausing when he realized that Tink was still watching him. “Scram.”

Tink wandered back into the kitchen. Shaking his head, Mike opened the door.

Beth stood on the front porch, wearing a white shirt with a dark, black skirt. She cocked her head and smiled, her eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses. “Hi, Mike.”

When Mike stepped back to allow her entry, he was struck by a sudden cold sensation in his gut. He peered out into the yard, but didn’t see either of the Society bitches lurking around. What was this strange sensation? “Hey, Beth, what brings you by?”

“I’m just checking on the place. Taking a peek. Just a looky-loo.” Beth walked past him and into the living room. She moved to the mantle, pulling something out of her purse. “I did some soul searching since last we spoke. I believe that a mistake was made.”

Mike gulped when he saw the creepy doll in Beth’s hand. She pushed it onto the mantle and positioned its legs so that it sat up correctly.

“Um, well, okay.” What the fuck could he even say? “Is everything all right?”

Beth ignored him, her attention solely on the doll.

“Um, Beth? Hello?” He approached her from behind, the feeling in his gut growing. “Are you okay?” He noticed a large bump on the back of her head, her hair matted up around it.

“I’ve never been better,” Beth informed him, her voice cracking. What came from her mouth was the sound of two different women talking at the same time, but someone was fiddling with the volume knobs for both of them. “I had to wait many months to escape, to come to this place of rest. I watched the door every day, hoping to finally make your acquaintance. I wanted to start fresh, to be a part of you. And the first thing you did was give me away.”

Suddenly, an invisible force threw Mike across the room, where he crashed into the shelves. He scrambled to his feet and dove out of the way when the cloth-covered couch attempted to crash into him.

“Wait. Wait!” Mike stood up, his back aching. “Nobody told me about the monsters, I didn’t know!”

“It doesn’t matter now. Or maybe it never did. Because I found something better to inhabit.” Beth turned to face him, pulling the glasses away to reveal pitch-black eyes. “Much better than a stuffy old doll.”

“Oh, shit. Beth, are you in there?”

“It’s not Beth anymore. Beth has left town, flown the coop, alley-oop!” Beth did a little dance with her arms, and pointed to the doll. “But I have given her back to you, for there she sleeps, no eeps, no peeps!”

“Who are you?” Mike asked. "What are you?”

Just then, Tink, likely having heard the commotion, stepped into the living room.

“You,” Beth said upon seeing Tink, her eyes narrowing.  She let out a cry, and the furniture between her and Tink threw itself aside.

“Run!” Tink yelled, grabbing Mike by the hand and pulling.

A coffee table lifted itself into the air above him. He moved out of the way at the last second, the table crashing into the floor where he had been standing.

Tink led him out the front door, where Cecilia now stood.

“What is happening?” Cecilia asked, her face a mask of concern.

“Jenny,” Tink replied, as if that explanation sufficed.

Cecilia uttered a string of words in another language, harsh words that still sounded beautiful. Then, “Is she still in the doll?”

Tink shook her head. “She has body now.”

“Fuck.” Cecilia started to say something to Mike, but the front door opened.

Beth stood in the entryway. Her unkempt hair drifted as if caught in a breeze.

Mike froze in place, unsure where to go. The evil grin on Beth’s face sent a chill down his spine. Her fingers were hooked like claws as she moved toward Mike.

Cecilia let out an ear-piercing shriek. Mike and Tink covered their ears, but Beth fled back into the house, crying out in pain.

“What the actual fuck is going on?” Mike asked.

“This place isn’t built only to keep the outside world out,” Cecilia told him. “It’s also built to keep some of us in.”

“Wait, there are bad monsters here?”

“Sort of. Jenny is more of a dangerous object to be kept locked away than a monster. Unfortunately, she always had an aptitude for escaping. It has been decades since she last inhabited a human body, which means she is very sensitive to the five senses for now.” Cecilia frowned. “And now she’s loose inside.”

“If she wanted to escape, why come back at all?” Mike asked.

“Because she is tied to this place. She will always come back.”

Mike heard a heavy thud behind him. He looked over his shoulder to see that Abella had arrived.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“Jenny,” Tink and Cecilia said at the same time.

“Fuck,” Abella said. “Is she wearing a skin suit?”

Tink and Cecilia nodded.

“Okay, well first things first. Get her outside, and I can take care of her body.”

“Please, stop!” Mike put up his hands. “What is Jenny, exactly? What kind of monster?”

The others looked at each other, then