Orpheus - Haunting the Dead.pdf - Dice

THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER
Worse still, Tragic Alex, as real as Shutty had been,
as real as any of them, had himself become darker,
transparent, not quite in the room. Proximity to the
thing was making him more like it, and as he turned
and saw it coming for him, all his mousy qualities
magnified a thousand times. His humanity was nearly
buried, save for the terror in his rat-like eyes.
Before anyone could move, it, whatever it was, took
hold of Tragic Alex, whatever he was, and began
shredding him bit by bit, as if he were some paper
wrapping that had gotten in the way of a single piece of
food. It all unfolded in a dreadful silence until belief
finally took hold of the victim and a screeching, rodent-like
whining erupted from Alex’s snout.
Dennison, still staggered and weak, pivoted on one
foot and lunged for the shadow, crying, “Kleck! Help
me!” But Kleck didn’t move—he just kept staring, his
face filled with a grim fascination that Shutty took for
sick pleasure. Thinking she might do something herself,
Shutty grabbed for Alex, hoping to pull him away,
but his arms had become thin and bony. She pulled
harder, but with an audible click one came loose in her
hands, then vanished, or evaporated, from between her
fingers.
Dennison bowled into the shadow, just as she had
so effectively with Jobe when she first entered the
room. But this thing repulsed her easily, raking the side
of her head with one of its pincers. Apparently the
group’s only protector, she slumped to her knees and
struggled to rise.
By the time Shutty looked back from the fallen TA,
there was barely any trace of Tragic Alex left. Once his
furry mouth was gone, there was no more shrill screaming.
The few white toilet-paper shards of his being that
remained vanished into wisps of smoke, then nothing.
The lobstery shadow thing turned toward Shutty.
She scuttled backwards on her hands and feet like a
crustacean herself, moving so quickly she banged the
back of her head against the wall. All the while in the
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HAUNTING THE DEAD
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