Awakening Solo
[1000 words]
[Backdated to January 17th, 2018]
[1000 words]
[Backdated to January 17th, 2018]
He usually didn't go out that late at night - too busy sleeping or trying to woo certain pretty girls. But after a fun evening running about, he'd returned to his apartment only to discover he'd lost his keys. So instead of in bed, Solomon Knolls had spent a good portion of the wee hours of the night retracing his steps. They'd not been left at the bar, or the sandwich joint, nor had Henry seen them. Which had made the Circus his last stop.
It was eerie at night when everybody was asleep and the life in the place was completely gone. "********, I should just-" Solomon fumbled on his phone, staring bleerily at the bright screen in the darkness as he navigated through some screens before tapping the one that turned on the camera's light. Somehow, the limited light just made everything even more creepy.
It sent a chill through his heart that he relished, quickening his step as he headed off towards the back area where he'd assisted with the ropes and props. Carefully sorting through everything he'd touched, Solomon had barely caught a glimpse of the missing ring of keys when a racket from above drew his attention, causing him to look up towards it. "Is someone still here?" He didn't ask loud enough to be calling out, but still he turned his phone to shine it up in the darkness towards the wooden beams above.
But his light reflected off of eyes that gleamed with that eerie greenness of an animal in the road catching headlights.He'd been up there himself not long ago, but it was a high enough place he doubted anybody was up there on accident - no animal would have just climbed up there, right?
"Some poor kitty..." he murmured to himself, turning the flashlight off and setting his phone on top of his keys, stalking towards the beam in the darkness to begin his own climb. It was hardly the first time he'd scaled up there, and even in the dark he could find his hand and footholds to make his way up. The cat's feet scratched eagerly at the wood above as he drew closer, which would hopefully make his task all the easier.
As his arm looped the top, something sharp sunk into his flesh, joined by a low, gutteral clacking noise that made Solomon's grip loosen. "********!" he swore, pulling his arm back despite the not cat's attempt to hold onto him, it's breath rancid and tainted with a smell like iron. Even as he pulled away, fumbling for a different hold so he could pull his phone back out - s**t, he hadn't brought that up with him.
In the time it took his brain to catch up with the moment, the creature - whatever it was - lashed out at him again, sinking what he could only make out were claws into his chest, leaning all of it's weight into him. He pushed his weight back into it, thrusting his damaged arm into it, throwing it down.
But claws sunk into the wood and he scrambled up onto the beam in the darkness, making a blind dash off towards another cross piece to go down by - if he wasn't caught first.
His limited vision was spreading to include the dark edges of wood and that undulating, hissing, disgusting thing that looked to be the size of a small dog as it clung to the beam, chasing after him at a speed Solomon knew he couldn't beat out. One dark limb reached for him, sinking claws into the back of his leg, latching fiercely as he tumbled forward, grabbing for anything he could in the darkness.
What he caught was something solid and stone, which caught the beam beneath him and stuck, keeping him from falling to his doom. Perhaps it was that rush of adrenaline that caught him, filling him with an unknown strength. Take the leap, Aïr, your feet won't even touch the ground right? Twisting, Solomon knocked the object - a hook of some sort - against the creature's head.It released his leg, swiping instead for one of his arms as he felt his weight shift.
It was like the hot air of the desert came to catch him as he fell, a hand reaching out with that hook to sink it back into the beam and using the momentum to swing himself back up. Aïr, Aïr, you don't have to touch the ground, it wasn't a voice, really, but a thought within him, like a bubble hidden under a rock that had been shifted and finally burst to the surface of the water. He hadn't even noticed what he was wearing was different. All wrong.
All right.
The creature, more easily distinguished now that his eyes had adapted to the dark, seeing it for the spines and patched flesh it possessed, seeing it as unright.
"What are you?" Aïr dared asked, shuffling up to his feet to step away when it moved forward to swipe him, first aiming at his legs, then lunging at his face. He shoved the stone hook into it's throat, catching it to push it over the side. It flailed it's limbs, sinking claws into the wooden beam again.
"Go to hell," he hissed, using the tip of the hook to peel it's grip away, sending it falling down below, thrashing as it hit the ground.
For a long time, he stood, watching to make sure it wouldn't move again, it's body barely a smear of something - dust? - below. By the time he had climbed down again, he was full of too many questions - and hadn't even realized his clothing had changed again by the time he got down, his mind buzzing at a million miles per hour as he exited the tent.
Only when he got back to his apartment did he realize - he'd left his keys back at the tent.
