CHAPTER SEVEN - MIKE

Mike had just called out to whom he thought were Henry and Leo after hearing a scream and then an argument. He heard a shout back — “Is that Mike?” It echoed on all the buildings, making the world seem very cave-like.

“Yes it is!” he replied across the wide street. “Where are you?”

“In Henry’s apartment across the street!”

“I’ll meet you there! By the way, what was the scream about?”

“It’s a long story! I’ll tell you when you get here!”

So Mike walked down the stairs, floorboards creaking. He crossed the black street, went into the little store, ran up the creaking stairs, and, suddenly, started screaming. A monster had gotten him.

He saw the monster. It was a gooey pale bluish green blob. It was disgusting, and it was wrapping itself around him, preparing to ingest.

“Leo! Henry! Help me!” he screamed desperately. “I’m right by the door!”

“We’re coming!” came the reply.

“Good! I’m being eaten by a monster!”

When Leo and Henry burst out of the door, they found that he wasn’t exaggerating. The gooey slimy mess of a monster was all over the wooden floor, attempting to absorb Mike! Henry became unaware of what he was doing. He grabbed a fork and started eating the monster, its slime making a squelching sound as he squeezed it between his teeth.

“This is really good,” he said with his mouth full.  But it was evident that he wasn’t going to finish eating the monster in time. Mike was getting sucked further and further in.

“My legs are feeling a little mushy!” Mike shouted.

“Mike!” Leo shouted, “start eating it!”

But Mike was way too repulsed by the odor to even think about it. “You do it!” he shouted back to Leo.

So Leo started eating the creature. It was disgusting, but he kept at it. But he started to feel a slight crawling in his stomach. He stopped. The crawling grew. He screamed.

Henry heard the screaming and stopped for a moment.

He then asked, “What just happened?”

Leo then realized what had just happened.

“No!” he screamed. “I won’t take it! I can’t stand it!”

Henry didn’t understand.

“Of course you don’t!” Henry shouted. “That’s the problem! You have superpowers and don’t know it! You never can know it and you can’t control them!”

But as he was screaming, there was still that growing squirming feeling at the bottom of his stomach, worming its way into his intestines.

It continued squirming up. And down. At the same time. Without stopping. The squirming sound got more and more amplified until, suddenly, it stopped. Silence followed. It was deafening.

But it was silence with sound. It felt silent, but he could clearly hear the gooey monster trying to consume Mike.

When Leo processed the sound of the monster once more, he came to his senses and sprang into action, arms darting around. He started grabbing the monster with his bare hands, completely disregarding the feeling in his stomach. He started tearing it to bits.

“Why didn’t we think of this earlier?” he asked.

Soon, the monster was fully broken up. It was only then that Leo threw up.

“My legs are feeling mushy,” said Mike. But as he said that, the feeling went away.

“That was close,” Henry said.

-Noah  Berman