Eviction Notice

So, Lexy was the one who chose the phrase for this writing challenge via From My Write Side, and since I keep meaning to try out writing for one of these things…

I have to include the following phrase into my story 🙂

Enjoy!

~_~_~_~

When It fell to the ground, It fell with deceptive force.

Its impact came with a sound unlike what you would expect for a creature of Its size, for it fell not with a thump, or even a clang, but instead with a

~WHUMP!

The sound of a dozen blankets being flung to the bottom of the stairs.

Its fur fluttered in the unexpected wind of Outside, Its scales shifting in contrast, and It felt Its spines bristle with emotion.

It lay there for a while, feeling sorry for Itself, wondering as It has a dozen times before how all of Itskind can deal with this regular rejection.

That was hurtful.

That wasn’t fair.

It thought about how It had seen others, the non-Its-teties, evicted from their homes, but that was usually due to a lack of money, or a lack of job… occasionally both.

The Others were never evicted due to a lack of belief.

It mournfully curled in on Itself, gnashing Its teeth in agitation.

It had thought It would be able to stay much longer in this household this time! The House had many Dark Corners and no one ever left the closet doors closed! Yes, It’d gotten quite comfortable in Its lair under the bed…

And then, after working with three Children for nearly a decade, Youngest had Stopped Believing.

It had been evicted.

And It hadn’t even had a chance to save Its dust bunny collection!

It sighed, absently packing the dried blood further underneath Its fingernails, and blamed television.

Youngest had stayed Believing and Afraid for so much less time than Middle and Oldest… It didn’t blame the other Siblings for promoting disbelief, or even the Parents—no, They had been Undermining Itskind for centuries.

Instead It blamed television.

Television had seemed like a blessing at first; so many spooky things to see, so many scary thoughts shared amongst the masses… So many too-Young peering at frightening scenes when Parents weren’t watching…

But…

Violence in the Media was killing the Children’s fear of the unknown. For what was scarier than Reality? None of Itskind had thought the People would develop a Resistance.

But they had!

It felt terrible.

It shifted Its head out of the puddle of gooey drool that had developed to find It had company.

Some pigeons had waddled over to inspect It.

Oh what a day! Oh what a day indeed!

First evicted, and now It couldn’t even scare away some common fowl!

It needed to find Itself a Household, a new Underbed for Itself and another source of Belief for It to stand on… It tried to remember how It had dealt without solid footing Last Time, and instead found only a great yawning space occupying Its prickly-sharp insides…

No!

No, no, no, no, no!

It shook Itself and glared balefully at the pigeons still surrounding It. Ah, yes, It thought.

Denial.

It had learned this from the Young Children, this denial that Made Things So.

This refusal to admit that Things were Not As They Were was a powerful thing…

Its eyes glowed brighter as It thought to try the Other Thing the Young Children did, screwing Its face into a snarl, opening Its maw wide to bare Its fangs and let loose the Sound.

“Mommy!”

It immediately snapped Its mouth shut, quills trembling in Its embarrassment … That was not at all what It had thought would happen…

It whipped Its head around a few times to clear it, and peered at the Pigeons bobbing their heads peaceably beside It. Well, at least Pigeons couldn’t speak of this to anyone…

It looked at them speculatively.

All the same, it was better to be safe than sorry.

Besides, It would need a new coating of carrion if It wanted a good Underbed.

Drawn by me 🙂

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Let me know how you’ve enjoyed it 🙂

I’m hoping it has a bit of a Terry Pratchett feel to it…

Also, if you’re ever feeling up to a challenge, try writing an It character… because this one meant that I had to be conscious of the fact that It not only spoke of Itself in the third person, but also never used ‘it’ in any context outside of an identifier.

Happy Canada Day, and to those participating, Welcome to day 1 of Camp Nano 🙂 That’s 640 words off my writing for the day 🙂

Because that’s super helpful 😐

😉

EDIT: Community Channel uploaded THIS video, and it makes me think… What would/do YOU tell kids when they come to you about monsters? Do you play along or what? The It’s want to know.