typical high school with two typical teenage males, at their lockers..."
~ ~ TEN ~ ~
A Great Beach Read:
Beck's Scary Story
"The Gob-Slime"
... two typical teenage males, at their lockers...
"Dude! What...is that?" says one.
"What's what?" says the other.
"I dunno. It looks like like a weather balloon, or something -- just bouncing out in the front of the school!"
"Woop-de-do, a weather balloon," Ryan sighed; shoved his head back deep into his Junior class locker; dug through his Junior class mess. Gotta find that stupid biology book, hiding in here somewhere, stubbornly, had to be --
"I dunno, dude. Doesn't look like any weather balloon I've ever seen."
"Oh really? Well, gosh, golly, gee, Einstein, how many weather balloons you seen, 'zactly? Ever?" Ryan's voice was deep with locker-echo. "You don't even watch The Discovery Channel, so--"
Derrik suddenly banged his fist against a nearby locker, setting off an ear-blasting metallic explosion rip-roaring through Ryan's head.
"Heyyyy!" Books and papers and scribbled-on Cliff's Notes tumbled to the hallway floor as Ryan emerged, cross-eyed and disoriented. "What'd you do that for! That seriously popped my ears, jerkoid!"
Derrik, his dilated eyes wide and shock-bright behind thicker-than-thick lenses, stammered: "Did you see that ? Did you freakin' see that --?"
"No, I was too busy going deaf, thanks to--"
"Oh man, it ate that kid!" Derrik shouted, slamming the locker a second time. "It just... ate that kid!"
"Man, I told you, you do that one more time, and --"
"It! ate! that! kid!" Derrik pointed insistently at the glass front doors of Hamilton High. "Out there, the weather balloon -- whatever it is -- rolled over a kid, kid on a skateboard -- dude!-- sucked him in like... like a big freaked-out jellyfish or something!" Impossibly, his eyes widened even further. "That's it -- a jellyfish with no legs! Dude, I'm totally telling you! It... oozed ... over the kid... sucked him up... and... ate him!"
"Are you high?" Ryan asked in a why-am-I-bothering-asking whisper. "You know what's going to happen to you if you get caught again on school grounds with --"
Derrik wasn't listening. He had his face pressed against the glass doors, gasping, breathlessly: "I saw it, man. I saw it. It ate that kid. And -- oooh no ..."
"I'm telling you right now," Ryan said, rolling his eyes as he headed toward the door. "Whatever this is, it better be something, 'cause otherwise I'm going to stick your head into my locker and pound on the door until the --"
And that's when he saw it.
~ ~ ~
At first, he thought it was one of the smudges on the door-glass.
But then it moved.
It was no weather balloon.
What it was, was big, and round, and rubbery and -- man, it did look like the bell of a giant jellyfish -- minus tentacles -- rubbery and blubbery and globular and --
Ryan blinked, then squinted --
And then he saw the boy inside.
The boy floated, inside the quivering, slithering bell-thing. His little boy legs kicked feebly, his fingers curled and clawed, his whole body struggled and spun, as if inside a goopy Hefty-bag aquarium. More struggling, then the very insides of the... creature ... whatever it was... seemed to jell and thicken around the little kid's body until his jerking movements became small quivers... became odd shudders... became tiny twitches... then...
Became not much at all.
The boy hung inside the creature, completely still.
"Ohhhh... dude."
The boys stood there, at the glass doors, watching, as the ... thing ... quivered slightly...
(as if swallowing, Ryan though, with a queasy shock)
The kid's body faded... and disappeared.
"Ooh dude no my oh dude no..." Derrik turned, looked at Ryan with marble-glass eyes. "He ate that kid, too. He... it... ate... both of them."
Ryan's mouth blinked. Numb, he reached over and rubbed away some of the smeary fingerprints -- hard -- then peered through the clean spot. It was still there, in all its shimmering,
~ ~ TEN ~ ~
A Great Beach Read:
Beck's Scary Story
"The Gob-Slime"
... two typical teenage males, at their lockers...
"Dude! What...is that?" says one.
"What's what?" says the other.
"I dunno. It looks like like a weather balloon, or something -- just bouncing out in the front of the school!"
"Woop-de-do, a weather balloon," Ryan sighed; shoved his head back deep into his Junior class locker; dug through his Junior class mess. Gotta find that stupid biology book, hiding in here somewhere, stubbornly, had to be --
"I dunno, dude. Doesn't look like any weather balloon I've ever seen."
"Oh really? Well, gosh, golly, gee, Einstein, how many weather balloons you seen, 'zactly? Ever?" Ryan's voice was deep with locker-echo. "You don't even watch The Discovery Channel, so--"
Derrik suddenly banged his fist against a nearby locker, setting off an ear-blasting metallic explosion rip-roaring through Ryan's head.
"Heyyyy!" Books and papers and scribbled-on Cliff's Notes tumbled to the hallway floor as Ryan emerged, cross-eyed and disoriented. "What'd you do that for! That seriously popped my ears, jerkoid!"
Derrik, his dilated eyes wide and shock-bright behind thicker-than-thick lenses, stammered: "Did you see that ? Did you freakin' see that --?"
"No, I was too busy going deaf, thanks to--"
"Oh man, it ate that kid!" Derrik shouted, slamming the locker a second time. "It just... ate that kid!"
"Man, I told you, you do that one more time, and --"
"It! ate! that! kid!" Derrik pointed insistently at the glass front doors of Hamilton High. "Out there, the weather balloon -- whatever it is -- rolled over a kid, kid on a skateboard -- dude!-- sucked him in like... like a big freaked-out jellyfish or something!" Impossibly, his eyes widened even further. "That's it -- a jellyfish with no legs! Dude, I'm totally telling you! It... oozed ... over the kid... sucked him up... and... ate him!"
"Are you high?" Ryan asked in a why-am-I-bothering-asking whisper. "You know what's going to happen to you if you get caught again on school grounds with --"
Derrik wasn't listening. He had his face pressed against the glass doors, gasping, breathlessly: "I saw it, man. I saw it. It ate that kid. And -- oooh no ..."
"I'm telling you right now," Ryan said, rolling his eyes as he headed toward the door. "Whatever this is, it better be something, 'cause otherwise I'm going to stick your head into my locker and pound on the door until the --"
And that's when he saw it.
~ ~ ~
At first, he thought it was one of the smudges on the door-glass.
But then it moved.
It was no weather balloon.
What it was, was big, and round, and rubbery and -- man, it did look like the bell of a giant jellyfish -- minus tentacles -- rubbery and blubbery and globular and --
Ryan blinked, then squinted --
And then he saw the boy inside.
The boy floated, inside the quivering, slithering bell-thing. His little boy legs kicked feebly, his fingers curled and clawed, his whole body struggled and spun, as if inside a goopy Hefty-bag aquarium. More struggling, then the very insides of the... creature ... whatever it was... seemed to jell and thicken around the little kid's body until his jerking movements became small quivers... became odd shudders... became tiny twitches... then...
Became not much at all.
The boy hung inside the creature, completely still.
"Ohhhh... dude."
The boys stood there, at the glass doors, watching, as the ... thing ... quivered slightly...
(as if swallowing, Ryan though, with a queasy shock)
The kid's body faded... and disappeared.
"Ooh dude no my oh dude no..." Derrik turned, looked at Ryan with marble-glass eyes. "He ate that kid, too. He... it... ate... both of them."
Ryan's mouth blinked. Numb, he reached over and rubbed away some of the smeary fingerprints -- hard -- then peered through the clean spot. It was still there, in all its shimmering,
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