Meet Howard
*rated adult for language and nudity.
I am looking for some feedback on the work. writting style, characters, etc. Let me know what you think about the story. It's still a work in progress, but I thought I would show off what I have.
Meet Howard
By Savage Shark
Cast
· Annabel (Annie) Cotton - Polar Bear
· Howard - Hill House Monster
· Omni Ex - unknown
· Stephanie - Giraffe and childhood friend to Annie
Though she enjoyed the luxury provided by her new home, Annabel Cotton could not shake the teasing haunt to her senses. It was nothing she could see or smell, but feel throughout house atop the hill.
She had first felt the shrill during meals, utensils and drink beside her plate materialized as she turned her back for a moment. In the morning, she found fresh linens waiting after her shower. They were displayed according to her routine, after a week of living in the home. The haunting of the house brought unease to Annabel. She checked the locks of every door at night and scanned the basement for passageways.
For two weeks: nothing.
Though the attic was the most probable place, were it not for the assorted locks along the frame of the door she could search. But she lacked the tools and the key to unlock the room. A room which had been denied her since purchasing the home.
Crash.
Annabel awoke from her slumber, snapped from her slumber she turned in her sheets. Finally, this was her chance to find out what had haunted her senses. The crash was not the only thing she heard.
_ The cacophony of wood and scurrying. _
From the darkness of the living room, Annabel found the faintest of motion around the kitchen. Satisfied and frightened with the realization she was not alone. She ran for the bedroom closet, grasped the hard oak bat from behind her cloths and ran to face her tormentor.
From the balls of her feet, she approached the kitchen. Turning around the corner of the archway she entered. Her eyes scanned the darkness for signs of motion. She looked down and found where the crash had formed. Her antique sugar jar had fallen and shattered across the tile floor, leaving a splatter trail of clay shards and a mound of fresh sugar around the floor. But pieces of the clay pot had gathered towards an area on the ground, as though they were placed there. The sugar had trails throughout the surface, as though a snake had been coiling over the mess.
"The noise defiantly originated here", she thought. But it was not the sound that proved her suspicions it was the position of the jar. The jar had been placed up high on a shelf, a shelf which was position opposite from where the jar had crashed.
She flicked on the lights and went for the center of the room.
"I know you're here!" doing little to hide the anger in her tone as she tightened her grip around the bat. "Come out here, damn it! I'm sick of your bull shit." She slammed the bat into the marble counter, the bat rang out against the hard surface.
Nothing happened.
Only silence.
The bat struck the marble again, breaking a splinter along from its head.
Her lips curled in a growl, showing her white canines. "If I have to take this house apart to find your ass, I'll fucking do it!" She scanned the room in a furious twirl.
She forced open the food cupboard, madly throwing out the contents in a futile presentation of her point. Slamming the door shut with a growl when she found nothing.
She looked in the lower cupboards of the marble counters. Only unused pots and pans filled the space. She searched the oven, then the high cupboards, the fridge, the freezer, the coat closet and finally the disposal sink.
Nothing.
Silence.
The bat reeled in her hand as she slammed into the marble top once more. Once more, and again and again. Though enraged, she was careful not to break her father's gift nor damage her own appliances. Her breathing was labored from the excitement. Her fire was starting to die down and Annabel felt ready to drop to her knees and curl inside herself...
Knock. Knock.
It was a subtle sound, from behind. It was on the wood cupboards above the marble counter. Annabel felt a cold shrill crawl up her spine. Whoever was behind her had been quiet. His footsteps were deathly silent. Nothing made the noise over the marble tile like her bare feet, or her running shoes or her work heels.
"He lured me here." She thought, "A trap!" Her voice became a lump in her throat, unable to shriek or cry out. Annabel carefully pulled the bat off the marble counter and pressed it close too her. He knew she had a weapon. She would use it.
She clasped both hands around the straps, holding the bat as though it were a sword. She closed her eyes, took in a deep breath. She turned away from the counter and into the free space of the room. The bat flew through the air as she screamed in rage.
Her eyes were shut tight, fearful to meet the gaze of whoever was there.
She felt the bat connect. But it did not follow through. It stopped half swing. She opened her eyes, confused she looked where the bat hit. Now she wished she kept her eyes closed.
A large arm pressed against the bat. It was big and it held the bat against its...hand with ease. It was like a sickly green arm that came from outside the kitchen, curving around the archway like a tree python. It was mind boggling how big this thing was. The head of the arm wrapped around the bat like a snake. Annabel released the bat in fear as her arms recoiled to her side, sickened by the site of this thing.
Her eyes went to sound of another knock on the cupboard and there hanging in the air was another sickly green arm. The tendrils seemed to look at her. They lacked any sort of eyes, yet their tips tracked her every motion. Along the head and halfway down their shaft was an array of finger sized bumps. These seemed to glisten in the light, making the arms appear disgustingly slimy. Pulses of blood vessels and arteries stretched across their form, the muscles were clearly able to hold for long in the air.
Annie stepped back, moving towards the dinning table outside the kitchen. She felt the hard metal chair behind her. She heard the slimy slither of another tendril appear to her right. She faced it and screamed, nearly falling to the ground. She searched to find how this third creature surprised her.
There...the air vent just above the high cupboard.
She made her way to the living room and found another tendril, smaller than its kin, peep out from the coat closet and knocking at the door. More arms started too appear, all of various sizes and shades of green, each one looking at her with blank faces. Annie looked around. Fear grasping her mind as she found more and more of the creatures coming out of the walls, the floor, even areas she had never known existed. She turned and quickly ran for the garden door. Frantically, she turned the lock on the handle and quickly threw the door open running for dear life, unaware that she was still in her jersey and panties in the cold night air. She tried to scream, but her energy was spent. She stopped at the old Oak tree in the garden and collapsed. She turned to the house expecting the creatures...the things to chase after her. She placed her hands to her chest, checking to see if her heart had not left her chest. She nearly broke into tears as she tried to regain her sanity.
"What...the fuck!" Was all she could spare between breath. Annie's breathing was labored after the creature revealed itself. She stood up, leaning against the tree. She felt something push against her lower back. Like the head of some small animal. She turned around and found a smaller tendril was poking out from the squirrel hole of the tree.
She yelped and leapt back at the creature. The leaves rustled over head and she could see more of the tendrils were growing out of the trees. The thing had apparently burrowed through the trunks, extending outside the house. Annie ran past the garden to the front of the house. Pushing back the fence gate she ran towards her car, but the keys were inside and she would not risk going back in. She ran for the lower homes.
Her energy was spent on running, gaining as much distance from the house as she could. She stopped and reached the end of the road to Hill House. She leaned against the stop sign to catch her breath. She turned around, no pursuit and no surprise tendrils coming out of the sign.
The sun was rising. A new day. Omni Ex had arrived at the model home and went for his office, sitting behind his desk. Prompting his feet atop the oak desk he turned his attention to the leather bound tome he left there the day before.
The door chime went off.
Heavy footsteps approached his office and stopped at the foot of his desk. He lowered the book and meet the tired eyes of Annabel Cotton. Her hair and fur were a mess. She smelt of freashly mowed grass and body sweat. But Omni was careful not to show his disgust, not that he could.
Omni was wrapped in a tan cloth from head to toe. He was a miniature version of the Invisible man, with only a pair of red lens glasses to mark his eyes.
Through the tangled nest of her blue hair, Omni could see Annabel's eyes locked onto _him. _ The gaze was like a wild animal on the hunt. She cleared her throat, straightened her stance, fixed her hair as best she could and straightened her sleeping Jersy.
Omni Ex closed the book, his eyes locked onto Annie with caution. He stood in his chair looking her over. "Ms. Cotton, you look exhausted. Is everything alright?"
"Ask me about the house." She replied, a monotone to her speech.
He tilted his head in surprise, "I beg your pardon?"
"Ask me about the house." She echoed the tone.
Baffled he complied, "Er, Very well? How is the house?"
Before he was aware of it, Annabel's hands had wrap around his throat. She lifted him out of his chair and held him like a rag doll in her grip as she glared at him with feral eyes.
"Oh it's wonderful." She replied harmoniously, her eyes bursting with life and energy as she expressed every word with a shake of her head and a twist of her arms. "It has everything I need, a view of down town, a garden, ample living space and a great big open lot all to myself." The way she described the home was a mocking echo of how Omni first presented Hill House to her.
She placed him in her forearm, locking him in a choke hold close to her bosoms as she danced two of her claws across the brim of his hat. "But there's just one teensy weensy wittle pwob-wum."
She paused as she locked her emerald eyes onto his red lenses. He swallowed the lump in his throat.
Her hands went back around his throat, claws erect. Her gaze was murderous as she snarled her canines into his red goggles and violently rocked his neck in her grip.
"There's a fucking snake the size of a big rig living in it, ya impy bastard!"
Through the madness and dizzying effect of Ms. Cotton's grasp, Omni was able to reply through short rasps. "Mizz...Coattan...Aye azzzzure yeuuu...Howard izzz harmlezzzz."
Annie stopped shaking the imp, his head swiveled in her grip as she glanced at him. "Who?"