Julian

Spurred on by fear and the completely unpleasant thought of joining Ham inside the girl’s stomach, Julian circled the killer whale, dropping to the floor silently and rolling quickly to the side around the corner of the unit as the girl remained focused on her menagerie of plush toys.

At any moment, fearing she would spy him, he didn’t dare look back running as fast as his tiny legs would carry him along the baseboard. He wasn’t thinking, he was fleeing on pure instinct. Get out the door. Get out. Figure shit out on the fly. Ducking around furniture, he quickly circumnavigated his way to the door.

What he hadn’t known, was that escape under the door was blocked by the thick pink towel she had placed there. He hadn’t seen it or noticed it until he passed beneath the boots and was standing right beside it. Tugging with all his might at the corner unsuccessfully a half dozen times, he knew it was useless, he was just too little to move it even just enough to allow him to slip through and under the door. Crouching low, he scurried back for cover, heart pounding, stopping underneath the left boot against the wall beside the door, sheltering in the space between the heel and the sole. From there, he watched the girl still at the bookcase climb to her feet, the killer whale plush toy pinned to her chest. Was Josh in there? Had he been able to conceal himself in time? Had she found the hole? Josh? He had no clue. She didn’t seem to be reveling in his capture the way she had with Ham. Maybe Josh was lucky. Though, in retrospect, why was she taking the killer whale to the bed?

Regardless of Josh’s fortune or not, Julian knew he had expended every last cent of his own good luck and was now on borrowed time in his flight and knew he needed to hide, sooner than later. A sardonic smile crossed his face. After the girl put the toy down on the bed, she circled the room slowly, a little Mona Lisa smile playing at the corner of her full sexy mouth. Julian got the very distinct impression she was actually amused and seemed to be enjoying the chase, the proverbially cat toying with him and Josh as mice. It was alarming to recall Ham’s fate. The others wouldn’t listen to him when he tried to tell them the girl was a monster. He had no doubt now, every other unfortunate trapped in the box had met with death at her hands, or mouth, or whatever. Ham proved that. He hadn’t been lying when he thought he’d heard the sounds of play after others had vanished from the box. Ham, Carver, and Henry didn’t want to listen. Didn’t want to believe it. Didn’t want to leave the box because they thought she would be mad. Fuck. It was now every man for himself. That included Josh. If he was inside the whale, he was stranded atop the bed with no way down. Too bad, Josh was pretty damn smart. Didn’t matter much now though, Julian could conceive of no way to let Josh know where he was without alerting the girl. If the she left, who knew, maybe he would make a try to get to Josh. Big if.

Fading back into the hollow near the elongated heel of the boot when her gaze passed over near the door, he wondered if inside the boot might not be a better place to be. After all, they appeared practically brand new and she set them near the door to maybe take them out of the room. Kind of made sense to try and catch a free ride. The drawback, if he was inside and she decided to put her foot in there, he would get squished. The opposite side of the equation, if he didn’t find a spot to hide soon, she would find him anyway and the possibly of being digested inside her gut was a hell of a lot worse than the idea of being instantly turned into sock jam. At least that end would be quick. Splat, done.

While he weighed the pros and cons of climbing into the boot, the girl walked into the bathroom, leaving the door opened.

“No time like the present,” he muttered, scooting out from his concealment, clambering up onto the toe of the boot, over the little decorative strap and the faux buckle and leaping up to grasp the edge at the left side of the boot. Pulling himself up, he swung his right foot up, catching in on the edge and getting himself seated astride the top. Lingering there for a moment, he craned his neck to see if he could spot the whale on the bed, but he couldn’t.

He heard the sound of the toilet flushing and knew the girl’s return was imminent. Hastily, he brought his other leg over and lowered himself down inside the footwear, dangling there. The interior held a rich strong smell of leather. “Shit,” he verbalized, letting go of his hold and dropping down a half dozen feet into the interior boot, landing awkwardly and turning his right foot before sliding down the slope of the sole and coming to stop in the toe.

Rolling onto his side, he drew his right leg up, “Sonofabitch,” he groused, massaging his injured ankle. It hurt, but didn’t feel broken. Crawling out of the toe, he pushed himself to standing, careful to not put weight on his foot. Bracing his hand against the side, he gingerly tested it to see if it could bear any weight. Leaning forward, there was a twinge of pain though not so much he felt it would impede him if necessity required him to run.

 The slope was steeper than he expected inside the boot and it required some effort for him to get back up to the heel. Once there, he looked up. It was a good dozen feet to the top and he didn’t think she would easily or casually spot him, but so too, the distance was sufficient enough to make quick escape for him very difficult. Though physically exhausted, he wasn’t tired or sleepy, senses still on hyper alert. The only thing to do now was wait for his shot.