Creepypasta x Reader: Shift Chapter Three

You weren’t dead though you might as well have been as you waited for your cells to repair the damage done to your body. They moved sluggishly, which was unsurprising considering your broken spine. It was incredibly painful for a second as every part of your senses was overwhelmed before going completely dead, and you had trouble adjusting. You couldn’t feel, and that was unfamiliar to you. You otherwise would have felt your heart beating rapidly in some way, but no. Now there was nothing but silence and darkness and you were certain you would go mad before your body healed. You could only see the images your mind conjured up in front of you – your only gateway to your senses. That was how you knew you were scared. The only thing your mind would play for you was your last memory.

~

The forest wasn’t calling you. No. But something from the forest was. Calling to you in an eerie voice that every part of you sensible brain knew to avoid. However, part of you was responding to it, the unnatural part of you felt it and embraced it in every way that felt all together right and wrong. And it was this feeling that led you out of your current place of residence in the wee hours of the night to stand at the edge of the forest and stare with wide eyes as you listened to that haunting yet welcoming call of the unknown. As you stared into the forest, you wondered what it was. Chills gripped your body like bony hands and slowly constricted around you.

Then you saw it.

Your eyes trailed up spindly legs clad in loose black slacks that hung on the limbs like cloth draped over bone. There was a matching jacket too – also hanging on the thin frame. There was no face. Just a head shape upon a skinny neck with sharp cheekbones and hollowed out jaws and skin loosely covering where eye sockets would have been. It was like a skull with a thin white membrane covering it. And, somehow, this was even more frightening than a mere skeleton. Perhaps it was the unusual height that stretched well above you. If you hadn’t been looking for anything, you could have mistaken it for a tree.

It tilted its head at you as you both stared at each other. You were terrified into place. Your limbs were frozen and cold, hanging by your sides like the lifeless flesh of a corpse. He began to reach for you, and your instincts kicked in. Your feet moved numbly against the ground hitting it hard with heavy thuds that kicked up clumps of dirt and mud with each clumsy step. Your arms flailed alongside you clawing the air for something, anything, which could propel you forward and away from the threat. You glanced behind you, sure you would see the creature take only a few giant steps that would cover a great distance or a large hand that would pluck you up in its presumably icy grip.

But there was nothing.

You stopped, skidding across the ground just slightly. Your breath came out ragged. Your senses were heightened as your instincts sat on the fence on whether or not they would have dominance. Your body burned as if you were caught mid-shift. Your eyes hurt and gave you a pounding headache as they shifted through several types of eyes that were able to see in the dark. Your lungs shrunk and grew rapidly and your heart alternated between quivering uselessly and beating at odd intervals as your body desperately tried to adjust to the multiple forms your body barely shifted in and out of. Surely you would die of fright if it meant your body would be keeping this up. You took deep breaths as best you could, easing your body’s reactions a little – at least enough to have a normal heart rate again.

Your meager calm didn’t last long. You ears which painfully stretched to large bat like ones had picked up every sound, rustling leaves and snapping twigs and even the sounds of the neighborhood – rustling sheets and light snores. You also heard the sounds of the wildlife and all the sensory overload was starting to make your head pound. But amidst all the noise, you didn’t hear the one you were searching so desperately for. Footsteps of some sort. The sound of approaching movement. Even the faint whisper of breathing in your ear would have possibly been more welcome than not knowing where that creature was. Perhaps it wasn’t after you? Maybe it was something your mind had made up? With your recent lack of sleep, it seemed likely that that may have been the case.

But the next thing you knew, you were being whipped through the air. Something was wrapped far too tightly around your waist as it pulled you back through the air. You gagged as you felt your organs try to readjust to something more suitable. A sea nettle. You sprouted tentacles and felt your bones boil and melt into nothing as you delivered a poisonous sting to whatever it was that was grasping you as you slipped from its grasp. It writhed and jerked in several erratic spasms as the poison inflicted it. Then it withdrew to the body which it belonged to. You had landed on the ground with a spat and pain radiated through your many appendages. You quickly shifted into a field mouse and began to sprint away. A quick glance behind you revealed the figure from before catching up to you like it was nothing – taking large steps with its hands stretched out menacingly and more tentacles like the one that had grabbed you earlier writhing behind it in silent rage. Its tentacles and hands thudded loudly on the ground sounding like thunder in your tiny ears as they barely missed your retreating figure. Then one of the tentacles snatched you up. Your tiny claws scratched at it and your mind was in a panic as your instincts had to take over.

You shifted again.

What you shifted into was different than what it usually was. Usually it was something identifiable but not this time. You shifted into something roughly your size with large teeth, horns, and tusks of all sorts sprouting up from your bones, bloodied and surrounded by the mounds of skin and muscle they pierced through. You squirmed and thrashed wildly, digging away at the flesh that gripped you. You heard something crossed between and inhuman screech and a growl. Then you heard a cracking sound, like bones being snapped. You looked at its face – or rather where its face should be – through your multiple protrusions and saw its mouth stretch open, tiny tendrils of alabaster skin handing over the gaping hole that was its maw. Large sharp teeth as pale as its skin jutted from its mouth, so large you could only think of angler fish – a breed of fish with teeth so long, closing its mouth was an impossibility. Its tongue, long and forked like a snake, hung from between its teeth slimy and dripping with hot saliva. The creature exuded rage. More of its tentacles wrapped around you despite being cut by your sharp appendages. Then they began to squeeze you. Your air supply was the first thing to go, you squirmed even more frantically, panic overtaking any instincts you had left in a desperate attempt to break free. Your body repaired itself quickly enough that you were unable to pass out. It squeezed all the more tightly and your body began to take on the strain, your limbs crying out in pain. Then you cried out once they began to snap. Tears poured from your eyes as your arms broke, one eve breaking through the skin alongside the rest of the bony protrusions you grew. Then you felt your ribs cracking. You heard a satisfied growl slither from the monster’s lips. You felt your organs rearrange and some of your ribs pierced your lungs, but the creature wouldn’t stop. You thought you were going to pop but then your senses started over loading then numbing.

Then nothing.

~

The first thing to return was your sight. You were in an old abandon warehouse which, at the moment, wasn’t so empty. Towering over you were the people from your dreams. Or nightmares. Perhaps you were still blind and your mind was just flashing images at you again. They all exuded insanity in a way that you were certain would make you sweat with anxiousness or scream in terror if you could. Slowly your hearing came back. You heard muffled conversation as they stood down looking at you. Right now it looked as if they were talking about how you finally awoke. The pale, leathery skinned one with a wide, wicked grin leaned over you and brought out a knife before running it over your skin. Not that you could feel anything. When he pulled away there was blood on the knife. You could only imagine that he had cut you. It wouldn’t heal immediately either, not until your sense of touch came back and your body could pick up that it needed to heal. He cut then cut the other side of your face.

“Now she’s beautiful,” he said with a cackle.

“Whatever. Slender’s not gonna like it though,” the boy in the white mask spoke.

“Then maybe he should learn to appreciate beauty. It’s certainly an improvement from before.”

“Jeff, shut it,” spoke the boy in the hoodie. Every word felt like a screech. The sheer silence had made you ears sensitive to finally hearing something. Slowly your tastes buds came back, first highlighting really sharp flavors that were unpleasant and overwhelming until they balanced themselves out and you could identify the coppery taste of blood. You could faintly feel your cheeks tingling from where you had been sliced open. Air burned as it passed between the spaces of your forced smile and soon your face felt like it was on fire. You grimaced in pain and a tiny keen slid its way up your throat. Your limbs moved sluggishly and numbly as if you and never moved a day in your life until this point. You flipped onto your stomach and began to drag yourself across the ground as best you could. But then you were stabbed in the back of your thigh.

“Keep going and I’ll rip you open,” the attacker growled. You whimpered pathetically and lay there, body lax in defeat. You hard footsteps walk around to the front of you and stared at the muddy white shoes before you. He leaned down, taking your chin roughly in his hand and jerking your head up to look up into his wide, unblinking eyes. He frowned.

“Your beautiful smile is gone.” Then he grinned. “I suppose every time you lose it I could bring it back.”

Enough.

The sound resonated within the confines of your mind and your eyes searched around you to see where it was coming from. Then you spotted it. The creature from before. You felt familiar panic take over your body as the memory of first encountering the creature replayed itself in your mind. You were prepared to run again. But it grabbed you round the neck tightly and lifted you up look at the place where its eyes would be. Its head was like a skull with a white membrane pulled tightly over it, the bones of its cheeks poking out sharply and a slight concave curve where its eyes and nose would be. Your breaths were wispy and nervous and the pressure on your neck that the tentacle against your windpipe didn’t help. The tentacle tightened its hold just slightly as it brought you closer to the creature.

Listen closely, girl. If you want to live, you will cooperate and tell us what you know. Or I’ll kill you.