Friday, March 6, 2009

Back to Pilot

Jerry opens his eyes to the bright flashes and covers his face to escape. He wonders why he is so sensitive to the light from the television set when something sharp cut through his powder blue golf shirt drawing blood. Lowered hands reveal the light flashes have faded and the light from the television has been replaced by to a lone streetlight surrounding him with light in the late night. His ears are ringing while he reaches for his injured arm. The blood droplets trickle through his fingers for a bit before the bleeding ceases. Whatever caught him was sharp enough not to snag any of the cotton threads on his shirt when it cut straight through to the flesh.

The first sound audible over the ringing in his ears is a woman's scream from somewhere behind him. He spins to find her and finds himself face to what can only be assumed is another face. The body layout is human in the two arms, two legs and one head sort of way, but the head is elongated with little asparagus shaped green mustache points hanging to the chin. The eyes are saucers and a deep black that shimmers in the streetlight. The shimmering pools found in these eyes should have been a line for a date, but these pools were actual liquid. These eyes saw only a fast meal.

As his eyes focused and adjusted to the low light of night, Jerry watched as a small town square came into focus around him. Over the creature's right shoulder was a sign over a door for Dunny's Dry Cleaning. Next to the Dry Cleaners, Jerry noticed the Tully's Town Tap sign hanging over the bar. The neon "OPEN" light seemed to flare on as he noticed it. He didn't even need to look behind him. He could have named the buildings and the specific shiop layout spanning the Cypress Square. He had spent so much time within this neighborhood without actually being in the neighborhood that he could have drawn it for someone else if he were blind.

The deep breathing followed by a low gurgle emitted from the thing across from him. It tilted it's head at Jerry curious why he wasn't running away. Jerry had been startled at first, so the creature knew he was not blind.

"Why do you not run, fleshpot?" The sound flowed from around the creature as the mouth did not move on the front of the head. Flatchels worked that way. The eyes were on both sides of the head and the asparagus tips he noticed before were feelers instead of a mustache. They were used for sensing motion behind the creature for its protection. Jerry was face to back of the head to a creature he had vaguely recalled from the past.

"Run? You aren't even facing me. What am I supposed to be afraid of?" Jerry felt the corner of his mouth turn up in a smirk. He was dreaming. He had obviously fallen asleep in front of the television during and early season episode and began dreaming himself into the show. The Flatchel was an early first season creature that only managed to scare people, but was never seen on screen to have killed anyone. The only action scene with the thing was when Mark and Katy had killed it at the end of the episode to save the town. There was never any real proof that the thing would hurt anyone and the ridiculous name was common in the first season before the more juvenile writers were sent packing and the Grogalon and Juggurarmy type of creatures came around.

A hiss came from the other side of the creature as it spun around to reveal two beady eyes at the top of the skull and the remaining skull was all teeth with an opening large enough to small a small animal whole. Jerry chuckled at his imagination. The effects department had been pretty weak in the early days of The Davis Files before it was renamed Creaturetown , USA. In the actual show, the Flatchel's mouth was a gummy looking prosthetic placed onto the back of some stunt actor's head. These teeth were real and filed to a point the way a child would suck on a candy cane until it became a small weapon. The seemed to vibrate with the thing's breathing and occasional saliva dripped from the points. Jerry was impressed with his imagination.

"What's so funny? Does death amuse you?" The four longest teeth clicked together as he spoke more emphaticlly. Jerry's demeanor seemed to be upsetting it, but was there really any truth to the death in a dream thing being applied to real life? He was not afraid. Besides, this was the point in the show where the thing gets chased off by the police car responding to the woman he heard scream earlier.

"I'm not going to die. You're a figment of my imagination anyways." Jerry reached out and tapped cautiously at the creature's chest and came back with a stream of green goo attached to his finger. "You'd think I would have at least put an evil outfit or soemthing on you. The teeth look pretty sweet, but I don't see why I had to go all out on the slime coating."

The mouth appeared to turn up its corners as if the creature was smiling. One of the arms raised in front of Jerry and the tentacle hand began to slide back as a three fingered claw with what looked like razor sharp claws came out and clamped open and close in front of Jerry's face. "A figment must be quite powerful to you. Is this some mind game to you? It seems more like a claw game to me. Let's see if you've got any stuffed animals in you for my sweety."

Jerry laughed along with the Flatchel. He appreciated good wit in a villain. He wondered why this creature hadn't lasted longer on the show. Jerry stared down at the claw as it moved towards his chest. Even in his dream, he would want this thing touching him, so he placed his hand inside of the claw and winked at the creature. "You don't have enough time to kill me. A police car is about to come around the corner and shine a light on you. Then you'll rush off to the sewer grate beneath the fountain in the town square. Maybe you could save us the trip down superfluous lane and just go now. The Davis kids are going to end up killing you in three nights anyways. You might want to think twice about going after a short blonde girl tomorrow night. She's not what she looks like, Pal."

The head of the creature turned towards the corner Jerry had indicated the car would be coming from before clamping down on his hand. Jerry screamed in pain as the claws were not razor sharp after all, but the pressure had crushed his pinky and rings fingers. He could feel his pulse pick up and the throbbing begin in his hand as the sound of the police siren finally came. Jerry watched the light strike the beady black eyes and the creature roared back at the noise. It turned back to Jerry cocking its head interestedly at the man who seemed to know the future before turning and dart across the square into the grate Jerry had pointed out earlier.

Jerry stood in shock as he felt the pain spark across his brain. How could he feel this kind of pain if he was dreaming? He tried his best to convince himself that he was impervious to pain, but the thought drifted in an out with his consciousness as he slipped to the ground and passed out to the flashing lights and the footsteps of the police officer.

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