Yusef was holding his arms up while shrapnel hung suspended in air, mere feet in front of Jesse. Chunks of putrisomn fell harmlessly to the ground in front of Jesse when Yusef dropped his arms.
Smoky tentacles shot out from the giant hole in the wall and groped its edges. Long, bony fingers transformed from the tentacles and as they found their grip, they pulled forward and shifted into talons. A sooty, purpled beast thrust out of the wall.
It belted out a monstrous scream with its huge head. Long, jagged, and brown teeth jutted out of its wide mouth. It had no eyes.
“The fuck?”
“A wraith. Mubtadi -- now!” Yusef was already halfway back up the stairs.
Jesse turned and began to run back toward the apartments.
The dark monster launched itself out of the building and landed on the courtyard grass with four strong, clawed legs. Red and purple ooze dripped from its teeth and jaw. Its snout jutted up and sniffed in the air. Dark smoke and mist continued to swirl and shift around its muscled body.
“Hurry, Jesse!”
The wraith turned its head toward Jesse, who was dashing across the other side of the courtyard. It yelped out a horrendous howl and galloped toward Yusef, who was already at the top of the staircase.
Jesse was nearly there. Then the beast scuttled to a sudden halt at the foot of the stairs and hesitated to climb up, instead turning to Jesse. His momentum was too strong to make a sudden stop.
The fiend roared and shrieked simultaneously. Its toothy maw shot open farther than it should have. Then the creature’s skin exploded into smoke that shot out toward Jesse like a blanket, reaching out to swallow him. He screamed as his chest suddenly weighed heavy with the fear and anxiety of his deepest nightmares being yanked out of his subconscious.
He felt a sensation of his weight being suddenly thrust forward and the sound of crashing thunder in his ears. He felt anger directed toward him from all directions. His dad’s wife beater smudged with black dust from the asphalt. Yelling and shouting. Lightning and booms and crying and anger.
From the top of the stairs Yusef thrust his arms, launching a still-screaming Jesse backward.
The wraith’s attempt to pull Jesse in was foiled as the groping smoke crashed like waves against itself. Multi-colored sparks and bolts sizzled inside the wraith’s twisting form.
Without skipping a beat, Yusef adjusted his footing and prepared for the inevitable counterattack.
The wraith sprouted a multitude of spiny legs which began creeping up the stairs. Fangs jutted out from a tiny head at the front of its thorax. Smoke slipped out of its tail end.
Yusef twisted his wrists and fingers upward. The staircase broke off the second story landing and was lifted up and away, the wraith now stunned with apprehension as it floated along. It shot out a tentacle toward Yusef but he had already carried the staircase far away enough to barely be out of its reach.
With his other arm, Yusef reached for Jesse, who was still on the ground. Jesse’s eyes grew wide as he felt himself being lifted up. He flailed a little bit, but felt sturdy enough and relaxed. As he was elevated and brought toward the second story landing, Jesse kept his eyes on the wraith.
It began swirling atop the drifting staircase. The wraith reverted back to its first form with muscular, clawed legs. Taking powerful strides across the tilted steps, the wraith leapt off of the staircase, claws outstretched toward Jesse, who was still floating toward the landing.
As the wraith bounded across the stairs, Yusef began to twist his wrist and arm again. The steps and railing crumbled away into black chunks of putrisomn. His right hand and arm danced quickly while his left continued to guide Jesse closer to him on the second floor. Putrisomn rocks fell beneath its feet but the wraith had already leapt forward.
Yusef was already scrambling to adjust his footing. He leapt off the broken ledge and flung himself forward, intercepting the path of the wraith.
The beast exploded as it sunk its claws into Yusef. Black smoke swallowed Yusef up.
Jesse, helplessly witnessing everything, suddenly fell to the ground twelve feet below.
Jesse woke up screaming and with pain faintly pulsing in his back where he landed. He was out of breath and panicked.
“Aye, Dios mio. Jesús, again?” Lita asked from the dark room.
“I gotta call Yusef.”
“Que?”
Jesse searched for the glow of his phone plugged into the wall. He dialed and there was no answer. “Fuck.”
“Jesús! Que pasa?”
“Lita! What’s wrong?” a tiny girl’s voice asked in the dark.
“How the fuck do I go back? I need to help him,” Jesse said to himself under his breath. He punched his pillow, then dialed again. Still no answer.
“Jesús! Hablame!”
“Fuck!”