48.
"I don't know how you do it Gilbert, its damn near midnight and we have work tomorrow." They'd been watching Gilbert's "classic movie" collection. Clarissa was surprised anyone liked Tango and Cash let alone Cobra, She started to wonder if living through the 80's caused people brain damage.
"I own the business I can show up when I want."
"You say that like you don't get up at six every morning regardless of how late you were up the night before." Gilbert frowned.
"You'll understand when you get older, sometimes you don't want to stay up, but you can't get to bed."
"And the getting up at six every day?"
"Routine, in the service I had to get up at five every morning, six is like sleeping him." He had a laugh to it, but Clarissa could almost detect a bit of sorrow to it.
"Well I'm not able to work on only six hours, we got a long day tomorrow some goblins and if I read Doris's hand writing properly a plague of rats." Clarissa went to check to make sure the door was locked. Gilbert said she didn't need bother he lived in the country and the only people who ever came knocking were mormons, but she was in the habit of it and he didn't tell her when he lived alone he kept it unlocked. When she was at the door she caught sight of something out of the peep hole, she couldn't be certain at first, it almost seemed unbelievable that anyone would be out this late let alone be at Gilbert's door, but when she looked through the peephole there was a pair of children. Clarissa was confused. It looked like a pair of teenagers, one girl, one boy, the girl looking slightly older than the boy. She was transfixed staring at them through the peep hole, she didn't even hear Gilbert's shouting as she opened the door and let them inside.
"GET AWAY FROM THE DOOR!" Gilbert had gotten up from the couch as fast as he could, but he was too slow, the strangers were inside. He could see the girl and boy, but he knew that's not what they really were. He saw the boy touch Clarissa's hand and knew she'd be paralyzed unable to act. He had to get away, in his bedroom he kept a double barrel shotgun loaded with what he called "god shot" able to stun if not outright kill most things. The girl stranger moved on him, almost impossibly fast, she was in front of him the door to his bedroom close, but also too far.
"Where are you going mister? Don't you want to help my brother and me?" The strangers face was normal save from the black hole where her eyes should be. As Gilbert stared at her, her facial features shifted, nose becoming elongated, mouth stretching with it, teeth becoming sharp needles dripping with a green goo.
"Just going to get my wallet little girl, why don't you wait in the living room." He could feel her influence on him, feel it creeping into his body like sleep. Telling him she was safe, and he was worried about nothing.
"No you're not, you want to harm me." She reached out for him and he pulled his back. She made another grab, but a shriek like that of a banshee filled the house and froze the stranger in her tracks. Gilbert knew the scream, it sounded like his wife's used to, only amplified somehow. He didn't stop to question what happened, he just ran for his bedroom. The stranger her grip broken moved too slow this time, by the time she turned the door Gilbert had the shotgun leveled and he fired without waiting, the first shot hit the stranger dead center. It fell backwards into Gilbert's night light, it tried to get away but Gilbert fired once more into the head and it stopped. He waited for a moment in the bedroom, gathering some supplies before heading into the living room where the other stranger was waiting.
"Clarissa you ok?" He could see the stranger had her by the throat, her eyes told the story, she was terrified.
"Put down the gun." The stranger was doing its best to command him, Gilbert did as he was told, he heard an audible whimper from Clarissa as he laid the shotgun on the carpet. "Now come over here, you must be punished for what you did to my sister." Gilbert dutifully obeyed and walked towards the boy stranger, when he got within grabbing range, he pulled the knife he'd stashed in his back waistband and slashed the creatures throat. It let go of Clarissa and stumbled through the open door, leaking black fluid on the way out. Gilbert got his shotgun and followed after it.
"Stay inside Clarissa." She was freed from the creatures spell, but still shaken with the experience.
"What are they?"
"Don't have a regular name that I'm aware of, in the business we just call them strangers, don't fault yourself for letting them inside, its smell, its how they get you, I always figured I was giving up electricity costs without fixing this door's seal, turns out I made myself stranger bait." Gilbert fired into the creature. Clarissa felt sick, she ran outside to vomit. Gilbert helped keep her steady while she threw up next to the corpse of the creature.
"Where do they come from?"
"Don't rightly know, no one gets to ask, you see one, you tend to kill it."
"Is this all? Will there be more?"
"There certainly are, strangers never hunt in twos, its always a pack, get some sleep, we'll go find the rest in the morning."
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