Weekend Writing Warriors: 1/13

This 8-10 sentence blog hop is hosted by The Weekend Writing Warriors. (Click the link for the list of participants, or rules if you want to join!)

Here’s a WIP–“Discovering Gremlins.” Seth had a bad day at work–hit his head and saw a monster, which he dismissed as his imagination. The next day, he breaks his phone screen, his shower sprays water everywhere, the subway is delayed–after lunch Harry (she of I.T. fame) tells him she can fix his gremlin problem–and sends him to buy an expensive sound system, then wait for her before he enters his apartment. Seth goes in alone, and is threatened by gremlins until Harry rescues him and arranges the apology.

Previous snippet:

“I don’t have a death wish!” Seth protested.

“If you try to stay in your apartment when the gremlins come to claim your apology, you do. Seth, and I can’t stress this enough,” she fixed her dark eyes on him intently, “if you see another gremlin, they will definitely kill you. And make it quick.”

Seth gulped, feeling suddenly queasy.

Pulling out her phone, Harry checked the time, then shoved the phone back into her pocket. “They should leave you alone now, but don’t tempt fate, okay? No staring into shadows, no lurking around the servers. Just live like a normal person.”

“I’m not sure how to do that anymore,” Seth said weakly.

Seth shook his head, his stomach churning at the thought of pretending that those horrifying monsters, with their sharp teeth and giggles, weren’t lurking in the shadows.

“Fine, then, I’ll get you transferred to the I.T. department.”

“I…what?”

“Keep up, Seth. You want to learn how to negotiate with gremlins, I don’t have time to teach you unless we’re working together. You’ll figure it out, I’m sure,” she said, though her tone was doubtful.

“Come on,” she said, with another glance at her phone, “they’ll be long gone by now. Let’s clean up, and you can have your first lesson now.”

Seth followed her through the door, finding that the boxes were gone, and most of the electronic odds and ends, though not the powder.

“Welcome to the magical world of I.T.,” Harry said, “now get a broom.”

*    *    *

Gremlins have camouflage magic, and a way of making people who catch just a glimpse forget them. This is good for humanity, because they’re powerfully ugly, and react violently to being discovered. But when Seth hits his head and lands on the floor right next to a gremlin, he sees it… and it notices that he’s done so. Things are about to go downhill for Seth.