Disorder(chapter one)

Chapter One


An alarm.

An annoying alarm. Sleepily and rather grumpily Ricky searched for the cause of the annoying sound that would let him return to blissful slumber. As time went on and still the alarm eluded him, parts of Ricky’s brain started to come back online.

Oh dear lord, he thought. It's Monday morning, oh shite I have a test today, sleep beckons, but you got to do what you got to do. Reluctantly Ricky Calstara threw back the covers on his bed.

Walking to the ensuite he had in his room Ricky had to weave his way through a veritable obstacle course of discarded clothes and assorted paraphernalia, which included pizza boxes (some empty, some unfortunately not), sporting equipment, beer bottles (all of these were empty), an ashtray or two, and lots of stuff that any sane person who wasn't a 20 yr old male would never keep in their room. Pretty much standard fare for your average, single university male. Once in side his bathroom, he headed straight for the shower, with only a quick glance in the mirror, seeing a tall, medium built young man with crumpled brown hair on his head, hair which would look he had just gotten out of bed regardless of what he did to it. As he hopped in the shower he contemplated, not only his navel but also the test he had this morning.

Ricky was studying Biology at university, he wasn't exactly sure what he was going to do afterwards but he'd been good at it in high school so he thought he might as well keep studying it. Lymphatic systems and pre-ganglionic fibers facts were running through his brain as he scrubbed himself down. Looking briefly between his legs he considering a morning "absolution" but decided he'd probably function better on the test if he were a bit edgy.

Jumping out of the shower and grabbing his favorite pink fluffy towel, he dried himself off quickly, rapped the towel round his waste and then stepped out of the bathroom. There have been only two more shocked expressions in the world than the one that Ricky made when he saw what was in his room. (One of those was the one made by the guy who "discovered" acid and the other was by a young and cloistered monk who.... well we'll skip that one.)

Standing in the middle of Ricky’s room, staring balefully at him was something out of a nightmare. It looked so horribly out of place he almost couldn't believe it. It was an abomination, an abhorrence of nature, joints which bent at wrong angles, gaping orifices, none of which were located on its head; scales and patches of fur, a spidery simian creature, an indescribable amalgamation of parts. If you saw something like it at the cinema you would not have been able to take your eyes off it, yet seeing it in reality it was hard to focus on, something in it's form made the eyes slide over it, make them not want to see what it was.

It spoke from a beak located in its torso, it sounded like the grave, like a dead thing.

"Did you know? That all those years ago when you were worried about the monster hiding under your bed... I was."

That was when Ricky noticed it was standing on what looked suspiciously like a used condom.

This has to be a joke he thought. This isn't real, this can't be happening... I have a test today!

It stepped forward, crushing a small stuffed animal as it came. This time a mouth on its shoulder spoke.

"Nothing to say dear boy? My name is Baliel and I am the end of your pitiful existence, you should feel grateful really, it's not all of your ilk who are honored to provide the likes of me with such sustenance."

The thing now stood between Ricky and the exit from his room. This was getting out of hand, Ricky thought. This thing looks too real, i don’t' know anyone who works in the movie industry and besides that does not look like a costume. A quick glance around the room revealed the only weapon in reachable distance to be an inflatable baseball bat, that and the fact that he only had a half an hour before his test started, fuck, i really don’t' have time for this.

"Ah look, while i would dearly love to be your...er sustenance, is there any way we could just not and then say that we did?" His voice quavered more than just a little as he said it but he was still relieved his ability to talk his way out of anything was still functioning.

The thing merely laughed, extending a hand to reveal, 6 fingers; all of them ending in a long dark claw which seemed to ooze some bilious substance from the tips of them.

Or maybe it's not he thought. Ok one last try before I start screaming hysterically.

"Say, what are you exactly? You don't look exactly human; I mean you don't seem to have a Johnson or anything that I can see you know...?" This better work Ricky thought.

The thing stopped its slow advance at this. Tilted its head fractionally then threw back its head and laughed.

"My, you're a brave one aren't you? Most of my victims would be gibbering with terror by now. Do you really care about my Johnson as you put it?" a nod was the only reply it got from our intrepid university student.

Again it laughed, "No I’m not human but yes I have sexual organs, much the same as you do, fear not though you are not to my tastes in that regard!"

With that, Ricky knew what he had to do, "Ah look I hate to be a bother but don't you want know why I’m not scared of you? I mean perhaps you've noticed me glancing over your shoulder on occasion now... you might want to take a look" Please be dumb please be dumb, he thought.

The creature, looked suspiciously at its intended victim, and then ever so briefly glanced behind itself. This was the moment Ricky had been waiting for, as soon as it turned its head he ran forward and did the only logical thing to do. He silently blessed all those years of soccer and kicked this creature of the black abyss fair between the legs. It screamed, loud, a piercing, ululating howl of pain and outrage. Ricky didn't stick around to see what happened next, he was out the door of his room quicker then a drug-dealer who just heard a police siren. Racing into his living room he grabbed his wallet and keys then bolted out his front door.

The familiar drab off-white walls of his apartment complex greeted him as he raced for the elevator. He glanced back fearfully at the door to his house as he hit the button for the lift. Well then he thought, on a scale of 1-10 this is seriously fucked up. While looking back at his door to check for pursuit, numerous scenes from horror movies started to flash his through mind. All of them involving elevators and most of them not good. With a not very manly "eep" he decided to take the stairs. Turning around he pushed open the emergency stairwell door and bounding downwards. Ricky lived on the 4th floor of a 6 storey apartment complex. As he ran down the first flight of stairs his feeling of numb shock and disbelief gave way to what is best described as fear. By the time he hit the 2nd flight of stairs he was experiencing a terror the likes of which had driven characters in HP Lovecraft stories to insanity. By the 3rd flight of stairs an inkling of self-satisfaction about the fact that even though he'd just been assaulted and threatened by some strange eldritch boogeyman, a nightmare made to life, he had not only escaped but hurt the damn thing. On the final flight of stairs this inkling of self-satisfaction had given way to an almost overwhelming sense of superiority and damn well near godhood as far as he was concerned. Damn i'm good, he thought as he pushed open the door to the main lobby. With a quick glance around, he headed for the exit.

"Lock yourself out of your house?"

The sudden question elicited a scream from our intrepid hero that would have done any schoolgirl proud and quite successfully banished all his previous posturing of courage and extreme manliness, not to mention that as he turned towards the source of the question (he didn't so much turn as jump and rotate in the one terrified fluid movement) he dropped his towel. To be greeted by the hot brunette girl who lived in his apartment complex. He'd always looked forward to their chance encounters, he knew she lived on the 3rd floor and though she always smiled at him he hadn't worked up the courage to really strike up a conversation with her yet. With a very, very brief glance downwards, she giggled and turned around.

"I didn't mean to scare you, sorry! Uh, have a nice day!" And giggling she made her way out the door of the lobby.

That was fucking awesome, he thought. Picking up his towel (you did remember he was only wearing a towel right?), he came to the conclusion that this must be a dream. This many bad things couldn't possibly happen to me in one day... it had to be cold as well. Amazing he thought I’ve just had an encounter with what may very well have been the devil incarnate and yet somehow… God she’s hot. With a wistful sigh, he made his way to the front door.

Stepping outside into bright early morning sunlight made everything that had just happened even more surreal. It was a beautiful day outside, the breeze was cool and light, the sun warm. Dear lord he thought, he could even hear a bird or two singing. A relatively rare fact considering he lived kind of close to the city. Maybe it was a dream he thought, then looking down at the bath towel still rapped around his waist he thought that also, maybe it wasn’t and he sure as hell was not going back to find out. He still had a test to take and right now he’d do that, he could worry about what was going on back in his apartment later on.