The Thing

The Thing

I stared at the giant thing, daring it to do something, anything, but alas! it would do nothing but sit stationary, never moving, never blinking. Tensely, I encircled it, eyes straining to catch any sign of movement. When nothing happened, I picked up my stick and prodded it.

Crunkle.

How very strange. Could it perhaps be…? But, no! Such a thing was not possible! Even if it were, the chances of this happening here were… well, slim to none, I supposed.
Risking it all, I approached it, slowly, all muscles tense, all nerves tingling. I was prepared for what ever it would dish out. Steadying my only-slightly-shaky hand, I reached out and grabbed one of its red flakes.

Crunklecrunkle.

With a hoarse cry I fell back, scrambling to get away from it. As I lay there panting, I formulated a plan: I must learn this thing’s secrets, and learn them soon.
I took a deep breath to calm myself, and crept over to the tree behind it. Silently, I climbed the tree. Never would the thing think to find me up here. Of that at least I was certain. After taking another breath, I crept out to the end of a thick branch.
I jumped.

Crunklecrunklecrunklecrunklecrunklecrunkle!!

The thing was swallowing me! It had anticipated my actions! I gasped for breath as I was sucked in to the belly of the thing. Quick, I thought, I must come up with a plan! But plans do not come to the mind readily when one is panicking. I thrashed about in that black-red abyss for what seemed like ages, limbs flailing madly, fingers groping for any sort of hand-hold with which to save myself. All of a sudden, I bottomed out. My head fell into the open air and I felt the ground beneath me, solid and definitely not enclosed in thing-stomach.
I lay on the grass, panting slightly, trying to assemble my thoughts.

Leaves, I concluded.