D. MacHale - The Reality Bug

“It could be squirrels,” Mark said hopefully.

More scratching. Whatever it was, it was moving quickly back and forth on the porch.

“Or birds,” Courtney offered.

“Or… quigs.”

Courtney laughed nervously. “Don’t even joke-” Smash! Smash! Smash!

Three windows shattered as black quig dogs came crashing into the house.

“C’mon!” Courtney grabbed Mark’s hand and they ran up the stairs. The quigs were slightly dazed by the hammering their heads just took, and it gave Mark and Courtney enough time to make it to the top. But a second later the quigs had their wits back, sniffed the air, and charged up the stairs after them.

Mark and Courtney sprinted along the hallway, not sure where to go.

“The window at the end!” Mark shouted.

“We’ll never make it,” Courtney yelled, and pulled Mark into one of the empty bedrooms. They quickly closed the door. There were two other doors in the room. They were the doors that led to the adjoining bedrooms.

“Close those doors!” Courtney ordered.

They each ran to one of the doors and closed it.

“We’re dead,” Mark said.

Courtney ran for the window. She tried to lift it up, but it had been closed for years and wouldn’t budge.

Mark then noticed something. “Look,” he said, holding his hand up. His ring had stopped glowing.

“Not now, Mark. Wait here,” she said, and ran to the other door that led to an adjoining room.

“Where are you going?”

Slam!

The quigs had found them. They were trying to batter down the door Mark had just closed. Mark leaned against it to keep them out. He could hear their angry growling.

“Get ready to open that door” Courtney ordered, and ran out of the room.

“What?” Mark screamed in shock. There was no way he was opening the door.

Courtney moved quickly and quietly through the next bedroom and poked her head out into the hallway. It was empty. She could hear the sound of the quigs slamming themselves against the door that Mark was holding shut.

“Hey!” she shouted. “Devil dogs! Suppertime! Come and get it!”

The banging stopped. Suddenly all three quigs came charging out of the far bedroom and into the hallway, headed for her.

“Psyche” she shouted, and ducked back into the bedroom. She then sprinted through the room and back into the bedroom where Mark was. She didn’t close the door behind her either.

Mark yelled, “Close the door!”

“No!” Courtney shouted. “Open yours!”

Mark hesitated. He didn’t know the quigs had left. But it was clear that Courtney wasn’t stopping. If he didn’t open the door, she’d run right into it. So he swallowed hard and pulled it open. It wasn’t a second too soon, because Courtney blasted through at full throttle.

“Close it behind you!” she shouted.

Mark didn’t know what she was doing, until he looked back and saw the three quigs flying toward him, through the bedroom. They had come through the door Courtney left open. Mark jumped out the door and pulled it closed as… slam slam slam! All three quigs hit the door. Now Mark and the quigs were on opposite sides from where they had been a few moments before. He still had no idea what Courtney was doing.

Courtney never stopped running. She turned into the hallway and sprinted along the same route the quigs had just taken after her. She knew that either her plan was going to work, or she was about to serve herself up for lunch. She ran into the third bedroom and ran toward the connecting door that led back to the second bedroom. Her plan was to lock them inside.

The quigs had figured it out. They stopped trying to beat down the door, and turned back for the door they had just entered through. But Courtney was too fast. She reached inside the room, grabbed the doorknob, said, “G’night kids!” and slammed the door closed, trapping the quigs in the bedroom. Again the quigs slammed at the door in a blood rage.

Mark poked his head into the room. “Can we go now?” he asked.

The two of them ran back along the hallway and hurried down the stairs. They were just about to exit through the broken window when Mark stopped.

“Look!” he exclaimed and held up his hand. His ring was glowing again. “Whatever it is, it’s down here. Or down there” he said as he pointed at the door to the basement.

“Forget it! Those dogs are-“

Mark wasn’t listening. He ran to the basement door and opened it. Sure enough, the symbol on his ring glowed even brighter.

“It’s down there!”

“If the quigs get out, we’ll be trapped,” Courtney warned. Too late. Mark was already headed down the stairs. Courtney ran right after him. She made sure to close the door behind her this time, just in case.

The large basement didn’t look minutes before, except for one thing: Mark’s ring was blasting out light as if it were alive. “This is it!” Mark declared.

“There’s nothing here,” Courtney exclaimed. “We looked behind every door!”

A horrifying sound came from above. It was the sound of the quigs running down the stairs from the second floor. They had gotten out of the bedroom. Mark and Courtney looked up in fear. Mark was about to say something, but Courtney held her hand over his mouth. She put her fingers to her lips for him to “Shhhh.” They didn’t move. They didn’t make a sound. They thought that with any luck, the quigs wouldn’t find them.

Slam!

No such luck. The quigs found them and were trying to batter down the door.

“We gotta find a way out,” Courtney said with a shaky voice.

“No,” Mark yelled back. “We gotta find out what’s down here.” Mark looked around. He went to the door that led to the wine cellar and threw it open.

Slam! Slam!

The quigs threw themselves at the basement door with a horrifying fury. They seemed even more out of control than before.

“They know we’re close,” Mark said. “They don’t want us to find it.”

Courtney saw something they hadn’t noticed before. A raggy curtain was hanging on the wall, covering it from ceiling to floor. Courtney pushed it aside to find another door. She quickly pulled it open and shouted for joy. Daylight flooded into the basement.

“Yes! It’s the way out! Mark, c’mon!”

Mark ignored her. He threw open the door to the workshop, but nothing was out of the ordinary.

“Mark, c’mon!” Courtney yelled.

Crunch!

The basement door was starting to splinter. A few more shots and it would come down… and so would the quigs. “Mark!” Courtney cried.

Mark wasn’t going to run. Not now. Not when they were so close. He was about to open the next door, the one that led to the root cellar, when he felt something strange. He looked down at his hand, then grimaced in pain.

“Ahhhhr

Courtney ran to him. “What’s the matter?” CRASH!

The wooden basement door gave way and clattered down the stairs. The quigs were on their way.

“It’s burning hot!” Mark yelled, and pulled off his ring.

Courtney turned to see the quigs had begun their final, fatal charge. “This is gonna hurt” was all she could say.

Mark threw the burning ring onto the floor. Instantly a high-pitched sound came from it. It wasn’t a painful sound; it was more like a jumble of high musical notes that were all being played at the same time.

Courtney grabbed Mark. Mark grabbed Courtney. The two turned to face the charging quigs to see…

They had stopped. The three beastly dogs, their yellow eyes still intensely focused, had stopped. They twisted their heads as if the strange sound were irritating them. A second later the three dogs turned and ran back up the stairs, tails between their legs, whining in fear.