In The Jaws of the Hewkonto
I awoke in a bed different from my own. Instead of my simple white sheets and red blanket, I was in a brown and leather bed. There was no blanket in sight. I was wearing what I had on last night. It was a simple black T Shirt and jeans. My long raven hair tumbled back behind me as I rubbed my dry and tired eyes. I gazed around the room but it was pitch black. Like “You can’t see your hands in front of your face black.” Well, I guess that’s not entirely true. The red gleam of my painted nails was visible to a degree. That alone was no help as I couldn’t see anything else.
Maybe I could use my other five senses. All I could smell was musk and dust. I couldn’t hear anything other than my own breathing and my loud heartbeat. I felt leather under me, yet nothing was holding me down. I didn’t even think about nor want to try and use taste. As a 16 year old girl, numerous horrible thoughts raced through my mind about where I was and why I was there. Some  psychopathic creep, a human trafficking ring, or maybe just an obsessed class mate who wanted nothing but a chance with me. We all know those types of people.
An answer however never came as I sat and sat and nothing happened. I finally decided to get up and walk around.  what is the worst that could happen? I shot up and trotted around the room. The floor was a cold stone and it sent a shiver up my bare feet. I shuttered. Tip toeing around the pitch black room, I felt along the cold stone wall until I felt the wiry texture of a screen. I pushed and a small glimmer of light illuminated the room. The door was unlocked.
Whoever had put me in this room obviously, didn’t want me to stay in this room. Or maybe they just weren’t very smart. The lack of restraints and unlocked door made me weary to leave. I felt like someone… or something wanted me to. I couldn’t stay in here forever though. I would eventually starve or die of thirst. I also wasn’t too fond of dyeing without answers. How did I even get here? All I remember before waking up here was sitting on the couch watching some 4:00 AM TV. I had to figure out why I was here. I slowly pushed open the door and saw a stone hallway with extremely ancient looking light bulbs loosely hanging from the ceiling. The hallway was a labyrinth with twists and turns as far as the Eye could see.
    This was crazy. “This has to be a dream!” A voice in my head screamed. I tried pinching myself, hitting myself, and forcing myself awake several times. Nothing. I tip toed on the cold dusty floor, lazily stumbling around until I got to the first turn. I tried turning the corner but stopped as my head bumped into the wall. It was glass? No it wasn’t. It was completely see through. An invisible wall. Saying this was strange would be like saying the Pompeii disaster was hot. That is to say, it was quite the understatement. But it wasn’t like there was anything I could do at the moment. I continued forward ever so afraid and confused. I tried to turn the next corner and…. It worked. The door was a clean wooden door with a golden nob. I opened it. I had no idea on what was on the other side.
You may imagine my surprise as I ended up in a child’s room. It was pastel pink and full on typical young girl stuff. Pink Teddy bears, doll houses, flowers, ext. I saw a sleeping girl in the bed. I walked over with apprehension. I have seen enough horror movies to know not to trust children in these situations. The little girl stirred and I looked down at the raven haired pale figure. She had soft eyelashes and pastel lips. It was… me! Or a six year old version of me. She was sleeping peacefully. I smiled. Part of me missed those days. I played with my own hair and laughed. “Enjoy it well you can honey. Child hood only lasts so long…” I reminisced for a few moments on Child hood memories. That became short-lived however as I saw a pair of brilliant pastel lavender eyes glaring at me through the window. The eyes were small, beady, and pricing. They were staring intently at my child self. I stumbled back as the horror of my situation returned and hit me like a truck.
They eyes blinked and began glow with even brighter radiance. They flashed as a twisted collection of yellow nail like teeth. A slick, oily, black tongue licked the teeth like a dog. I got up and ran. I slammed the door behind me with haste and gasped and sighed, sweat pouring from my head like a water fall.
“What the heck was that thing?” Raced through my mind. This was too weird for me. This had to be a weird nightmare. That creature. That thing! It was watching me sleep when I was younger. I sat and thought awhile. Eventually after weighing what I could do I realized there was only one option. I had to keep wondering through this maze and find a way out.
I walked on dustier floor through more hallways. I wasn’t finding any other doors, just multiple twists and turns. I eventually came to a cross road. One hallway was like all the other ones I had been venturing through. However, the other one had a trail of broken blue glass that lead to a white bedroom door. This was different… but since it was different it had to lead to something. Anything! Maybe an answer. I slowly opened the door to find… myself once again. This time I was 10 years old. I was sitting on the bed reading a book called Zach Desota. I always loved that one. Soon my mom came into the room with infernal furry. Neither my mother nor my younger self could see nor hear me. I figured this out after my mom walked right through my modern self without me feeling a thing.
“How many times to I have to tell you to clean this room!” My mom said sternly. I looked around at the mess. It did need a decent cleaning however my younger self didn’t seem to think so as she ignored my mother’s lecture. My mother was never a person to get majorly angry but I had an attitude at that age. I kept ignoring her. “DO NOT IGNORE ME YOUNG LADY! DO YOU REALIZE HOW HARD I WORK TO KEEP THIS HOUSE CLEAN?” My mom hollered. My younger self snorted
“It looks fine to me. Now stop bossing me around you witch!” My mom’s face grew red and she ripped the book out of my hand.
“WITCH!” She then ripped the book out of my clutches and through it. My younger self had this terrified look. I forgot how traumatic this moment was. The book hit my favorite blue flower vase with all of my prized roses. The one I made in school. It shattered, and so did my younger self’s heart. She began crying and wailing hard. My mom turned as pale as a ghost and left the room.
I sat by my younger self and just observed. I remembered how I felt in that moment. Powerless, Angry, guilty. A mixture of different negative emotions that were the same do to the fact they hurt.” My mom did work hard, but she didn’t need to be that drastic. She could have taken the book away, not thrown it and breaking my beloved vase in the process. I was much calmer reliving this memory than I was when it actually had happened. I patted myself on the back and was about to say something comforting. I knew she couldn’t hear me, but I felt the need to. However, as I opened my mouth the corner of my eye caught a lavender glimmer in the closet. Two pricing, beady, bright eyes flashed. The Jagged, rotting, dead teeth of the creature appeared as a black and dripping tongue lulled out of the teeth. It had a much more discernable face this time I saw a white circle riddled with red marks and purple scars. The being’s nose was broken and bent at weird angles. Its ears were ripped and looked like they had been chewed on for days. Yellow liquid oozed out of them. Its nostrils flared as it cackled a terrible cacophony of ear splitting noises.
“H-HE-HELLO!” It screeched as 3 long and rusty knives shot out from the darkness.
I screamed and ran out of the room slamming the door and bolting down the other hallway. My thoughts pounded against the side of my head. “WHAT IS IT!?! WHY DOES IT KEEP APPARING IN MY PAST MOMENTS!?! WHAT DOES IT WANT WITH ME!?!” I had no time to think as I slammed my head against a green class room door. I fell back. For a while I just laid there disorientated, sick, and confused. I  wanted this all to end. I soon came to the conclusion that I couldn’t lie there forever and, I got up and saw the door. It was green. It read “Room 208.” There were wreed of black rose pedals. A card board broken heart was in the middle of it. I knew two things. 1. If I go in hear I will meet the creature again. 2. It is either that or wonder around in this strange musty and cold place forever. I honestly debated between dying of thirst and starvation, and letting that thing do what it wanted to me. But I wasn’t gonna get any ware standing there.
Eventually curiosity won over and I opened the door with a heavy, drowning, horrified feeling. It was a classroom with broken wooden desks. Dusty windows and dim lights made it difficult to get a clear picture of the room as a whole. There was me… again. This version of me was 14. She had mascara running down her face, and her fancy amber dress was crinkled. I remembered this moment clearer than any of the other ones. My first break up. I thought Devan was gonna be my husband. In middle school I had been going through some hard times, but the light he was destroyed the darkness that had consumed me. My depression was no more. It had been lifted by Devan. He was the perfect light skinned, brown haired, blue-eyed boy. He wasn’t necessarily a jock, but he was still cool. Well, he was cool to me at leastr. He would cuddle me in his leather jacket and tell me it would all be ok. He would tell me that I am a Queen. A Goddess! He would tell me that I was perfect… and I believed it… for 4 months. He stole my heart, then crushed it. Crushed it like a rat getting run over slowly by a truck. He left me for another girl! Another girl who didn’t EVEN GO TO UR SCHOOL!
I didn’t want to be in that room. I haven’t been able to find a boyfriend since then. No one else would accept me like he did. Some have tried, but it was never the same.  However, Devan wasn’t here. I arrived just after he said those two sharp words. “We’re done.” I turned around to leave. Then he returned. From a broken ceiling tile he sprung onto the ground. I saw all of it this time… I saw all of him. He had an old top hat that was covered in stitches and patch work. Moths were flying around the holes in swarms. He adorned his white festering face, but it was different this time around. The wounds were more visible. Dark green oozing holes were pulsating. His eyes were glowing so bright with a sick lavender that made it impossible to look directly at him.
His teeth oozed slobber and his tongue was pitch black. What looked like oil dripped from the long appendage as he wrapped it around his hat, pulling the hat of with his tongue and bowing. He had a bent and arched back. He was wearing an extremely ripped navy blue cloak… or was it a trench coat? I couldn’t exactly tell. He had loose and stringy arms the length of golf clubs. His feet were simply two pulsating, festering, mushroom and insect infested monkey feet. His hands and horrendous feet both had 3 long rusty knives attached to each. Wait a minute. Those weren’t knives… they were claws. 
He licked his teeth and cackled the ear-splitting noises again. “Who are you!?!” I asked. It was the only thing I could choke out. The screeched screeched in a voice like screws in blender and dying chipmunks.
“I AM THE HEWKONTO!” He laughed as it stretched out its long arms; its eyes flashing like strobe lights. “I AM HUNGRY! I HAVE BEEN WATCHING YOU FROM A YOUNG AGE!  EVERY SINGLE PAINFUL MEMORY AND BAD EVENT WAS JUST ME SALTING AND SEASONING YOU UP FOR WHEN I EAT YOU! HAHAAHA!” I remembered. Even after the first memory, it made sense. My dog died when I was six. That must have been the night before the first memory. “YOU ARE IN MY LAIR; I WANTED YOU TO KNOW MY PROCESS OF HOW I PREPARE MY FOOD! I FIGURED IT WOULD FILL YOU WITH EVEN MORE FEAR AND DREAD. EVEN MORE AGNER AND SADNESS! EVEN MORE NEGATIVITY! I WANT TO FEED NOW!” It grew wiry black crow wings and lunged at me.
I ran and tried to dodge it. I struggled with the horrible monstrosity as it wrestled me to the floor. I felt the claws slice me. It stung like lemon juice on a paper cut. I was not afraid though. I was mad. Infuriated in fact. This thing… The “Hewkonto” As he called himself. He had caused every bad thing in my life. My dog dying, my mom breaking my vase, and my boyfriend breaking up with me! Did he cause bad things to others to? That made me even madder. This was it. I struggled and wriggled. I squirmed the best I could, but he wrapped his wet tongue around my neck. It squeezed and my air ways felt paralyzed and I could no longer breathe or move. But then I remembered. The eyes! The eyes! They were glowing. In video games, movies, TV shows, even comic books the glowing spot is always the weakness. I didn’t know if it would work but it was the best option I had. There was a piece of broken glass from my vase stuck to my jeans. I took it off and a second before things got blurry and I could no longer breathe as I jammed it into his right eye. He screeched a noise that was so high and gargled I was sure no human could describe it. My left ear became deaf as the sound of heavy TV static on steroids plus a million filled my ears. He fell back as a purple paint like substance oozed from his eye.
“YOU ARE GOING TO PAY FOR THAT! I- I- I CAN STILL SEE!” He curled around as his entire body shook violently. His nose sprayed out red smoke that smelled like rotting deer carcass as his other eye became the brightest red I ever saw. It flashed between red and a faded, empty, barren black many times as he rushed at me and tried to kick me with his gleaming clawed foot. He was still attacking me, but was being much more erratic and basically scratching at the air. He hissed like a snake getting ripped in half and lunged all his claws at me! They ripped my skin as my wounds opened up. I was in searing pain but I had one as a shoved the glass into his left eye. He spun around and fell on the ground. He rolled around howling like a distorted mega phone. He started melting and becoming yellow sand.
“WHY! WHY! WHY! DO NOT THINK I HAVE BEEN DEFEATED! THIS IS NOT THE END! I’LL BE HUNGRY! BUT I WILL BE BACK! I WILL COME FOR YOU! TH- THAN YOU’LL TASTE EVEN BETTER! MY PRAY NEVER GETS AWAY!” He Than dissolved into yellow sand. With a flash I was back on the couch. I-It couldn’t have been a dream. I was back. I- I. I won. All of my wounds were gone. I didn’t sleep for the rest of the night. I just tried to forget it. It has been a year since that day and I have not gone back to that place or ever seen that creature again. Not even in my dreams. However, every now and then when something bad happens, Even the bad thing it is a minor inconvenience, I see a glimmer of lavender and pastel light in in the corner of my eye.