Eldritch May Cry

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

["Speech Through Technology"]

…

I was currently walking down the street with an imperceptible pep in my step. Not only had I gotten the job, but it also paid well. I could almost start busting a move if only I had a suit on.

As I was about to pass a building and cross the street, I noticed a small hand move. Taking a step back, it was a child, a little girl.

Right in front of where I was supposed to walk, the child tripped. If I had considered the trajectory, that child would have collided with me if I had kept moving.

She didn't land face first but ended up scraping her knees due to the blue dress she was wearing.

She could be in the age range of 8 to 11 and had long blonde hair with blue eyes. Her skin color was white, but she was way less pale than I was.

"Are you alright?" I said as I began to kneel forward to try to help her up. "You should really watch where you're—"

Something's off.

I could feel something click inside me—a full-blown realization, you could say. This girl was dangerous!

As her hand reached for mine, I jumped back, a full-body backward jump that someone would do if they were scared.

From the jump, I gained around three feet of distance. It was impressive, considering I was almost half kneeling and standing still.

Instantly, I got into a half-stance. My legs were ready to carry me away with untold speed as if a big black eldritch monstrosity would be chasing me.

"Um, are you ok, mister?" The little girl slowly began standing up as she spoke, her hand still reaching toward me.

Her face was full of innocence, but I know what I felt. She has to be a creature of some kind.

"Cut the act, bitch." I spat as I brought out the handle of my knife. "I know what you are, luring people into a false sense of security so that you can get a hold of them. Disgusting malformed creature made from biblical proportions of ugliness."

An instant later, the little girl's face had frozen its expression. The innocence displayed no longer shined.

An expression of absolute loathing and disregard for the situation appeared. It was a look no child should have, and I appeared to be the sole focus of it.

"I usually get male and female, mostly males, that want to 'help' me. Of course, most of those humans don't have good intentions when they see a beautiful little girl all alone. Yet, today, it seems my luck has failed me, and I've run into a smarter ape." The little girl spat her words with disgust, lacing her tone.

"Am I supposed to take that as a compliment?" I looked left and right with my eyes in confusion as I spoke.

"You can take it however you wish. In the end, all I need is one interaction, and you die." The little girl grew a smile that wasn't physically possible, as it seemed to nearly split her face.

"Oh, is that right? You could be right." I began slowly pulling my knife from my hoodie. "You may be right, but all I need is one slash, and you're as dead as the last two that tried this!"

At the sight of my weapon, her eyes seemed to squint for a second, but her smile didn't falter.

Both of our bodies tensed, me brandishing my knife while she held her hands outstretched.

Once again, in the next instant, she began the assault by walking awa—

"Wait, what are you doing?" I almost shouted in shock as she began walking away.

"Do you think I'm as stupid as the apes you walk around with?" The girl said as she waved her arms in exasperation. "You have a weapon, and my surprise attack was seen through. I have nothing left to do."

"So you're giving up?" My confusion was so high I couldn't help but feel dumbfounded. "Usually, doesn't your kind fight to the death?"

"What? No. Why would we fight to the death with someone who's obviously prepared for our arrival? We aren't some henchmen in those movies you apes create. Losing your life to an ape like you would be humiliating." The girl said as she moved her hair behind herself with a flick of her hand.

Hiding my knife once again, I saw the little girl walking away. I really thought she would fight me to the death.

"Alright," I said as I began waving my free hand. "See you, jail bait!"

The little girl paused in her tracks and turned a bit. "Fuck you!" She said, her middle finger pointed toward the sky and definitely aimed in my direction.

"Ohh, you wish you could!" I laughed. "Sorry, I like my women tall and with a fat ass."

I saw her face go from a frown to a snarling expression. However, she only turned back around and continued walking on her way.

As I watched her leave, I saw black tendrils come out from under her dress, both of them having eyes on them that stared into my soul.

They squinted at me as if to make sure I knew I was on some list. I simply gave a pose and made an L with my free hand.

Be it my EX Provocation or her walking away, the tendrils disappeared under her dress once more, and I began making my way home.

Internally, I cringed. If anyone saw me at that moment, it would be an adult threatening a little girl with a knife.

I could half-guess that she chose to target me at that moment due to the presence of no one nearby.

'Was it a ward or some type of veil?' I thought as I made my way across a couple of blocks and noticed how many people were walking past all of a sudden.

I really need an eldritch creature guide for dummies.

…

When I got home, I made sure to lock the door. Going up to my room, I searched on my computer for tips and tricks on handling a knife.

I would spend the rest of my time training my knife skills and techniques just in case I fought someone who had fighting experience.

It would suck if I went into a fight and got my ass handed to me because they knew how to handle a knife better than I did.

One of the things I wanted to do first was learn how to spin the knife between my fingers with one hand.

Going from a normal grip to a reverse grip in under a second would increase my survivability massively.

Over the hours I practiced, I would supplement with physical activity whenever my fingers got tired, such as push-ups, sit-ups, squats, and dead hangs from the top of my door frame.

I made sure I put on a sheath that my mother bought long before I transmigrated here. Harming myself would make me feel stupid, especially when trying to be cautious.

Every time I got super tired, I would feel something click inside of me and feel more energized. Was it my 3 a.m. motivation?

Taking off my shirt, now that I was hungry and sweaty, I checked over my body. Even though I was super skinny due to the fact that the other Dante probably never worked out, I swear I could see some definition in my body.

Maybe it was my ego growing and pushing that idea. It didn't matter to me, though. I felt a little normal for once since coming here and smirked to myself.

I decided to try handling the knife one last time. As I tried twirling the knife between my fingers and going from a normal grip to a reverse grip, I dropped the knife.

I still hadn't gotten it down, but I looked at my fingers weirdly. Taking my right hand, I pulled back my left hand's index finger as far as possible.

My eyes widened as I saw how my finger was almost parallel to the back of my palm. I could bend my fingers back quite far, around 150 degrees, but right now, I could bend them almost parallel to my backhand.

It was between 160 and 170 degrees. I felt no pain from going that far either, and as I opened and closed my palm, nothing felt broken.

Grabbing my phone before I went to take a shower, I saw I had a message.

Opening the message, I saw a picture of a restaurant. It was the restaurant I had been to not so long ago. The same restaurant I went to ask to work at.

Once again, I only sent a question mark in return and turned off my phone.

'Did I get a stalker?' I thought as I went to take a shower with caution.