A-Mazed

Jack barely even noticed it at first, when he was standing on the bus.

Just a tiny prick of pain on the back of his ankle.

Maybe his socks were worn and the rim of his work shoe had sliced against the skin.

Or maybe the lady sitting behind him had nicked him with the toe of her own shoe.

It didn’t matter because it passed as soon as it started, and the bus rumbled into Jack’s stop.

He clomped up the stairs to his apartment, grabbed a Hot Pocket for “dinner,” and climbed into bed.

The new job was killing him, but the money was good. Jack wondered if he’d be stuck in the rat race forever.

As he drifted off to sleep, sweet Alana from accounting filled his thoughts, and all his worries slipped away.

--

It was pitch black when Jack woke to the sound of scratching.

The clawing was close, and loud. Was it a rat? A raccoon?

A shock of pain shot through the fingers on both hands, and Jack sat bolt upright in the bed.

He turned on the nightstand light and gazed in horror at his bloody fingernails.

The scratching had stopped.

Slowly, Jack turned his head to look at the headboard -- it was covered in deep gouges and smeared with blood.

Fully awake now, Jack could feel the throbbing in his ankle. He threw back the blanket and brought his foot toward his face.

There in the flesh of his ankle were two perfect, slitted teeth marks. The whole foot was swollen and red, fire to the touch.

Gray-brown fur ran up his leg and into his pajama bottoms, and a pink tail curled around from behind his waist.

Jack’s nose twitched involuntarily, and his terrified squeaks echoed into the night.