Rot by Richard Coiley

Author:Richard Coiley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Horror
Publisher: Troubador Publishing
Published: 2024-07-28T00:00:00+00:00

Just found one of Toby’s little playthings in the utility room when I was sharing out his portion of our cat food into his bowl. It was a small, common green frog unfortunately, bleeding out and breathing its last at the foot of my disused dryer.

With considerable pain and effort to get down on my knees, I’ve tried to pick it up. Unfortunately, with the helpless frog being too slimy and bloody for me to reliably handle with care, I’ve decided against it. I don’t want to drop it. Anyway, it’s too close to death for me to do anything really, but watch it fade out. Upsettingly, with what little physical contact I did manage to have, I found that it was unnaturally limp, kind of like you’d find with shattered glass in a bag, with the pieces sliding over one another beneath the bag’s skin-like surface. Cats can be so cruel sometimes, it’s horrible.

I think it’s dead now. Curious, I just want to touch it and try to figure out how or why it died. My knees are killing me on these tiles – damn it! Toby’s just scratched the back of my elbow. Why the bloody hell’s he done that? Looking back at him, I can tell something is wrong, his ears and head are low as if he’s scared. I won’t tell him off, it wouldn’t be fair when he looks that anxious; maybe he’s being protective or something?

Pressing as gently as I can on the frog’s moist, patterned skin, it feels disturbingly like every bone in its small, mutilated body’s been, broken. It must have been in agony before it died, poor thing.

I’m uneasy, now. Perhaps it’s the scent of death from this frog, I don’t know. But something’s not right. I’ve learnt, somewhat harshly over recent days, that to merely suspect supernatural involvement, is enough for me to conclude that this kind of psychopathic behaviour is more the work of my demon intruder, than that of my loyal and doting Toby.

The scratches I’ve also noticed on the frog’s body are all wrong for a start. They’re too jagged, like they were done slowly; not to mention that Toby wouldn’t go near the frog when he walked into the utility room with me, choosing instead to hiss fearfully at it. He must have sensed the real culprit immediately, unlike me. But finally, I’m all caught up and like Toby, I know exactly what’s caused this brutal act of cruelty. But that’s probably its point, when I think about it. The entity is showing me that it’s getting stronger, and moreover, that it’s dangerous.

My God – that made me jump! Good grief, how can it still be alive? Its injuries are horrendous. I’ve got to put it out of its misery – it’s the right thing to do. Curious, my hammer’s on top of the dryer; I don’t remember leaving it there.

God, I’m such a fucking amateur – my palms are too sweaty and I keep having

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