Prompt: Glass (Though a few of the others kinda snuck in there lol)

Final Word Count: 3,179

“Nothing but decay,” was the main thought of Lucas as he leaned his head against the back window of an Uber, staring out of it. The trees this time of year were bare, like clawing arms reaching for the cloudy skies trying to free the sun. The day mirrored Lucas’ feelings: he was conflicted, wanting to be free of his family since nothing great came from them; however Lucas had firmly left that baggage on his parents' doorstep, the night he struck out on his own.

The move was rough, but he found comfort without them for the longest time. It wasn’t until recently, though, that things had changed; money was coming in short, and the rent was becoming completely absurd. His work-from-home job wouldn’t let him keep his current place, and as much as he’d been wanting to avoid it, Lucas begrudgingly opened a letter he wasn’t interested in responding to. His great uncle had passed away, and to his surprise he was left in the will. A generous inheritance, as well as a place to stay– the last home his Great Uncle ever knew. Lucas saw that money wouldn’t last with his current apartment, so, biting the bullet, there he was in an Uber.

The winding roads and the dismal atmosphere outside the car window didn’t help him feel any better. He felt like his chest was going to burst, but he had no real choice in this; a shortcut to something better rarely comes in life. As much as he disliked this chance (thanks to his blood ties), he was hoping things wouldn’t escalate with his relatives as a result of taking it. The drive took a while. His uncle's home was secluded, and Lucas didn’t carry his CD collection in his backpack for nothing. Reaching into the bag, he pulled out his calming mixtape, and clicked it into the tray of his Diskman. Lucas lost himself in the soft music, and the chill of the window touching his forehead. He began to fall into a nap. The rest of the ride had been straightforward, and Lucas awoke as soon as the driver pulled a stop.

He didn’t know what to expect from the house, but the sight of what turned out to be an older yet modest looking summer home gave him pause, much to the annoyance of his Uber Driver. The Driver exaggerated an annoyed, throat-clearing cough to get Lucas’ attention. The sound snapped him out of the stupor, and he got flustered over his minisode. Lucas winced and skipped on giving the Driver a tip–it was bad form, but even with the inheritance, he didn’t have a lot of money to spare at the moment. Thanking the driver, he got out of the car, which zoomed off once he got his bags.

Now alone, Lucas stared at the house. While not the mansion he anticipated, it was a decently sized property with a lot of land attached to it. Hibernating trees dotted the grounds, and a small, placid, soon-to-be-frozen lake pooled near the center of the clearing. The old house was a little to the right of the measly pool. Lucas dragged his luggage through the dying grass, hoping that the will’s executor left the key in the mailbox, as promised. There was no need to fool him, “an abandoned home like this is most likely haunted,” he joked to himself, as he got to the porch.

Right next to the front door was a generic, tin mailbox. Reaching inside, Lucas grabbed and pulled out an aged brass key, and in one motion, plunged the worn key into the lock. The rustic front door moaned and creaked as it opened into a dark foyer. Lucas stepped inside and instinctively reached for a light switch, finding one to his left, and flipped it on. Instantly, the room was filled with a yellow glare, revealing the foyer to be a part of a larger, main room. To the right was the kitchen and a staircase, and to the left was the living area.

Unexpectedly, the rooms were well-furnished; old yet functional chairs and lounging seats were in place–there was even decor. Glassworks lined the corners and shelves almost everywhere in the front rooms. Vases and sculptures of different sizes and tints lit up the walls like prisms diffusing light. Tacky as they may have been, Lucas kind of liked the weird ways the light bent around the glass artwork; it was different.

Leaving his shoes at the door, he pulled his bags inside and settled them against a wall, close to the door. He took the suitcase that carried his clothes and his backpack with him first. To the right of the door was a short staircase. The open layout from the main room into the kitchen meant that the bedroom had to be upstairs.

Lucas carried himself up the noisy, creaking stairs, bags in tow. It wouldn’t take him long to put away his things, once he found his bedroom. Upon reaching the top, he was met with a darkened hallway. The light switch downstairs had no control of the lights up there. Again, he felt the wall and found the switch for the hall light and flipped it as soon as he could.

However–there was a sound of a zap followed by a loud pop as the lightbulb exploded in the socket! The sound caused Lucas to jump, and the room stayed as dark as a cave.

“The wiring must be shoddy, no surprises there.”

An old house like this was bound for that, but as long as no fires started, Lucas could live without a light in the upstairs hallway. Thankfully, the broken shards of the bulb were contained by an opaque fixture; it would have been bad if any fell on him. Despite being dark upstairs, the lights shining from downstairs helped a bit. Lucas was able to identify three doors: one on the left, two on the right. Seeing as there was only one on the left, that was the first pick. Lucas gripped the doorknob and with an attempt to twist, found it to be locked. He had a key, but didn’t know if all the doors in the house worked with it.

“Nothing hurts to try.”

He went for the key in his pocket and brought it to the lock. Shifting it around, there was no click. Lucas looked at the lock and key confused–surely this had to work, seeing it was the only key that was left, but by practice it wasn’t for this door. Hopefully he wasn’t barred from a room, that would be inconvenient, moreso than a busted lightbulb.

He considered calling a locksmith during the week to get that door open, considering it especially if the other rooms were locked just the same, as he checked those doors, too. First up, the door across from the locked one. Upon inspection, there was no lock, and turning the knob opened it, revealing a dark bathroom.

“Good thing I found this;” the ride was long and he really had to take a piss… once he got his bags settled, of course.

Onto the final door, and like the bathroom, this one was unlocked. Inside was the bedroom Lucas was looking for. Placing his stuff on the bed before flicking the lights on (which thankfully didn’t explode like the previous bulb), he walked out, toward the bathroom. The bedroom, like the floor below, was filled with an almost endless amount of glasswork. There wasn’t even a TV!

It didn’t matter much, as Lucas had a more important matter to attend to. Making a short dash into the bathroom, he didn’t notice until it was time to wash his hands, that the mirror was completely covered by small curtains. While it was odd, Lucas didn’t think much of it. He wasn’t one to look at his own reflection. It was when he opened said curtains that he noticed something odd. For a moment, he swore he saw something in the reflection, before it jetted off. Looking closely, nothing was there. He took a moment to think, before going to get his glasses from his backpack.

Putting them on, he ran back to the bathroom, and as he did, again something looked as if it flew down the stairs. No time to think, he dashed past the bathroom and down the stairs–could it be an intruder? –a squatter, perhaps? Nothing immediately was evident at the foot of the stairs.

On edge, Lucas crept back up to the dark, upstairs hallway and towards the bathroom. Checking in the mirror again, there was still nothing in the spot from before, not even a smudge. He backed away from the mirror and decided it might just be time to check in on work stuff. He grabbed a few things–his laptop, smartphone, Diskman and a few CD’s–this was certainly going to be an evening of some kind.

Lucas decided to settle down in the living room for the moment. Taking a seat on a vintage sofa, he placed his laptop on an ottoman in front of him, next to it his Diskman and CD stack. Just as he set his phone aside, he looked ahead at the old television and froze.

In the reflection, standing right near the kitchen area, was something strange. Hard to tell what it was from the color and size of the screen, he looked down at his computer, which was still off. The reflection was the same as the TV’s, except the strange being wasn’t in it. Lucas slowly reached for his phone, and in its small reflection he saw the figure, too, but from a different angle! He looked ahead again. It was on the TV, and not on the computer!

“Why is it only on the TV and my phone?”

He didn’t know if he should call the police, they’d probably think he was a  hermit crackpot. Lucas briefly levied his options, however on instinct he jumped from his seat, and turned around to confront–the being!! What he saw made his blood run cold.

Slouching a shoulder to one side, this inhuman creature gazed into Lucas’ eyes, somehow, despite appearing to have none of its own. The face of the beast looked like an unknown animal, half decayed, exposing its sharp, rotting teeth, and the sinuous flesh that still held the jaws together. Its body was a contradiction: frail, yet muscled. Its desiccated hide was covered in scars and open gashes, which dribbled a nauseating coagulation of blood and pus. What pores and orifices that didn’t excrete the array of body fluids leaked a thick, black, necrotic ooze, blending between obsidian spines that jutted from its back and shoulders. A long arm reached the floor from its highest shoulder, with six clawed digits suitable for rending flesh from bone. Its other arm was curled up and pressed against its chest, as if injured.

Lucas was frozen, at the sight of such a beast–how anything like it could even exist, and in such a state of decay… he couldn’t parse. The creature let off no scents or sounds. It just stood there, breathing,  its upper body expanding and contracting with each deep, silent breath. It limply raised its lowered claw, and with the sound of cracking glass–it was gone in an instant!

Lucas stood in shock at the sudden disappearance of the creature, brought back to reality by sharp pains in his face and left hand. Quickly glancing down, his phone screen had shattered, and the shards had cut into his hand! The lenses in his glasses, too, had completely broken, save for a few jagged shards that still clung to the thin frames. It was miraculous that none of the pieces went in his eye, but from the wet feeling around them, he was definitely bleeding.

There was a huge crackling sound followed by a loud boom, as the television screen exploded behind him, sending glass shards everywhere! Lucas jumped, and then ducked when he heard the glass decorations around him begin to burst one by one, their kaleidoscopic effect dissipating as each one broke into sharp jagged shards. Lucas, on the ground, knew he had to get away from this.

He grabbed his Diskman and CD’s and threw them in the direction of where he last saw the creature. His makeshift projectiles clattered to the floor with no effect on the exploding glass. He then scrambled towards the kitchen on all fours, where he would be unaffected by the popping ornaments.

The light fixtures on the walls and ceiling  burst behind him as he nearly skidded into the kitchen table. Lucas stood up and went for the window, and when he pulled open the curtains he was met with a perfect reflection; there was no window–it was a mirror! Lucas gritted his teeth at the sight. The glass began to crack, as the creature limped up behind him in the reflection. He turned, but saw that nothing was actually there!

The appliances around the kitchen began to violently quake as their glass components ruptured, so Lucas ran towards the stairs to avoid the sharp glass near the front door. With his bloody hand and face, leaving now would guarantee infection in the wilderness. He needed to get inside that locked room…whatever was happening had to be related to it.

When Lucas made it upstairs, he felt a sharp pain in his foot. The fixture above must’ve burst during the creature’s initial surprise. Nearly slipping on broken glass and his own blood, he made it to the locked door. All Lucas could do was pound on the aged wood, in the hopes it would give way. He wasn’t physically strong, but putting all his energy into his hits, the door buckled! Lucas fought through the pain in his left hand as he punched a hole straight through the door, big enough to turn the knob from the other side.

He got in and was met with another dark room, this time: a study. Catching his breath and flicking the light switch, Lucas saw diagrams everywhere, graphs about profit margins, glass production charts, and factory blueprints. On the desk in front of him was an open journal, signed and left there by his great uncle. Lucas pounced on the book, and tore through the pages trying to find anything that could help.

The journal wove a tale of greed and hardship during a bad time in the market, when his uncle, the owner of a glass blowing factory, stole materials from an abandoned priory. The first creation was so beautiful, he kept it for himself in the attic of his former home. When accidents began killing his hired staff, he fired everyone, sold off the manor, and fled to this property; his favorite decoration was set up in the new attic just like before.

Lucas was fuming.

“What could he be talking about!? What house like this size even has an atti–..”

In his anger, he looked up… and saw a hatch in the ceiling, shutting him up. Lucas threw the book aside and went for the hatch door in the ceiling. Yanking it open revealed a sliding ladder, which opened on its own. As Lucas clambered up into the attic, downstairs there was a stir in the scattered glass left by all the explosive destruction.

Particulates and shards were swept up, coming together in a glittering whirlwind, the pieces shaping a body. Mirrored claws on six-digit hands, large shards jutting out of the shape’s back and shoulders like spines, and sharp teeth in a jagged mockup of the creature's animalistic face. It was slow, fragile, and still on the hunt for Lucas.

The attic was dark and musty. Dust flew inside Lucas' nostrils, which made him gag. Something was up here that brought the creature to the house, and his only sensible option was to find it and break it. Lucas didn’t know what that would do, but it was better than dying here. There were no lights in there, just the glow coming up from the entry hatch. He felt around in the dark for anything recognizable, and soon touched a smooth, glassy surface. His left hand still hurt from the cuts, but he grabbed the object as urgently as he could, and slammed it on the floor where it shattered to pieces. Nothing seemed to happen when it broke, so he felt around again until he came upon another similar-feeling object. He pushed it off of what surface it was set on. Once it crashed to the ground, he then heard clangs of glass downstairs. The creature was active, and it sounded like it was coming in his direction. He had to work faster! He continuously smashed everything he could find, and as he did, the clangs downstairs drew nearer. Light began to fill the attic from above. Nothing he broke was stopping the creature–until he saw it: something tall, covered by an old tarp, illuminated by the new light.

Lucas removed the tarp, revealing an ornate, decorative mirror, which looked just as old as the house itself. Glass footsteps were upon him–through the mirror he saw the glass beast clawing its way up through the hatch. Lucas put all of his force into pushing the mirror over, and once it hit the ground in a crash he began to stomp on it with no abandon, until his good foot was bloody and the mirror lay in pieces.

The creature was still unfazed and towered over Lucas, who fell on what was left of the mirror. Lucas lay in the remains of the mirror, now at the mercy of the glass beast. He stared up at the monstrous thing, his reflection looking back in the mirrored pieces, shards dropping from its mouth, as if to drool.

Light engulfed the beast as it raised a single claw, ready to strike, when Lucas finally saw the window above: a delicately-crafted piece of stained glass. Many colors and shapes of different sizes filled each pane in a collage of light, as the sun ticked by in the sky. It was a beautiful sight to behold, and a pity it would be his last.

He saw the colors and shapes of the stained glass come together, forming something familiar to him; dark spikes here, mixtures of red and yellow the shape of the crooked shoulders…

Lucas chuckled, and as the glass claw reached its apex, he grabbed a piece of the mirror's frame from the floor, and with what was left of his adrenaline, he threw it. The glass in the window broke with a loud wail, light and cool air came through the aperture, and in the same beat, the glass beast collapsed. Its horrendous, jagged shape, now a broken pile of glass particulates, wisped away in the wind. Lucas sat in the cool breeze, laughing with hysteria and cheering, raising his fists in victory; it was at that moment he was left shattered.