Characters: Tatum and NPC
Setting: Monday night/Tuesday morning, Tatum and Bekka's dorm room
Content: SFW just a little on the OMG side
Summary: Tatum wakes up to an unexpected visitor.



Tatum felt surprisingly exhausted since coming back from break, considering she had only gone to half of her classes. She had taken a half day, feeling too tired after spending the lunch period in her room, smoking idly and trying to decide on if she really wanted to go to her afternoon classes. In the end, she had decided not to, and had spent hours laying around instead.

By the time that dinner rolled around, hours of slouching in a desk chair and smoking later, she was even more worn out. She decided to go to bed early, that would solve things. She’d go to bed early, and get an early start tomorrow. Today’s classes had probably just been boring introduction to post-exam chapters in their text books. Tomorrow would be more difficult, and she’d just rest up for that instead.

Heading back to her room right after eating, it was barely even dark outside before she was turning into bed, tucked half way and propped against the headboard as she lit up a joint. Once that was done and she had cast a few quick charms to put the room back to a less smoggy state, she was practically asleep before her head even hit the pillow.

She didn’t stir again until half past three, jolting awake suddenly, and feeling clammy all over. She had a vague recollection of the dream she had just been having, details quickly escaping her in her still half asleep state. Kicking the covers off of herself, she swung her legs to the side and sat up completely. One glance at the clock on her desk confirmed the time, and she groaned inwardly.

She turned away from the time and slumped back more comfortably into the bed, pulling just her sheet up over herself and tightly closing her eyes, willing herself back to sleep. But there was something nagging at her, a weird feeling, and she couldn’t suppress a little shiver. She didn’t know why, but she suddenly felt chilled.

When she had been little, she used to freak herself out by thinking about what could be happening in her room while her eyes were closed. She had used to hide herself under the blankets, and lay perfectly still and perfectly straight backed, all but holding her breathe. If she stayed still and hid under the blankets, whatever was in the room would just leave her alone, or at least that was the plan.

She couldn’t put her finger on why, but that feeling was taking her over again. All of a sudden, she just didn’t really want to open her eyes, or even move a muscle. She just laid there, hoping to fall back asleep until it at least wasn’t so dark in there.

* * *

From the way that the wind was moving through the trees outside, there might have been a storm on the horizon. The branches moved back and forth, sometimes creating shadows within shadows, making the light of the moon sometimes play against the walls and beds of the dormitories.

There were many things asleep on the campus that night. Students and faculty, certainly, though there were a few of each of those that were still awake for one reason or another. The local fauna mostly slumbered as well, except for those that were more active at night. A possum scurried its way across the commons, for example, on its way to dinner of some form. But for the most part, the campus was quiet and peaceful.

One if its inhabitants was doing what she did every night. Making the rounds, as she called them. She looked in on a few students, sang to some, just watched others as they slept. She looked at the things around them, studied their strewn about clothing and odd assortment of accessories. She marveled at some of the things that they had around them as they slept, and at what they chose to adorn their bodies as they rested - or chose not to wear.

When this one stirred, she stayed stock still, not wanting to scare the female. She knew that she would be difficult to see from her vantage point, but it never hurt to be cautious. She never should have started humming, and she had known that as she started, but she couldn’t help it. The small female had looked somewhat troubled and she had tried her best to be soothing.

Perhaps though... perhaps it would be best to withdraw for now. Coming to that conclusion, she started to carefully make her way slowly back to the place where she had gained entry to this room. She just hoped that it was quiet enough...

* * *

It was only after a few minutes of practically holding her breathe in an attempt to stay totally still, that Tatum realized she was probably just being silly. If she opened her eyes, nothing was going to be there. It always took a while to work herself up to opening her eyes, but every single time, she had been met by an empty bedroom. Whether it was school or home, nothing that went bump in the night ever really went bump in her room. She just got herself worked up too easily, that was all.

Despite the inconveniences that it caused, it was moments like these that she hated living around other people she didn’t know. If she was still at home, she’d just open her eyes and go downstairs to play some XBox Live in the den, or go out on the back patio and have another joint.. but she was trapped in her bed here. It was lights out, middle of the night, and she couldn’t just hop up and go wandering around.

She needed to relax though, calm her mind, and assure herself that she was definitely alone. It was late, and she was just spooked, residual paranoia from her pre-bed joint. Except that it didn’t just feel like paranoia. She could have swore, laying there totally quiet, she had heard something. Low, and barely there, but still bothersome.

Taking a deep and steadying breathe, the red-haired girl ripped the sheets back from over her face, revealing herself but with her eyes still closed. “Whatever is like, going on in here, cut it out,” she whispered to no one in particular. There was no one to hear her, right? But if there was, she wanted them to hear, wanted them to go.

Finally opening her eyes, Tatum just stared straight up at the ceiling of her room, licking her lips a bit as they felt incredibly dry all of a sudden. She slowly moved into a sitting position, peering bleary-eyed into her practically pitch black dorm, and biting on her lip next, teeth roughing it up quickly. She didn’t want to be in the room anymore, shivering as she continued to stare into the darkness, as if daring it to move.

And then it did, just the slightest, something was moving, and it was all the strength she had in her body that she used to stifle a scream. Maybe this was like Inception or something, a dream inside of a dream. It had to be, because there couldn’t be something moving in the room, that would be too much for her to handle.

* * *

The space on the ceiling that it was moving through was a fairly direct path. There was a vent in the corner that it had come in and out of in most rooms, and though it was fairly large, it had a bit of magic in it from its creation and slipping in and out of tight spaces was a bit of a specialty for it at this point.

Hearing the female say those words, it paused. There was a brief debate for a moment within its mind as to what course of action to take. It looked down at the figure in the bed just as the wind blew outside and the shadows changed again. A brief patch of light from the moon outside came across the ceiling, and for a split second, the girl in the bed would be able to make out a shape above her.

The shape was large. Almost the size of a small dog. The body was long and segmented, black as night. Multiple legs were on each side of its torso, and its head turned to point its several, multifaceted eyes in her direction. The head was almost spider-like in appearance, though without the mandibles that most arachnids had. Instead, the creature had a much more humanoid mouth, no fangs or sharp teeth to be seen. It stared at Tatum for a moment before clearly opening its mouth.

In a whisper she said “I am truly sorry to have frightened you.” And, feeling self-conscious and not willing to distress the girl any further, she fled into the grate on the ceiling with quick, insectoid movements and speed.