It pressed hard, its massive claws covering her face. Phoebe cried out, afraid that it was going to crush her skull. Muddy water flowed into her mouth. It let up then, and turned its attention to the wound on her torso. The gash running down her body had transformed into a gaping chasm. Torn bits of tissue formed an edge around the darkness, hidden by the blue of her clothes. The monster eased her top up to expose more of the chasm, though not enough to push it over her bra, and lowered one of its paws into her body. It reached down and down until its shoulder rested against her breastbone.
Phoebe felt a pressure deep inside herself. Like getting a tooth pulled with local anaesthesia, there was a distant feeling but little pain. Laying there with her heart pounding in an uncannily familiar way, she began to trust that it didn’t want to maul her just yet. The memory of its claws in her guts had haunted her since she’d woken up; she told herself over and over that it was the last thing she ever wanted to feel again, but now she was and the anguish she expected just wasn’t there. Phoebe was far too overwhelmed to care about dying again. After the initial shock, she found herself more frightened by the monster-sized cavity in her body than the monster itself. She grabbed its shoulder, pushing it up and away. Distance was badly needed. Once it let her up she knew she’d have to swallow her pride and go back to Quill.
The monster’s demeanor shifted suddenly with her intrusion. As she pushed, it grabbed her hand between its teeth and bit down hard. Phoebe screamed. She jammed the fingers of her other hand into the creature’s eye sockets in an attempt to make it let go. It yowled and recoiled, ears flat against its head.
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10.17.20
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Today I bought a wrist brace because, to tell the truth, I've been having mild carpal tunnel for uh... The past few months. I'm going to start wearing it to bed and hopefully that helps. It's annoying to have to use both hands when I'm draining a pot of pasta.