The Gif-Hiders: An Easter Story
Part Six: The Green-Eyed Bumbler
By S.F. Dekreel (@dekreel)
“Hi there! You must be Jenna!”
Jenna’s shivering softened a little, but she didn’t dare move, or open her eyes. Who said that? Where was the dog creature?
“Are you all right?” said the voice, clearly concerned.
She heard footsteps approaching her, crunching leaves as they came, and stopping near her face. “Jenna?” The voice was just above her.
Jenna peaked her eyes open, and the first thing she saw was those ghastly, glowing eyes. She cried out and covered her face with her arm.
“I’m not going to hurt you! Don’t be afraid! I… Ohh, it’s these eyes, isn’t it?”
Jenna hesitantly glanced back at the creature. Its eyes – her eyes, apparently – now that the lantern was snuffed out, were the only things she could see. She stared silently.
“Sorry about that,” the creature continued, “I can’t help that they glow in the dark. It’s been frightening the animals! Ohh, the downsides of being a Chasm Beast…” She took a moment to sigh. “Anyway, do you need your lantern back on? I can see just fine, but I don’t know how well you can.”
“Um… s-sure,” she whispered, her chin quivering.
The creature smiled (although Jenna didn’t see it), stood up and walked away. Jenna sat up and watched the dog thing’s moon-cast figure (or her eyes) as she walked up to the cart. When she crouched next to it, within the shadows cast by the moon, Jenna could hardly see her. But she could hear her grunting and rustling around. After a few moments, the eyes turned back to Jenna and eerily rose into the air. She walked back and sat down on her knees near Jenna, retrieved the lantern, and then seemed to work at something in her hands.
Chhck! The warm glow of the lantern illuminated the creature’s face, revealing what looked like a two-legged, light-brown wolf with a head of long, brown hair, and clothing. She handed the lantern to Jenna, who managed to muster a wavering “Thank you.”
“My pleasure!” The wolf flashed a large, fanged smile.
“W-Who are you?”
“My name is S.F. Dekreel. Pleasure to meet you!” She stuck out a paw. Jenna took it warily and tried not to grimace from the claws as she shook it.
“So…” Jenna said, trying to ignore those creepy eyes that were staring at her intently, “Why are you here?”
“Why, King Daeus has sent me to help you hide GIFs, of course!”
“Oh!” She raised her eyebrows. “Oh…!”
“You do, need help, right?”
Jenna was dubious and nervous. This creepy wolf-person-thing with glowing eyes was supposed to help her?! Then again, wasn’t weirdness an element of this unique Kingdom? A dragon who melted chairs, a bird that could cut in fifths, a girl with an arm that could shoot fireballs, a sarcastic elf, a paper crane army, a Wiseman with a frog, the Wiseman with the frog’s brother……
“Yeah, sure I could use some help.” She mustered a smile.
“Excellent! Here, let’s each take a sack from the cart.”
They each pulled a couple sacks, which were oddly light, from the top of the cart, and dispersed among the trees.
After wedging a Lord of the Rings GIF into a low-hanging branch, she turned to the wolf-girl and asked, “So, S.F., what kind of creature are you exactly?”
“Two things,” the beast answered, “Number One: Call me Dekreel. First names come last where I come from. And Number Two: I am a Chasm Beast from deep within the Red Chasms of Taranar. Oh, and I’m not a wolf. Don’t call me a wolf, because I’m not.” She shot Jenna a little warning look.
It was easy to get unsettled by those eyes. “I won’t – don’t worry!”
They continued to hide GIFs as Dekreel replied, “Thank you! I do look like a wolf, which often causes confusion. I even call myself a wolf sometimes. I’d be thinking to myself about whatever, and somewhere in there I’d refer to myself as a wolf, right? And then I would go, ‘No, Dekreel, what are you thinking?! See this tail? Does it look like a wolf tail to you?!’” She turned and swished her tail around for Jenna to see. Indeed, it resembled a cat’s tail instead of a wolf’s.
“I wouldn’t think it looks like a wolf’s tail. Therefore, I’m not a wolf. I am a Chasm Beast. The third to emerge from the Chasms in all of history, in fact! Chasm Beasts are naturally evil down there, you know. And I mean evil. Hundreds of times more merciless and bloodthirsty than, say, Shakespeare’s Richard III! I’ve never quite figured out who rescued me from the Chasms (If, indeed, I was rescued). I’ve always wanted to know…”
It took almost ten minutes for Dekreel’s bumbling phase to finally dwindle, but Jenna did go through one and a half sacks of GIFs as she listened. Progress!
“Am I… talking too much, Jenna?” Dekreel asked in a slight whisper after finally trailing off.
“Huh? Oh, no, it’s fine. I like listening to you talk!” Besides, she added to herself, it sure helps time fly by.
“Good. Despite the fact that I recently earned the ranking of Eccentric Mentor, sometimes I think I deserve to still be a Bumbling Henchman. I mean, I’ve only lived on this island for what, five months? And now look at me! It has to be a record! I find myself lurking around a lot, long after everyone’s asleep, and … Ohh, here I go again. Bumbling away like a Bumbling Henchman…”
***
The next few hours of the night were generally uneventful. Jenna and Dekreel found many, many places to hide the GIFs, and they talked along the way. Jenna was finally relaxed, and found herself talking to her new friend as if she didn’t have a snout or glowing eyes in the first place.
Starring Jenna and the “glowing-eyed dog”
The Compendium of Kapeefer Literature 