“No! That’s the point of a scary story - oh, never mind! Aerya, we have to do something about this. Tell me, how do we kill it?”
“That’s not easy -”
“I don’t care! Just tell me, how do we get rid of this thing? Oh man, if Dad finds out, he’s going to kill me!”
“Well, according to what I know, there is just one way to destroy a Globkin.”
“And that would be?” asked Fiona, getting a little angry and frightened. Under the bottom of the door, the Globkin was squeezing through, like Play Doh, slowly squeezing into the room.
“It’s quite easy, except the requirements are rare. I think because they are so rare, the Globkin can flourish in the fairy land. Now that I think about it, I’m not sure anyone ever destroyed a Globkin because even my mother wouldn’t have enough.”
“Thanks for the history lesson. Aerya, we have about one minute before that thing is in here and eats us. What kills a Globkin?”
“I just don’t think you’ll have what we need, and I don't want to get your hopes up - ”
Fiona grabbed Aerya by the shoulders.
“What- kills - a Globkin!”
“It is a white, powder - very rare in the fairy land. We call it - salt.”
Fiona let Aerya go and stepped back, letting out a wild laugh.
“Salt?! Aerya, we have TONS of salt! Oh my goodness! Ha ha!”
“You do?”
“YES! Salt is why you love ketchup so much!”
Fiona yelped and jumped. She had stepped close to the door, and the bulging edge of the Globkin touched her ankle. The creature was cold and damp. There were at least twelve inches of Globkin squeezed in under the door like a disgusting door mat. Fiona knew that the door would not keep the Globkin out much longer..
“I do like ketchup,” said Aerya.
“Aerya, we have lots of salt in the kitchen. Alright, here’s what we do. Get ready to run. I’ll open the door, and the Globkin will swoosh right in. If we are by the bed, I think it will gush in and stand up - “
“Stand up? It stands up?”
“Yeah, duh, it stands up. It doesn’t just stay under the bed, either! Update, Aerya - you were way off in your story! Now listen, I’ll open the door and when it comes in, it’ll probably come right at us. We should be on the bed. When it stands up, we each jump off a different end of the bed, and run out the door for the kitchen.”
“Alright. I am ready.”
“No, not yet. We’ve got to get it to follow us.”
“What do you mean?”
“It chased me the first time. The thing is, it might think that we are leading it into a trap.”
“Why in the world would it think that?”
“Because that is what happens in movies.”
“Is this a movie?” Aerya began looking around the room, as if Hannah Montana might suddenly appear and start singing a cheerful song.
“No, but I’ve seen movies, and - never mind. Here’s what we do. We run down the hall, and make sure that it can see us. Then through the dining room, and into the kitchen. I’ll go first because I know where the salt is kept. You watch, make sure the Globkin follows. We’ll get it into the kitchen, and get rid of this thing. Are you ready?”
The door groaned and made an high screeking sound as the Globkin pushed harder to squeeze through the crack at the bottom.
“I’m ready.” Aerya stood up in the middle of the bed. Fiona stepped around the pool of Globkin, turned the knob on the door, and jumped for the bed. The door swung open and the rest of the Globkin splatted into the room, landing like a big water balloon. It lay still for a moment, those eyes in the middle shifting and turning. Then it saw the girls on the mattress, and the Globkin slurped over to the edge of the bed. The eyes that never blinked stared straight at the girls as the Globkin rose, getting taller. It was as high as the bed, and still growing, when Fiona said,
“Now!”
The Globkin watched, one eye following the motion of each girl. They ran to the head and foot of the bed, and jumped off onto the floor. The eyes turned completely around in that squishy mass, and watched them run out the door. The Globkin started following. With two girls, this time it was sure to get someone! It hurried out the room, and down the hall, never suspecting that this was a trap.
Fiona bounded into the kitchen, turning on the light as she passed the switch, and took out the big, blue box of salt. She ripped the top open as Aerya ran into the kitchen.
“It’s coming. Wow, is that your salt? You have so much!”
“Alright, Aeyra, what do we do?”
Fiona could hear the slogging sound of the Globkin as it moved from the hallway into the dining room.
“I don’t know.”
“What?”
“Well, I have heard that salt will kill it, but even my mother does not have so much salt that it can be wasted killing Globkins.”
“Oh, great!”
The Globkin was in the dining room. It bumped a chair, which knocked against the table.
“Okay, Aerya, this thing seems like a slug, and you can kill a slug by pouring salt on it.”
“Then we should try that.”
“Aerya, the Globkin is way bigger than a slug. Look, let’s do this.”
Fiona pulled open a cabinet door and got two plastic bowls. With shaking hands, she poured salt into the bowls.
“You take one bowl, and I’ll take the other. When the Globkin comes into the kitchen, throw your salt at it. Try to kind of spread it out. Maybe we can get enough on it that it will go away and leave us alone.”
Before Aerya could answer, the Globkin was there, a little taller than the girls, and wider than the dishwasher. The eyes looked at each of them as the Globkin trembled and jiggled. It lurched back, as if it was going to pounce on them.
“Now!” called Fiona, flicking her bowl of salt at the Globkin. The salt spread through the air like a wave, and came down, coating one side of the Globkin. Aerya’s salt fanned out too, and dusted the front of the Globkin. It froze, looking like an ugly cake that was half frosted.
Then the Globkin quivered, as if it had a persistent itch. It jiggled, and where the salt covered it, the Globkin bubbled. The eyes rolled madly inside the body, and the bubbling changed to a smoking, hissing sound. The Globkin began to inflate like a balloon, wiggling and wobbling. It never made a sound, until it popped.
The Globkin popped like a giant, thick soap bubble, with the soft sound of overstretched bubble gum. As it popped, the Globkin’s thick skin broke into a thousand pieces, flying throughout the kitchen. Thick gloppy Globkin slapped Fiona in the face, on her neck, on her teddy bear pajamas, and it stuck to her hair. It got Aerya, too, though as usual, nothing stayed to her straight black hair. It stuck to her face, though, her arms, and all the rest of her. There was Globkin on the stove, on the refrigerator - it was everywhere!
“That was awesome!” cheered Fiona. “Hi-five!”
Aerya held up her hand, and the two slapped in a happy hi-five. Immediately after, Fiona wished they hadn’t done that, because when their hands clapped, some Globkin squirted out and into Fiona’s mouth. It didn’t taste like anything at all. Still, it was gross, and Fiona immediately went to the sink to spit it out and rinse her mouth.
“You are a brave warrior, Fiona. Congratulations on defeating the Globkin!”
“WHAT IS GOING ON?!”
Fiona whipped around from the sink, leaving the water on. It was Dad, standing in the kitchen in his bathrobe, looking at a chunk of Globkin shaking on the light.
“Hello, Mr. Dad,” called Aerya. Her face was speckled with Globkin, and when she smiled, a small piece fell off her cheek and stuck to her shoulder. “Fiona and I fought a great battle, and defeated the Globkin!”
Aerya had a way of helping that was no help at all.
“What?” asked Dad, who just discovered that he was standing on a piece of Globkin. Aerya started to talk, then Fiona jumped in.
“Hi, Daddy! I’m really sorry about this. Remember how you told me that, uhm, that we learn from our mistakes, and we should make mistakes so that we learn important stuff?”
Dad became suspicious at hearing his own words come from Fiona.
“Ye-es . . .” he said slowly.
“Well, Aerya and I were trying to think of a way to make Jello better; you know, more fun for kids. And we got so excited about the idea, we just came down to make some.”
“Ye-es . . .” said Dad again, not willing to commit himself yet to the idea that this mess was like a science experiment.
“And, well, I can tell that my hypothesis had a flaw, and I really learned a lot from this mistake. I learned a whole lot.”
Dad looked at the kitchen, where hunks of Globkin were starting to blip-blop their way down the wall in a sticky roll before ending up at the floor, on the counter, or the stove.
“You were right about how we can learn the most from our mistakes. I love you, Daddy!” Fiona ran across the kitchen and gave her father a big, damp hug. The bits of Globkin on her squished onto his bathrobe.
“Fiona - Aerya -”
“Yes, Mr. Dad?” asked Aerya, smiling.
“I want you two to clean this mess up, and get back to bed. I’m glad that you learned from your experiment, Fiona. In the future, I want you to do your experiments in the day time, alright?”
“Alright. We’ll get it all cleaned up, Daddy.”
“Good night, Mr. Dad.”
“Good night, both of you.”
He brushed some Globkin off onto the floor, shook his head, and went back to his bedroom.
Fiona looked at Aerya, and the two of them began to giggle. Then they got paper towels, window cleaner, the whisk broom, and the dust pan to clean up the mess. But how do you clean up a room coated in Jello? They found that the best way was with a spatula and a plastic bowl, which eventually got all of the Globkin picked up and poured into the sink, where they could wash it down the drain. Next, they wiped the refrigerator, the stove, the dishwasher, the cabinets, the counter, the floor, and everything else they could reach. When they were done, Fiona and Aerya went back to bed, tired, and certain that all the traces of the Globkin were gone.
Which was mostly true. What they didn’t notice was the big piece in the coffee pot. Fiona’s dad found that the next morning.
After the coffee flooded over the counter.
And he really didn’t mind.
Too much.
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