#gonna crochet once i drop off my customers (gotta wait for them)

[tinknevertalks]

England here I come!

[theoddcatlady]

Hatchling

Day One

Gotta do this for two weeks right? Let’s get this show on the road.

(I better edit this before I turn it in.)

I’m naming my ‘baby’ Tabitha. She’s two ounces in weight. I might be crocheting her a hat. Her shell is a pale white, and I hope I can raise her well enough so she grows up well-adjusted and with a solid start in life… or at least well enough so I get an A on this project.

She’s sleeping beside me, close to the lamp but like not RIGHT beneath it, I’m making sure she won’t be too warm. Her matchbox bed’s super cute too, I doodled little pink flowers on it with my highlighter. It might just be a fucking egg but I gotta take care of it, right?

Day Two                

Apparently not everyone in class wanted to name their egg baby. Lame. They don’t know how to have fun. My friend Joshua named his Zane. I’ve offered to make a baseball cap for him out of foam. He’s happily accepted and asked me to style it like our school mascot. It’s gonna be hard to make a ram on the tiny foam, but I’ll do my best. I might have a C minus in this life skills class but I’m acing Art.

Tabitha was good today. I did everything I was supposed to. Dripped salt water on it to mimic feeding it milk, making sure it’s not too hot or too cold, and I’m making her a few more hats. I’m really getting into this ‘mother’ thing.

Day Three

Aiden almost made me drop my egg today.

I was showing off the completed hat when he tried to swipe Tabitha from my hands. I’m just glad I got good reflexes. Otherwise cue an immediate fail. I asked what the heck his problem was and he called me a bunch of names that basically revolve around me having a penis. R.U.D.E.

Maybe I’m too committed to this baby project but Mr. Kraft really appreciates it. Gonna score that A along with the rest of the kids in class who are taking this seriously. Aiden has apparently stored his egg in a shoebox under his bed. I can’t imagine how much it’s gonna stink when he takes it out to be graded.

Day Four

Not much happened today. I’m spending all my time making hats for Tabitha and the other people in class who love that I’m really customizing my egg. Some people have drawn lil faces on their eggs, Joshua drew a mustache on Zane.

Overall though, Tabitha is the child I’d want in real life. Quiet. Not bothersome. And I can put her in cute hats!

Day Five

Crap. Crap Crap crap.

I’m worried Tabitha’s rotting. Like. I’m pretty sure there’s something been done to these eggs to make that not happen? But there’s like this spot on the bottom that was NOT there before.

It wasn’t there during school, I let Mr. Kraft examine her during class so he could check my progress. I can’t blame him, everyone brought in their eggs. Aiden made up a bullshit excuse about how he forgot it but like I’m pretty sure he dropped it and it broke. Moron. Either way he got marked down so not my problem.

My problem IS the black spot on Tabitha. I’ve bathed her and attempted to rub it off, it’s kinda fuzzy like mildew and leaves a stain like it, but I’m so worried I’ll get marked down for it. I’ll talk to Mr. Kraft after the weekend.

Day Six

Welp.

The fuzziness is back, and the black stain’s spreading across the egg. Weird part is that Tabitha doesn’t smell like spoiled eggs. She doesn’t smell GOOD though, kinda like burnt hair? I’ve burned my hair enough trying to figure out a curling iron to know what that smells like.

I let my mom look at her, and she’s just as puzzled. But she made me feel better, told me that she knew I was taking super good care of Tabitha and this is just like a real baby in a sense. Sometimes they get sick and there’s just no reason behind it, I didn’t do anything wrong. I just gotta keep up dripping salt water on her and trying to clean her off.

Day Seven

Yeah. Tabitha’s gone entirely fuzzy. Like a furby. A black, smelly furby. The fluff’s thick like the toy, not quite fuzzy like mildew.

I’m so embarrassed. I’ve called Joshua to see if he knows what to do but he won’t pick up the damn phone. I guess he’s just busy with practicing for the next big game Wednesday. Go Rams! But anyway I’ll just show Tabitha to the teacher tomorrow, and if he fails me, I’ll try to bargain up to a D. Since I honestly did nothing and my mom can vouch for it. My egg’s just gone weird.

Day Eight

Mr. Kraft wasn’t in so we had a substitute. When I showed her the egg, she seemed more distracted by my voice but after I steered her back on the right topic she told me to keep following instruction and Mr. Kraft will handle grading.

Joshua’s out sick too. Boo. I miss him.

Day Nine

I swear. My egg moved.

Like Aiden was hassling me again about taking Tabitha everywhere and was about to swat her again when she just rolled out of the way. Aiden took off running after that. I swear he looked pale. I can’t blame him. That. Was weird.

I must be imagining things. Maybe the air from Aiden’s hand made her move? That’s the only reason I can think of.

Day Ten

I thought I was going to die today.

I was going to the bathroom when I felt someone grab me by the hair and drag me into the men’s room. I screamed and started punching frantically. I was gonna be another statistic, I just knew it. But it was Aiden, and for once, he wasn’t calling me slurs or out to make my life annoying.

He told me that his egg was gone.

It’d happened the morning of the five day check. He’d gone under his bed to get his egg Agatha (he apparently had the habit of calling her Aggie for short) and she was. Gone. He showed me the shoebox and it had pieces of fluff like the stuff covering Tabitha along with bits of eggshell and this nasty smelling dried black gunk.

He asked me if Tabitha had moved anymore. I pulled her from the cute lil carrier I made for her and set her on the counter.

Tabitha’s moving all the time now. Wiggling like a Mexican Jumping Bean. It’s not too noticeable when she’s in the pouch but when she’s free roaming it’s obvious it’s not just air currents. Aiden looked ready to piss himself, and I was pretty damn close too.

I put her back in the pouch and told him that I’ll try to find Mr. Kraft and ask him where he got these eggs. But other than that, I really didn’t know what to do. Maybe this is some weird mutant chicken, or maybe the egg just combusted under the heat of Aiden’s bed.

I took Tabitha to the game tonight in attempts to find Joshua and see if the same thing is happening to his egg, but he’s not there. I’m getting worried.

Before I go to Mr. Kraft, I’m going to Joshua’s house tomorrow to see if he’s okay.

Day Eleven

Tabitha hatched.

It happened after my mom left. I was almost done getting ready when I heard something like a twig snapping. I paused and just looked over at Tabitha.

Her egg was dripping a clear, oily substance. I pulled up a chair and sat over her, watching. I had to see what came out.

It wasn’t really what came out, it was more like… what unfolded.

Like a starfish, her legs unwrapped from her body and she stood up on all six of them, her body no bigger than my hand. Her head craned up, its dozen black eyes staring at me as the comically pink hat I’d made for her sat on her abdomen.

Then she went for my face.

I’m hiding in the bathroom now, towels stuffed under the door. I can hear Tabitha squeaking, she’s really desperate to get in here. She’s torn a good chunk out of my cheek and neck. Nothing vital but holy shit her teeth are like razors. I’m lucky she didn’t take out an eye.

I’ve called 911 and I’m waiting now, armed with toilet cleaner and trying to stem the bleeding with a washcloth.

I really hope they get here soon.

Day who the fuck cares, this is clearly not for the project anymore.

I needed a few dozen stitches. For the first attack and the second, after she managed to get through the vent into the bathroom. She tore quite a few hunks out of my calf before someone burst in. They described her like a rat the way she scurried down the bathroom drain.

I will absolutely have scars on my face, but eh. I didn’t really how I looked anyway.

… Joshua’s dead.

So is Aiden. And another student from our class, Hannah. They were found in their rooms, their throats ripped out and several chunks from their bodies eaten. The eggs must’ve hatched when they were sleeping, and Aggie must’ve returned to the bedroom for a snack. Joshua’s dad didn’t know until he got home Wednesday and smelled Joshua’s body. He’d been out of town. But I think Aiden’s and Hannah’s parents are dead too. The little fuckers got greedy.

I keep just thinking about Joshua. We’ve been friends since we were kids. I can’t stop thinking about the one time we missed the bus and it was raining. We just looped arms and started running home, even though it was pouring. Our moms were furious. We were soaking wet and covered in mud. I think Joshua got a small sniffle. It was the best day.

And he’s gone. He’s gone.

A lot of the other kids in class were injured. Some of their eggs hadn’t hatched yet, those were taken into evidence apparently and Mr. Kraft’s being investigated for the deaths of his students.

Somehow I think they’re never going to find him.

A New Day One

Tabitha’s back.

She didn’t try to kill me this time though. I woke up and she was sprawled across my chest like a damn cat. I screamed and sat up so fast she went flying across the room. But she came back, crawled up on the bed. I was ready to squash her like a fly when she sat on my hand.

Just sat there. She knew I could kill her. And she chose to stay.

Maybe she imprinted on me. You know, before she tried to eat my face. That’s what baby ducks do.

I’ve put her in an old fish tank for now, and I’ve found she’ll hunt mice if I let her out during the day. She vomits up their half dissolved skeletons. I’ve been buying some for her too so she doesn’t get hungry. She likes them a lot. She purrs after a good feed and sits on my lap while I do my homework, rumbling away.

I can’t bring myself to get rid of her. She’s my baby, after all.