Captain Hoggy

   “Hey babe,” Mike greeted smiling over the phone.

    “Lemme guess, you're smiling over there,” Molly teased.

    “Maybe,” Mike answered coyly backing away from the window to the couch that sat in the middle of the spacious sitting room, hearing her giggle. “Will you be coming over tonight?.”

    “I'm not sure. I'll let you know if I'm done from work,” Molly replied.

    “So just you know, I cancelled a night out with Adam and that dude wasn't happy. Please make it worth it,” Michael said frowning at her reply.

    “Okay. I'll be there by nine,” she finally agreed after a sigh.

    “Thanks babe. Expecting you tonight. Love you,” he said excitedly like a little child who was given a new toy.

   He had to make preparations for the night. Sweet preparations. He wrote a list of things to buy from the store; there were roses, scented candles, a movies or two and probably popcorn and drinks. He went down the store and returned as fast as he could. He then began cleaning and arranging the mess he had made when Adam came over to inform him about the outing they would be going to. Mike had agreed to go out with him without plans of inviting Molly over. Too bad he cancelled it. He began thinking of how angry Adam would be because Mike had never had reasons to cancel their outings and even if he did, it wasn't over Molly. Their relationship started one night at a bar where he had accompanied Adam to and he met and got acquainted to beautiful Molly and after weeks sparks began flying like the fourth of July. Mike went through his cassettes to find the songs that would light the atmosphere. There was the classicals. Ugh, would send Molly straight to sleep, he thought still rummaging through his stuff. Finally, maybe Bruno Mars would do the trick, he thought again. He finally rose to freshen up after the call from Molly saying she was done with work and that she was heading for his apartment. 

   After a few minutes, the doorbell rang. Mike came running towards the door to give Molly a warm welcome. 

    “Hola mi amor,” Mike greeted with a Spanish accent as he opened the door and his arms for an embrace. 

    “Ooh, someone's excited,” she laughed hugging him passionately leaving her stuff on the floor a few feet from the door to admire the candles that scented the room and made it romantically dim. She walked to the centre table to admire the rose in the vase. “So what're we doing tonight?,” she asked crashing in the couch as she packed her long blonde hair into a ponytail as if ready for the night.

    “Well, I got this night all planned out but for now I got us a movie to watch,” Mike said proudly as he showed her the movie he planned for the night. He drew her up and held her close by the waist intending to plant a kiss on her glossy lips.

    “‘Live for Love’? Really?,” she said dryly arching a brow after getting a close look at the movie.. “That's the best you could come up with? You coulda gotten some documentaries instead,” she said retreating back to the couch tilting her head backward in disappointment.

    “Nope. I also knew you'd go for some action horror thriller movies so I got this,” he gestured to the second choice movie that laid on the table. 

    “Sweet!,” she exclaimed as she rose to get drinks from the refrigerator. Mike dimmed the lights then settled himself on the couch collecting a drink from Molly. The movie began. The first scene showed a little girl in a quiet street at night holding a ragged piece of doll sobbing. She began crying to Hoggy, her doll which was a pirate with an eye patch whose head and body was stitched to an hyena. She told Hoggy that her mom was just killed by bad people and that he should avenge her. The following day, reports were seen that a little girl was missing and she was seen last with some monster of a kind. The movie began showing scenes of the little girl with her captain hyena monster on a killing spree, killing whosoever and whatsoever it could lay its hands on.

   The two seemed to be enjoying the movie as they cuddled, eyes fixed to the big screen in front of them, occasionally having sips from their drink.

    “Isn't there some popcorn to accompany this drink?,” Molly asked her eyes not looking away from the TV.

    “Yeah. There's some on the table over there,” Mike answered not removing his eyes from the screen as he let Molly rise to get the popcorn. She walked over to the table hearing a faint sound of running water. 

    “Um... Mike?,” she called. “Did you leave the shower running?,” she asked. 

    “Nope. I don't think so,” he answered not really minding Molly as he was engrossed in the pirate who now dug claws into a lady ripping out her heart from her chest and feeding on the body.

    “I think it's running,” she said concerned. Mike got up from the couch after a reluctant sigh and headed for his room. He walked up the stairs slowly towards his room hearing the water drop loudly on theater tiles of the bathroom. He opened the door of his room nudging Molly to get behind him as he headed slowly for the bathroom. He opened the bathroom door to find no one but water gushing down the shower.

    “So this was what you were scared of,” Mike jested turning off the shower while Molly jokingly gave him a punch on his arm saying she also saw how scared he was. Then a few moments Mike realised maybe he hadn't turned off the shower after having a shower. Maybe. As they jested themselves to the sitting room, Mike's phone rang. It was Adam.

    “Hey man,” Mike greeted casually. 

    “I gotta let you know that you messed up big time man and you gonn' regret it,” he raged. Mike had never heard his friend so angry over the phone. He was very furious that he just kept cussing until he got tired and hung up.

    “Who was that?,” Molly asked worriedly after seeing the guilt on Mike's face as she adjusted herself on the couch.

    “T'was Adams. He's mad 'bout how big of a jerk I am,” Mike said staring at the paused image on the TV.

    “Ugh! Why did I ask?,” Molly groaned.

    “This feeling's making me hungry. Imma order pizza,” he said dialling a number.

    “Please do. I'm starving,” Molly said pressing the remote's play button holding a bucket of popcorn to her chest. After finally making the necessary call, Mike settled down finally to watch the movies. Not too long, his phone rang again. It was Adam.

    “Heyyo,” Mike greeted again sounding a little sober.

    “Guess what?,” Adam started. “You ain't gonn'...,” he hung up.

   Mike had began thinking Adam was being too dramatic. Why did he have to call and hang up, he thought. The doorbell rang making Molly shout for joy at the fast delivery of pizza. Mike walked to the door to open it but there was no one at the door. Weird. Maybe the neighborhood kids joked around, he thought. 

    “Hey babe, there wasn't any...,” he froze. Molly wasn't in the sitting room anymore. He walked to the couch, she wasn't there. The kitchen, no. He walked through the dark corridor leading to the basement calling Molly's name but no answers from anywhere. He returned back to the sitting room to find all the candles snuffed out and the lights switched off leaving the room in darkness except for the TV that was still on. Mike's heart raced, his breathing rate increased. How could Molly possibly disappear?, he asked himself. He walked to the TV switching it off because of the scary image of Captain Hoggy. He went to turn on the light switch but they were broken. Silence swept across the whole apartment except from some faint growling that could be heard if the ears were strained. Suddenly Molly bursted out from the bedroom door breathing heavily as she ran down the staircase.

    “Something's here,” she panted. She looked like she had been through hell in those few minutes she was lost. She began whispering that Hoggy was up there.

    “How's that even possible?,” Mike asked sweating as he held Molly by the shoulders who shrugged. “I think we should hide in the basement,” he suggested.

    “No! It came from there so I followed it upstairs,” she whispered wondering if the creature heard her. They ran towards the storeroom where they kept old stuff. He locked the door behind to find suitable objects to defend Molly and himself. 

    “Call 911,” Mike ordered after finding a baseball bat.

     “I'm not with my phone,” she freaked out trying to find herself a weapon of defence. An old lamp.

    “Me too,” Mike said straining his ears to hear something. He heard the doorbell ring, a bang on the door followed as he heard Adam bellow his name. There was silence. He heard growling and laboured breathing. The sound of a vase falling and silence. A thud and a splat followed and silence again. After a few minutes, Mike and Molly opened the door as it creaked loudly in the insanely quiet apartment. Mike went first brandishing the bat whispering to Molly to grab her phone and run out of the apartment. They walked stealthily out of the room into the corridor as the sound of wood creaked under their feet. They reached the sitting room successfully, eyeing the corners of the room to see if the creature lurked anywhere near. Molly took off searching for her phone on the centre table amidst popcorn and movie collections. It wasn't there. The sound of scratching filled the air as they slowly made their way to the front door. What they saw spooked them beyond imagination. It was Adam's body. He was dead as blood trickled out of his stabbed chest and his mouth. His eyes were still, gazing at nothing as his face grew pale. Molly broke into tears quietly holding her mouth with her hands at the sight of the corpse. Mike put his arm around her, gently heading for the door. The handle wasn't there anymore. Just a smiley face that was drawn out of blood. The pirate hyena crawled out of the kitchen smirking one eyed. 

    “Go to the storeroom now!,” Mike yelled holding the weapon ostentatiously. Molly took off to the storeroom sealing the thick door with a lock. Hoggy attacked Mike but got hit hard on the face as it prowled away from Mike with pain and anger. Mike backed away to the kitchen hoping to get his hands on a knife to stab the terrifying captain. Sweat trickled down Mike's face as he extended an arm to get the kitchen knife that laid on the cupboard. The demon pounced on him with claws again but he dodged it dropping the knife. The pirate monster walked towards him angrily clawing when it was within range. Red liquid splatted on the floor as sharp claws razed Mike's left arm. It hurt him as he screamed in gruesome pain. He held the wound to stop blood from oozing out heavily as he slid himself backwards from the sharp teeth the humanoid face bore. As the beast hurled itself at the helpless bleeding man, it was hit by Molly's lamp from behind while Mike reached out to grab the knife that lay on the floor. He grabbed the knife and stabbed the pirates in its second eye leaving the beast crying in pain. Molly went to help Mike up muttering in disgust at the sight of oozing blood. She took him to couch leaving him to get a cloth for the blood. She returned back hurriedly taking advantage of the creatures temporary pain and blindness. The beast approached the living room blindly bumping into objects that stood in its way using its sense of hearing to detect movements. Molly lifted up Mike from the couch and headed for the back door. It was locked shut. She manoeuvred herself through the back as Captain Hoggy approached blindly, grunting whenever something was in its way. She tried taking Mike upstairs to the bedroom but was stopped midway by the beast that stood a few feet from them. They both froze hoping not to be heard. They tried to hold their breath that sounded loud in the utterly quiet room. The monster headed towards the basement when it didn't hear movements. After it had gone into the basement, the doorbell rang.

    “Who's it?,” Mike asked cautiously as sweat dribbled down his forehead as he hoped he wasn't heard by Hoggy. 

    “Uh... The pizza delivery guy,” he answered with a foreign accent. Help. They walked stealthily towards the door then asking the pizza guy to open the door and drop the pizza.

    “Uh... Okay,” the guy answered. He opened the door revealing the apartment that was almost torn apart by the beast. He dropped the pizza box and requested for his money and that was when Hoggy crawled up back into the living room.

    “Whadda...,” the pizza guy exclaimed at the sight of Hoggy as he stepped into the house from the void night outside and within seconds he was attacked and torn apart spreading blood all over the floor. The door was still open and Hoggy was still blind. Luck was on their side, Mike thought suppressing a groan. They had to go through the door to get out but the beast still feasted on the delivery guy at the exit. Molly had a plan. She grabbed a glass cup and gently appraoched the door with Mike who was getting too heavy to keep carrying but she couldn't leave Mike for no reason whatsoever. When they were few feet away from Hoggy, Molly threw the cup to another direction sending the creature far away from them while they took a break for it bolting the door behind them.