Bleb

Ari waved back at the friendly stranger who sat with Jessica asleep on her shoulder. "Hey, I'm Ari nice to meet you" she said smiling towards her.

"I'm Clarissa. Nice to meet you too, let's not be too loud. Don't wanna wake her up" Clarissa said whispering while pointing at Jessica. "Oh definitely, why's she out cold like that though?" Ari said sitting adjacent to the pair.

"Oh I found her in here all sad and dejected. She said 'I sit here and wait for him every day. He calls it special classes' she can't be a day over thirteenth" Clarissa said with a disgusted look on her face. "Hang on, the piece of shit does this to her in the class" Ari spat in disgust.

"Yeah, I should get up and-" Clarissa said as she attempted to stand before feeling Jessica grab onto her tightly. Looking at her face she saw Jessica visibly shuttering in her sleep, seemingly having a nightmare.

"Oh... I think you're gonna have to sit this one out. I would feel terrible saying we should leave her in here" Ari said looking at Jessica's knuckles turning white with her grip on Clarissa. "But... can't we just, you know wake her up?" Ari asked awkwardly.

"Oh when I found her, she was a mess so I gave her a little camomile powder to get her to sleep" Clarissa said as she reached into her pocket, pulling out two small stones. Grinding them against each other, she held them up to Jessica's nose who's face immediately relaxed as she fell back into a deep relaxed sleep.

"Hey I think you can agree it doesn't look like I can go with you but take this" Clarissa said as she shut her eyes and a bright light came to life in front of her. Watching it grow and stretch, the light took shape as a silhouette before the light exploded in a flash making Ari turn away.

Turning back as the flash died down Ari was met with an identical copy of Clarissa stood in front of her. Looking back down at the closet floor she saw Clarissa sat with Jessica before looking back up at the clone stood before her with an incredulous look on her face as she slowly rose to her feet.

"Hi, I'm Bleb" the clone said waving at Ari with a smile on it's face. "Ari, this is Bleb, she's my companion" Clarissa said looking at Bleb. "Wait she like your twin sister or something?" Ari asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"Nah, she's my imaginary friend from when I was a kid. Take her with you, her ability is shape-shifting so she can turn into whatever you ask her to. Within reason of course, you're not gonna get her to be a machine gun or something" Clarissa said as Bleb extended a hand to Ari.

"A friend of Issa is a friend of mine, how can I help you today" Bleb said as Ari looked down at her hand and smiled. "How about a katana blade" she said as she shook Bleb's hand and she turned into a bright light before the hand Ari was holding was replaced with the handle of a long beautiful, sleek katana blade.

Marveling at the transformation Ari nervously touched the solid steel. "Oh shit it feels so real" she said nervously running her hand up and down the side of the blade. "Feels? You asked for a katana, that's one hundred percent genuine" Clarissa smiled watching as Ari started walking around the room wielding her new sword, expertly swinging it around with a child like grin on her face.

"I always wanted one of these" Ari said mid swing. "Oh you never had one? You're swinging it like you know what you're doing" Clarissa said with a smile. "Oh nah, I begged my dad for one when I was a kid and he said no so one day I took an old broomstick and some tape and made myself one and I played with it all the time" Ari said with a smile on her face as she leaned against the wall as a thought popped into her head.

Looking down with a confused look on her face Ari caught Clarissa's eye who just smiled at her and asked; "what?". "You just put her to sleep, and you said you did it twice already. How?" Ari asked. "Oh I unlocked something in the dimension stor-" Clarissa was cut off by the sound of booming footsteps and loud thuds coming from underneath them.

"He's coming. He's coming. He's coming" Jessica muttered in her sleep as she started to weep softly. Looking at each other Ari and Clarissa fumed. "I'm gonna kill him" Ari said through gritted teeth as she turned to leave the room back into the hallway. "Ari!" Clarissa shouted, covering Jessica's ears. "Good luck" she said as Ari turned to look at her. With a nod and a determined gaze Ari walked out into the hallway.

The monster's footsteps echoed with a deep resonating thud, each step causing the ground Ari stood on to shake underneath her. As the monster drew closer, the hallway seemed to shrink in size, its walls closing in on those unfortunate enough to be trapped within.

The air grew heavy with a stifling sense of dread, and a suffocating silence settled over the corridor. Ari's heart pounded and adrenaline surged through her veins, she wielded her sword and prepared to face the monster head on.

From around the corner a young brunette man in his mid twenties, dressed in a blue sweater and a winning smile across his bearded face stopped when he saw Ari stood with her sword drawn. Looking at her with a confused, fearful look on his face as he raised his arms up.

"Um... hello, may I help you?" he said slowly trying to walk around Ari towards his classroom. "Save it. I know who you are and what you're here to do" Ari said blocking his path with her katana. "Okay okay, let's stay calm I don't know what you think I've done but-" he said before a shadowy hand came from behind his back swinging for Ari who deftly ducked it.

Stepping back and remaining alert Ari knew that retreat was not an option, for the hallway had become a battleground, as his eyes went entirely white and long shadowy tentacle like arms came out from behind his back revealing the monster within.