I am writing this from the safety of my own home, shaking terribly after what just happened. I’ll give some backstory first before getting in to what happened today. My friend Hugo and I were friends since birth. We lived close to each other and went on family vacations together so we’ve never really been too far apart. We were like clones of each other, knowing exactly what we were thinking, or sharing the same opinions.
Once we reached high school however, things began to change in our friendship. We grew distant as we pushed ourselves through harder and harder courses. I hardly thought about Hugo during that time, until one day. Our school has an extremely large library, that costs most of the school’s budget. We were known across the state for it. One day I was prying around in the non-fiction section. I found what appeared to be a fantasy book describing creatures that I couldn’t even imagine. I sat down after school that day and read through it, I reached page 48 and read what it described:
“The humanoid-mimic, is a creature that mimics someone it chooses at birth. This creature will befriend its victim until they reach 18, then it murders its victim to give it enough strength to produce more offspring. Few research has revealed trustful information about the behaviors of these creatures, but newer studies suggest that the creature might prematurely murder its victim if its victim finds out they are a humanoid-mimic.”
For some reason I felt chills go down my spine. All I could think about was my friend Hugo, how he and I had been friends since birth. He always stayed close until now, is he separating himself from me because he feels remorseful knowing he is running out of time until he has to complete his task? So many questions filled my head. I swiftly put the book back. I felt sick. I tried to reassure myself. There’s no way that my friend whom I’ve know since birth, would just get up one day and decide to murder me. That wasn’t really going to happen. This book is just a fantasy story misplaced in one of the largest libraries in the state, it was completely possible.
I contacted Hugo after I collected my thoughts to check in with him and ask to meet up with him in person like we used to do. He agreed and we met up outside our school.
“You have to check out this book I found in the non-fiction section,”
I told Hugo. He obliged and followed me into the library where I found the book again. I flipped to page 48 and pointed it out to him,
“Hey, one of us could be a humanoid-mimic huh,”
I said to Hugo. Eerily he asked why this book existed in the first place. I went to look at the back, nothing seemed to pop out to me but Hugo saw something, as his expression turned to shock. He ran to put the book back where it was. This was becoming something of concern to me at this point.
“Hugo, its just a fantasy book. There’s nothing to worry about.”
I said, attempting to calm him. He didn’t hear me and continued trying to find the open spot in the non-fiction section where I picked it from. He eventually found it and came back to me telling me never to read that nonsense again. I somewhat agreed, I shouldn’t believe that either of us would be a mythical creature I read in a misplaced book. On the other hand, the way Hugo acted made me question myself.
All seemed well for the rest of the day. I went to bed as usual, but I woke abruptly at 2:59 AM to the sound of a fingernail tapping at my window. This wasn’t normal, I’m on the second floor of my house, there were no trees around my window and it certainly wasn’t raining outside. I reluctantly got up and went towards the window, my eyes fully adjusted to the darkness at this point. I pulled the blinds and to my horror, there it was, a face in the window with one visible finger tapping in rhythm at my window.
I jumped back from where I was, the image burned into my head of a face belonging to Hugo. An overly sized head with an uncanny smile reaching up to his ears. He had no teeth, and his eyes were bloodshot. At this point, I turned on my room light, but by then, the creature was gone from my window. My heartrate spiked. I looked down at my hands to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. To my disappointment, what I’d seen was real. Just as I came to that revelation, I heard glass shatter downstairs.
It was searching for me. It wasn’t going to stop until I was dead. I dialed 911 in a panic, not speaking, then hanging up. From what I heard, it was traveling briskly on all fours. I hid in my closet, being quiet, and shutting the door so the light wouldn’t reveal my face. My phone then rang, it was Hugo. Completely stressed by this point, I picked up, not thinking. All I could hear was heavy breathing on the other end. I knew he was close, but how close was the question. I felt a drop then, confusing me as there were no pipes above my closet. I came to a realization then, it just used that call to find where I was. It was right above me now, ready to finish the job.
Quickly, I took one of my wire hangers and used it as a spear to pierce its eyes. As I scrambled out of the closet, I heard it screech in pain. By this point it woke up the rest of my family who entered my room. I was on the floor, in shock. The creature was no longer in my closet, it finally left.
In the evening, I called Hugo after school ended. To my surprise, he never picked up. I went to the library. Again I found that book, looking for information about the author. I found out that he is part of an organization that deals with mythical creatures. This would’ve looked like a complete scam to me if I had looked at this before last night, but at this point it was my final hope. I dialed the number on the website and was redirected to the author.
I told him my whole story and he was very helpful, saying that since the book’s creation, there was more extensive research done on humanoid-mimics revealing that if they did fail their mission, they would leave to an undiscovered location. I was relieved that Hugo, or what is now Hugo, is gone for good.
Humanoid-mimics are all around us, so watch your backs everyone. Or you might not be able to save yourself in time.