By We are a little past spooky season but I am a bit behind on my stories and I do love how this one turned out.
Prompt: Cryptids and mythological creatures are now out in society and know to the humans. What are they doing now. If possible, try for a bit of rom-com.
Crypid: [noun] an animal (such as Sasquatch or the Loch Ness Monster) that has been claimed to exist but never proven to exist. Thank you Merriam-Webster.com for the definition.
As always, the only edits are for spelling. I hope you enjoy this tale of once frightening to working creatures in 2022.
Cryptids in Society: 2022
Being a single parent was rough, especially in Fresno. An expensive town between the Sierra Nevadas and the Pacific. Of course everything is expensive nowadays. Looking at the moon’s position in the sky, the thing in the night sighed and walked back into the club whose air was more cigar smoke and cheap perfume than oxygen.
——-
“She is all legs gentleman! The lady in red, the embodiment of your wildest dreams and darkest nightmares. Here she is, the one you waited for. Welcome your favorite lady of the night, the Fresno Nightcrawler!” The MC crowed to the room. She didn’t actually know if the Nightcrawler was female. She was pretty sure that the Nightcrawler didn’t know either. As a being from a different dimension that didn’t have genders it acted as it saw fit.
The men that filled the room on Thursday’s “Leg Night” howled, raising their glasses and their chicken drumsticks into their air in anticipation of their favorite dancer. The lamps had all been switched out for copies of that ridiculous lamp from A Christmas Story. Thursday’s used to be slow until all the cryptids decided to stop hiding about four years ago. From the MC’s understanding it had been difficult for the Nightcrawler to get a job, what with not having any arms. On top of that they had a second, smaller Nightcrawler to support, possibly a child, or clone or just a second one of the species. Whatever it was, the working Nightcrawler was protective of it. The Fresno Nightcrawler had been a stage performer originally on Broadway and a Rockette but as the novelty and fame wore off over the years people stopped coming and the Nightcrawler had been booted from the big stage. Over time the stages had gotten smaller and smaller. Now it dances here for wild alcoholics every Thursday.
The smoke stained once-red curtains opened and from the shadows came a faint pearly glow. Into the doorway stepped one fishnetted leg. The howling grew louder from the crowd. The red sequins on the 5” heel flashed in the spotlights, catching and holding the eye, seeming to lengthen the leg. A second leg appeared and the dollar bills began to rain upon the stage. The Nightcrawler knew that anticipation paid off, it had to make them wait, build the desire before stepping fully into the light.
The MC appreciated the Nightcrawler’s tactics, “Leg Nights” were a feast of glorious pent up sexual frustration. Being a succubus at a club for exotic dancers meant that she got to eat for free. It was worth working nights, besides her own dating life had been rough. Men didn’t like that she might accidentally kill them during sex. Although the new bouncer might be worth taking out for a spin. Putting that thought off until later the MC looked back at the stage and gorged.
There was another long moment, the music got quiet, just a deep base rolling through the room, seeming to pulse and then into the amber-tinted spotlight a red plaid mini-skirt winked provocatively around the curtain. A blank faced head of pale-while followed. The music swelled to a crescendo. The Nightcrawler wore no shirt but as it had nothing to show off, this didn’t matter. These admirers paid the cover fee to admire those legs as they danced and swayed and twitched on stage.
The dancing put the audience into a trance almost and they were more than happy to shell out all the ones and fives they had brought with them. They knew that as long as the money kept coming the legs would keep dancing.
——-
Finally the last dollar bill was collected and the thing that preferred the night slipped back behind the once-red curtain, more than ready to leave and hide back in the forest with its young. At least now it could afford the wi-fi bill for their cave.
“They really paid out tonight,” said the young Bigfoot bouncer to the Nightcrawler as it slid out the door, a fanny-pack full of cash clipped around its waist. The creature of the night nodded once before running off into the dark, for a moment pretending that they had not revealed themselves to humanity.
In coming up with this I wrote the most ridiculous thing that I could think of because writing is supposed to be fun. This story got me my second writer of the week. If you want to see my first writer of the week story, check it out here. What stories do you enjoy reading? Let me know in the comments and happy reading!
Thank you KW Photography for allowing me to use your wonderful photos!
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