The Creature in Wesley's Room

The parents notice that there's something strange in Wesley's room.

His name was Wesley but they called him the frog baby. He was born with Tamper’s Skin Disease. He had patches of green skin around his body and on those patches; the skin was, more often than not, scaly and flaky. For a child of his size, he also had abnormally large eyes, and webbed feet.

 

At times the infected green patches of Wesley’s skin would be dangerously dry that sudden jerks on that portion would tear it open. The only cure that worked was water. So as a baby, from time to time, Wesley was kept inside a tank of water to prevent his infected skin from tearing. He was not breast fed too. The first time they tried to breast feed him, the mother swore that Wesley’s tongue was like a dagger trying to rip out her n****e; in fact, he would have succeeded had the mom not felt the pain right a way. The infected patches on his skin spread rapidly, so much so that it was more proper to say that he had patches of uninfected skin on his body. He was put in the water more frequently as he grew up which was weird because he refused to actually drink water. His eyeballs were so swollen; it was to the point that they were protruding out of the sockets. Wesley's pupils would also constantly dart from left to right �" as if he were looking for something. Doctors said that Wesley would not last till past five years old but he proved them all wrong when he celebrated his tenth birthday. It was a miracle, he was not supposed to survive, but somehow, against all odds, he did.

 

The parents homeschooled their child because they were afraid of the ridicule he would face. The attempt at homeschooling Wesley though was doomed even before it began. He was very uncooperative and spent most of his time in the pool �" he had grown too big for the tank, so the parents had a pool installed. It was amazing actually that he could swim because his legs did not develop properly. The portion just past his knee did not grow well, like a crawling baby his legs stayed bent, but like a frog it was bent underneath him. Wesley had a hard time walking normally; it was more natural for him to hop from place to place. His appetite changed from eating nothing but vegetables to eating nothing but rare meat. The frog baby was growing up to becoming one curious specimen.

 

As he got older, Wesley's mouth changed somehow. It was bigger than normal and no one, not even his parents, knew why. Not until he opened his mouth that is. He showed his abnormally huge tongue and it became clearer to the parents as to why Wesley did not speak. He spent most of his time hopping around the house of his parents, tongue in his mouth, and protruding eyes darting around, looking for food. Wesley's legs got bigger and meatier because of all the jumping. At least his eyes stopped protruding and his mouth did not get any bigger.

 

The parents knew that Wesley was not a normal kid and they wanted to bring him to the doctor to have him checked for his condition �" this did not seem like your average Tamper’s Skin Disease anymore. Though it seemed almost impossible to catch him (he thinks they just play games with him). When the parents saw Wesley use his own tongue to stretch out, grab a piece of raw meat from the freezer, and eat it whole they knew there was something else that was wrong with Wesley. The mom could not believe that her thirteen-year old son had used his own tongue to reach out and grab a frozen piece of meat, and then eat it whole.

 

Wesley had countless surgeries on his legs and every time, a couple of weeks after his surgery, they would morph and bend back to the way they were. He was also operated on his webbed feet and every time, also about a week after the operation, his feet would become webbed again. There was one attempt at an operation on Wesley's tongue, but it never happened because the doctors could not cut through his tongue. No one knew why his body physically refused to be changed, but Wesley did not mind so they let it be. Wesley also seemed to be growing fast. On his eighteenth birthday, he looked more like a weirdly shaped thirty year-old.

 

By then, Wesley's whole body was made up of scaly green skin, he had a huge jaw that housed his abnormally large tongue, and his curved legs were more muscular than ever. His legs did not allow him to stand up straight, and he could not carry his growing belly (because of all the raw meat he ate) anymore so he was forced to lean forward and let his belly hang, his hands were on the ground to support him. Standing up straight, he was about six foot five inches tall, and weighed around two hundred thirty pounds. Even at that weight, his appetite continued to grow. He ate thrice as much and was not really fond of raw meat from the freezer anymore. His parents saw him one day eating a street cat that was not even completely dead yet.

 

Wesley started getting violent a couple of days after his first cat. Whenever he did not have anything suitable to feast on, he would throw a tantrum, leap to his room, and just break whatever his feet touched. They tried feeding him raw steak again, but it just would not do anymore. Wesley would not eat anything that was not alive; he’d feast on stray cats, house mice, and an occasional street dog down. It seemed like he enjoyed tormenting the poor animals more than he did eating it. He would have a stray cat or dog run away from him, and then after the chase, Wesley would break the legs of that poor animal, and then slowly feast on it. Sometimes a cat or dog would last him a couple of days.

 

His parents did not even see him as their own child anymore �" they had no idea what he was. He was something else and they were afraid, and that was all they knew. What was once a little baby with a few body defects has turned into a monstrous devil frog and it was living inside Wesley’s room. This creature killed Wesley, and after it’s first cat, the parents knew that they had to call someone; they had to have him checked before his appetite grew even more.

 

They sent an email to a scientist from the local university to get her opinion and advice on the creature that was living in Wesley’s room. The university scientist heard about the frog baby in a news article awhile back, “Baby born with a very special case of Tamper’s,” and she has always fascinated by him. When she received the email, she was more than happy to take a look. When she arrived though, she was mortified with what she saw. She could not fathom the logic behind the metamorphosis of Wesley. He was not a frog baby anymore, he was a horrendous monster sent from the deepest, darkest, dampest part of hell.

 

At about seven foot tall, and weighing roughly north of three hundred pounds, the creature was more terrifying than ever. Its bulging eyes had black veins all around and still continued to dart left to right, from human to human this time. The infected skin was a dark slimy green and its webbed toes had a firm grip on the ground. Its gargantuan frog legs had dark green veins streaking all around. The creature’s jaw was even more intimidating when it opened, and for the first time ever, the parents heard a voice come out. “Mate,” the creature said in a croaking sort of sound as its eyes darted towards the university scientist. Immediately the tongue shot out and wrapped itself around her. The creature lifted the scientist off her feet and leaped back inside Wesley’s room.

 

Completely disturbed and confused by what had just happened, the parents ran after the creature and the scientist. By the time they got to the door of Wesley’s room, the creature had slammed the door shut and it was close to impossible to open. The father tried kicking the door down but it simply would not budge. As the mother ran to the phone to call the police, and the father continued to try and kick down the door, the two could hear the screams of the university scientist.

 

By the time the police had arrived, about half the neighbors were already outside the house, just watching and trying to figure out what was going on. The screaming of the university scientist had died down, and the only noise the neighbors could hear was the shouting of the father, and him trying to break down the door to Wesley’s room. The police moved the parents outside and began working on the door. They first tried to converse with the creature and the scientist to get them to open the door, but when the sound of a wall breaking on the other side was the only reply they got, the police shot at the doorknob, and started hacking at the door.

 

When they finally got in, the police were shocked with what they saw. The whole room had this horrible smell and it was dark and damp. The slime that was oozing out of the creature’s skin was all over the walls of Wesley’s room �" it looked like something had exploded actually. There were eggs the size of a small dog scattered all over the room and they were all still intact. The most notable feature of the room though was the two big holes in the wall that opened up into the creek near their house. The police saw that the creature was very quickly leaping away in the distance, and beside him, at about the same size, was another creature.

Author's Note

This is a short story that was inspired by Junji Ito's Uzumaki, and basically H.P. Lovecraft and Cosmic Horror. Hope you enjoyed this weird horror short story!