I thought of the small goop ball with legs. It'd be easy, and safe, if killing these things really did strip away my humanity. The problem was trying to catch it without being seen by Nancy, being seen by Roger, and especially being seen by any nailimps. Really wasn't feeling a huge showdown in front of the school. I'd seen a small goop ball on my porch, and a few on the way to school, so they seemed common enough to just find one when we walked outside. 

Jay and I navigated through the halls and out through one of the backdoors towards the football field, and my guess is that it was too early for any other kids to be around in the bleachers, but I wasn't going to risk it. It seemed pretty empty for the most part when it came to monsters, they were mostly around people, just messing with them. 

We started looking, or more, I started looking, and Jay talked about how he wanted to help, but found it even cooler that he could not. I looked around on the field itself, and eventually moved up towards the underside of the bleachers, my best friend looking around with interest. I smiled.

"Found one!" I shouted, and he nearly leaped with excitement. I snickered. "Just kidding."

Jay scowled, and crossed his arms. "Was this whole thing a lie? Did you bring me out here just to make fun of me?"

I shook my head, laughing and replying, "No, but it was funny. Just let me get proof before you start disbelieving."

As if on cue, I noticed one, right above Jay's head, stuck on the bleachers above him, I stared at it, and it didn't really seem to care, it just sat there, it's one eye gazing right at me, and then down to Jay. I gripped his arm and dragged him closer to me, out from underneath the nailimp so I could get a clear shot of it. Jay looked at me angrily, as if he wasn't going to fall for that trick a second time, which, on my part, was completely my fault and a horrible idea. Nevertheless, I inched closer to the monster, but it stared at me, unmoving and unafraid. I reached up, but thinking back to how my hands vaporized the monster before, I decided against it, What if I showed my other form as soon as I touched it? We needed to get somewhere quieter, especially since kids were piling in now, setting their backpacks on the cool grass and sitting in circles to discuss things with their friends. 

"Jay, give me your scarf," I said, putting out my hand as he took it off and handed it to me. I laid the scarf in both of my hands, careful not to expose my skin, and I snatched it from off of the bleachers. It rustled in my hands, but didn't do much, like a bird with broken wings you'd just picked up from the side of the road. 

"Did you just pick up a monster, that you said had guts hanging out, with my scarf?" Jay asked, offended and disgusted. I shook my head.

"No, this one is just a little slime thing," I replied, looking around. "Open up your backpack, we'll head to the bathroom and make sure everyone is out, and then we'll lock the door, and barricade it, and then I'll hurt this thing, okay?" Jay nodded and lowered his backpack onto the ground, opening it as I placed the nailimp in gently, still wrapped in the scarf. It tried to squirm out, but once I set it down in the backpack, it sat still. Maybe it didn't like movement. I hurriedly zipped up the backpack, and Jay shouldered it as fast as he could. I nodded and we both started off towards the bathroom. 

Once we were in there, we checked each of the stalls, which would have been a dumb idea if there had been people there, Jay and I would've definitely be labeled creeps. Of course, the bathroom wasn't the best place to do this, it stank and seemed a little too out in the open, especially since we now found out that there was no way to lock the bathroom door from the inside. However, there were no cameras, and not a lot of people went into the bathroom before school started.So we ended up making an even worse decision by locking ourselves in the handicap stall, just as a precaution. If this didn't work out, we were in loads of trouble. 

I rubbed my hands together as Jay set the backpack down and backed away from it , leaning on the other side of the stall. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and focused on shifting, feeling chills like goosebumps running up my skin, like I'd just walked into a freezer, before I warmed back up again. I opened my eyes, but it almost seemed as if I could look in more directions, all at the same time. Was this a new power or something? When I looked up at Jay, he was only grinning, he must have absolutely loved this with his entire nerdy being. I opened the backpack, and gently grabbed the thing, unwrapping the scarf to where I could see it, but my hands still were not touching it.  One hand holding the creature, one hand ready to evaporate it, I looked towards Jay, who nodded, his smile slowly fading, though anyone could tell he was excited, he was also terrified. I grabbed the creature with my open hand, and dropped the scarf, reaching for it with a second hand. It started writhing in my hands and contorting into shapes other than a ball, and I could feel it being drained of it's life, and oddly, this blackness that entered my skin stuck there, which didn't happen the last time. It spread up my arm to around my elbows, and it started to hurt, and it was draining the life out of me too.

Jay stood there, his mouth in a big 'O' shape. He must be able to see it now, he was unmoving, shocked, and completely intrigued. Surprisingly, killing this nailimp was taking a lot out of me, it seemed so small and simple. After a few minutes of us draining each other, I dropped it on the floor, unable to effect it in the slightest, but still able to make it visible to Jay's eyes, which was definitely the goal here. My arms throbbed and I leaned over the toilet next to me and started vomiting up my own blood again, my insides screaming for me to stop and never do that ever again. I breathed heavily afterward, and Jay stepped over the goopball that lay on the floor, unable to grow legs or stick to something else now, and crouched down next to me, rubbing my back worriedly as I heaved in breaths. I used what little energy I had to shift again, and Jay picked his scarf back up from the floor, grimacing and handing it to me to wipe my face with 

"Well, I wanted to see the monster, but I definitely didn't like seeing that happen to you. Are you alright?" he spoke, breaking the silence. I nodded, getting up and as soon as Jay had zipped up his backpack, he opened the stall door. I finished wiping my face and followed after Jay, taking the scarf to the sink to rinse out. 

"Sorry about that, it gets messy. Sort of undersold the entire vomiting part," I said, my hands running along the bloodied parts of the scarf. "Also, sorry about your scarf"

"I can just wash it, man, it's not big deal," Jay replied. "So, that's just a small one, right?"

I nodded, turning off the sink and wringing out the scarf, the water dripping from it. I noticed my hands were still covered in black opaqueness, but it was slowly creeping back down, going away, truly sinking in. Jay noticed, also watched my skin return to normal. 

"Upgrades, huh? Some eyeballs and black skin stains?"

"Well, that explains why I could see in more directions, that was bizarre," I thought aloud. Jay nodded, his soft smile returning. 

"Do we just leave it here?" Jay asked.

"Can you still see it?"

"Yeah, it's sort of getting up. Really didn't like that at all, I don't think"

I turned, watching it get up, growing it's arms and legs. It was almost sad. We heard the door open, and looked at who entered. It was a boy from my English class, Evan Liu. He exchanged glances with Jay and I, and waved awkwardly. 

"You guys just chilling in here?" he said, tucking his hands in his pockets. He clearly wanted us to get out, and I figured, nothing would happen if we left the monster there, it was weak. It was sort of pathetic actually. I nudged Jay, who was just staring in the direction of the nailimp, and I continued looking at Evan Liu. 

"We were just leaving, let's skedaddle, Jay," I said, and started to walk, but he tugged on my shirt sleeve, staying perfectly still. I turned to look at him, confused, until I looked at what he was looking at. The nailimp had grown from a small goopball, to the size of the stall door, and was walking out of it, towards me, and I could feel it staring down on us with it's one eye with the upmost hatred. Evan turned to see what we were staring at, and once he saw it, he started to scream in pure terror, but before he could turn to run out the door, it grabbed him, raising him up in the air. The slime split open to reveal a giant mouth, with, just like the last nailimp, rows of teeth, and a long, slimy tongue falling out of it's mouth like a dog. I hit Jay, hard, breaking him out of whatever trance he was in and he looked at me, terrified. 

"Go," I told him, and shoved him towards the door. He looked so offended that I was making him leave, and like he wanted me to go with him, but I threw his scarf at him, and he caught it, looking up to me and nodding. He left the bathroom, shouting for help, as I shifted back, feeling the power course through me. I took a shuddering breath, and looked up to Evan, who was struggling in the nailimp's grip. I launched myself at the monster, but before I could get it, it bit off Evan's arm, blood spewing everywhere and Evan giving anguished screams, before fainting from the pain of it, laying limp and bloody. I screamed at it, and raised my hands against it's goopy skin, which seemed to engulf both of my arms. I focused, hard, on trying to drain it's life essence and although it was painful, that also meant that I was hurting it. It writhed in pain, and swatted me off with a giant claw, making me crash into the wall across the room, and ripping open my side. I gripped the deep hole, and I looked at all of the blood spilling onto the white tiles. I wasn't going to let it devour anymore people. I'd started this, I was going to finish it, no matter how badly I was injured. 

I got up, picked up the trash bin next to me as it started after me, and I threw it into it's eyeball, making it fall back a few feet and try to regain it's balance. I launched myself forward once again and started focusing harder, which drained it even more, and it froze, unable to fight back as it completely evaporated. I started vomiting again, falling on the ground next Evan, who was bleeding out beside me. He wasn't dead, and he was still breathing, but I had to do something. I tried to get up, but I fell back down. I guess that explained why that nailimp was so hard to kill, it was really just a giant monster wrapped in tiny monster wrapping paper. 

The smell of blood was potent, and as soon as I tried to get back up again, I fell back down, and shifted back into my normal form once again. The staff members and Jay burst into the bathroom, and started to panic. Jay looked around to see if the monster was gone, and then rushed over to me, but the teachers held him back. The PE teacher, Mr. Galvan, picked Evan up, and carried him out as fast as he could, and the history teacher, Mr. Parkes, lifted me into his arms, and I closed my eyes, but not before seeing Jay run after the teacher carrying me, and the dozens of kids gazing at the horrific scene.