Hungry Little Mouths

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Creepy Cryptid Stories

Welcome to Scary Story Time. I'm Spooky Boo and I've written a new scary story for you this week. It's a creepy little cryptid tale. One that you will cringe at when you think about exploring dark, unchartered caves or your favorite feathered friend. But don't all of my scary stories make you cringe just a little?

I'd also like to invite you to join my friends and me on Saturday nights where we get together and watch great B horror movies on Creature Features with the ever so adorable host Vincent Van Dahl. To grab the link, visit www.creaturefeatures.tv.

To listen to this story, visit my podcast at www.scarystorytime.com or find the podcast Spooky Boo's Scary Story Time on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Alexa, and other places where popular podcasts can be found.

Now let's begin.

Hungry Little Mouths

For as long as he could remember, Brian Lam read the stories about the pirates of Sandcastle. Rumor had it that stolen treasure was hidden in the town somewhere between the beach to deep within the forest. He took pictures of the landscaping for years before he even noticed the small crack in the side of the cliff. For months he watched for anything coming in or out of the crevice. Nothing ever entered or left, but it was the last place in the small city that he hadn't yet searched. Most people just laughed when he told them there might be a cave behind the wall of rock but he knew there had to be something there. It was just too obvious and he was quite surprised that it went undiscovered for hundreds of years.

He gathered together some rock climbing rope and gear. Since he was going alone he didn't want to overpack so he left the backpack at home. Instead of his normal attire of skinny jeans, he slipped on a pair of tan Capri shorts. He didn't plan to be there overnight, just long enough to confirm his suspicions. If he was right, then he would go back later with a crew. Becoming a part of the town's history excited him and just made him want to hurry up and get to the cliff. With one swift motion, he pulled together his long blond hair and tied it into a small band forming a man-bun.

"I'll be back later, Mom," he said as he gave her a hug. He didn't want her knowing where he was going for she would try to stop him from doing anything dangerous. At 30 years old he felt a little dismayed not having a career and still living at home with his mother, but maybe his discoveries and love of nature would bring him the fame he was looking for to relieve him from that situation. Working at the local coffee shop Ocean Grounds did not offer him much of an income, but as his mother was willing to let him live there after her divorce he was more than willing to oblige.

"Be safe," she smiled. This was the answer he expected from her and loved it every time she said the words knowing she meant what she said.

He waited until everyone left the beach area because he didn't want people gathering around to see what he was doing. It was bad enough the Miller mansion was sitting on top of that very spot as it would call attention to him. He also didn't want people seeing him trying to get into what he thought might be a cave as he wanted to be sure first. Humiliation is something he wasn't good at taking and he would hear it for months if his friends watched him climb the side of that cliff.

"I'm going to beat you!" he said as he started his way up the side. To his dismay, there was nowhere to securely anchor the rope within reach so he started up the side of the cliff the hard way. The first few steps were easy as the sand was pushed up high from an earlier tide, but as he climbed higher he knew it would get more difficult. Fortunately, this side of the cliff had many embedded rocks he could step on or grab on to.

"This must be the way the pirates made it up the cliff," he mused as he continued to scale the side.

As his hand gripped the side of the cliff, Brian felt the rocks shift beneath his feet. He looked down for a brief second and watched the unsecured rocks fall to the rocky beach around 30 feet beneath him. For the next few seconds, he held his breath and waited with his eyes tightly shut. Looking down was a mistake and he knew it but it was something anyone would have done in his position. The full height of the cliff was approximately 3,000 feet, but the cave looked to only be about 100 feet up but still, he knew he probably would not survive a fall into the rocky beach below. The shifting stopped and he let out a huge sigh. Shaking, he gripped a bigger rock with his right hand, he pulled up his left foot and firmly placed it on the next rock. One step after another he climbed the side until he was finally at the opening to a crack on the side of the hill.

"I knew it!" he smiled as he turned sideways and carefully side-stepped through the tight opening.

Once inside the cave, he realized it was much bigger than he expected. After all of these years, no one ever dared to even find out if a cave even existed here. He was the first to figure it out, or so he thought. When he looked across the opening he noticed something in the dim light that looked like bones. He could barely see them as the sun was setting but offering a faint orange glow inside the cave. He pulled the flashlight from his belt and turned it on.

Shocked, he noticed the mummified bones were very old. He counted five skulls and only 9 feet. Attached at the knee of one of the skeletons was a metal rod. He noticed there were only 8 hands. One person had a left hand and another only a right. There were also belt buckles, buttons, coins, and even boot buckles, but anything made from organic material that was not metal or bone was gone. He took out his cell phone and began taking pictures of the bones and the surroundings but when he tried to upload the photos to his social media account there wasn't a signal for the cellular data or the wifi.

Knowing he could upload all of his pictures later, he took closeups of the coins and buckles while pocketing as many as he could hold. His pants had very few pockets and he had to keep one open for the cell phone as he couldn't carry it on the way down the cliff. "I suppose I'll leave the rest of it for the museum," he sighed.

The thought of his finds proudly displayed at the local Sandcastle museum, or possibly even the Smithsonian, excited him. He could generate buzz through social media and his work would finally pay off. He enjoyed taking pictures of everything he found which included secluded caves, treasures, and pictures of wild animals. During his nature walks and rock climbing adventures in Sandcastle, he came across many different exotic finds such as strange animal species, treasures left by pirates, crafts by American Indians, and other unique prizes. Finding a huge pirate treasure that was just a rumor in the town would settle the history arguments by many of the town's inhabitants and he would be famous.

Walking around and examining the rest of the small cave he noticed something wet dripping down from the ceiling and down the wall furthest from the light. He could barely see the shine of the wetness from the disappearing sun and as he pointed his phone flashlight on the wall he noticed the trail of wetness looked a bit like oil. He dabbed his finger into the peculiar liquid and then smooshed it between his fingers. The texture was sticky and rather disturbing. Even worse, once the smell reached his nose, he recoiled in disgust. It smelled almost like old blood. He followed the trail of goo with his eyes until it reached a crevice in the rock. There, between two stone pallets, he noticed a hand from where the black ooze dribbled.

Carefully, he stepped on a large stone under the appendage and peered inside the crack. He cringed when the stench hit his nostrils, almost knocking him off the rock. The body was somewhat fresh and at the point where it was beginning to decay. Pockets of black blisters were forming on the skin around the torso. The face was gone, but the eyes remained in a haunted stare of death. For a brief moment, Brian stood there wondering who this poor soul was and then he stopped moving and looked into the darkness. Something was staring at him.

It took a moment for him to realize what the two yellow orbs were. There were no whites in the eyes, but the reflection of his face was obvious. He met the creature face to face and for a few seconds, they stared at each other--locked in a challenge. Forgetting about the rock he stood on, Brian stepped backward into the air and fell flat on his ass and knocking the wind out of him long enough for the thing to creep out from the hole. Brian took a deep breath and looked at it while crawling backward on all fours with his back to the ground.

The creature squeezed out of the hole and jumped to the ground. It was in human form, but its arms and legs were covered in feathers. Where its mouth should have been was a rather large, sharp beak. It screeched as it stepped toward Brian, sticking its neck out and bobbing its head. The human-like bird stuck its arms out away from its sides and from underneath the flesh wings unfolded to a massive size. It pulled its wings back in and they were arms again, with long, sharp claws for fingers on both human hands.

Brian, unable to speak or scream, crawled to the opening of the cave. As he did, it scuttled behind him and as he reached the opening he felt one sharp talon tear down his calf. He screamed, hooking his rope around a rock and flinging it down the side of the cliff. Suddenly, falling 30 feet into rocks on the beach didn't look so bad to him any longer while the creature's long, sharp fingers ripped apart his leg. He edged toward the cave entrance and felt the talon pin him down to the ground through flesh near his Achilles tendon. He screamed, still pulling himself toward the cave opening and feeling his foot lodge from its socket. The monster had torn so much of his leg that his foot popped right and as it bled, he grabbed the rope and flung himself outside into the fog.

He knew he was losing a lot of blood and feeling faint, but he knew he had to warn people of what was in the cave. As the creature crawled out of the entrance and stretched its huge wings into the air, Brian snapped a few pictures with his phone until he could mentally and physically not hold on to it any longer. He watched his cell phone drop into a thick pile of ice plants with violet flowers down below the cliff as he prayed someone would find it for proof of whatever was going to happen to him. His eyes closed right before the creature's talons closed around his body and yanked the rope around his body off of its anchor.

Gold coins and buckles fell from his pockets when the monster flew higher into the fog. He was barely conscious when it stopped flying and hovered somewhere over the forest in Sandcastle. Brian ignored his own advice of never looking down and cried when he saw the four open mouths of baby owl-like creatures begging for their food. With their human bodies covered in pin feathers and fluff, they squeaked with large beaks.

The predator dropped him into the nest and he felt their beaks upon his legs. Brian grabbed the side of the nest and pulled himself to the edge until one large claw stepped down on his back, cracking it in two. Taking the back of his calf into its beak, the beast stripped the flesh from his leg. Four hungry little mouths opened and waited for a piece and as it dropped into the beak of the first human-owlet while the others cried for their helpings. As the cryptid owl grabbed another piece of Brian's leg to feed its hungry spawn, the world dimmed in Brian's eyes along with his dreams of becoming famous.

"Maybe they'll find my phone," he whispered as the darkness consumed his life.

The End

Hey, it's Spooky Boo. Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this week's horror story please head on over to my website at www.scarystorytime.com and make a comment. You can also like my Facebook page or Instagram @spookybooscarystorytime or follow me on twitter @spookyboorhodes for updates to my latest scary stories on Scary Story Time.

That's all for this week. I'll see you in your nightmares.