It wasn't really a cough. It sounded like someone choking, as though someone were gasping for air over and over again with a piece of bone stuck in their gullet. Then, he heard something like a splattering sound, and a whistling and sort of a sucking noise. Before he could interpret these strange noises, something lunged at him from the darkness and landed on top of him.
It was about the size and shape of a person, but its skin was slimy and slick, like the top of a bulbfish on a beach and the color of soft moonlight itself. Whatever the creature was, it was naked from head to toe, and its head was round like a great pumpkin. Jallin tried to scream, but the attacker had something around his throat and was choking him. His fingers instinctively tried to come between the attacker and his neck, but they slid away and could get no grip on the tentacles or tendrils or fingers wrapped around. He tried to pull at the wrists, and found his fingers could go all the way around the supple forearms of the creature, but it was no use trying to pull the creature away. Its arms were as slick as the underbelly of a fish and it seemed much stronger than he was.
The creature lowered its head towards his chest, and in the moonlight, Jallin saw something like a dagger descending towards his right breast. Summoning strength from somewhere, he kicked into the underbelly of the creature above him. Its response was a squeal like someone drowning a screaming infant. The head looked up, and its huge eyes caught moonlight. The creature's mouth pointed at his face, liquid dripping from the sharp tip.
Then, a shadow passed over them both. Someone was standing behind the creature. By now, Jallin's mind allowed him to hear Eja coughing and Aunty Hurga screaming, and several other people yelling. Whoever it was who came to Jallin's rescue drove a knife home into the creature's skull, withdrew it, and planted it again in the creature's shoulder. Jallin's attacker fell away, leaving Jallin panting on the broken and uneven cobblestone street.
"Are you alright?" someone asked him over and over. Whoever it was still held the knife while he helped Jallin to his feet again. Jallin nearly fell, but the person helping him held him up. "Jallin? Look at me?" Counselor Yubrin's breath and face in the darkness. His concerned words starting to take shape in Jallin's mind. "Are you alright? Did it manage to bite you?"
"Yes...er...no...I'm alright," he finally sputtered. "What happened?"
Counselor Yubrin didn't answer. Instead, he spun Jallin about, checking him over for injuries. Jallin's head was throbbing from where he'd been choked and where his head hit the ground, but otherwise, he was alright. He didn't feel like he'd been hurt any worse than that. Counselor Yubrin still pulled up his shirt and looked to see if he'd been bitten anywhere.
"Is Eja alright?" Jallin asked. Counselor Yubrin gestured to a heap on the ground in Aunty Hurga's arms. Jallin tried to go to her, but Counselor Yubrin held him.
"Damnit, let me go," Jallin screamed at him. He remembered his mother dying in that room and Yubrin in the way. When he still wouldn't release him, Jallin kicked the Counselor in the shin and ran to his sister.
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