The Nix II
With a spindly insectile infrastructure and brazen plumage, any rational mind would have expected the Nix to be easily identifiable. Their cellular composition was versatile enough though to grant mimetic capabilities within a wide boundary range. They existed in a semi-fluid state, though the staged reinforcement of tissue granted extreme durability to their frame. As ridiculous as it sounded, their ability to assume the shape of a beach chair, lawn chair or lounge chair granted them virtual invisibility in certain settings, at least until the claws came out.
Once the screaming started, the presence of a Nix was pretty well assured.
After the worst of the infestation was over, that’s when the real horror stories began to crop up. Everyone had learned to avoid the beaches, the real estate market still hasn’t rebounded fully. The scary shit was looking past the existence of innocuous furniture in places the mind was easily lulled. Garages were slaughterhouses. How many people had a chair or two propped or hanging alongside the array of incidentals largely forgotten in their garage? That chair you seldom pull out for barbecues, or to watch the fireworks, or throw in the car for vacation.
Many folks never gave those chairs a second glance, or noticed an extra one in the mix, and when the Nix started nesting in garages and sheds, most never got a second chance to give a damn. Few survived long enough to relay their findings.
When the girls and I went up to the lake house to clear out my mother’s things, we got a first hand refresher on just how far spread the reach of the Nix had become. If I hadn’t been wearing the rings, I don’t think you’d be reading this account.