I wrote this in October 2018, but I feel it'd be appropriate to share now, three years later!
The little creature skittered on the cobblestone floor. It looked right and left, front and back, twitching its long ears to pick up any sound. It huddled under a lit torch set on the mossy wall. There was a faint growl, and the creature immediately shuffled away. It pressed its back against the wall, turning to face the direction from where the faint sound came.
The growl was an echo. It was a sound trapped in a solid room with no cracks to an outside world. It filled everywhere.
Sniffing followed. The heavy exhale felt like wind to the little creature. More sniffing followed, and the imp stood absolutely still.
Claws hit the ground. The beast's paw was seen from the corner where the path turned left. The gray scratched-up claws and furry smell followed the little creature as its giant nose appeared. It moved up and down slowly as each sniff was taken. The whole head emerged, showing the yellowish eyes and a pelt that looked like it was almost ripped off. It knew the smaller creature hid by the walls.
"I can smell you..." it mumbled in its monstrous deep voice. It looked forward, but nothing prominent stood out to its poor eyesight. It could not see the little creature.
It lowered its nose, sniffing the ground carefully. "You reek of ashes and fear..." the beast turned its head right, a solid rock near the stone walls laid by itself. The claws immediately clenched it, but the tail of the tiny imp appeared caught between them. It tried to grasp the ground for life, scratching the stone as it tried to escape, desperately tugging away.
The beast cupped its paws, trapping its prey between them. The tiny imp tried to stretch its body out of the grasp.
However, nothing else could be done by the beast when a white glow surrounded it. It seemed to disappear from the hellish chamber as the white glow took it away.
It appeared in the light, tiny suns attached to a colored wall were placed above the beast. It hissed, the whiteness of the suns above it made its heart pound, curling itself in. The little creature was released. It immediately darted away, hiding in an unknown black object. It was round, but there was a big enough opening for only it to fit inside. It thought to itself, How did I get here? But it did not not care much, because it was free.
There were different footsteps this time. They were faint and dainty, bipedal with hooves. It was able to talk in a more modern language the little creature could understand. "Hush!" It was a lighter, less harmful voice.
Strange noises followed. They sounded like magic, recognizable to the small imp. It occurred to him that he knew where he was. I'm in a human's home.
All of a sudden, the beast's noises stopped. They disappeared in a snap. Silence followed. Did the human rid of it?
The footsteps were heard again. Objects were moving and footsteps paced back and forth. It's looking for me.
Finally, a shadow covered the little creature. It looked up, and a girl with black hair was peering down at him. "I knew that beast caught something."
The little creature backed away, but it was not as frightened as before. A girl would have less of a chance to hurt it.
"Now, get out of there. I won't kill you." The girl backed away, giving the little creature a chance. It hopped out, looking around in the strange colorful room. A window was placed to the outside. Purple walls and bricks sealed the room, and there was a door to go into other rooms. There had not been anywhere safer than the room the imp somehow appeared in.
"Alright, back you go," she grabbed a flimsy stick with weird patterns on it and pushed him into a white circle. "Beast is gone, you can go home." The white glow appeared around the little creature.
"Wait!" The imp ran out and tugged the girl's red dress, speaking in perfect language. "Don't let me go back there! There are still more beasts! Let me stay here! I won't be trouble! I promise!"
The girl was shocked, she never heard any sort of creature she summoned speak any perfect human language.
"...So you can talk?" She stepped back, her eyes wide.
"Yeah! I can talk," it nodded its head, communicating more.
The girl stood still for a moment, thinking quietly to herself. The little creature still looked at her, hoping she would spare it from returning to a previous realm.
"...What can you do?" She tilted her head.
"I can... I can transform into anything! Well, if it's not too big..."
"Demonstrate."
The creature hesitated, looking around the girl's room to find any peculiar object. The imp noticed a dusty old broom leaning against the purple wall. "I can do better!" The creature automatically changed into a shiny new broom in a snap. It fell to the ground lightly like a stick.
The girl picked up the broom, comparing it to the old one the imp referenced. She threw it down, and it turned back to the little creature it was.
"Alright, you can stay. However," she tapped the top of the little creature's head with her stick. "You follow my orders. You won't leave the place without me. You will behave."
"Yes, girl. I'll be your friend!" The creature stood up on his two legs and put his hand up. With no reaction, he brought his hand down. "What's your name?" He asked.
"I'm Ashley. What about you?"
"Me? I uh... don't have a name. But I know one thing! A name describes who you are! What do you think of me?" The creature asked excitedly.
"Pathetic," she replied.
"Hey!"
"Well, I wouldn't stand saying it over and over again." She stared at the creature for a good amount of time. "Red. I'll call you that."
"Red? Yeah, I'll go with it." He smiled.
"Yeah... and don't be a scaredy cat. I'm not fun and games."
"Don't worry Ashley!" He formed a pitchfork in the palm of his hand. "I'll be your best friend!"
"...Friend, yeah." She said in monotone. "Well, if you want anything, there's food in the kitchen-"
"Food?" His eyes widened, and he skittered through an open door.
"Now just wait a minute!" Ashley called out and followed him inside. "Don't go crazy!"
"I've never tasted human food before! What's in the bag?" He stared inside an obvious pumpkin shaped bowl sitting on the floor.
"...Candy. Just take a bit."
Red grabbed a tiny stick with a circle on top. He ripped off the wrapper on top with his teeth. "You humans are fancy with your food." The green glow of the strange edible object made Red excited, as it looked sweet and pretty. He chewed on the hard thing, trying his best to bite down on the candy. His eyes perked up, and his cheeks blushed with a smile growing on his face.
"What kind of food is this? It's lovely!"
"Don't eat all my lollipops."
Red had already crunched down the green candy.
"Well, I seem to have found something."
He stopped and trotted to Ashley. "I'll be good. I'll help you with what you do." He turned to a serious tone. "You're a witch, aren't you?"
She hesitated. "Of course. I wouldn't have summoned you."
"That's good to hear! Thank you, Ashley!" He smiled.
"Whatever."
"You won't regret it!"
~End~