rin run run/rin rat run

previous part here: https://jordynsaelor.com/2025/07/24/unloved/

all parts here: https://jordynsaelor.com/cant-catch-me-now/

***

outta the haze light

fleeing demon fire,

they said they’d tamper with my memories

if I chose to leave

but like I was air

I went creeping

through the magic lair

to flee when I should’ve been sleeping;

through the maze halls weeping,

the red light

exposed my plight–

I didn’t want to be a witch

not really

and it was no better here

no better than before

no better than my mother

at home–

I found the door,

a flickering thing

high in the wall

all indigo colors and shades of storm squalls,

but the guards found me,

found me

with hairless tails

and crooked noses,

they swarmed across the door 

before I could climb to it;

gremlin rats

gremlin rats

please let me go,

so they said

Ola

we’re not supposed to let you leave

but

no one’s ever spoken in

ocean rat tongue before

to ask us politely

to go

so we’ll also ask you nicely:

will you stay

with us

and free us

of the demon’s magic,

will you

break the curse

they put upon us?

—

gremlin rats,

I cannot help you

I cannot learn the demon’s magic,

I can’t even read their homework sheets

or fly

or speak their spells,

and all my classmates hate me

and attack me

and humiliate me–

stop right there,

Ola, two-legged mortal;

we

will deal with the blullies

and you

will deal with the magic.

So I asked

why they didn’t just learn the magic themselves.

And they said

because their curse forbade them

and I asked

what else their curse did

and they said

it kept them here

within the school,

cleaning halls and dorms and toilets and kitchens

and they walked right into the curse

because they thought they were making a deal for immortality

and they did get that,

sort of.

So you’re trapped in the school

forever

cleaning up after everyone?

Yes, they said.

And we’re kept from learning magic

or growing bigger than this

by the punishment inflicted upon us

the first time we tried to escape,

it means our minds can’t hold spells

to save ourselves–

so if you help us,

we’ll help you,

and once our curse is broken

we’ll let you go.

So I agreed to help them

and snuck back to my tiny room

under the red haze

and tried to sleep.

***

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