noctivagant

[k8cre8.livejournal.com]

It's May, which is a time when many folks turn their thoughts to the garden. Let this story be a warning to anyone looking to add that "certain something" to their cultivated areas.

For almost two centuries, gardens of the world have been harboring malevolent entities. These creatures are welcomed at first, and lie in wait until the evening comes when they can begin their noctivagant mischief.

Under the cover of night and a guise of harmless joviality, the creatures awaken to bring terror to unsuspecting communities. Rage drives them to attack members of their own kind. Spite drives them to damage car tires. And, when the moon is full, no household is safe.

Pets have gone inexplicably missing, sometimes appearing days later, maimed in horrible fashion. Beyond physical injuries, they will no longer venture into the garden, by night or by day.

The bravest of these will peer into windows of their sleeping captors, starring for long hours before they slip into the house and murder the inhabitants in their sleep before making their escape.

When the police arrive on such scenes, they know that they will never bring the killers to justice. Too many times have they seen such violent attacks, and in each case, the tell-tale signs prove the identity of the guilty, whose identity won't be believed. A chip of ceramic, a smear of transferred paint in a primary color, all-too common clues left by the remorseless perpetrators.

After a lifetime of cleaning up and covering up these crimes, police detective Laura Klein, remarked, “You know, my dad had one of them in his garden. Thought it was cute. That was, until we found one lurking over the body of his favorite cat. He smashed that fat, smiling, piece of crap that very day. No more Gnomes in his garden after that.”

noctivagant / noct – EH – vague – ant / adj. Latin. wandering by night

"Nocti," of course, comes from the Latin for night, and we have a number of words with that root, "nocturnal" being the most obvious. It's added to "vagent" which is also Latin, for "to wander around."    

Comments

[ersatz-read.livejournal.com]

I was in a car (riding, not driving) after being awake for...at least 36 hours...when the neighborhood's lawn gnomes started waving at me. I've been suspicious of gnomes ever since.