Many thanks to China Mieville for the wicked cool name (in Perdido Street Station).

I want to know more about the gremlin thingy, what it means, and what the deal is with the old lady. Intrigued.

Well, I am thinking about expanding this one, but as always, I welcome prequel/sequels from other people, too. :)

I think you should expand… I don’t see how it quite fills the challenge, though I do see the links.
That aside, I love where this is going. I should love to know more about this woman and what she does to these poor men.

It’s probably more of a loose interpretation of the challenge, I admit, but it was the mental image that came to me when I read the description. :)

I imagined this stubborn little evil thing held back at a laughable distance only because its threat is not immediate or all that powerful. Haha. Cool story.

I think the only thing holding this back is that the idea is not all that creative. I mean, it’s a cliche to say something like, “he’s got a monkey on his back.” so the story itself seems a bit cliched. But it has potential, and of course it exhibits excellent writing. that’s my bit of constructive criticism. I felt I had to make up for my last lack-luster comment— I re-read it and thought—duuuuuuhhhhhh, haha.