In this case the Wicked Thing was a sort of of superal shapeshifting theiving Pack Rat from Hell hanging out currently that
as the piece of par that Emily Smith had picked up,given her scent to its twitching llittle nose before giving the little supernatural rodent to bring her waste paper baskets to the room where its new owners scent was located,or thats how the beasty interpreted the situation it found itself in.
The Wendish farmers of Giddings Texas debribe them as 'dragons' ( demon imps ? ) that appear in the shape of a chicken that brings you grain , a cow that makes milk show up in the milkhouse, a floating orb of light that doesn't do much of anything besides scare people and if you get possessed by one shooting yourself to be rid of the critter is a acceptable option.
In slavic Germany they are called draches and in Latavia small dragons called pukis.In Latavia sorcerors use them to bring them grain and sometimes riches.The Latavian rodent-imp demands a spare room for its nest and if the sorceror ticks off his squeaker a mysterious fire that burns down the sorcerors abode can happen.
So Emily Smith had essentially picked up a supernatural pack rat ( hopefully not by its tail or the Schoo was a goner ) into the waste paper basket she wanted the supernatural rodet she wanted the pack rat to grab by its
sharp teeth and bring to her,and of course any other waste containers,filled or not
it came across in its nightly scurrying out and about.
So a piece of paper dragging along a trash can here,a chicken pulling on a file folder there and a ghostly calf going to work at the filing cabinet over there.
Though puki drachen imps Have the Power they don't quite have the reasoning power of 'Hell Spawn '