The quiet hissing in her ear drowned out all of the noises whirling about on the busy street. You’re not worth anything. Why do you even bother? Just put everyone out of their misery and leave this world. The monster, invisible to everyone else, never gave her any rest. He was always there, slowly tearing her down. As she walked along the crowded road, she could feel everyone looking straight past her; even when surrounded by a million other people, she felt completely alone, her evil companion lurking in the shadows. Whenever anything seemed to be okay, he would emerge, ready to put her back in her ‘rightful’ place: cold, alone, and broken.
There was a time when the monster didn’t follow her around. She was beautiful, charming, and all around a happy person. Nothing seemed to faze her, and the world was her oyster. One night, as she was lying in her bed and the earth was still, she heard it: You’re not really happy. Quit trying to fool yourself and everyone around you. She froze, afraid to move a muscle. Who was in her room? She could feel the hot breath from her addressor on her neck, and it sent chills up and down her spine. After what seemed like ages, she gained enough courage to slowly turn and face the thing that was saying these hurtful words. Although the room was dark, there was enough light from the moon outside to illuminate most of the room. There, standing by her bed, was a looming figure standing over her. It was a mass of darkness, nothing discernible but two red eyes. It exuded despair and anger, which immediately enveloped her, overpowering every bit of light and positivity inside. “Who are you?!” she shouted at the figure. It let out a maniacal laugh and slowly dissipated, until all that was left were those red eyes.
Why did he choose her? What made him so evil? Why couldn’t she see his face? These were all questions that haunted her every day. The monster had become such a prevalent part of her life, never leaving her for too long, but she was always frightened when he appeared. Those moments of peace she had from him used to be her only solace, the one thing that made it easier for her to hold on…but he had even taken those from her now; when he wasn’t with her, she was thinking about him, anticipating that dreadful moment when those red eyes came back into view.
One day, as she was gazing at her reflection in front of the mirror, she saw those eyes appear. Suddenly overcome with anger, she grabbed a pair of scissors sitting on her desk and pointed them at the monster. “WHO ARE YOU? Why won’t you leave me alone?” You don’t like my company anymore? Even though she couldn’t see his mouth, she knew a smile had crept upon his face. You want to hurt me, is that it? You want to push me out of your life just like everyone pushes you out of theirs… Anger rippled over her body, like red hot lava, and she felt rage rising up inside of her. “You’re not going to torment me any longer!! Today… this ENDS.” With all of the strength she had, she plunged the scissors into the stomach of the monster, and blood started to pour. “Now that it’s over for you, tell me where you came from and who you are.” Surprisingly, the monster laughed. Where did I come from? Oh, you silly little thing. You don’t know? You created me. Every time you felt angry, hurt, scared… you hid it deep inside yourself. You bottled up all of your emotions, too afraid to face them head on. You kept burying them until one day, I was formed. I’m all of the things you didn’t want yourself to be. You were afraid to let real emotions become a part of you. But I’m more than a part of you… I AM YOU!
She didn’t know what to do, and she didn’t understand what was happening anymore. She looked down and saw a pool of blood around her feet. When she looked up again, the monster had slowly started to disappear again, laughing louder and stronger than she had ever heard before. She turned to look in the mirror, and there were the scissors, sticking out of her own stomach. The room started to fade, and the last thing she saw before she fell to the floor was a pair of blood red eyes looking back at her.
You’re strong. Face your fears, talk to someone. Get things off of your chest.
Don’t let your emotions build up until your own monster consumes YOU.
