"Monster"

We shall kick this blog off with a piece of flash fiction of mine, titled "Monster."



A monster.

I scan the clearing. Where?

Not the trees. A life of their own, but not a monster. At least not the one I fear.

Fear. Something clawing at me, threating to hold me captive. Or maybe it already has me.

Labored breaths, the reek of blood. Steamy, bubbling ... Who's blood? A dagger-like claw, dripping now-cooling red. Black eyes, watching me. Dead, yet never dead. Lustful eyes. Blood lust.

Eyeing its next victim. The thought sets a tremor to my bones. Bones this creature would love to gnaw. But this monster lives off more than flesh.

Fear mounts inside my chest, threatening to choke me, reminding me what else it feeds off of.

Don't feed the monster. Like a sign at a zoo, only this one impossible to obey.

How can you stop something that comes so naturally?

Something that feeds a monster that comes so naturally.

Then I realize. This monster, the one I've run from my entire life, feared, fed ...

Is me.

Suddenly my fear has an outlet. This monster.

Me.

Get away. Run from it, fight it.

But which?

My fear, so close to being free, forces my legs into motion.

Run.

Its rank breath on my neck. More terror than I thought possible coursing through me. I can't run any more. I stumble.

If I close my eyes, maybe it'll go away.

A foul claw, raking across my neck.

Eyes closed or not, I'm about to be eaten alive. By myself.

Eyes still closed. I can't face this.

Blood. But not someone else's. Mine.

Death. Inevitable. Fear. Eternal.

Black eyes, mocking me. No escape.

Or is there?