Random Writings and Shorts

The Monster

This was a response I wrote for an English assignment in Tenth Grade while reading the Odyssey. It's not my favorite book, lemme tell you...

The original assignment was to write a story about a monster. If my memory serves me right, this assignment is what got my friend Quiller42 to start writing their story The Beast. I could be completely wrong and if they ever read this, I am sure they will correct me with a lecture in the comments. 

Instead of writing a classic monster story about the boogyman (I absolutely love the original Halloween and it's soon to be completed sequel trilogy) or other things that go bump in the night, I wrote about the monster within, and the monster we could be forced to create in the worst situation imaginable.

It should be noted that the original version was a rough draft for my MCU - Jean Grey book that I still have but have yet to republish. All I did was edit it slightly to fit the assignment. 

******

If you were to ask Elaine Grey what she was afraid of, she would smile and say, "What everyone else is afraid of."

She had grown up with her godbrother, Anthony. They were like siblings, calling eachother brother and sister. His parents, Elaine's godparents, raised her like she was their own, until the car crash. 

She was 19 when it happened. 

Anthony had been 21 and in college at MIT, studying engineering. Elaine on the other hand, had decided to take a leap year. They were on the way to Massachusetts to visit Anthony during winter break. But they never made it to the school.

All she could remember were flashes from that night. 

The warm yellow glow of the headlights. 

The sound of a motorcycle engine when there was no one else on the road. 

Glass scraping her cheeks as the window broke. 

Her godmother's cries as the car spun and hit a tree. 

He godfather's cries for help, then his voice, as if he'd been talking to someone. 

The pain in her ankle. 

Elaine never forgot that pain as she forced the side door open and tried to run away. From what, she didn't know. She had grit her teeth as the pain shot through her leg. 

That was the last thing she could remember before the sound of boots hitting the pavement behind her before she collapsed and darkness overtook her.

She had woken up in a hospital with an IV in her arm and the sound of a heart monitor filling her ears. 

There was a faint murmur of voices in her head as Elaine started to panic. Her breathing hitched as the voices got louder. They were bickering, screaming, crying, laughing, playing. She didn't know where they came from and it scared her. 

The heart monitor beeped louder and it got harder for her to breath. Her head was pounding. She clamped her hands over her ears, trying to block out the noise, which only made it worse. 

The room started to spin as a nurse came in. 

Elaine couldn't see. Her eyes were closed as she grimaced in pain. Someone was trying to talk to her but she couldn't hear them. 

The voices wouldn't stop. 

She couldn't shut them off. 

She didn't know how.

Elaine felt someone's arms wrap her as they pulled her into a tight hug. She hadn't realised she was shaking. Once her breathing went back to normal she remembered someone was there. Slowly she looked up into their face and realized who the person was.

He had on a business suit, but instead of a button up and tie, he had on a black and white AC/DC shirt. His dark brown hair was short and scruffy. It was the eyes that gave him away. His warm, brown, chocolate eyes. He pushed a strand of her wavy, ginger hair out of her face as he stared straight back into her bright green eyes. He gave her a sad smile, then spoke. "Hey Ellie."

It was her brother. It was Anthony.

She started to cry.

He told her what she had missed. The major events of the past two years. They sat there for hours and talked. Then he asked the question she had been dredging. The one topic she wanted to avoid. "What happened? Where have you been for the past two years?"

She remembered everything. The things she'd done. The things she'd been forced to do. The things she'd seen. The people she'd killed... She had locked it all away in the darkest corner of her mind, Behind the bookcase that held her life story. She had blocked all of the memories out, hiding them away behind the wall to be forgotten. But as he asked, she remembered. She remembered who she was. The monster she had turned into. She felt tears roll down her cheeks. 

"I don't know."

She lied.

******

If you were to ask Elaine Grey what she was afraid of, she would smile and say,  "What everyone else is afraid of." 

But late at night, she would find herself whispering it into her pillow.

"What are you afraid of?"

And she would always answer, "Myself."