Before Your Eyes

Mystery Of Monsters

The weather was welcoming like the people who lived in this small town. The light beaconed through windows inviting all to its plunders. The towns folk were cheery people all with a smile on their faces. Families on outings, mothers taking their baby on a stroll in a pram whilst the fathers dragged behind with the dogs. Teenagers sat around benches laughing with one another and children who ran care free in the park. Diego's face lit up and he pounced, desperately wanting to join the other kids. "You can go join them once you're in new clothes and get your hair done!" He looked up to George, sticking his pinky out,"You promise?" George lifted the boy atop his shoulders and ringed his pinky with the boy's, "I promise!"

He was quite the man about town in that everybody knew his name like some fabled legend of years past through. I stared at him in wonder as he freely roamed the streets unable to drop a smile. "This village was in the midst of the war, they had lost everything. Men had been sent to the war and women to the factories for the war effort in London. Only the children were left. Government said the elder siblings could look over them. I knew they were wrong. These kids could barely cook, when we found them here they were on the brink of starvation. My squad and I knew we couldn't just do nothing. We sent a transmission into Hq and they said to leave them and carry forward. These were their people and they would have let 'em die." We eventually ended up at the top of a hill which was next to a cemetery. The rays of sun prematurely whispered in that area we looked upon. Four names stood plated on a great marble slab with a fifth plate awaiting its owner. "Arthur Thindyll, Bertie Walt, John Quisk and Elias Dale. The Panther Prowl squad. My squad. We decided to reject our superiors and left our dog tags on some enemies that had been stripped of clothes. They bought it. Shows us how expendable we were. We weren't people to them, just cogs in a cruel clockwork. From then on, we rooted here. Grew it and looked after all the kids. The parents never returned, I was nineteen when I got here, and haven't left since. 64 years, I've spent time here. I wouldn't trade a single second to be anywhere else." His eyes were fixed on the empty plate, he knew the day his name was etched was coming closer with each tick of time. His eyes shifted to a grey as he recalled his years, his face couldn't decide whether he liked them or feared what had once been. The sound of Diego tripping over and landing on his knees snapped George out of his trance. He stood up like the last few seconds had never happened but I could see in the quiver of his lip, pain had riddled through him.

If I were to have asked, I knew the answer would have not been truthful. He was hurt. He had trauma of his past which haunted him as he grew older. As he grew older, despite not letting it show, he grew weaker. His weakening capability allowed fear to surpass, ambushing his mind. I couldn't make out the vast extent of what he had been feeling or what he had recalled but in little to few words, one could sum it all up. 'Hell'.

He rose this village as a phoenix from the ashes. He seized the burns so the bird could fly. Built a utopia for its inhabitants. The sun glinted in every twilight driven corner giving the small settlement its branding of light. All the town was enlightened which made one object of obsession stick out to my humane instincts. A stretched shadow crushed one singular slate in the field. It separated itself from the crowd basking in the light. It perched under ageing moss and evaded people's memory. I ventured no further, yet my mind reached out towards it. I felt a bitter embrace on my shoulder and I turned to see the elderly man looking where I had once glanced. His wrinkled smile had disappeared from his face. His brow was stern. A storm raged in his eyes for that moment and the world stood still. A shrill fear struck my heart. This man was not the same that I had met. The clouds fled above us. In that instant it almost seemed that his entire person had shifted. His grip loosened and his expression returned. The fear still hung inside me. Tightening itself around my stomach. He seemed fazed by the shadows in his head. I was determined that I would read the name on that stone before the moon started its descent. He staggered back to his prior behaviour and we continued to move forward. I couldn't shake this feeling clasping to me, but I attempted to ignore it the best I could. He probably had good reason that darkness too fell to him upon that place of death. His past had been looked over like a string. His threads hid behind his outer layer of skin.

We arrived at our first stop. The Barbers. Diego had hair straggling down to his breast. Mine to my neck after my attempted disguise. The barber had just finished with a customer who was covered by a long overcoat dragging to his heel. He gave me a side glance before quickly jolting round the corner. The barber was a shorter elderly woman with crimson dyed hair. Small half moon glasses perked at the end of her nose. She welcomed us all by giving a glad nod towards George. "Was that your song Beatrice?" The old man shallowly beckoned. Her reply was one of uncertainty despite knowing the answer. "Yes that was, didn't say a word to me when he got here. Just came in and then left! But nevermind that. How can I help you today George, cause there ain't much to cut off from your head!"

She smirked up at his happily annoyed expression as he redirected her to us. She readjusted her glasses and leaned her head forward to try to focus on us. Her eyes widening at the boy's hair. "Has it ever been cut!" She leaped to her toes and sat the boy down on the chair. He was undecided on what he wished for the fate of his loches. The woman saw this and swiped a framed photo from her wall. I could not see what the photo held but whatever the contents, the boy found what he wanted. He darted his finger and the lady snapped her's. Watching the surgeon for a few moments, I looked over at George and indicated I was going to get some fresh air. I slipped away into the town and not knowing where I was, my feet knew where they wanted to be.

I rushed down the streets I had already walked and down the hill I had already stood upon. There it was in front of me. The shadow casted in the city of light. I scraped away the moss and blew away the dust. The name had no description. Not a loving father, son or friend. Nothing. Only the name of a nightmare. The Boogeyman of this peaceful village. 'Alexander Prodytio'. Though I knew nothing of the man who lay beneath this slab, The darkness labelled him with hatred. I quickly found my way back to the streets which basked in the sun, yet my body felt trapped in that echo of the dark. The sun felt warmer. It battered my bones and stole my breath. My surroundings got brighter until it was unbearable.

I collapsed through the doors of the Barbers and the light just switched off. The buzzes of the light still rang in my ears but the place was empty. I heard voices coming from the back room so I pondered further. The very walls changed around me and the taste of murder dripped through the air. I pushed through the door set in my path to refind the grand staircase. No child or mother, just the father. I had seen him before but still knew little of him. He talked to the room whilst facing a great portrait above him. Trapped in time, the mumbles passed to the shrouded figure in the frame. I tread closer to not disturb the master of the estate. Getting a better view, the figure looked down on the world around him. The figure took the throne of god as his judgement showered below him. This was Satan that sat up on that wall. Satan alone made the heavens fall from this home. The master turned around and pierced my soul through his eyes. He shared the same expression of superiority as the figure had done. He frowned down upon me and left the room. That's when I heard it. The snarling. The breathing on the back of my neck. I spun on my heels to be rekindled by George. My breaths ran miles at rapid speeds. My chest jacked with the increasing rate of my heart and a single tear of terror ran down my cheek.