THE MONSTER INSIDE ME (#ONC2024)

PROLOGUE

As the night grew darker, my heart pounded in my chest. I could sense something lurking just beyond the edge of my vision, waiting patiently for its moment to strike. What was it that haunted me? What unspeakable horrors lay hidden in the depths of my mind, ready to be unleashed?

I have always had a dread of the dark. In my mind, the darkness was filled with a thousand monsters waiting to devour me, or worse.

As a child, I would cover my head with sheets to keep the monsters from seeing me. But they came anyhow. Nobody can escape from the monsters. It doesn't matter if you cover up, conceal, or flee. I quickly discovered that tremendous truth.

The darkness was not just the absence of light. It was a mirror, reflecting my deepest fears. Its inky blackness was the gaping maw of failure, ready to swallow me whole. The silence that accompanied it was the icy grip of abandonment, squeezing the air out of my lungs. And the whispers that echoed in the shadows were the suffocating embrace of rejection, taunting me with their cruel words.

As I grew older, I realized that my fear of the dark was not merely a figment of my imagination. It was rooted in something deeper, something that had haunted me for years. The darkness enveloped me like a shroud, its inky tendrils whispering secrets of the unseen. It was a realm where the line between reality and imagination blurred, where the shadows danced with unseen figures, and where every creaking floorboard held the promise of something sinister.

No matter how hard I tried to convince myself otherwise, the darkness always found a way to seep into my thoughts, paralyzing me with fear. It was as if the monsters that once haunted my childhood dreams had taken residence in my subconscious, ready to pounce at any moment. Every creaking floorboard and every flickering lightbulb only intensified my unease. I knew deep down that I couldn't continue living in this perpetual state of terror. I had to confront my fears head-on to unravel the mysteries that lay hidden within the depths of my mind.

One night, someone unexpectedly came to see me. He was a charming young man, full of light. Of course, I hid. I didn't trust anyone.

"Why are you hiding? I do not want to hurt you."

I didn't believe him. So, I did it. I slipped the knife under the pillow and inserted it into the man's abdomen.

The blood was spilling out when I removed the knife. Surprisingly, I did not experience as much disgust or repulsion as one might expect. It fascinated me. The hot blood made me want to drink it. It was as if a primitive urge had awakened within me—a hunger that I didn't know existed. With trembling hands, I brought my lips close to the wound, hesitating for just a moment before finally succumbing to my darkest desires. Was it hunger that drove me? Or was it the thirst for power and control, awakened by the taste of the forbidden? The answers eluded me, shrouded in the same darkness that consumed my soul. As the metallic taste of the man's blood filled my mouth, a surge of energy coursed through my veins. I felt an insatiable hunger and a primitive urge awakening within me. It was as if a dormant darkness within me had been unleashed, overpowering any remnants of my humanity. My body trembled with exhilaration and horror as I realized the monster I had become, forever changed by the forbidden taste of the angel's blood.

I, Arabella Dagon, drank the blood of an angel and became a horrible monster.