The Monster Within

Trees.

It was a weird first thought when you wake up – I admit it.

It’s not like there were no trees around, however. They were practically everywhere. Nothing else. There was just trees and snow- unless you count the small patches of wild flowers. White ones.

I did not recall how I got in the middle of the forest. There were so many questions swimming in my mind. There was fresh snow on the ground and I was barefoot. Why wasn’t I cold? There was no light to be seen around me so how could I see so well? I looked at the back of my hand and stared, incredulously. My skin was so pale that it blended into the snow. My painted red nails stood out against the white surrounding me. I tried to remember the last time I had been awake. I focused on what I had been wearing, checking if I was dreaming.

I remembered wearing blue jeans with a camo t-shirt, black boots and a leather jacket. Nothing out of the ordinary. I then looked at what I was wearing then and saw, instead of the normal clothes I remembered, a red dress that ended at my ankles, revealing red stilettos.

It must be a dream. I never wear stilettos.

I felt a prickling on my head and took off a tiara of red roses I was wearing. What was going on?

I ran. I ran faster than I could ever imagine. Away from the madness around me.

I never noticed that I had run into a lake. The water didn’t feel cold. I couldn’t feel it at all. My reflection was startling. The woman in the water had fiery red hair and piercing green eyes. Her skin was as pale as snow and she looked like a goddess in the blood-red dress.

That was me? I ran again, feeling the wind on my face. Nothing could stop me. Nothing could make me change my mind.

The sun shone onto me. I could feel it’s rays and it’s unimaginable warmth. Not before long, I smelt smoke. Where was it coming from?

The warmth grew uncomfortable and I realized the smell of smoke was from me. I was lighting up the forest around me. I was on fire. Why I was on fire was unknown to me. It wasn’t possible. I saw my reflection in a small stream nearby. I really was ablaze. The flames encased me and they formed the shape of wings on my back, ready to take flight.

Pain.

I was screaming. I didn’t notice it at first but then the pain came. It felt like someone had stuck a knife into my chest and twisted. Breathing heavily, I made my way to the stream in order to quench the flames.

Diving into the water, I felt instantly relieved. But the flames did not fade. As soon as I left the water, the pain came back worse than before.

I fell to the ground and curled into a cocoon shape begging for the flames to disappear. Blackness took over and I felt myself floating.

When my vision returned to me, I saw the same flawless woman I had seen in the lake, she was lying down with her eyes closed and the flames lapping around her. I could sense a presence other than my own in her mind and knew I had been thrown out of my body. The woman was no longer me but something else.

She opened her bright, red eyes. I knew some other monster had taken over.

The Monster Within.