To Remember: Just One Night (Hoodie x Reader)

Monster

Chapter 16: "Monster"

You stare at the woman, Richard's words echoing in your skull. They will finish the job you were unable to complete. "So, uh," you begin, unsure of why the woman was present. "Are you here to...?"

"Finish the job?" she continued for you, her smile softening. "Dear Lord, no! I didn't mean to cause you any fright. My name is Julianna, child." You lift your head a bit.

Nodding, you mumble, "I've heard your name somewhere before but I can't remember where." Julianna smiled, responding softly, "Perhaps your history class?"

"Did you write the history books?"

"No no no, I-"

"YOU'RE THE MONSTER, NOT ME," Richard exploded. Turning your head, you see him holding the jar of ashes in his hand, still screaming insults at it.

Julianna let out a barely audible sigh, muttering, "Follow me, child." She held out her hand for you. To take. "We shall continue our conversation in a place you aren't risking your life." You bite your lip and stand up, readjusting your dress as it threatened to slide up over your butt. After a few moments of consideration, you take her hand. You were what, 16? You felt awkward holding this woman's hand like some sort of child. But you also felt comforted. But seriously her hand was freezing cold.

She led you back the way you came, and when you reached the door, you panicked, whispering, "I can't go out there the next person to see me will kill me!" Julianna laughed softly.

"Child as long as you're with me, none of those monsters will hurt you." You nod, pretending to understand.

But deep down you knew it was a lie.

Julianna opened the door, poking her head out and looking side to side before pulling you out in the open. You immediately feel uncomfortable.

"Hey," you whisper, "how do you know Richard?"

She smiled and looked down at you, responding, "He's my husband." After a while of you staring at her in shock, she continues, "He wasn't always so cruel. And honestly, I think you could bring himanity back to this place. The kast time he yelled at those darn ashes was when he learned our daughter was cursed with immortality just like himself."

"Wait, your daughter is immortal?"

"She was wrongfully accused of witchcraft, exactly five years after Richard was wrongfully accused of killing our son...." She paused, looking down to the ground and letting out a shaky breath. You reach your free hand up and pat her on the shoulder, doing your best awkward attempt at comforting her.

Remember you were a stuck-up prep in normal life, you haven't really showed compassion before.

She smiled in appreciation and continued, "I'm ashamed to say I am the one who accused my husband of murder. I just walk outside of our home to see him standing over our son's bloody body, blood on my husband's clothing but not a scratch on him.

"He begged for innocence, but no one believe him. They sentenced him to death. Our son pulled through and survived, but by then, Richard was already killed. But he came back."

"How could he come back?" you softly ask. Damn your curiosity once more!

Letting out a shrug, she mumbled, "I don't know, but my guess is that both heaven and hell would not accept him in the form he became. Either way, back on Earth with his new..... form, he tried so hard to clear his name. After a while, with everyone saying he was a psychotic murderer, I guess his mind finally gave in. He started to believe it. Every single drop."

You noticed some homes, like how Richard died but came back, or when exactly this took place. But you let her continue. "The first person he came after, in his coldblooded rage, was me. Someone he knew, someone he could trick into feeling pity. Our home was a wreck after the attack. The entire place was burnt to cinders. Nothing was left. And when our daughter tried to communicate with her dead parents, and when the citizens of our village found out, they hung her for witchcraft."

"That's terrible," you say, cringing a bit.

"Yes child, but I believe there is still good in him. Still humanity, still that determination to be sane. I've done a lot of progress on his state of mind, but he is refusing. His soul is dying, which is why his hands looked so mangled. They were turning to dust as a monster does when they die, but his humanity held on, no matter how small it happened to be." Julianna looked down at you, tears in her eyes but a gentle smile still on her face. "There's the door," she whispered.

You look away from her, seeing the front door feet in front of you. Letting go of her hand, you run to the door and open it wide, shivering as the cold night air flew into you. You turn to look at Julianna, but only see a whisp of her form as the wind blew her away.

Was she..... a ghost? You look around for a while, spotting Hoodie on the couch. Gulping in a breath of air, you step outside and begin to quietly close the door.

But of course, the damn door just HAS to creak as you close it! Hoodie jumped a bit, looking over the back of the couch and directly at you. "You," he growled, leaping from his seat on the couch.

You shriek, letting go of the door handle and running away for the third time.