Short Stories

Mental Monster

The light bulbs flickered above me. All I could hear was my breathing, footsteps and her screaming. All I could see was the darkness ahead and the old rusty walls of the hallway. Not that I could process any of it with her chasing me.

My lungs burned like Tartarus and it was a miracle they were still working.  Every part of my body was exhausted and was yelling at me to just surrender to her, to let that thing in. All that kept me from giving up was sheer, unadulterated terror and the insanity of it all.

My insanity usually kept the monsters at bay. Well, that and the reinforced steel fortress around me. Only a few of the brutish beasts have gotten close to the fence of my mental palace. And the ones that did, were shot on sight. But how do you keep something out if it's already inside, something that's a part of you.

If you promised yourself to live, would you destroy yourself or let the demon kill you from the inside out? Could you go against every belief you hold dear just to finally get relief? Or would you give in to the beast and let it take over? Could you actually sacrifice everyone around you to have a tiny morsel of release? I couldn't.

The creature behind me was tall and lanky; it was as if the thing had no muscle mass whatsoever. The creature's pale as snow skin was stretched taut across its bones and I could practically see organs pulsing beneath the surface. Its long hair was as black as the midnight sky and seemed to eat away any light that touched it.

The hair was long enough that it covered its eyes, but you could occasionally catch a glimpse of blood red orbs behind the dark curtain. And on its face was a feral grin that nearly split it's face in half. The grin was composed of sharp shark-like teeth that were made for tearing flesh and they were covered in the blood of its victims.

The savage let out a primal screech that almost seemed joyful, happy to be basking in the glory of the hunt. I could feel the bloodlust in air along the animal's need- no, craving for my flesh and blood.

A human body can only take so much, and mine was failing. I was slowing down and the crawling creature was gaining on me. That's when it happened; that's when I fell.

It grabbed my ankle and I slammed onto the floor. The beast howled out in victory and pounced upon me. It flipped me over and then it began to shred my stomach open. The pain was excruciating, but my body was limp from exhaustion and I had burned out my vocal cords a few hours ago. As the world around me began to dim I could only think, Goodbye hell, hello heaven.