Starlight

Chapter 7: Monsters

How had I gotten here so quickly?

I stood in the mall parking lot, lost, surveying everything around me. I looked behind me, but other than where I stood, the snow was unbroken, the fresh powder smooth. Impossible. There would have to be foot steps... I couldn't have just appeared here.

But there was no evidence that I had done anything but that. My eyes shot to the sky, searching for the whisp but other than the darkness broken only by the twinkling balls of gas thousands of light years away there was nothing. I ran my hand through my curls, wet and tangled with snow and ice, trying desperately to make sense of what had happened.

The snow was falling heavier now, a foot covering the empty mall parking lot and suffocating the steel flesh of cars. There were a few distant parking lot lights that were flickering as the energy was disrupted by the weather or faulty wiring, I wasn't sure. The air was still humming, like energy was being siphoned into the air but the whisp was gone with the sense of urgency I had felt before.

Goddess, I'm an idiot.

I kicked the snow off my boots, pushing the ice crystals of off of the fur when I felt the ground move, simultaneous with the sound of something crashing into the ground. I spread my legs as I tried to maintain my stability.

What the hell was that!?

I was finding myself completely unable to sort my emotions. On one hand, I was angry at myself, wondering how I had gotten here - while on the other hand, I knew this couldn't be all in my head. It was too strange and unless I was creating a whole new reality while I sat drooling in some corner, there was no way this was part of my illness.

And then the scream, that hadn't come from me, pierced the air, and I began running towards it, plumes of white snow being kicked up as I went. I ran towards where I had heard the sound of the crash and the scream. The places where my outfit exposed my skin to the snow were numb, probably close to frostbitten, and I fell and stumbled as I made my way around the cement east side of the mall.

And just as I turned the corner, a stumbling figure slammed into me, knocking the wind from me. I fell back, sinking into the snow and cursing, blinding pain in my abdomen where the child - no a small boy - had collided with me, head first. He yelped, pure horror in his eyes as he took one look at me, then quickly flashed a glance behind me. He pushed himself to his feet and began to run again, away from where he had come, away from me. His blue hat laid in the snow, forgotten, like a dark stain in the powder.

"Hey," I began, but he was already stumbling through the thicket of snow in desperation, trying to get away from me and I watched him, unsure what to do next. I didn't want to scare the poor thing further but why on Earth was there a child out here at this time of night... well morning? And why was he so scared? News' stories flashed in my mind: Kidnappings, abuse, abandonment - there was no end to the horrible things people did to their children. And in that moment, I knew I had to follow him, had to help him. And as I was about to move, I saw a large irregular shadow spread across the white snow and then over the boy.

And then my head exploded in pain as the hum of energy returned, almost deafening. I clamped my hands over my head, frozen in place. My head pounded and I slipped to my knees.

Maybe I was having a stroke. Maybe I had never been schizophrenic in the first place and was suffering from a brain tumor. Maybe I was having an aneurism. And while none of these seemed likely, the pain made me grasp for any reason that this would be happening.

But the boy...

I forced myself to look up, to focus on the boy to see if he also was affected by the noise and saw it. It loomed over the child who laid flat in the snow now, not moving. The thing stood over him. It was like... nothing I had ever seen.

I wasn't sure if it was some sort of animal, though there was no way it was native to New England... maybe native to someone's nightmares. It looked like a really big bear with long back legs, and small hands. It stood on it's hind legs, it's disgusting clawed fingers like tendrils of smoke reaching out towards the boy. It's hot breath came out in white puffs of smoke as it hit the cold air. Huge tusks, ivory and sharp, protruded on either side of it's massive jowls like a cross between an elephant and a St. Bernard. It's eyes glowed a satanic red and I wasn't entirely positive it was corporeal. It's body seemed to shimmer like the night sky or smoke.

As it moved towards the child, a black mist trailed behind it, the snow melting around it in a huge arch. The wet black pavement showed under it's feet.

Frozen in fear, I just watched as it loomed over the child, its dark shadowy mist engulfing him. It lifted the child in its massive claws and breathed in deep, it's mouth open wide, black drool dripping onto the boy's face, its sharp teeth exposed. A white mist exhaled from the child's mouth in a constant stream, flowing towards the thing.

I was going insane. It couldn't be real. I had to be asleep. But I couldn't wake myself up either. It looked like it was sucking the life out of the boy.

And in a moment of madness and adrenaline, my body was in motion as I scooped up the snow in my hands, forming it into a tight ball, and threw it at the thing. An explosion of powder as it burst when it hit the... I could only think of one word to call it: Monster.

The white mist stopped abruptly and I saw the boy's chest heave as the monster stopped, swiveling to look at me. It's eyes bore holes into me and there was something it it's glare that told me that only one thing burned inside it; hunger fed by hatred. It needed to consume.