The Creature

Cold. Dark. Lonely.
Three words I use to describe the place I'm in. I've been stuck in a room with no lights, no bed and no company for a very long time. I don't know exactly how long because they don't tell me anything. The only thing they do is bring me what they tell me is food but I'm not buying it. I eat it anyway because it's the only thing I have. Why I'm here I don't know. I was walking into my home when everything got dark. I woke up in this room and have been here since. I decide to stand up and do my routine walk around the small space but then my eyes reach a little creature in the corner of the room. I walk slowly towards the small being, the only thing heard is our steady breaths filling up the dark room. As I approach the creature I start noticing a clearer shadow and I can see the vague outlines of what seems to be a cat. I sit down on the floor and try to lure the cat so that I can pet it. I try all the tsk tsk's and hand movements but it won't budge. It just continues staring at me intensely with its big green eyes so I decide to just sit there and stare back. After a while I hear the little shut on the door open which implies that I am getting something to eat. I stand up, not taking my eyes off the little cat, look away for a moment to pick up my 'supposed to be' meal and when I look back the little cat was gone. Curious to where it had gone I started looking around the room but no cat was to be found. Then another question surfaces. How did it get in? That question ponders in my mind for a good while but I soon assume that I had just been hallucinating and sit down once again to eat my food. Once I am finished with what was supposedly a loaf I continued my daily routine of standing, walking, sitting and sleeping.
When I wake up the cat has appeared again. But this time it's right in front of my face. I scream in shock and hear a little 'shut up' from outside the door. Now that I can see it more clearly I notice that it isn't as small as I thought it would be and even though it looks like a cat from afar, it certainly isn't. At least not a normal cat. Its nose resembles a human's and its mouth is wide with hundreds of gigantic sharp teeth. The eyes are bright yellow with red spots and seem to be burning a hole in my soul. If I stood up it would probably reach my mid-thigh but I'm not sure if moving is a good idea at the moment. Its ears, body and tail are the things that most resemble a cat but it has six legs that look like hooves, three of which face the wrong way. I try to move slowly away from the creature but it doesn't do anything except continue to stare at me. I suddenly feel extreme cold wrap around me like a blanket made of snow. I start to shiver. I feel my feet become weak and numb. The numbness eventually becomes so intense that I stop feeling anything at all and fall onto the hard floor. As I lay there, unable to move, the creature continues to stare at me with curious eyes. It proceeds to walk towards my paralyzed body and I feel fear spread all over my body. The creature stops again right in front of my face and stares. It slowly moves closer to my face and all I want to do is run away as fast as I can but my body won't respond. I try to scream but my voice is gone. When the creature is so close to my face that I can feel its breath I close my eyes in fear of what will happen next. Suddenly I feel the numbness disappear and immediately stand up, screaming for my life while waving my hands in the air to try to protect myself. When I realize that I'm only hitting the air I slowly open my eyes. The creature sits on the other side of the room, shivering and looking at me with fear evident in its eyes. I relax and figure that it is probably just as scared as me. I sit down so that we're on the same level and avoid looking directly in its eyes. It slowly starts to relax and walks slowly towards me. I reach out my hand and it immediately rubs its head in it. It starts to purr and I continue to pet it. When I look at it as something else than just a dangerous being I notice that it's kind of cute. I notice that its eyes are no longer angry and yellow with red spots but purple with white ones that look at me with kindness and curiosity. Its wide mouth that is filled with sharp teeth forms a big smile which makes it look a lot friendlier than before and if I remember right it has gotten relatively smaller.

'Hello.'

The sudden voice snaps me out of the thought of the creature's transformation and I yell a hesitant 'hello' back.

'There's no need to shout. I can hear you very clearly'

I freak out for a bit before looking at the creature. It has stopped purring and is looking at me. The robotic voice returns but now I realize where it's coming from.

'My name is Xiao, nice to meet you'

"Hello, Xiao" I say calmly back. I notice that its mouth doesn't move when it talks and it hasn't blinked ever since I saw it the first time. "What are you?" I ask, curious to what it is and how it got in here.

'I'm nothing. I'm just a being that you made up in your head. I'm just a creation of your imagination'

Hearing that I start to wonder if it's telling the truth. Am I going crazy? Why did this creature of my imagination start to appear inside the tiny little room.

I suddenly start to laugh hysterically. As I laugh the creature slowly transforms again into the intimidating, large being and stands up on two legs. It looks at me with anger written in its eyes. I continue laughing even when I feel it tugging harshly at my hair and banging my head repeatedly to the wall, the floor and even the ceiling. I feel warm liquid run down my face but I don't stop laughing. What I don't notice is the door shut opening and a man looking inside. What I feel is the creature throwing my head against the wall. What he sees is a mad person banging its head in the wall while laughing hysterically. After a few moments I start to lose energy and fall limply down onto the concrete floor. The creature disappears. The man smiles. Everything becomes black.

Coldness. Darkness. Loneliness.

Death.