Writing Prompts

Prompt #14) Monthly Monster

Reagan eyed the river in the moonlight, how it reflected the dark sky and the raging fire of the city. 

She had tried to run from this- she had tried to hide, but every month it happens all the same.

"Reagan," she is pulled from her thoughts when Tommy greets her hand with his own. "Are you okay?"

"Tommy," she gasped, tearing her hand from his grasp and nervously backing away. "Stay away from me."

"What do you mean?" Tommy took a few steps towards Reagan, her responding by only backing away farther.

"I said stay away, Tommy!"

"Alright, alright," Tommy put his arms up, displaying that there was space between them. "I'm not gonna hurt you, Reagan-"

"That's not what I'm afraid of." 

"Then tell me what it is." Tommy's hair was in disarray and his clothes were covered in dirt or ash- Reagan couldn't tell.

She took a shaky breath. "I don't want to hurt you."

"That's crazy talk. Just come home-"

"No, you don't understand. Once a month, I turn into a raging monster."

He stared at her dumbfounded. "Reagan, isn't that part of your normal bodily function?"

"Not the one you're thinking of."

"Oh." Now Tommy began to take a step back, coughing into his hand. "So this," he motioned to all of the fire, "this... this was you?"

Reagan sighed and sat down on the grassy river bank. Her natural curly blonde locks were also coated in ash from the fire, her clothes torn at the sleeves.

"We're lucky it only got this far." She pulled her knees up to her chest and buried her face in them.

Tommy took the risk and made the short way to her, sitting beside her.

"Reagan," Tommy said, hoping that the right words would just come to him, but nothing came out. Reagan was left staring at his agape mouth.

"Yeah, Tommy?" It was easily distinguishable that Reagan was trying to hold in her sobs.

"I'm always here, okay?" It was all he could think of to say. He knew that he couldn't change her and that there was nothing he could do to fix this. 

"Okay." She took a deep breath and began to relax as Tommy's arm reached around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him. 

After watching the fire continue to burn in the near distance, Tommy couldn't help but ask. 

"So this monster that you turn into," Tommy tried not to sound critical in his comments, "what is it?"

"I, uh, don't... really... know..." Her voice trailed with her words. 

"You don't know?"

"Well, I kinda don't remember anything when it happens. It's like I'm sleeping."

"Sleep- monster...ing?" Tommy offered, causing Reagan to giggle. 

"Sure, we can call it that."

"So if you don't remember, how do you know that it's you?" 

Reagan thought for a moment, causing Tommy to think that she hadn't heard him properly. He opened his mouth to repeat himself, but Reagan cut him off. 

"It has to be me," She finally said, staring out at the burning barn that was now being put out by firefighters. "There's no other explanation. When I fall asleep, it has to be the monster I turn into." 

"How do you know that there's a monster involved? How do you know that it's you-"

"Because it is the only thing that makes sense, Tommy!" Reagan shouted, her eyes glossed over in tears, but she held them back. "It first started happening when I was a little girl. I burnt down the house I lived in," Reagan choked on her words, "killing my parents inside."

Tommy sat and listened; he couldn't find the right words to say. 

"Luckily my older brothers were at a sleepover that night so they weren't harmed. The three of us went to foster care and stayed together until we could." Reagan hugged her knees closer to her chest as she felt a cool breeze pass by them. "Unfortunately, once I got older the episodes happened more often. Every night for five days out of the month, I would go to sleep and turn into this monster, scaring all of the kids in the foster home." 

"Did the other kids find out?" 

"No one ever did, except for my brothers," Reagan admitted. "But there came a time when we had to be separated from each other. They were sent to an all-boys orphanage, while I was sent to an all-girls one. That's when they had to tell me the truth. I had never known until the night before they left that I was actually the one who killed my parents, that I was the reason why we were stuck there."  
Reagan simply stopped speaking, allowing the silence to creep in and settle with them. A stream finally made it's way down her cheek and plopped onto the dark soil. Her hands clenched her legs even tighter, wishing that she could go back in time and change it all. 

"Reagan," Tommy wrapped both arms around her and she allowed herself to cry into his shoulder. "I'm always here for you."

Reagan pulled herself away. "You see, Tommy, that's the problem."