Hidden

Box I - Part VI

The bell rings.
It's time for bed.
We all line up, Miss Amik, holding a tray full of our juices, stands before us. I take time to look at the small cups. They're all labelled with our names. Transparent, and the liquid is too. Its taste is sickly sweet, but we've all learnt to accept that.
The room shifts slightly when Yahmii is seen gulping his juice down in one go. He goes on, and the person next to him drinks, and the cycle continues until every one of us are loitering around the bedroom doors. Bint is about to go to the girl's bathroom before she is stopped by Yahmii.
"Don't let Haloo come tonight. Please." He says. At first she looks confused, but decides to nod anyway. "Thank you." He says, and goes in the boy's bathroom, following Hazaa. I don't stay around to listen to their conversation. I stand by the side of the door, away from their quiet argument. I can feel Hazaa's glares, and often hear his small outbursts of complaints. In the end, he just leaves. I go in to brush my teeth when Yahmii pats on me on the back.
"Where am I sleeping tonight?" I ask.
"Where you've always slept." He replies, and leaves.
With my right hand, I continue to brush, while my left feels for the knife in my pocket. I know that I was meant to put it in the bedroom, but there was no guarantee of where Hazaa would be until now. I didn't want to be in trouble for attempting murder.
I go to the boys' dorm, and see Hazaa tucked in below me, facing the wall. There is an unexplainable satisfaction in seeing that. I climb the ladder and go to bed myself. Unlike last time, it's silent in here. No one wants to speak; before long the bell rings and the light is turned off.
I stare at the window. It's easy to open, both inside and out. Anyone or anything can come in.
The sky is gradually turning darker. I clutch to the knife, its protective shield still on in case I move while I sleep.
I will kill it.
I will kill it.
I will...kill it.
Kill...it.
I sleep.

I hear it, and my eyes open wide. The whispers. I'm still in the same position as I went to sleep in, the knife loose in my hands. I look at it. It looks back.
It's small and skinny. Long hair is tied back, revealing the face. It's easy to see it's hideousness even in the darkness. It's skin is rays of white and red, except for the face. The face is pale green and holds wide, staring eyes that never seem to blink. It has a nose, if you can even call it that. Tiny, almost pasted flat on the face with a deadly point at the tip. There is a smile. It is wide, and moving with incomprehensible words. I don't understand why I've never seen it like this. Was it because I didn't want to? The monster is sitting by my window. I remove the knife's shield.
The monster looks from the knife to me and back at the knife. The similar words it used to whisper are gone and replaced with almost hysterical gulps of air. I move closer, and it moves back. It looks at me with even wider eyes. A tear drops. I move in, and it has stopped trying to escape. It's stays quiet while I adjust myself.
I am an arm's length away from it now, and can smell its outrageous perfume. Why would it smell like that? I look at it one last time. It's definitely crying. It starts whispering it's original chant again. I can hear it too.
It's when I hear those words that I plunge my knife into its chest.
It doesn't move. I stab it again. And again. And again. And while I am set on destroying the monster's body, it keeps repeating the words, over and over again. And every whisper is countered with another blow.
Eventually, it falls. It falls off the window, down into the alleyway.
I don't move. I don't want to look at it. The knife in my hand is stained red, but surprisingly there is nothing on my bed. I seal the knife and close the window, and snuggle back in bed. My hands are also clean. I won't have to sneak out to clean them.
The moon is out tonight. I see it from here. It's beautiful. Everything is beautiful.
Except the whispers.
I go to sleep with fear growing inside me.

I did it. I killed the monster.