All Monsters Are Human

act four: II

trigger warning! violence, and a little bit of gore/cannibalism.
~

The wind.
It's cold, unfriendly.

The boy woke up from his dream in a cold sweat, reliving that same scene for fifth time.
Getting stuck, meeting a man with a rabbit mask, and getting shot.
That feeling of a non-existent bullet piercing through his chest, those words that the masked man said to him.

It terrified him.

Lucas felt around him to make sure that he was finally awake and safe in the comfort of his bedroom before bursting into tears.

That hole the bullet made in his chest was not real of course, but it felt like it was there and was growing bigger ever since Victor stopped visiting him.

It hurts. It hurts so much I could die.

Why was he tormented with nightmares? Why hasn't it stopped?

Lucas felt like his mind was in shambles, like a glass being shattered against concrete. His body refused to respond, every muscle in him in excruciating pain with every move he made.

I'm here to kill you.

Why did that scare him so? It has become so bad that he had become afraid to fall asleep.
His alarm for the day went off, startling him for the fifth time this week.

"Ugh....."
"It's already morning..."

~

Of course, Lucas didn't get as much rest as he should any other day. His health had been rapidly declining because the sight of anything aside from his own bedsheets made him feel sick.

"Lucas, eat something. You have serious eyebags, and you're getting really thin."
Ruth shoved a blueberry muffin in front of him, but he refused.

"I thought blueberry muffins were your favourite?"

He shook his head tiredly, and opted to sleep on the table, hopefully to get some shut-eye before the next class.

~

Before he knew it, it was the end of school. The end of another day. He dreaded going home, and especially going to sleep, for he knew he'll go through that hellish nightmare again.

Every night, that man grows closer.

Lucas was on his way home, when he spotted something out of the corner of his eye. His eyes widened in utter fear, and his stomach twisted itself into knots just by the sight it.

How could this happen?!

Just by the bushes beside the sidewalk....
there it was.

He bent down to pick it up, before dropping it in disbelief and horror.

It was a white, oval shaped cardboard with two rabbit ears sticking out on the top.
That devilish grin mocked him, triggering whispers in his mind.

I'm here to kill you I'm here to kill you I'm here to kill you I'm here to kill-

No! I'm not even asleep!

He got on his bike and cycled faster and faster, away from that creepy mask, away from everything.

"But you can't really escape it, can you?"

~

Lucas got home and slammed the door behind him, only to sink down to the floor in misery.

"Ugh....I'm so scared..!"

He felt that every time he closed his eyes, he'd see that man, and that gun that was used to kill him in every nightmare.