Monster

His eyes flew open swiftly just as the nightmare was climaxing. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out the images that haunted him. His heart was racing, the nightmares were becoming worse. He opened his eyes.

It was pitch black in his small bedroom and he felt claustrophobic. It was hot, he reached to throw the covers off his body but his hands didn't grab onto the material of the blanket but instead he grabbed a fistful of dirt and dried leaves. He was half buried with soil, dried leaves, debri and something rotting. Frantically he struggled to get away from the disturbing position he was in.

His palms were sweaty, his shriek had awaken the forest in which he now realized he stood. As the forest fell silent he heard the faint whimpering of some sort from behind him. He slowly turned, still dazed from the horror he had awoken from and cautiously approached what looked like a pile of rags and dirt.

Another whimper.

He got to his knees beside the pile and carefully removed the rags. There was a woman, her body was in an unnatural position and her head was totally separated from the rest of her body, hair was covered in dried blood and her body was torn with multiple puncture wounds.

He screamed and fell back, his knees felt weak by the shock of his discovery. He froze, unable to tear his gaze away from the icy blue eyes of the woman. Her eyes quavered, she was alive.

Alive??

Her face was perfectly still, her eyes focused on his, the terror in her eyes expressed more emotion before she gave up. He recognized those eyes, he'd just been dreaming of her before he awoke in this forest, she had been pleading for his help as the monster attacked and mauled her. He didn't remember doing anything.

Slowly he came back to his body with a steady breathing. He reasoned to touch her, imagining how icy her skin would feel but the dead eyes on him sent shivers down his spine. He stood up, stumbling away and tripping over branches and roots that lined the forest floors. Confusion drenched him like a puppy trapped in a storm. His heart was pounding, he was completely lost in this unfamiliar place, not able to remember a thing. The thought of waking up in a forest half buried by dirt and rotting flesh and finding a corpse beside him was worse than the nightmare he had woken up from.

He remembered the nightmare. The monster. That huge, hideous monster that had deformed her while he watched like the coward he was. But then who in his right mind would want to challenge a monster that could fit your head into its mouth?

He was suddenly distracted by a sound in the distance. He crouched down low to the floor, steadying his rapid breathing in an attempt to decipher the sound. He whipped his head sharply to the side, in response to another snap from behind him.

Footsteps?

Terror seized him, if this was a person, they would never believe what he would tell them. They would assume he was a murderer, rather than accept his innocence, mistaking his panicked state for guilt, instead of recognising he was in shock. His breathing accelerated once more, and his heart thumped loudly against his chest. He stopped. The sound emerged from behind him once again. But it was faster, and more rhythmic – like running. A new thought hit him. One infinitely more chilling and terrifying than merely being caught by a fellow human. If at all it was a human.

The monster.

He took a few cautious steps backwards, frantically scanning the line of trees before he bolted from the clearing, desperately trying to escape.

He spent the night obsessing over the monster, and he begun to wonder if his imagination had run wild, and it wasn’t all that monstrous. But no – it absolutely was. He had been walking from the morning he awoke well into the night, unable to sleep till this morning, the image of the hideous being sipped into his every thought, and consumed him with paralysing fear. All he could think of were the evil, dark eyes fixed on him, as it lurked menacingly behind him, shrouded by trees in the dim morning light, waiting for its moment to ambush him. He struggled to his feet, glancing sideways nervously. He spotted a lake in the distance as he did so and began to make his way swiftly towards it.

In his hurry to reach the cool water he didn't notice a protruding tree root. He tripped, his head glancing off an angular rock. He lay there for some time, wincing in pain and dazed by the blow. Eyeing the water meaningfully, he struggled to get to his feet but was overwhelmed by a vision. As the image became clearer, he gasped in shock, unable to contemplate what he was seeing.

He saw the monster walking down a dimly lit hallway, stealing cautiously towards a closed door. The glint of a knife could be seen as it carried the knife subtly against the side. Muffled screeches and forceful banging came from the room which it was walking towards. It pulled a key, and turned it slowly in the lock. It then reached up and slid the many bolts across, leaving the door completely unlocked.

As it twisted the doorknob, the door suddenly flung open, and a woman attacked it screaming, but it had anticipated and was fast, it plunged the knife into her chest and watched her fall to the floor. Reaching into its pocket, it brought out an aged photograph. The picture showed a man standing next to the woman he had just slaughtered, on their wedding day.

He gasped as he clutched the dirt on the forest floor. He shook his head in disbelief at what he had just witnessed. What did this mean?

Slowly he began to remember as visions after visions flooded him. Each one with a different woman. Each one with a different method of death. With each vision, the view of the monster had been changing. Growing older, uglier, with harder features; becoming increasingly hideous.

He crawled painfully to the shore of the lake, blinded by the images which clouded his vision he splashed water frantically on his face, trying in vain to rid himself of the horrific pictures in his head. As the ripples radiated from where he was, the water became flat and calm once more. He lifted his head, and stared at his reflection.

A wry smile etched across his face and, in the water opposite, the monster smiled back.