Monsters
This little tale is ostensibly set within Crystala's Dreamcatcher universe, but I think it's generic enough in setting that it could be in just about any universe. Just a little tale of childhood and what lurks just out of sight...
The Dreamcatcher universe is copyright to Crystala, and the story and the character's within are copyright to me. PLEASE let me know what you think!
Tonight, he decided, would be the night. He'd waited a very long time, and he was tired, so tired of waiting. She was perfect; an innocent still even in these twisted days. But that couldn't last. She'd keep getting older and older, and soon she'd be out of his reach forever.
It had to be tonight.
He looked abound the darkened room. It wasn't bedtime yet, but the room was dark, she hadn't come up to bed. Maybe an hour more. He sighed. Patience was nearly a defining facet of who and what he was, but... Something gnawed at him. Some nameless worry that he couldn't put a name to. He shook his head and shoved the doubt from his mind. Her room was neat; very neat. He was quite familiar with it, having stalked her since she was two. The oversized teddy bear that guarded the corner, the pink frilly coverlet on the bed, the Hello Kitty lamp on her dresser. Even the night light that ever glowed from the electrical socket by the closet.
How he hated that light. He'd broken it several times, but they always got a new one to replace it, never questioning how it got out of the socket to be trod upon by clumsy feet. This one was shaped like a little soldier all in blue. Like a sentinel, it always, always shone, robbing him of courage in his time of need. But not anymore. Not tonight. She was to be his, and no stupid light would prevent that.
He crawled out from his cramped abode beneath the bed, stretching gangly long limbs and flexing skeletal fingers. He rubbed his oversized head and blinked beady eyes, resisting the flinch that threatened at the feel of the tiny night light's glow. He crept to the closed door, and looked at himself in the mirror mounted on the door. He remembered mirrors, but it was like...
What was it like? Like someone else's life. He pressed long fingers against the silvered glass, staring into his reflection. She'd be so wonderful to hold; he'd drag her from her bed, drag her under, then hold her so, so tight. He flexed his fingers at the thought, the pawing motion sounding faintly of a chalkboard screech. His sound. His song, his joy, his forever... Soon to be shared so delicately with her.
Footsteps in the hallway! He scrambled on all-fours back under the bed, fading from sight the instant the last bit of him passed beneath. The door opened, the light snapping on a moment later. He winced at the brightness, scrunching further away from the repulsive glow.
"Read me a story, daddy?" She said. Susie, that was her name. Suzie Churchfield. He knew that. Did he have a name? He couldn't recall. Didn't matter. All that mattered was her.
"A short one, princess. Get into your jammies and settle, then I'll begin. What would you like to hear?" Her father. Another hated thing, as despised as the light. Always, ALWAYS he was there whenever she was vulnerable, when she cried out in her sleep. Always Daddy was there when he was ready to pounce! He fumed in his special space beneath, listening to 'Goodnight Moon' being read by his enemy, the father of his prize.
Finally, FINALLY, he felt the bed shift as Daddy stood. A tiny sound and a whispered 'good-night', and he watched Daddy's walk to the door, listened to the click of the light switch, and blessed darkness returned as the door slowly swung shut. Now, just a small wait to make sure she was asleep, and...
He started, flailing and looking around. He was in a bed? What ,wait! He blinked, seeing blue covers, a mobile with airplanes above him, soft flannel against his skin... He started to inhale to shout, to scream... And he was under the bed. He dragged his long fingers about his face, his body. He was himself. He was right again... But what was that he'd seen? A slight sigh from above in the bed and he suddenly forgot his distractions. She was asleep!
Eagerly he pulled himself from beneath to above, his yearning now far stronger than the repulsion the night light presented. Crawling onto the bed, he squatted and looked at her. The covers had partly pulled away, revealing pink pajamas with teddy bears in blue. Her hair was golden, her skin pink and healthy. His own skin was the color of aged paper, and hair he had none at all.
Brown. His hair was brown. But he didn't have hair, did he? He felt with both hands; no hair. But he'd been so SURE...
Her hair was lovely. Lovelylovely. He crept up the bed, perching finally on the headboard with toes gripping like some kind of grotesque frog. He licked his thin lips, his permanent grin a bit stronger, more real so close to his long-awaited goal. She'd be HIS now, under the bed. His and his alone. Her Daddy wouldn't ever, ever see her again, because she'd be with him!
He was asleep in his bed, his teddy by his side, clutched tight to him. He never stirred until he felt the spidery fingers glide around his head, a spindly-thin, horribly strong arm around his chest. He tried to cry out, but he couldn't! He couldn't! He was being dragged off the bed, off the bed, teddy wasn't with him, teddy wasn't protecting him! His nightlight-soldier was out? The soldier was out! Dark under the bed, where's Mommy, where's Mommy mommy mommy! He wanted his mommy and he could hear a scraping, screeching sound that was getting louder and louder...
He started back to himself. What was happening to him? She was... She... She was a little girl. What was he? What was he? He shivered, hugging himself with those thin arms so like the ones he remembered dragging him away, dragging him down and away, away... His eyes snapped open again, and he tried to speak; but no sound came. He shivered; Mommy hadn't protected him and the monsters had got him, and now HE was a monster?
He wanted to go home!
He crawled off the bed, onto the floor. He looked at the space beneath, and shuddered. No, he'd not go back there. He'd go. He'd find Mommy and things would be better, he didn't wanna be a monster! He crept to the door, no light at all shone beneath. He reached up, turning the knob silently. He opened the door, quietly slipping into the darkened hall. This wasn't his house. He didn't know where he was, but he had to be a big boy and try to find where his house was. He looked around, then started down the stairs.
Everything was dark; everyone in this family had gone to bed. He wondered if they knew his family, but... What was mommy's name? He couldn't remember. But he 'membered he had brown hair. He 'membered he had blue eyes, and that he was six. Maybe he'd 'member more, if he tried.
He'd reached the front door when light blazed up around him. He hissed silently at the pain, flinching against the wood of the door. He tried to get hold of the doorknob, to get away, but a pair of strong hands grabbed him, lifting him up. He twisted around to see, and through squinted eyes he saw Suzie's Daddy. He tried to speak, but he couldn't speak . Please mister, don't hurt me, I just wanna go home! The words he wanted to say, but they never came out.
The man, Suzie's Daddy, looked at the creature he held, then grinned. "Ah, still some innocence. Such a shame, really. But she's MINE. There is a claim on her already." He didn't understand what the man meant, and he was so, so scared. The man's eyes were black with gold in the middle, and the grin got bigger and bigger, the man's mouth opening like the lid of a box. Eyes weren't sposed to be black, and mouths weren't sposed to open like that.
Just before the jaws closed on him, he 'membered: I'm Robbie! But then, it was far too late.