Artwork: A Mess by the River by Will Jacques

His Monster
Nicky Valverde

 

The cry of the newborn filled the room with doctors and nurses rushing in their blue scrubs to wrap the child in a soft blanket. Tending to the panting mother as she watched from her spot, scared, not being able to process the wet rag that her husband placed on her forehead. Her tired eyes scanned the room for the monster. The room hummed with constant noises, but the mother could only hear the faint clicking coming from under the table she lay on.

Her baby cried harder; she could only pray her child would understand.

— — — — —

As the door closed for the night, and the room was plunged into darkness the boy couldn't help but hold his breath. He could hear the first signs of life coming from underneath his bed once again. The image of six thick legs tapping on the hardwood floor flashed in his closed eyes as the creature under his bed emerged for its nightly ritual. It scuttled rapidly to and fro trying to get a sense of its space.

The boy whimpered wondering why it had to do this each night. He felt the tug of his green sheets and went into a panic as the small segmented beast tried to pull itself onto the bed. The boy let out a screech as he kicked his legs trying to remain on the bed himself knowing if he tried to escape the room he would only put himself in more danger.

The boy knew he would have to fend for himself.

Last time he had cried for hours, wanting his parents to come save him. Finally his father popped his head in, witnessing the monster trying to crawl on the boy as he fought the thing off with an action figure. His father had simply nodded his head before going back to his room, the boy cried himself to sleep that night. He cocooned himself in his soft sheets, the small creature tapping its limbs across his pod trying to find a breach.

— — — — —

The boy tried asking his parents about the other monsters in the house. Everything seemed too still. His parents stopped sipping at their coffee, and their eyes widened like the jawbreakers the child traded for at school. At first, his father opened his mouth but behind him, his own monster twitched to life stealing any words from the father's mind. His mother refused to speak as her own body trembled, trying to remain still just as the looming figure behind her stood in perfect composure.

The boy continued eating, bringing the room back to its daily routine, but he could not help but look down at the small monster that wound itself around his chair leg, a close resemblance to a small puppy. Then he looked at the two daunting monsters that sat idly behind his own parents. He wondered for a second why his monster was so different from theirs.

His mother's green giant towered over her most days, and even when it didn’t, its dislodged eyes always remained on her. Once his mother's monster exposed its wings and opened its arms wide as if it was about to pounce. His father was able to pull her into another room before it could do anything, but after that his mother didn’t leave her room for three days.

Her monster had stood still in the living room waiting.

— — — — —

One morning when the boy sat at his desk he couldn't hear any of the words falling from his teacher's lips. His head was fuzzy from the morning events that felt gross…or perhaps wrong.

The boy had been walking to school with quick steps, leaving his monster desperately trailing behind with its little march. It was almost sad seeing it breathe so heavily, but the moments of peace the boy felt made the pulsing in his legs feel rewarding. However, when the boy made it to the crosswalk, he felt another wave of unease rush over him; he checked behind him to see his monster still a ways away, but knew something was amiss.

That's when the boy saw him. A lanky man with a strained face, the adult mumbled to himself as he scratched at his disheveled hair. The boy stared unintentionally and realized that the man was directing his words toward a small thing by his side. Even smaller than his own monster, the small brown-shelled creature tried to crawl its way up the man's torn pants. It was like seeing a pet desperate to get attention, but the boy could tell this monster had other intentions, with fangs that had darkened marks on them. A telling sign of a well-fed monster, and one that made the boy glad that his monster only ever wanted to be by his side and never do anything with its own pincers.

The last thing the boy saw was the man swinging his arm down at the brown beast and smashing it to the ground. The boy gasped as he was pulled back by his own monster that was quivering in its own fear. The man yelled out to be left alone before stomping on his monster with fury, the squeals of the monster drew attention as people ran away and even watched as the man mutilated the monster until it was a pile of slush. The boy couldn't take his eyes off the chunks of meat that were scattered on the floor and didn't notice the man approach him until the man spoke to him.

“It'll be back.”

— — — — —

When the boy got home he was surprised to see his father's monster sitting on the table. More accurately it was curled up into a spiral that made him think of the cinnamon rolls his father had made last week. The monster's orange legs fluttered around in unison as it felt the presence of the boy, but remained still almost in disinterest. Nodding his head, the boy went to get a glass of water as his own monster twitched its antennas in the direction of the large monster on the table. Almost as if his monster was communicating with the other, but he was unable to decipher what each wanted.

— — — — —

The boy was trying something new, and maybe it was foolish of him, but after years of living in a state of nervousness, the boy just wanted to try.

So when his parents had left for the night for a dinner party, some family friend who was hosting the boy made sure all the blinds to the windows were closed. As usual, he sat in the living room with the TV turned to a historical documentary and waited for his monster to strike.

He could hear a crash from above and knew his monster was looking for him. The tapping of legs was persistent as the monster ran frantically around trying to find the boy, and when he heard the first thud of the stairs, he couldn't help but laugh. The monster fell down the stairs unceremoniously and landed on its back; the small thing could never properly descend the stairs without tripping. This was something that had made the boy cry when he was younger, as the thing would crash into him in the mornings.

Now it was just another ritual, as the monster tried righting itself with the swinging of his legs and wobbling of its thorax.

The boy watched as the monster finally rose up and scampered towards him with clear delight as its pincers chirped. He couldn't help but grimace as it hopped up onto its hind legs and balanced itself on one of the boy's legs, just watching him with its two black button eyes. Finally, the boy sighed and reached down to pick it up. Hesitantly wrapping his hands around the middle section of the monster, he lifted it up into the air and onto the sofa next to him.

Typically he would try his best to ignore the monster until it settled onto the floor, but this time he wanted to test what the thing actually wanted.

The monster looked around in its new space the first time it was placed on the couch and began searching the area. Climbing the top of the velvet couch around the boy's head before coming right back and plopping itself onto the boy's lap. Its black tar body sank down into the boy with a gentle coolness the boy never knew. Its spiked limbs relaxed into the cushion, and as the boy's own heart thumped in his chest, he felt the vibrations from the creature's own docile delight that gave even more reason for the boy to reach out for it.

If anyone were to see him now he would be the talk of the town. The newspaper would have his face plastered on the front page saying: LOCAL BOY SEEN CANOODLING WITH OWN DEMON. His mother would go into a frenzy as his father tried to reel everyone back into their normalcy. The boy wished he could talk to someone about these monsters without feeling like he was the one doing something bad.

The only time anyone would willingly discuss these monsters was during the lessons at school. The teachers glazed over the class about how each one of them should avoid eye contact with their own beast. Which was hard for many as their squirming pests had multiple eyes that gawked at them in their seats.

One by one the children raised their hands to ask questions about their monsters.

What if my monster tries touching me?

Run.

Why do our monsters look different?

Unimportant, keep away from all monsters.

What do I do if my monster keeps growing?

Pray that it will stop before it's too late.

The boy had tried talking to some of his friends after class about their monsters but they all shushed him, reminding him that not acknowledging them kept them safe.

Trying to ignore his beast all his life had only made him miserable, but now here in his own house with his hand gently petting the thing he had been scared of forever, it felt like he was a step closer to understanding the point of these monsters.

It would be their secret, him and his monster. He felt a steady warmth in his chest as if he had unlocked a new part of himself. Smiling down at his monster that now chirped softly he knew that no matter what they would be ok.