Monsters of The Mist

The night air was seeping through my skin and biting into my bones; daddy was clawing into the ground, and he stopped.

He outstretched his arm and gestured to me; I handed him one of the two potted plants; the leaves radiated warm light, translucent with thread-thin veins. He told me to press my hand at the base of the tree in the dirt, and the soil was grainy yet soft and cold—pinprick massages all over the surface of my palm. Then, the leaves glowed, more radiate and wondrous.

"WOW, so pretty," I said.

 Daddy explained what we were doing, but it was difficult to understand; We were stopping the monsters from escaping, he told me. Without warning, my mind went to bedtime; kisses before turning the light off and promises of no monsters under my bed or in the closet to get me. 

You're getting big, he would tell me, and big people are not afraid of monsters. Daddy took me into his arms; his heart was pounding hard against my chest. It took me back to when Micah's dog frightened me. Daddy was afraid but wasn't he big? I thought to myself.

The growling in the forest was back, and that strange mist was coming closer. Daddy picked me up.

   Creaking and crackling came from the woods. My heart and the vein in my neck were pounding hard. I didn't want to be here. But daddy said I must come. I pleaded with him not to bring me, but he hushed me and said I MUST COME. It was important. He wanted other people in the town to come too, but no one wanted to. He told them about the mist, the monster, the plant and even me. Everyone laughed like daddy was joking, but he wasn't. Daddy's face was very serious. 

The townspeople used the words' Myths', 'legends' and 'Crazy'. 

I heard one person shout:

"Jim, you've gone nuts! Get off the stage. BOO! BOO!"

No one was afraid. The town folk believed in their abilities and powers, even if the monsters were real. Daddy called them names, but they got angry and pushed him off stage.

 Now we were in the forest. The tall trees looked misshapen, and odd growling sounds were closing in on us. I hugged my daddy tight and buried my head in my chest. 

"They're coming! We must hurry before it is too late. Hold on tight 

honey."

He sprinted at max speed, and my daddy was the fastest in the valley. That was one of the gifts. The wind was bashing against my eyeballs. I wasn't used to his speed without my goggles. I held on tight to the second plant. My eyes adjusted to speed to our left. A shadowy figure was moving between the trees. Impossible! I thought.

"No way," I said.

"Chelsea? Wha... What's wrong?"

"Nothing is as fast as my daddy!" I shouted.

I pointed in the direction of the thing that I saw.

My dad's heart stopped for a moment and then started again.

"Red reaper." He whispered.

"Chelsea! Focus, look where daddy is pointing. Bring us there." 

He pointed to the hill. The silhouette of a giant tree, almost bare of its leaves, stood at the top. I closed my eyes, focused, and thought only about where daddy pointed, just like he taught me.

  My hair flapped and blew in daddy's face, and it was much colder, but he was so warm.

 We were high enough to see everything. The massive memorial of the town's founder stood above the strange mist. Pretty yellow lights exploded under it, and the monument disappeared. More explosions of yellow lights than red glowing lights swirled in the fog, then a horrible bang, no more lights and no more sound. 

"They're all dead." My father said,

He turned around and tore into the ground like a beast spraying out dirt and tiny stones. I've never seen daddy like this before; He looked different. The veins in his head were massive and wiggling. He turned to me, his eyes the colour of blood and glowing. He outstretched his beastly arms. Who was this person? 

I took a few steps back and lost my footing. Daddy caught me before I could tumble backwards. The plant slipped from my arms down the slope. It didn't go all the way down. The bushes rustled, and something stepped out. It stepped into the silvery moonlight and smiled at us with teeth like diggers. I heard my father mutter the words red reaper again.

The plant's green glow seemed to have dimmed. The creature was eyeing it; Its crimson eyes looked up at us. It took a step toward it. A gust of wind blew my hair forward, wrapping it around my face.

Daddy reached for the plant, but the reaper was fast, too. It swung its arms at daddy, raking the air with its claws. My father somersaulted in the air over the reaper, grabbed its head, lifted it off the ground, and flung it into the shadowy bushes. He turned to the plant and stretched out an arm to grab it. The bushed sounded angry, snapping and rustling, then the reaper burst forth, ramming itself into my father. Pushing him back, back and back and back some more, and then my father stopped.

 I heard popping and growling. Was it from the reaper? Who knows? 

Daddy suddenly got big, then huge. He lifted the reaper in the air and slammed it into the ground. Daddy punched and punched and punched. I heard popping, cracking and squishing as he punched. Was that daddy? Or was it a monster that took over daddy's body? Was it going to punch and punch and punch me too?

There was a cold burn in my chest. Where was daddy? WHERE WAS DADDY?

"Chelsea!" The beast said, its voice heavy and deep.

"Chelsea!" Not so deep.

"Chelsea." Sounded normal.

The burning was going away. I heard my father's voice but was it him? Monsters pretended to be people, like that story he told me. The wolf dressed as grandma and that girl with the red clothes?

"Stay back! Monster!" I yelled.

"Chel, it's me. It's daddy." 

My father was close enough to see his clothes were torn, but he looked normal, with the same warm smile and gentle.  

"Daddy, is it you?"

"What kind of questions is?"

"Of course, it's me."

He held me in his arm and kissed my pulsing forehead. It chilled the swirling thoughts that were burning up my brain. I wrapped my arms around his neck. His hands slowly rubbed my back, calming me down. I yawned.

Daddy put me down. My eyes were getting heavy. It was bedtime, daddy had the plant in his hand, and the light was dimmer now.

"We don't have much time, Chelsea."

The growling sound had come back. Dad dropped the plant in the hole; It brightened a bit, but just a bit. He looked at me; the moonlight shone on half his face revealing three diagonal lines of blood. He took some blood from the wound and dripped it on the leaf, and the plant brightened. Then, a roar came from the forest.

"Oh, No!" Daddy said.

"Not that one, please not that one!" he said.

Breaking, crunching and growling came from the valley. Something massive was mowing down the trees. It had limbs, lots of limbs.

"Chelsea! quickly, the same as before."  

I put my palm at the base of the plant, it tinkled just like before, but that soon turned into stabbing needle pricks. I withdrew my hand.

"It hurts, daddy! it hurts!" I screamed.

The roar of the monster was louder.

"Chels, please, you have to. They're coming for you. If you don't, 

you'll have to watch daddy di…Well, you won't be able to see me 

again."

"You mean like mom," I said.

He swallowed hard, touched my cheek, and kissed my head.

"Yes, yes. Like mom, don't cry, Chels. Don't cry."

"Daddy, can you hold my hand, so I don't move it."

He sighed heavily and nodded. I knew he didn't want me to suffer, but 

The alternative, I imagined, would have been far worse. I pressed my hand down. The stabbing pain was like needles digging into my palm. There was a suction feel too. My hand was getting numb and cold. My selfish instincts were kicking in. I wanted to lift my hand, but daddy's hand covered mine. A crash and loud thud came from behind. The creature was here.

It roared, and the vibration shook me down to my bones. The plant lit up, and it released an explosion of blinding light. The light receded, then the earth shook, and the tiny tree shot up and snapped the old way off the hill. 

There was an odd hum, like the tree was singing a melody. Then, an explosive pulse knocked daddy and me to the ground. 

The massive beast turned into a puff of smoke and faded away. The trees rippled like ocean tides in the valley, and the mist that covered the forest was obliterated. The sun was rising; we waited for the golden sunlight to spread over the valley to see our town. I wished we hadn't. It was a waste of time. There was nothing to see.