THE MONSTER

"I’m so glad I have company…It was starting to get too lonely in here" a male voice echoed as if from another world.

My head was splitting in half with pain. I opened my eyes slowly trying to figure out if it was just another one of those nightmares. The ones with the monster. If they were nightmares at all…

I looked up. It was dark, completely dark. My heart was pounding in my chest. I was lying down on a freezing damp floor so I tried to stand up, holding my head with one hand. My whole body was sore and stiff with cold, my knees weak. I lost balance for a second but I managed to get on my feet.

"Who's there?!" I inquired in an attempt to sound braver than I actually was. My voice came out hoarse and distant.

Something moved closer to my left ear. Then I heard the voice again.

“I'm glad you're here, I was starting to lose hope. How did you fall down the hole? Did they push you too?”

I grunted in fear and confusion. OK, it wasn’t one of those nightmares after all. I wouldn’t be able to produce a single sound if it was.

“Where am I? Who are you?” I just uttered in reply, stepping away from the voice. My back hit a wall. I reached for my pocket with a trembling hand and sighed with relief when I felt my phone.

“We’re in a hole of some sort…" the stranger just said, his voice calm and monotonous. Why was he so calm? “I think we’re in the woods. I heard an owl screech earlier and it smells like pine trees."

I wasn't sure if I should believe this unknown figure or not. I tried my best to decipher the situation rationally and suppress my panic. However, the adrenaline got the better of me and I couldn't help but sense an impending danger.

As if he read my mind, the stranger said, "Don’t be afraid of me. I won't hurt you. I’m Damian, nice to meet you.”

On the third attempt I finally managed to turn on the flashlight of my phone and squinted. My eyes had gotten way too used to the darkness. My headache intensified, Damian hissed quietly too. Adjusting to the light, I looked at his face. A slender young man in his 20-s with ruffled hair, tired eyes and a kind face with slightly feminine features. His posture was slouched. I relaxed a bit, he didn’t look threatening.

“I’m Arianna. Nice to meet you too, I guess. So what's going on? Why the hell are we here? I don’t remember…”

“Hell is right..." Damian took on. "The last thing I remember is going to this party. It was at Sam’s place, in the suburbs. We took….we took some weird shit.”

I blinked twice. Memories resurfaced.

"I think I was at that party too…Yeah, I remember taking some stuff from Sam. It's a complete blur after that though...”

“'No memory' trip is still better than a bad trip if you ask me," Damian smiled. Even though he was young, his teeth were really bad and a few of them were missing. "The question is, what do Sam and his friends want to do with us? I came to my senses just when he pushed me down here. I hurt my ankle in the fall. You must have hurt your head judging by the way you’re holding it. It’s a real miracle we even survived the fall to be honest… ”

I pointed my phone up and swallowed. The hole was much deeper than I expected, my flashlight couldn’t even reach its entrance. I suddenly felt claustrophobic and lost...like I was in the wrong womb. A strange but familiar feeling overwhelmed me...

And then my phone died. Utter darkness again.

“No, no, no, noooo..fuck!” I yelled out of frustration.

Silence.

And then Damian whispered.

“It's time to face the Monster, Arianna.”

I took a step back unconsciously, hoping that I had misheard.

“Monster?"

“You know...the one you see in your nightmares or when you have a bad trip. The one from your childhood.”

Damian’s voice had changed. My heart was beating so fast, I thought it would fly off my chest.

“It’s OK, Arianna. I see it too. We must be here because of it. We got high and then Sam said something like... 'everyone who sees the Monster should face it. In a dark place. Where it's at its strongest'."

I gasped so loudly that it echoed in the hole. My voice broke down completely.

“You mean…you mean we’re supposed to face our demons or something?"

“Yeah. It's time.”

And then I felt it. I felt the its presence again. Just like in my freaking sleep paralysis episodes.

My body paralyzed. But I was awake this time, wasn't I? I knew I was...right? RIGHT?!

I tried to yell, but my vocal cords wouldn't allow me to. Ever since I was a child I relived the same nightmare, so terrifying, so hopeless, so...real. Existence, no...life itself, was a constant loop of terror. There was nobody to help me, nowhere to escape to, no safety net to fall into...and God, the drugs made it all so much worse.

The monster breathed down my neck, and clenched its rough cold fingers around it like I was its property. It sang bittersweet lullabies that only I could understand.

I sunk into the past, my mind drowning in the sudden wave of memories.

"Mother, no...I'm scared...Please don't...it hurts, mommy..."

Damian wasn't there anymore.

It was just me, and the Monster.

I wanted to be close to the Monster. After all, I was the Monster - and the Monster was me. This is how it was always supposed to be.

Before sinking into oblivion, I managed to forgive myself. I finally had the courage to admit that my sleep paralysis episodes were not real. They were merely a story I had designed to conceal a far more sinister truth...

Published Author: R.P. Heaven (Raya P. Chausheva)

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/RPHeaven