Mystery or Monster?

Locals say they were the wind. Well, I’m just here to catch the breeze. A questionable silhouette that was always there at the right time. Some say that they were the shadows. Finding peace in the darkest corners when someone begged to be saved. 

They’ve earned the name “Depth,” standing for the hole you may fall in if you chase them too long. Maybe I’ve already fallen. Or maybe… they’re who I think they are. If I am correct, then this search has been worth it. Months and months of searching for my father, and maybe this supposed local hero fits the shoe. To look at me from a distance is one thing, but to show up, on the ledge of my hotel room window, is something else. 

A 5’8 figure cloaked in black, dressed for the season of continuous showers, stood in front of my 6’0 frame. A deep voice of silk that could pull you into anything. 

“Everest… it’s you,” a voice of silk that could pull goosebumps to the surface of my damp skin. A heavy shower was occurring like always. I had just gotten ready for bed, refreshed from my shower like always. But this figure, this man was here, shaking the routine to pieces. And if they knew my name already, I would have more to worry about than the routine. 

“Well, when I read about a ‘mysterious figure’ in a far out town, I got a bit suspicious,” he nodded and, to my best guess, drifted off in his own thoughts for more time than I could spare. The sky wasn’t getting any brighter, and neither was the mood. 

“What are you doing here? Why did you leave? Why are you here?” A flood of questions and curiosity overflowed in my mind as I fully processed his presence. He was here. I found him… in Oakley heights?

“I… wanted to call you so many times. I was going to call you so many times. The sooner I thought I could leave, the quicker I realized this town needed my help-” his shoulders jolted as I interrupted his pile of excuses. 

“I needed your help!” The small hand brush snapped in my grip as I lost my composure, the mask I’d been holding up since he knocked on my window. 

“I needed you, dad.  And you left me, left mom… to help people you don’t even know? Knowing that she was dying and I would be alone?” My voice broke as I locked my watery eyes on his steel toe boots. I thought I would come here to save him for once, but he was just fine. No real crisis holding him back. Maybe he just never cared for me at all. 

“She died in my arms, and I- I needed you,” the heaviness of my shoulders and the sting that filled my eyes were all too much for me to hold. I couldn't hold anything anymore. It was pointless to try. 

“Everest, I… I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. You have to understand. They were chasing me and I couldn’t lose the both of you, so when they said they would only kill one of you, I had to choose-”

“What? What did you just… say?” I slowly stepped forward, feeling no awe at the so-called hero of this small town. To think that my suspicions were right. To think that he could choose my mother, and think that I would thank him for choosing me… It makes me want to rip my own skin off. 

“Say. It. Again. I dare you. Say it again!” a quick lunge toward him and he was on the ground. He set my mother up to save me, only to neglect me in the end. My fists flew in a flurry of violent punches, getting painted with blood from his broken nose. I wanted more. I wanted to show him the pain he made me feel all this time. This mystery was a complete joke. 

“She trusted you! I trusted you!” He was taking everything hit. Every word I spit at his bloodied face. All that time while she was dying, caving in from the poison my father’s enemies had given her, she had always hoped that he was coming back to us. If she could see this sick mystery now, I think… she’d want to die much quicker. I stopped once he seemed to have enough and made a weak attempt at catching my hands. 

I have never been happier to be on my last night at a small hotel. It only made it easier to pack up and leave as I left my father, that monster, on the floor. The last thing I ever saw of him were those steel toed boots, covered in small splatters of his own blood. 

“Hero? Mystery? More like a monster,” I mumbled loud enough for him to hear as I slammed the door shut, racing out of the building and quickly driving away in the heavy shower. If he thinks this is the last time we will speak, he better think again. Because I will continue to only get stronger, until he will only have me to worry about and not those monsters that poisoned my mother, under his disgusting choice.

Though, my mind is caught on another question as I drive past the welcome sign for the small town. Was it guilt that stopped him from fighting back? I will not applaud him for being decent, but there’s so much more I need to figure out. Not tonight, it wasn’t the right time. I couldn’t stand the sight of him, and would’ve been convinced to take his life with my own bare hands if I didn’t think of my mother. Maybe he wanted me to, for any easy way out. I hope he knows I will make it anything but easy for him. 

“This isn’t over,” a declaration was set as I drove closer to my hometown. A place where that beast will never be welcomed again. Not if I have anything to do with it.