Becoming a Monster

And in the end, he slowly felt himself becoming a monster. Liam put his pen down and looked at what he had written. It’s a new story he had been working on; however, Liam could feel himself hitting a wall in how to begin the story. There is something missing that will pull everything together. He just needs to find out what that something is.

While mumbling to himself, Liam tapped away at his laptop: continuously writing a sentence and deleting it over and over again. When he deleted another attempt, he pulled away from his desk frustrated. He rubbed at his brow and titled his head to the wall above the laptop.

Rows and rows of plaques and ribbons lined that wall; shining brilliantly, dazzling all those who lay their eyes upon it. The achievements of the past played in his head. In this shadow-filled room, it was the only light that pierced through Liam’s muddled brain. A headache was starting to build.

“Honey, are you still writing?” He tore his eyes away from the wall and gave his wife a tired smile.

“Yes, I think I’m onto something. You couldn’t stop me from creating greatness.” He joked with her and stood up to kiss her. “How about you, Kris? Finished work?”

“Yep! Just starting dinner now. Come help me. Even genius writers need breaks sometimes.” She pulled at his tie that he stubbornly refuses not to wear.

He looked over his shoulder, saw his wall, and turned back to her. “I always have time to help my beautiful wife. Let’s go.”

Behind his back, as he shut the door, the cursor blinked at him mockingly as it hovered over the story he hoped to join the wall above.

——————————————————————————————

Liam sat at the dinner table and listened to his wife chat about her day. He tapped his finger on the table and nodded to her chatter while he ate his food.

Then, the phone rang, cutting Kris off mid-sentence. “It’s late. Wonder who that is?”

Liam saw his best friend’s name looking back at him. “It’s Mike. Better check what he wants.” He walked towards the other room and answered the phone. A few minutes later, Liam walked back in with an exasperated expression.

“What did Mike want?” She put her fork down.

Liam huffed and sat at the table. “He wants us to babysit tomorrow. He and Kate haven’t had much time since having the baby. Which, makes a lot of sense considering.” He pouts. “I just don’t know how to take care of a baby.”

Kris giggled and put her hand on his cheek, “Aww. Seems to me that you’re the poor baby here. But don’t worry,” she kissed his forehead, “I have babysat my friends’ babies before. Plus, it will be good experience for us! Our parents have been nagging us for grandkids lately.” She smiled cheekily at him and Liam couldn’t keep up pouting anymore. The look in her eyes made Liam want to do anything he could to keep that smile on her face.

“Okay, okay! I get it, it will be good to practice.” He kissed her forehead in return. “Let’s do this!” He put his arms up in cheer.

Kris laughed, “Okay great! Then let’s head to bed. It will be a big day for us tomorrow.”

Liam looked at her with shining eyes. Even if he was uncomfortable with the idea of a child, he was willing to do anything for his wife.

He grabbed her hand, “Can’t wait for tomorrow then!”

——————————————————————————————

Liam shot up from bed, his entire body covered in goosebumps. To his left, something fell to the ground, shattering in his ear. He quickly spun his head toward the noise.

A broken mug lay in pieces on the ground. Liam, still reeling from his nightmare, slowly peeled himself from bed, and tiptoed toward the mug.

It was strange. There was nothing next to the mug for it to have tipped over. Not even a draft of wind could have done it. He knelt down and picked up as much of the broken mug as he could and grabbed his phone for the torch. When turned on, the shadows in the room seemed to shiver, and to Liam’s eyes, they looked like they were stubbornly trying to stick to the walls and pictures while trying to wriggle their way toward him. He shook his head, evidence of his nightmare still present on his body, refusing to go away.

With the broken pieces in hand, Liam began his walk down the hallway. During the day, there is nothing scary about this hallway. In fact, every other night, the hallway still gave him no sense of fear. But this night, fear was all he felt.

There was no sound in this hallway. No crickets, no draft of wind, and no ticking clock. The only thing he could hear was a slight ringing in his ears and the sound of his shallow breath.

When he made it to the end of the hallway, he let out a sigh of relief.

Then suddenly, a voice whispered in his ear, “Liam.”

Liam jumped and quickly spun around, his torch piercing the darkness behind him.

There was no one there.

A touch as soft as the voice gently pressed on the back of his neck, “Poor, poor, Liam.” The voice was close enough to breath on his ear. Liam couldn’t move. Couldn’t make himself move. The silence that followed was worse than the hallway. Rather than static, all he could hear was the sound of his beating heart trying to escape through his ears.

He clutched at the broken mug as tightly as he could, blood escaping through his fingers.

The pain didn’t help.

The voice laughed again, but this time it seemed to come from the shadows that surrounded him.

The goosebumps that were just starting to leave appeared again, his hairs standing up on end. The touch on his neck started wrapping around his neck and embraced his body. With his body now forcefully frozen, Liam saw what was happening in front of him. The shadows that had been a respectful distance away from his torch was now creeping towards him. Before he at least had the chance to defend himself with the light, but now with the arms wrapped around his body, he had no chance at all.

The shadows approached and his torch dimmed to nothingness.

For a few moments, nothing happened. Liam could feel the arms around his body caress him gently. If it weren’t for the feeling of his blood slipping past his fingers to the floor, he could almost pretend that this was his loving wife, comforting him after a stressful day.

Then, the voice spoke, “I can help you. Come with me.”

The floor disappeared from his feet and he was swallowed into the shadows.

——————————————————————————————

Liam’s eyes opened but there was nothing to see. There was no walls, no furniture, and no light. Only endless darkness, pressing, squeezing, suffocating the breath out of him.

Liam touched his arms if only to feel like his body was still there. To see if he still existed. He found that his arms were still there, but the warmth he used to have isn’t. There was no warmth of a human body. It was like he-

“Liam~.” The voice came from all around him, but Liam could see the outline of a human appearing in front of him.

The figure blended into the shadows, the environment as it is. Liam had the distinct feeling that this creature was the shadows.

“Let me help you Liam. With my help I can make you succeed where you previously couldn’t.” The figure began walking towards him, “All you need to do is accept me.”

Liam could feel his skin crawl as the creature approached him. He turned his head, hoping for some place to escape to.

The void stared back at him.

He looked back to the creature and felt his soul escape his body. The creature was right in front of him, bending at angle that shouldn’t be possible for a human to achieve. Its face hovered only a few centimeters away from his. No breath escaped it lungs and he was shocked to realise that none escaped his either.

“Whatcha looking at, Liam~?” Red glowing eyes looked into his blue ones. “There is nowhere to run and no need to be afraid anymore.”

Once again Liam felt his skin crawl. “What-what do you want from me?” He stuttered out.

The creature paused before letting an inhuman grin stretch across the entirety of its face.

“Oh Liam~… Is that for me?” The creature tilted its head to the floor. Belatedly, Liam realised that he could still feel his hand bleed from the broken mug. But when he looked down to where the creature was looking, what he saw wasn’t blood.

It was skin.

Drip. Drip. Squelch.

What he thought was blood slipping through his fingers was actually his skin slowly peeling downwards.

And what he thought was goosebumps was actually the rest of skin being ready to join the rest in sliding off his body.

Liam couldn’t move, couldn’t scream like he wanted to. But the creature could. In this space the creature could do whatever it wanted. The creature, still with its wide stretching grin, knelt down past him and picked the skin off the ground. From the back of his head, Liam faintly recognised the blood and sliminess that came from the skin.

The creature opened its mouth and slurped the skin through its teeth.

Liam hugged his body, clutching desperately as he began to feel the rest of his skin begin to slide down. He felt that in this moment if he could breath, he would be hyperventilating. But as it was, his body was stock still, his arms only responding through sheer instinct to stop his body from falling apart.

The creature licked its face, its tongue long and thin, and reached its hand at his face. Its fingers hovered above his cheek and used two fingers to peel it off his face. Then it did it again and again and again and again…

Before he knew it, he didn’t even feel his skin being peeled off anymore. In fact, he didn’t even feel like he had a body. He felt weightless… almost like a-

As the creature ate more and more of his skin, Liam realised that something was changing in the creature. It no longer looked like a shadow, like the skin it was eating was becoming its own. Liam watched as the creature formed skin, its figure more solid, its mouth shrinking to a normal size, and its eyes turning blue. And when it grew hair, Liam suddenly understood what he was looking at.

The creature had become human.

The creature had become Liam.

In a deep voice he recognised as his own, the now human stroked its flesh-filled cheek, “Thank you for the meal.” Liam stretched his jaw, “Liam. Liam~. That’s a good name. I think I’ll enjoy having it.”

Liam pat his shoulder, or tried to as his hand fell straight through his body. Liam looked down his body and realised that he was all shadow. He had become the monster and the monster had become him.

Liam chuckled lightly and comforted him, “‘And in the end, you slowly feel yourself becoming a monster’. That’s a good line. I’ll make sure to finish that book for you. It will be your best work yet.” He grinned with his normal human mouth, “I will also be sure to give our wife the life she deserves and be the best dad you could be. Don’t worry.” Then he disappeared.

Liam was left alone in the darkness. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t see what was going on.

Years went by and Liam watched as Liam talked to his wife, finished his book, won awards, became the best dad to his newborn child, and impressed every person he met.

And as the years went on, Liam could feel himself living in the shadow of his own success.

And in the end, Liam could feel himself becoming a monster.