The Monster

The Monster

by Seth Darby Smith

Sean sits in a cold stone room. The walls were cinder blocks painted white, the concrete floor was painted a blue-gray. The room smelled of stale cigarettes and disinfectant. His child-sized wrists were anchored to the shaped steel table with connected benches by handcuffs with a long chain mounted to the table via a welded metal loop. Uncomfortably shifting and never looking up, he explains to the disinterested man in a cheap pale blue suit with words weighted in palpable pain what he experienced over the last year.

“She told me he wasn’t noticeable at first. Sometimes she’d see flashes of him out of the corner of her eye. But in those days, he seemed harmless;” caring even he thought. “It didn’t take long, though, for him to start hurting her.”

She was more shocked than hurt, at first. Diana, 8, had already been through a lot. The daughter of a young, single mother. Diana wasn’t too young to think that her mother’s constant irritation and coldness were due to trying to make rent and feed two children. She was too young, however, to realize that her casual abuse and neglect was not what other children experienced at home.

The only other person Diana had was Sean. Her ten-year-old brother was rough. His demeanor was much like his mother’s. She couldn’t remember a time when she felt that he wanted her around. And so, she didn’t really know who he was and why.

She loved them both. Of course she did. Love was all she knew to feel, and these two were all she had.

Her mother was at work when it started. She usually worked at night. Diana and Sean had long since learned to feed and take care of themselves on nights like this. She was used to it. But on this night, while getting herself something to eat, from nowhere, she felt a smack on the back of her head. A little dazed, she looked around to see if her mean older brother had hit her. He wasn’t there. She looked around the house and found him reading in his room. Somewhat tearing, she tells Sean, “Something hit me.” Not caring, he told her to “shut up” and closed the door on her to leave her alone in a dark hallway. With a slight headache forming, and more than a little frightened, she collected her food, went to her room, where she spent the rest of the night.

She didn’t talk about it for some. She didn’t say anything the next few times it happened. She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know what happened. Nothing like this had ever happened before. It only happened while her mother was at work, and her brother was in another room. Eventually, however, she grew to see it for what it was: a hideous monster. She had no other name for it.

She came to expect attacks from the monster when her mom was at work. Each time they got worse. Sometimes she was hit about the head, sometimes the face, often her stomach. She’d lose her breath every time. While being attacked, she tried to fight back, but the monster was giant and so, so strong. When she did, the monster would yell at her, accusing her of absurd offenses and making sure she knew she was a, “stupid bitch.” Sometimes the monster would make her say it back to him. Through tears and sobs and pain she’d try. If he couldn’t understand her, he’d continue to hit her until he could. He was a terrible monster.

If she came across her brother after, he never really seemed to care. He would ask what was wrong with her, and she’d reply, “it was the monster.” He’d just shake his head and go to his room and read.

It wasn’t too long before the monster would sneak into her room at night, while everyone else was sleeping, and torture her for fun. It became so bad that it made her sick to her stomach. Her head swam as if intoxicated to the point where she vomited all over her bed. This was enough to wake up her mother, who rushed into the room and turned on the light. Thinking that Diana was sick, she asked her how long she’d been feeling bad. Diana told her mother that she didn’t feel bad until the monster hit her in the head. Diana was surprised to see that this made her mother angry. “Diana! I’m sick of you always lying! You’ll be fine in the morning. Go to sleep.” With that, her mother slammed the door, and there was peace for the rest of the night.

The next day the monster was angry. Unfortunately, it was also a night Diana’s mother would be working even later. As soon as the door closed behind her mother, the monster pounced on her with more fury than he’d ever displayed. Insisting she’s dumber than ever, and that her mother and brother don’t love her, he beat her with less restraint than ever before. Several blows to the head, face, stomach, and backside were enough to graciously allow her to lose consciousness. She was grateful for the break from the pain and fear.

It was dark when she awoke. She noticed the hunger, first. Then the pain. After a few moments of taking in her surroundings, she realized that she was on the floor in the living room, covered in vomit. This quickly relieved her of her hunger, and she went to clean up the floor around her, then herself in the shower. Wary of the monster as she left the shower, she slowly opened her bedroom door and was delighted, surprised, and comforted to find her brother on her bed with a book propped open on his lap. He smiled at her and bid her to sit next to him. The book was like no book she’d seen before. The cover and leaves seemed to be made of gold. She wasn’t a great reader, and still a little dizzy, but even if she weren’t, she didn’t think she recognized the writing on the book. But what was really strange, she didn’t know if it was because she hit her head, but the pages seemed to be glowing. She knew her brother was a good reader though, and was sure he could translate it for her. She didn’t think he’d want to take the time, though. He’d never really shown interest before. Yet, he was here.

“Diana, I found this magic book for you,” Sean offered with supportive hope. “I know you’ve been fighting that monster, and I’m here to help protect you.” Diana was overjoyed. Nothing in the world mattered to her more than this moment with her brother. Finally! She knew he loved her and would help her. It just took a little time. She was happy she had such a great brother. He’d surely know what to do.

“Well, Diana, I haven’t translated all of this. This is an old magic book with old magic words,” he elucidated with determined authority. “I need to go to the library to find out everything it says, but I have translated the title and first chapter. This book is called How to Defeat Monsters Forever.” She had never been so hopeful.

The book had a lot of words with which she was unfamiliar, but what it basically said that there was a three-step process to kill the monster. There were also three things she would need. A magic potion, a magic fire stick, and a magic sword. She would need to go on an adventure to gather these items. She didn’t have to be strong, but she had to be smart, and she had to be brave. If she was smart and brave enough, there was no way she couldn’t beat the monster.

“Ok, Diana,” Sean said, “our journey starts tomorrow after school!”

That night, as she was fighting the monster, she felt the pain and fear a little less. She knew that her brother loved her, and would help her beat this monster once and for all. As she looked into the monster’s eyes, she smiled as the blows landed, she lost consciousness, and fell into a blissful, dreamless sleep.

The next day after school, Sean informed her that he needed her to follow him into the garage. He’d found what they needed for the first part: the magic potion! She had no idea where all of the things she found in the garage came from. There were beakers and Bunsen burners, and smoking vials of liquid in greens and blues and reds. He reminded her of a mad scientist, especially when he handed her a lab coat and safety goggles. He laid the strange glowing book down beside the array of chemicals and started reading from the book in a language she didn’t know. He paused to tell her that he found a book on how to read this book in the school library that day. He started chanting in the same strange language as he combined different combinations of smoking liquids into different vials. Each time was followed by a puff of smoke and color change. After about an hour, Sean stopped, and proudly handed her a sealed vial. As she reached for it he warned her, “use this only when the time is right.” Even though she didn’t know how she would know when the ‘time was right,’ she nodded. Seeing her confusion he tells her that there will be a sign, then she will know. Sean had been very kind to her. She trusted him. She loved him.

The monster was extra vicious that night. As he tore into her. Terrified yet stoic, Diana searched everywhere for a sign. She wanted this to stop. She silently, desperately, thought, “This can’t last forever, can it.” Soon, the monster was gone and she was left alone in her dark room, waiting for the next attack.

Eager to see if her brother had made any progress the next day, she skipped up to him after school. “Have you found anything else yet,” she begged. Confidently she says, “As a matter of fact, I have. We need to get provisions, though. Let’s make sandwiches and get other food to take on our journey.” They went back to their house, trying to avoid the monster. They gathered a slew of supplies and got out of there with as much quiet speed as they could. Sean was the first one out of the front door when Diana heard the monster materialize and start chasing them. With the monster howling at both of them as they ran across the front yard and down the street, Diana knew that the monster was going to be even more mad when she got home that night. She didn’t mind. She knew this would be over soon. It had to be.

They arrived in some strange woods. Sean let her know that this part of the journey was a treacherous one with lots of walking and climbing, but at the end of it, they would have the magic fire stick. The journey was nothing to Diana. There was a lot of walking, but anything was better than the monster, waiting for her at home. She cherished this time, though. Walking down the trail, through the cool, woodsy air, was some of the best times she’d ever had with her brother. He told her stories and taught her things about the woods around them that she never knew. She was starting to look up to her brother with even more respect. Finally they came to a clearing where they found an old box. In it was the fire stick, although it looked different than what Diana expected. It was short, and black and had a handle. “Here is the magic fire stick,” Sean proclaimed, “Handle it with care.” Diana took it, inspected it once more, and put it in her pocket. They made their way back home for dinner.

That night was the worst attack yet. It was different. It hurt more. It hurt in different places. She’d never been hurt like that before, and had no idea these types of attacks existed. There were less blows to the head, but that just meant she had to stay awake for the pain and fear. What was worse was that he seemed to enjoy it far more than previously. He didn’t seem angry, except when she tried to make it stop, but he also seemed to like it when she tried. She hated this. She wanted to die right then and there. For a moment, she didn’t care about defeating the monster, she just didn’t want to be anymore.

She didn’t sleep that night. She was more scared. She hurt more. There was blood on the bed and between her legs and it scared her that her mother was going to find out. Her mother always got angry when she made a mess or talked about the monster. It seemed the more she told her mother about the monster, the more her mother hated her. It got to the point that she thought that if she mentioned the monster one more time to her mother, her mother would make her leave and live outside, alone. She recalled her mother telling her that she would be kicked out if she continued to bother her with her ‘nonsense.’

The next morning she was aroused from a nap she was just finally able to fall into when there was a knock on her bedroom door. It was her brother. He looked her up and down, noticed the blood and asked, “What’s wrong with you? You better clean that up.” He shut the door and walked away.

She did the best she could to convince her mother that she wasn’t feeling well and needed to stay home. To her surprise, she was allowed. It was the most peace she’d gotten in months. She took care of herself that day. She ate well, and watched all the TV she wanted. She was comfortable and content when she noticed the monster enter her home. He wasn’t yet aware of her presence and she wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible. Then, the light through a hanging prism shifted and formed a perfect arrow pointing to an open can of beer. This was the sign. But wait, the sword! She hadn’t yet found it! She had to be smart and strong and go forward anyway. She poured the contents of the magic potion into the can of beer and hid. Moments later, the monster grabbed the can of beer and drained it into his gullet. He opened a second can and took it to the couch. He opened it, took a swig, and turned on the TV. Within minutes, the monster fell asleep, drooling and snores pouring from his mouth. Next she had to use the fire stick. She went to her room, lifted up the loose board in her closet, and pulled out the magic fire stick. She took it downstairs, pointed it at the monster, and pressed the button. A loud band blasted from the fire stick and deafened Diana for a few moments. Dazed and a little impressed, she regarded the stick, and gazed at the monster. She saw his blood spurting from his stomach and pooling on the couch, down his legs, and around his feet. She didn’t know that was possible. Giggling, she covered her ears the best she could and pushed the button three more times. With each pull of the button, the body of the monster jerks in a way that Diana found strangely satisfying. Then she remembered the sword. An instant of panic was calmed by the voice of her brother over her shoulder. “You’re doing a good job. Here, you have to take off its head. It might be a little hard, but you’re strong enough.” As he handed her the magic sword, she found it odd that it looked like the bread knife from the kitchen. ‘Oh well,’ she thought. Sean has been right about everything so far. He wouldn’t let me use the wrong sword. With that, she got to work sawing at the neck of the motionless monster. Just as she was carrying the head by the hair to the kitchen sink to wash off all the blood, Sean bursted in through the front door, and with horror screamed, “WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?”

Sean is sitting at a table, in front of a large mirror, in the cold, painted room, talking to the old man wearing the pale blue suit who calls himself a trauma specialist or something stupid like that. ‘If this man asks me if I’m ok one more time, I’m going to scream,’ he thinks to himself.

Aggressively, the old man asks, “So what happened?”

“I don’t know. She’s been acting very weird for a while. I think it’s because Chuck was beating her up all the time. Something knocked a screw loose or something,” Sean explained.

Skeptically the man says, “Your mother said that Diana’s been lying to people and telling them Chucks been hurting her. She said you two had always disliked Chuck and decided to kill him.”

Angrily Sean retorts, “No, Chuck was lying and my mom backed him up! I was there! I saw it every time!”

Sean, for a moment, flashes back to the immediate aftermath. He remembers seeing Diana being taken away in handcuffs, gleefully skipping toward the cop car with its lights flashing. She catches his gaze and cheerily waves, “I killed the monster! I finally did it! I get to be a princess now. They’re taking me to my kingdom right now. See!? They even gave me jewelry,” she rattled the handcuffs, now leaving a red mark on her narrow limbs toward Sean. “Now mommy will definitely love me! You can come too, Sean. Everything will be better from now on.” The scowling police officers loaded her into the back of the cop car. Facing out of the back windshield, she didn’t stop waving at Sean as she disappeared down the street.

“I don’t know. I caught her talking to herself a lot recently. I thought she had an imaginary friend. But then she would talk to me about things that I had no idea about, like we’d talked about them before,” Sean sadly reported. “Will she be ok? I should have done something. I should have stopped it.”

In an adjacent room, Diana’s mom is being interviewed.

“Are you ok, ma’am. I know it must be difficult to have your daughter arrested for something this awful,” said a sympathetic, middle aged man wearing a gold cross necklace.

Diana’s mother half giggles, half scoffs, and says, “Yeah, that’s not great, but I’m a widow now. It’s time to find a new husband.”