THE BEAST

I was awoken with the sound of a loud thump. I opened my eyes, startled by the sudden eruption of noise. I look

around, but all my eyes could see were darkness. Becoming more and more aware, I began to smell a foul smell, that gripped my

nose like a piercing hook. I began to sit up, with my heart racing loudly. Suddenly, another thump appeared. It felt like a fever

dream, a sick foul nightmare of a fever dream. I began to swing my eyes, directing them in different directions to find a familiar

object. I felt a sharp pain grace my finger, and by instinct I flung it away. With my breath now trembling as my lungs shake of

fear, I slowly raised my hands towards the shadowed figure, convinced there was no flesh behind its darkness. I didn’t feel

anything, and I drew back, scared. It darted away. Knowing that something in the room was frightening. But knowing that it was

fast, faster than me, was a thought that sent shivers through my vertebrae. A long array of pure silence swept through the room,

with only my pulse and breaths to be heard. Then, abruptly, a sound from the bottom of the staircase erupted with echoes into the

house. It was not like the other thump, it was a much louder one, that was at an incredibly low pitch. Unexpectedly, another came

from the staircase. This time, it was closer and louder. As time slowly creeped past, more and more came. Each time they came

closer and more rapidly. Loud consistent thumps began to sound like 1,000 beasts, jumping one after the other. As they drew

closer, I closed my eyes and covered my ears. Everything I knew about reality couldn’t coexist with what was happening to me.

The steps abruptly stopped as they reached the top of the staircase. I opened my eyes and stared at the door. There was a figure,

of a giant beast, with horns sprouting from the chin. There were spines circling on his body, and a tail swung from behind. Its

face was disfigured and there was red slime dripping from its eyes, and its jaw was disfigured. It was stretched 8 inches wide, and

rows of sharp teeth sat in rows and rows, reaching all the way back into its throat. The figure had stood on 4 legs and maneuvered

like a spider. Instead of arms, the creature had long spikes with veins running through it, and at the end had 7 tentacles that

fluctuated with thousands of tiny muscles moving inside of it. There were hundreds of eyes scattered across the face, and they all

glowed and illuminated the room a red. It was 8 feet tall, and it was barely under the ceiling. It stood completely still, as it waited,
as I stared in disbelief. He kept staring, almost as if he wanted me to challenge him. As if he wanted to make a victory the

sweeter by a sore opponent. I never moved, not even when I was exhaling my breath. We stared for what felt hours, and I was not

daring to look back. Suddenly, he slowly walked towards me, with a heavy limp that left his legs stiff yet flopping. He swayed so

much side to side, but his legs did not tremble. It wasn’t out of fear, yet out of a pure disability. I noted this in case I had to fight,

I knew were to hit. It slowly approached me and bent down towards me. It gently lay the fingers on my eyelids and closed them. I

cried and whimpered, “Please, oh please!” But then it swiftly covered my mouth. I curled up in a ball, and it reached its hands

and put one under my legs and the other on my back. It then opened the window quietly as I could not retaliate against the giant

monster. It jumped towards the ground, and gently set me back down. I looked up to him, teary eyed and scared. It slowly moved

its hand away from, as it spoke. In the deepest, barely audible possible voice that you can think, it said “Quiet.” I looked up at it,

with my hands and body shaking, and too weak to get away. “Why?” I begged in a shaken voice. “The giant beast will kill you”

My eyes were like a silent flood, like a hurricane that spoke in whispers. It carried me into the forest beside my house, and it set

me down leaning onto the tree. “But why?” I said, repeating the same question. Still so unsatisfied with the answer that I repeated

it hoping for a new one. “I’m sorry if I scared you, but if I didn’t take you, the giant beast would.” People think when you hear

this, your mind would go 1000 miles per hour. But mine didn’t it went blank. No thoughts or anything, just my instincts. There

was nothing else but fear. “Th….the giant beast?” I said, looking into the glowing red eyes. “Yes, the giant beast. The biggest

creature that roams the woods. It takes humans from their homes and drags them into the woods”. My eyes widened and almost

bulged out of my head. Who would do such a thing, I thought to myself. Then, suddenly, the creature was pulled and dragged

away. And a huge, terrifying giant beast appeared. “Me.” It said, as it grabbed my legs and swung me into the dark forest.