monster

Monster1

He stared out the window. Everyone saw him. There was nothing special about his attire; he wore long khaki shorts and a blue T-shirt. His hands on the sill, he looked with blank expression to the passer-bys.2

No one knew his name, where he came from, or why he stared all day. It made them nervous with his ever-present glare, watching them move, following their steps like the eyes out of a painting. But as soon as they got past his house, they were happy again, content, safe. They couldn't figure out what was different about his house. It was the same colour as the ones around it, same shape. He had the same neatly manicured lawn and the same strip of sidewalk, but something was different.3

Perhaps it was the way he stared. His cold pale ice eyes stared out from an unmoving body. They were the only things about him that was different, odd. What did he think? they wondered. They always wondered. He was a mystery.4

He had a name. None knew it, but he liked the sound of it. Zach, short for Zacharius, but everyone who had ever spoken to him called him Zach.5

In each of us, he liked to think, was a little monster waiting to get out. He never let his out, physically, but he let it play with their minds. See, everyone's was different, he thought, unique in it's own grotesque way. Zach's monster was one he called Slie. Slie, you see, is not dependant on physical things such as other monsters. His way is not to chase you down and scare the living hell out of you. No, Slie's way is much more...sly. He gets into your head. He learns your fears, and he plays on them, increases them. An illusion crafter of the mind, making you see things that aren't there.6

Zach never knew what Slie saw, what Slie made. He was part of Zach's mind, but not a part he acknowledged actively, except to let Slie out on his little runs.7

Slie was out on one of his runs as Zach stared out the window. His eyes were glazed, watching that part of himself terrify people. One woman screamed.8

That had never happened before. It usually stayed in their heads. Slie wasn't strong enough to damage them physically. The same woman fell to her knees, still screaming madly. Desperately, Zach pulled Slie back into his mind, safe in his corner, in his own wood. The woman ceased to scream, but she was on the ground, in the fetal position rocking, rocking. She was muttering things Zach couldn't hear.9

Damn you, Slie, he thought. Still he didn't move.10

That night, he got up out of his spot like normal and went to his bed. He thought about, as he lay atop his covers, what truly scared him. Slie knew of course, he was part of him after all. Zach's eyes slowly closed. A peaceful smile descended on his face. He was dreaming for sure now.11

Suddenly, his expression took a drastic change. It twisted with agony, anger, fear. His eyes were wide open yet he couldn't see. The bedsheets that were beneath him were now wrapped around him, as if he had been wrestling with something. He shot straight up in bed and whispered one word. "Slie."12

That morning, he sat at his normal place, elbows on the window pane, watching people go by. This day, however, there were no feelings of fear, no discord bred in the lives of the passer-by. Zach would not let Slie out. The day passed, and again Zach went to bed. He lay there, same as always, and drifted, same as always.13

No sooner had his eyes shut, was he wide awake, staring around him. Under the door, barely seen in the darkness, was liquid. Just a little, not enough to trifle with, but there. Water.14

The water spread. Under the door it came, like thick cool magma it flowed to Zach's bed, as if the room was on a very slow tilt. He scooted back to the corner of the bed. The water covered the area of the floor, and was now rising. Zach watched in horror as it came to the top of his bed, and spilled over. He was scared stiff. He couldn't move, couldn't cry out, couldn't even breathe. He just continued to stare at the water.15

He stood. It rose. It rose past his ankles, cold as ice. It was now past his knees. His dresser was underwater. His waist was covered, and the water was over his bookcase. The water did not stop. Wherever it touched him, it froze his bones. When it reached his chest, it chilled his heart. He shivered violently. The water was now up to his chin, now to the ceiling. He struggled to the door, not being able to reach it. He screamed, but instead swallowed water. The scream came out in bubbles. Slie!!! he screamed. Slie had never turned on him here!16

He sat straight up in his bed. It was a dream. It had been a dream. And yet, Slie was standing before him.17

"Hello, Zacharius," he said. He feeds off fear. He feeds of fear. He feeds off fear. "Oh, don't worry my friend, I don't feed off anything anymore. Do you see me?" He studied his outstreached arms. "I'm physical now. You made me physical. Each of those excursions you allowed me to have, each little piece of mind I broke down in fear, made me stronger. You did it, Zacharius. All thanks to you."18

No. No, he lies, Zach thought, yet in his heart, in his mind, he knew Slie was right. No lies were in his face. No, his monster was not like that. "But you're a part of me," he objected. "How can you be seperate from me?"19

"Ah, the simple laws of paradox allow me to exist." He turned his back. Zach stared. No, this can't be. But... It is. "Be ready tomorrow night, Zacharius. Paradox will allow me to exist only a while. Only a while, while my other half is in existance, that is. Go to sleep, my friend. Sleep well. It will be the last you have in a long while."20

Zach awoke late in the morning. He was not at his window. He was in the house, thinking, pacing. How could he defeat his monster? It had threatened his life last night; he had to! Slie was strong in the mind. He knew his enemy's thoughts, dreams, fears. He knew everything, and at less than a moment's notice could he summon that knowledge to make them shrivel in fear. He had done it to Zach, he still remembered. The water under the door, slowy creeping. It was one of his biggest fears. Zach smiled grimly. That's one he wouldn't be using again. If he knew his monster, and he knew his monster, he liked to do something different each time. No, Slie would choose something else alltogether. But what?21

Day passed, and night came. Slie's realm was in the dream world. If Zach never entered, he would never be beaten--or victorious. He shook his head. There must be some way Slie can be defeated. Zach withstood four days awake. Day, night, but on the fourth night, it was too much.22

Without realizing it, he had dozed off at the window sill.23

It was daylight again. There were people outside the sill, but they were walking by normally, as if Zach's house was yet another normal piece of architecture. He rose and went out the door. All the people! There were more than usual. A person from every ethnic background, every religon, creed, lifestyle, were in front of his house. The street was crowded with people. He wanted to shrink back into his house, but something caught his eye. A dark figure flitted out of the corner of his vision. Slie. So this is what he was up to. This was the dream world, and this was the battle.24

Zach ran after the shadow, barely seeing it out of the corner of his eye each time. It was only when he lost it completely, did he stop to rest. Still it seemed there were people everywhere. He decided to ask someone if they saw Slie. He took a deep breath and approached the nearest person. He was at a bus stop, staring down the road, looking for the bus.25

Zach tapped him on his shoulder. "Exuse me, but have you seen a tall dark man pass by..." The man continued staring. The bus pulled up and he got on. Zach moved to get on as well, but the door closed right in front of him, as if he weren't there at all. He went into the center of the crowd, ran beside someone, asking them the same question. He saw a little boy standing by himself and he spoke to him. They all ignored him, or wose--he was forgotten. Zach screamed into the crowd, hoping, wishing someone would hear him. No one paid any mind.26

Zach was almost lost in his fear, drowned in his horror, when he heard a low chuckle to his right. This was the dreamworld, right? Lucid dreaming was something he was good at. Take hold of the dream, he told himself. Zach imagined a short throwing dagger in his hand. He looked down and there one was, forged perfectly, and of medivel craftsmanship. He turned around from his crouching position and, judging by the laughter, aimed and threw.27

It hit its mark. Slie was wounded. He pulled the dagger out of his chest and held it in his hand. He crumbled it to dust. And yet, he seemed weaker, as if the physical pain controlled the mental capacity. He was mostly a mental being, dwelling on psychic energy and the mind. What was the physical to him but a mere shell to embody? It was as fragile as a shell, thus the dagger had proven.28

He raised his hands and the road started falling away from him. No, it wasn't falling, something was rising. It was water! More water! Zach stared at him, defiant, proud. He ran as fast as he could to him and lunged. He pushed Slie to the ground and pinned him down. What was the physical but a mere shell? Zach didn't hinder or stop him in any way. But he soon could.29

He envisioned a guillotine, Slie's head resting upon the block.30

"You can't do that, Zacharius. This is my realm!"31

"Not anymore, Slie." He let go of the rope and the blade fell down. Slie's head was severed from his body. He was dying. "How simple the answer seems after it is discovered," Zach said, musing. "And how simple the problem when the solution lies dying before you. Come back to me, Slie. You have your place, and I have proven myself to you. You will be nothing more than a fantasy to me, a good or bad memory that I can't place. You have no choice, Slie."32

"Yes," his mind said. The body had dissapeared. "I will die, Zacharius, and you, you shall die with me. One half cannot live without the other; I see that now. But you shall pay for my ignorance. Tonight, you die."33

"No, old friend," he said. "I always kept a little piece of you in my mind. And that little piece shall keep me here. You, Slie, shall be the one to cease to exist." There was no answer to this statement of his. And no answer followed ever. The dream ended and Zach awoke leaning on the windowsill with dawn in the air. Somehow he knew, though, that this wasn't over. The little piece he had of Slie was still Slie. He had given him a name. He had given him being, and he still contained the memory. The thought would ever stay with Slie, and so would the desire to control.34

Zach rose silently, swiftly. He had slept, but he felt no rest. He went to his room, threw himself on his bed, and after making sure the piece of Slie was securely imprisoned, entered the world where it had all began...35