• Monsters

    The town of Charlotte was normally a quiet place, excluding the faint screams often heard in the night. The townspeople had grown so accustomed with it, that eventually it ceased to wake nor trouble them. Everyone knew, it was just Mary. The girl who hallucinated of monsters and demons, and went around speaking of the torment that was her imagination, to anyone who didn’t know enough to just walk away. No one ever remained alongside her long enough to hear much before they walk away never to come close distance again.
    Shadows danced along the walls of Mary’s bedroom, as they did every night. As they did so, she lay in her bed, curled in a ball. Her snowy white eyes were squeezed tight, and her fingers crammed into her ears to block out the voices that haunted her. Even as crimson blood began to slither down the sides of her face from her ears, she just continued to thrust her fingers in deeper. The voices would not stop. She couldn’t scream, they would just put her away again. They would lock her in that small white room, where she was fair game to the monsters that have followed her since as long as she can remember.
    Mary was a beautiful girl, almost too beautiful to be human. Her long auburn hair flowed down almost to her knees, and her eyes, cold as ice, where as white as snow, with only the black of her pupils and circle around her irises. Her skin was paper white, and there was not one blemish. If you’d have seen her, you probably would have mistook her for an angel. But if you were to look past all the magnificence, into her mind, the dark would overwhelm you. She isn’t evil, not even close, but she is still not the kind of person you invite to a sleepover either. Not unless you would like to wake up to ear-piercing screams at three in the morning.
    Despite her implausible beauty, people had a tendency to keep their distance. In school, she would talk of the shadows that haunted her, and of the demons that prowled about her room as she slept. If that wasn’t enough to scare people away, it was her incredible physique. No one had ever seen anything like her, with eyes that were not only unique, but also unusual. The other women loathed her, letting their jealousy form their opinion of her. Not just that, but the stories that traveled around this small town, of the shadows and demons that followed her.
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    As she woke up, she slowly slid out of bed, letting her cream colored lace gown hit the floor as she stood. She stepped over it sleepily and slowly made her way to the bathroom, where she turned the water on and set a steaming hot bath. As the water ran and steam rose from the tub, she glared at herself in the mirror. Although the monsters kept her up most of the night, her eyes were still shockingly beautiful. No one knew, but she detested herself as much as the women who passed and judged her every day. What they called perfection, was her curse. The way she looked was not normal, she would think to herself whenever she passed a window or mirror and saw her reflection staring back at her. She thought, maybe if she was normal, if she looked like the other girls, the monsters would leave her alone.
    She soon came out of her thoughts, and shut the water off with one swift movement. Sliding carefully into the tub, she let the steaming water burn at her flesh. She closed her eyes, and tried to forget the words of the evil in the night. She relaxed there in the water for what seemed to her like an hour, until behind her eye lids, came the dancing of the monsters, and the demons taunting her. They soon shot open as she began to panic, splashing water across the room. Her head submerged under the water, as if someone had grabbed her by the neck, and forcing her below. She tried to scream, but no sound could escape her mouth. Downstairs, the parents of this odd child sat, hearing her struggle. Instead of coming to her rescue, they assumed she was just having one of her moments, where she thrashed around and screamed nonsense of monsters. So there they sat, contemplating how their child could have come out so unwell. So while they doubted, Mary almost died.
    She threw her head out from the water and gasped for air until her head was once again submerged into the scorching water. She threw her hands from the water with struggle, clutching the sides of the tub, drawing herself up with all her strength. Once her head was out once again, she inhaled and threw herself over the side. The sound of deep breathes filled the room, and it was no surprise to her that her parents didn’t come to investigate the noise. After the first few times, they saw it pointless and stopped. She was crazy, after all.
    She grabbed a towel from a hook on the wall and draped it around her torso. As she walked into her room, water dripping from her skin and her hair in wet clusters, she took a long look behind her, where a creature with fur as black as night and malicious red eyes stared back at her, a large toothy grin spreading across his face. Next time, the words drifted through her head in a whisper as the being sank into the tub.
    She made her way to a small bureau, where she pulled out a long black dress. Tossing the towel to the side, she pulled the dress over her head. The hem of the dress just barely his the floor, and swayed with her as she moved. It fit her perfect body beautifully, as did anything she wore. The gown trailed along behind her as she glided to the door and to the living room, where her parents sat sipping tea. She stopped, giving them a quick glance, then paced to the front door.
    She made it to the schoolhouse soon after she left, and took her seat in the very back of the room. Everyone had taken their seats already, evading any contact with the girl their parents had always cautioned them about. The teacher stood in the front of the room and cleared her throat for the small class’s attention, and soon all eyes were on her. Class started with history, and that’s all Mary heard, when soon she fell into a deep slumber.
    It started peaceful, as it always did. She was lying in crisp white sheets, entwined with another figure. She looked into his ocean blue eyes, one hand slowly moving toward his face, where she tenderly moved his black tangled hair hung over part of his face. Her heart was beating rapidly as he pulled her closer to his warm body and kissed her neck. She closed her eyes and enjoyed his embrace. It seemed like hours that they laid together like that, until something changed. His soft muscular body began to change in her arms, it became shaggy and rough. As she opened her eyes, blue eyes didn't meet hers, but familiarly sinful red eyes. She stifled a scream, and struggled to get out of his grasp. Before she knew it, she was back in the classroom, and without thinking, jumped up and began to scream.
    “He’s going to kill me! He’s going to kill us! All of you!” She screamed as the teacher sprinted to her side in panic.
    “Sit down child! Right now. I will not have this nonsense in my classroom. Have you gone absolutely mad?” Yelled back with complete resentment. “I want you out!”
    “He will kill you.” Mary replied calmly, with a spark of evil in her own snowy eyes....