Forgetting love, kindness, and contentment.
Instead, reaping the souls from Earth and setting the balance in this world that hated me so much. The longer time went, feelings became foreign, emotions became obsolete. The memories of my life before, were distance images thrown in the ocean of events or timeline in my head. Nothing affected me. Except the screams.
Alone.
Voice husky from disuse. I sounded as if I was the one screaming to get away from death. The company of shadows were my companion. As we walked the road of death and destruction together. Staying with my shadows I crept. Their darkness was my cover, my protection.
Though to mortals, they were the goosebumps across your arms, and the eyes you felt watching you. And they were watching you. My Shadows.
They were my minions, my albatross… my friends.
They kept the screams from destroying the little sanity I had left. They were the line in the sand that kept me from going to far. Though we never spoke, the presence of them kept the once bright light that was my soul from flickering out entirely. Because even death needs a friend.
Monster - Chapter One
Tired.
My leather boots pushed the gravel out from underneath my feet. The lonely crunch of them echoed around me as I walked between the alleys. Wind blew through the crack of the two buildings, scattering garbage that had been discarded in a hurry, and picking up my fine white hair hanging over my red spaghetti strapped top. Quietness was vast and empty around me. In this small lonely alley I looked up at the sky, trying to find a star in the vast cold darkness that had descended on Cleveland. Many could sense the dark depression that had come to envelope this town on a dark December night. I had always chosen to embrace the darkness. Just as where many sought refuge away from the cold, away from things that made them shiver. I took the cold and multiplied it. I became the darkness, the depression, the vast darkness. The only ones that remained were the humans left to starve and squalor in the the night with me.
They stayed not because they weren’t cold and afraid, because they were. They were terrified. But because they had no choice. Left alone, they were the true version of survival of the fittest. With me and many of the other things that went bump in the night. I myself, had no fear. I had no terror... I had nothing.
Why would I? When I was the monster that everyone else all feared.
Beep.
My phone gave me the signal of what was to come, as if I needed reminding.
Red lights shown bright against the darkness ahead, as the growling of the engine brought someone closer to their destiny.
Right on time.
A 2006 black Mustang barreled down the small one-way street. All these years, I felt myself pulled or maybe I gravitated towards certain ones. To torture myself or maybe boredom, maybe because I just couldn’t seem to be anywhere else. Maybe just maybe the ones I was pulled to were my destiny.
My bare back scrapped against the cracked dull red brick building, impatiently waiting for my time to join in this story. And that’s what this was…a story. Everyone had one, but most didn’t pay attention to theirs. They meandered through their daily lives, unconscious of the beings. The people who daily seeped into their story…like me.
Now I knew to listen to the story and not try to jump in before your cue. I had learned many years ago to not intercede. Not to come before my time demanded it. Because Faith was a cruel bitch; who enjoyed others pain, and useless. And my voice was the most useless.
I did my job, the one I never wanted. The one that created me, molded me. My job was meant to watch, take, and record. Nothing more, nothing less.
Predictable the Mustang ran the stop light, picking up speed. As the car accelerated to the of their story, I pushed off the crumbling building and started making my way towards the car. Now was my time to insert myself into their story.
The end.
Not knowing what awaited them, the driver continued to barrel down the road, not seeing a white haired girl with her shadows or the other car barreling down the same street.
Until it was too late.
They said life flashed before your eyes when you died. It didn’t. The last thing they saw was me or my shadows taking what was needed to keep the world at balance.
* * *
What seemed like minutes only took seconds, the screech of tires, shattering of windows, metal crunching, as two cars collided and changed things for both parties involved.
One more than the other.
Smoke billowed from the front of the Mustang that was once pristine now smashed inward the windshield shattered to non existent. Glass crunched under my boots, while the smell of gasoline wafted under my nose as I made my way around to the driver side. Crouched down slightly, I peered into the tangled mass that used to be a Mustang, knowing full well what I was about to see.
A kid.
What was once a child no more than sixteen years old was now unrecognizable. Face smashed, from the impact of the steering wheel, he had cuts and contusions from the impact of the crash. If alive he would be in pain. Tremendous pain. Head closer to his I peeked inside the car smelling the alcohol that permeated the car.
Cause of death was easy to figure out. Behind me my quiet shadows stood waiting. Watching. They followed me through life, keeping track. The shape of them never changed and they never spoke. They just were. Dark. Silent. Unchanging and they were mine to command.
“Ready?”
The quick movement of their heads told me all I needed to know.
The door handle creaked, and the small pieces of glass fell to the ground as I opened the driver door to get closer to the young boy, with blood maring his once beautiful face. The gore and carnage in front of me, did nothing to me. No accelerated heart rate, no clammy palms. I wasn’t like others. I was different.
My fingers stayed steady as I reached into the car and touched his bloody chest. On his chest my fingers sunk into the cavity as liquid bubbled up through his clothes.
Definitely broken ribs.
On contact with bare skin, heat formed under my fingers, closing my eyes I winced at the part that I hated the most. Wondering why I didn’t let the shadows go tonight and not me. The heat always got to the point of unbearable before the so-called magic began. I never knew why I had to feel pain in order to reap. I figured it was Fates way of one more way to torture me. I just never had the tears or want to let them see my pain. Besides it wasn’t anything that I hadn’t felt before.
The next part was much worse.
The pain ran up my arm into my mind, his short life played out before me. I felt every pain, every hurt, and every disappointment in his short small life. Rarely, did I ever feel the good things. Again, one of Fates fuck you to me.
You would be surprised at the number of things people felt pain or true sadness. And I was the lucky monster who got to feel all of it.
Almost done, the last piece of memory clicked into place in my mind.
The car crash.
Once the reel of this boy’s life was done, the light dimmed behind my eyes.
Liquid always seemed to gather in the corner of my eyes and I never knew why. Blinking away the annoying water, I turned to look at the shadows who seemed to have crouched closer pushing a certain emotion at me.
Concerned?
Crouched?
When had the Shadows been able to do more than their basic function?
Sirens wailed in the distant, the lone survivor of the car crash, opened their door, on the phone with what I assumed was the police. My eyes closed, I withdrew my hand and closed the car door, edging myself back against the wall melting into my Shadows.
Intimate beyond sex, melting into the shadows meant becoming one person. Or one entity. The start of myself and them could not be found. I used to hate melding with them, and in the beginning I fought hard to not share something so deep with strangers. But thousands of years together I was slowly whittled down and we came to a compromise.
> They helped me travel and reap the souls, and I gave them my energy.
I didn’t know much about the Shadows. Only that they’d always been with me from the start. When I first woke up to this life, naked, afraid, and naive.
The sirens grew louder, as the Shadows carried me away into the night. Floating upon the breeze to our home. Where I would lay and rest, and get ready for tomorrow. Where I would feel someone else’s pain, and just like tonight sleep would evade me.
Because monsters didn’t need sleep. We didn’t need a lot of things.
Or maybe we did need it. No one cared to ask. No one seemed to care about the darker parts of the world.
Though I think we all wanted one thing.
Monsters included.
Peace.
Author’s Note
I hope you enjoyed Road to Them and a little sneak peek at Monster.
If you did please leave a review, because every review helps.
And if you want to stay in contact with me you can e-mail me at
[email protected]
Or visit me on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/erica.andrews.904750
About the Author
Erica Andrews is a southern born girl who married her high school sweetheart.
They have four daughters and now live in Northern Ohio, where even though she’s older she still like to run barefoot in the creek.
Also by Erica Andrews
The Road Series
Road to Me 2018
Road to Them 2018
Road to Home 2019
The Monster Series
Monster 2019
The Robin Series
The Broken Robin 2018
The Vengeful Robin 2019
Anthologies:
Before the Harem 2018
Between the Sheets 2018
All Hallowed Tales 2018
Shifting Destiny 2018
Scream Anthology 2018
Road to Them: The Road Series Book Two Page 18
