Monster by Abigail Livinghouse (chromebook ebook reader .txt) 📕

 Staring into blinding eyes that were as empty and hollow as a husk, and as white bone, Ana gripped its hand hard and shoved the sharp fingers straight through the creature's chest. Surprise registered on its face for one moment, before its features contorted in one of rage.

"How dare you?!" It shrieked, but Ana knew that now things would finally end.

"Your adventure may be ending, but mine is just beginning." Ana said, and twisted the monster's hand deeper into its chest, causing the thing to scream in agony.

Rancid blood poured from the creature's wound, pooling at their feet. It was black, like oil, and as the creature struggled against Ana in an effort to get her off, she could see its white eyes fading in intensity.

With a scream of pain and the fight to stay alive, the monster sank down to the ground, taking her with him. Its hand was still shoved firmly in her chest, she was not looking forward to getting that out. And with every move the thing made, its fingers went deeper in her skin.

Ana flinched as the light completely left the monster's eyes, and they became completely black, like its blood. It twitched a few more seconds before falling completely limp on the hot concrete, leaning against the brick. It had smeared the wall of the alley with its inky blood, and behind Ana her own blood was on the opposite wall.

The monster hadn't stopped screaming, and now the silence left a prominent ringing in her ears. Ana fell to her bottom on the ground and gently tugged against the creatures fingers locked in her chest.

Even the slightest prodding caused her whole body to constrict in numbing pain. The alley around her began to swim, the colors swirling together until they were all just one big gray mush. Ana had the sense of falling and a sharper pain in her head before she completely lost all sight of what was around her. She heard someone scream, and then she was out.

The police arrived at the scene only two hours after the monster's death. A young woman on the street had reported a girl she thought to be Ana Walcott lying in an alley. It looked like she had been attacked by some sort of animal, the carcass lying next to the teenager.

Ana's picture had been broadcasted across the news as a missing person for the past two days. When the police heard of a sighting, they didn't waste any time getting there.

It was one of the oddest things Detective Morris had ever seen when he arrived on the scene. The girl he had talked to a few weeks ago, the girl who he knew in his gut did not murder the McCain and Kelleher girls, was lying in a puddle of blood and black muck in an alley way in Manhattan, just a few minutes away from her home.

That wasn't what was odd about it though. The odd thing was the mutant creature lying next to her. It was like something out of a sci-fi movie. It was a decaying skeletal body with gray skin, curled up with its one hand shoved deep in its chest, the source of where the black gunk was coming from. Its eyes were round and black, and its mouth was open wide in its final scream, showing sharp, triangular teeth that came to a point.

"Detective Morris." One of the police officers came over to the detective, distracting Morris from the creature. It was a lower officer, so Morris did not recognize him.

"Where are the paramedics?" Detective Morris asked the smaller officer whose nametag said Ryan Lincoln.

Lincoln's blue eyes were tinged with surprise, this was obviously one of his first cases. He floundered for a second under Morris's dark and demanding gaze, but finally gathered his wits to provide an answer.

"Oh, um on their way sir."

Morris nodded. "What's the status on the girl?"

"Alive, Detective." Officer Lincoln said proudly, as if he had saved the Walcott girl's life.

But the officer's unrightfully cockiness didn't matter. Detective Morris felt a slight sense of relief knowing that Ana was still alive, although he wasn't about to rest easy until she was actually in the hospital and until they knew what the fuck that thing on the ground next to her was.

"We have to get the animal's claws out of her before she can be removed from the scene, Detective." Officer Lincoln informed.

Morris hadn't seen any wound of such on the girl when he looked. Scowling, he moved closer to Ana, and realized with a roll of disgust in his stomach that the officer was right. The creature's hand was firmly planted in Ana's chest, and her blood would not stop dripping from it.

"Goddamn, they better get here lickety-fucking-split." 

Ana had a dream for the first time in weeks. She dreamt of darkness, and white eyes coming out of that darkness. Staring at her in agonized fury as their color began to drain, before they promptly vanished, replaced with two new pairs of eyes, one vibrant green and the other warm brown.

She blinked as the darkness began to recede, revealing the very much alive figures of Lisa and Kristen. Ana gasped, feeling a lump in her throat make it hard for her to speak. The girls were so close that if she reached out a hand she could touch them. Ana knew she had to say something, had to tell them how much she missed them, but when she opened her mouth to do so Kristen reached out and placed her finger over Ana's lips, quietly murmuring, "Shh."

Kristen smiled, removing her hand. "We've missed you so much."

Lisa reached out and took Ana in her arms, giving her a little squeeze. "It's not the same without you." She whispered, pulling back and smiling, but the smile was tinged with sadness.

They both felt so solid, so real. As if they were both alive and they were all together again, in Kristen's room because she had the biggest one out of all of them, gossiping, raiding the closet, laughing, having a wonderful time like they always did.

The darkness around the girls had drained completely from where they were, and as Ana realized with a start they weren't standing on anything. Rather, they were floating. On puffy white clouds, in a sky as blue as the water in the ocean. It was so beautiful and pure, Ana had to stifle another gasp which abruptly turned into a quiet sob.

"Hey", Kristen came forward and wrapped her arms around Ana, pulling back and keeping one of them draped around Ana's shoulders. "Don't worry, we're fine here. We're happy. You don’t have to worry about us anymore."

Hearing Kristen's kind, reassuring voice just made it harder to choke down the tears. It felt like a fist was clamped tightly around her throat, and getting tighter and tighter with everything Ana's friends said.

"How?" She managed to get out, sounding like someone who had scratched up their throat by screaming too much, or crying.

Lisa's soft green eyes enveloped her in their warmth and secureness. She was always the voice of reason out of the three, always the one to tell them when to quit while they were ahead. She was the safe one, the one who tried to make sure they were always safe. They had always thought of Lisa as the wet blanket of the group, the one who would rather stay at home and watch movies instead of going out to the party where everyone was going to be.

Ana and Kristen had always wondered why she was like that, but now Ana understood. Lisa loved the two girls like sisters, and wanted to protect them like family because of the troubles and traumas that had occurred in her own family. Now Ana had the same urge, to wrap them up in her arms and never let them go, to protect them from all things evil that could possibly hurt them.

Somewhere though, deep down inside, Ana knew that they were already gone, and no amount of protection she could provide could help now. They were much farther away than she could ever reach.

A few tears began trickling down her face and falling to the white fluffiness at her feet. Lisa reached out and wiped away Ana's tears, her face regaining the sadness from earlier, and something apologetic as well.

"We're sorry we left you." Lisa said to Ana, and Kristen hugged her close to her body, trying to give Ana some of her warmth.

"It's not your fault. It's mine." Ana sniffled, not wanting pity or anything from her long gone friends. The guilt from their deaths came crashing down on her full force, and she had to force yourself to get the words out of her constricted throat. "You're gone, and I did nothing to keep you safe or protect you. It's all my fault."

"Hey!" Kristen nudged her and Lisa furiously shook her head. "Don't think of it that way. We may not be where you are anymore, but that's only because we've moved on. We've entered into the next chapter of our existence. Someday you'll be here with us too, and we can all be together again. The Three Amigos, remember?" Kristen spoke in a manner that was matter of fact, and in a nostalgic uplifting tone, using the nickname they had given themselves in the third grade when they had declared all for one and one for all, friends for life.

Ana laughed, amazingly she managed a laugh. It was real, genuine, the kind that she and the girls had shared countless times in the past. They had laughed over school, dances, movies, tests, grades, boys, never had Ana thought they would end up where they were now. Up on a cloud, in the sky, her the only one living and breathing.

"We have to go soon." Lisa said, that same sad and sorry look on her face. She brought Ana into one more hug, burying her face in Ana's hair and whispering in her ear. "You're going to live a great life Ana Walcott, just like we all said we would."

She pulled away and Ana shook her head, her voice trembling. "But you're both not alive to live it with me."

Kristen and Lisa both exchanged a glance, smiled, and said at the same time, "Live it for us."

And with one more hug from Kristen,