AND THE ABYSS ALSO LOOKS INTO YOU By: Alex Moisi
Saturday, March 21st, 2009Holly Beth was scared of monsters. The way they smelled made her shiver, and the sound of their long claws, scratching the floor made her gasp with fear. But by far the biggest problem with monsters was that you never knew where they were. They hid in garbage cans and closets, narrow alleyways and in cupboards; they were everywhere. And all it took was one second of carelessness for them to get you. You were never safe from monsters.
Luckily, Holly Beth was smarter than most other kids. She was only five, but she already knew almost everything there was to know about monsters. You would never see her seeking help from an adult. She knew better than that, she was smarter. Grown-ups ignored the monsters around them, either because they were too busy or too set in their ways. If you told them you saw a monster, they would laugh at you and call you silly before walking away. No, adults were of no help, Holly Beth knew that.
She also knew that monsters could take any form; they could dress like anyone, even your uncle or the pre-school teacher. And now a monster had dressed like daddy.
Her father didn’t live with Holly Beth and mama anymore, but he visited once in a while. He was always nice when visiting, smiling and giving Holly Beth presents. But the man that had knocked on their apartment door this evening was not nice, not at all. He looked like daddy but he smelled like the homeless you saw in abandoned bus stops and he talked nonsense like them, too. He told Holly Beth to go to bed because he and mama had stuff to discuss and as soon as the young girl closed her door she heard screams and angry curses. That was how Holly knew something was wrong: her daddy never cursed when he came to visit; he was always nice.
As she peeked from her room, the suspicion that the man in their living room was not her father became a certainty. It was the way he stumbled and slurred his words as if he was speaking a foreign language. Holly Beth was certain he was a monster, it was the only explanation. But what could she do about it?
The young girl watched the living room, biting her lip. She hated the monster yelling at her mom more and more with very second that passed, but she was too scared to move. What could she do? He was so much bigger and he looked insane, spit hanging from his contorted mouth. What could a little girl do?
As she watched, the monster grabbed a vase and smashed it on the floor. He grinned as he did so, screaming more insults. He then ran his hand through the small shelves where mama kept her books and tumbled everything on the floor. Holly Beth twitched as each book hit the ground. She heard her mother crying and the monster laugh and she knew what had to be done.
She carefully snuck out of her room, into the kitchen. At every step she expected the monster to notice her but he was careless, too distraught with his slurred curses. The girl reached the kitchen much more easily than she expected. Once there she reached to the top drawer, the one were mama kept the knives. She took the largest one and carefully hiding it behind her back, snuck back into the living room.
The monster was holding mama down and yelling at her. He was red in the face and his fists clenched with barely controlled anger, but Holly Beth wasn’t scared anymore. She felt calm and even somehow happy; the fear that ruled her was finally gone.
With a quick slice she cut the monster’s right leg, right above the knee where she knew it would hurt most. The monster screamed and collapsed on the floor, grabbing his blood stained jeans. The knife sliced his throat open with surprising ease. Holly Beth watched him die with a smile on her lips. The monsters were smart but she was smarter than them and she would never be afraid again.
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©2009 Alex Moisi
My name is Alex Moisi and I am a Chicago based horror and SF author. My work has been published or is upcoming in the following anthologies: Northern Haunts by Shroud Publishing, Malpractice by Necrotic Tissue, Desolated Places by Hadley Rille books and various magazine and e-zines. For more informations about me please visit dracken.co.nr
