Monster

Chapter 2
Hereafter...

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Chapter Description: “Hello?” his voice resonated eerily. He waited for a response but the only sound he got back was that of his own echo. Fear set in and all Daniel wanted to do was cry. Why was this happening to him? He continued down the hall but soon stopped. There was someone behind him.

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The Hereafter…

Daniel was paralysed with fear. Unable to move, think or even breathe. He kept his eyes shut tightly. He kept wishing to wake up as he pinched his arm over and over again but nothing was happening. Then it was gone. The feeling of being devoured had disappeared along with the sickly pit in his stomach. He began to move again so he opened his eyes slowly. The monster was gone but he was still surrounded by the obscurity.

Daniel brought himself to his feet. His body ached and was caked in blood, bile and the remains of what had once been his adult self. He was small now; soft and pudgy. He would have been slender if his baby fat had not been so apparent. Normally, his hair would have been a soft chestnut colour rather than the bloodstained scarlet it was now. His eyes were a lighter shade of brown and his skin was fair and smooth with a spattering of freckles across his nose. Yet, with all the gore, it looked as if he had just been born. In a way he had been.

“Hello,” his voice was small and endearing as it echoed out into the darkness. Daniel looked around, for something, for anything that would signal an end to the darkness but it seemed like a hopeless task. That was until he saw a flicker of light. He immediately made his way towards it; hoping beyond hope that the monster would not return.

As Daniel got closer, the light seemed to come from an invisible roof in the obscurity. It shone down upon a school desk. Daniel stopped and just stared. This was the last thing he thought to find. He walked closer. The desk was definitely his size and there was a name carved into it. “P-E-T-E-R,” he knew the letters but for some reason he had to sound out the name in his head, “P-pe-peter… Who‘s peter?”

Daniel ran his fingers across the indented carving; looking at it curiously. Daniel wondered what this had to do with him, the darkness and the monster. Maybe this was his way out. Maybe he was supposed to do something. Then again, maybe it was a distraction.

Seeing that there was nothing else he could do, he sat on the chair attached to the desk. He let his hands rest on the smooth wood. Then there was a lurching motion and the darkness fell away from around him. More light broke through as colours began to blur past him. Then, just as he was beginning to feel sick, the desk hit the ground and became still. Daniel gripped the desk tightly and looked around to find that he was in a classroom full of young boys. His head was spinning and he was feeling queasy but still he took the time to look at his surroundings.

The room was moderately sized, brightly coloured and decorated with poorly made crafts. The walls were lined with the alphabet and numbers along with some addition and subtraction posters. The boys in the room were all dressed in in similar uniforms. Classic slim fit charcoal shorts with plain black shoes, grey trim knee-high socks and white long-sleeve polo shirts. Some were wearing blue sweater vests and rather smart, short red neckties. All of them wore the school insignia above their hearts.

Daniel looked down to find he was wearing the full ensemble. This almost looked like his old school uniform; even the room seemed familiar. This had to be his old school. Had he been sent back in time?

The teacher was prattling on about something while a high school aged boy wrote on the chalk board. Daniel would have paid attention but was too distracted to concentrate on more than one thing at a time. His head was still spinning and he couldn’t seem to form complete thoughts. He knew he needed to figure out what was going on. He needed to get help. He would tell someone he was actually an adult. They would have to believe him. In childish delight he smiled at his cleverness and raised his hand.

“Yes, Danny?” The teacher gestured to the boy.

“I’m not supposed to be here,” he heard his voice clearly for the first time. It was small and sweet but sounded quite alien to him.

“Why is that?”

Daniel tried to tell her he was an adult, really, he did but he froze every time he tried to say it. A few moments passed and the teacher seemed expectant of an answer.

“Well, is there something you want to share?”

At that moment Daniel unfroze. He opened his mouth to speak but instead bent over his desk and threw up. The other boys around him scrambled to get away from the sick and there was an almost simultaneous “Ewwwww,” coming from the class.

“I don’t feel well,” he told her.

The teacher lost all colour in her face but she made her way towards the small boy.

“Miss Ellen!” a taller blonde boy made it his duty to express his disgust but the teacher quieted him before he could continue.

Miss Ellen was a young teacher but she was self-assured and knew her way with children. She usually dressed in bright clothing and today was no different. She wore a black skirt with heels to match and lime green blouse that complimented her long, fiery red hair. It also brought out the hints of green in her hazel eyes. Her skin was a flawless ivory and her face was always cheerful or pleasant. She was in every manner a beautiful young woman.

She made her way to Daniel, who was holding his stomach and helped him out of his chair. Daniel wasn’t sure if it was his nerves, how fast everything had moved or the transformation but it didn’t matter now, he was sick. Things seemed to be getting worse and worse.

“Danny, I’m going to take you to the office,” she told him before addressing the class, “Children, Kyle will get you ready to go outside for an early recess,”

The boys came alive with an excited hum as the older boy brought them to get there jackets. Then Miss Ellen brought Daniel out into the hall and started walking with him.

“Danny, you’re a big boy, if you feel ill you need to tell someone,” she sounded sympathetic to his situation, “then you don’t have to get sick in class; we can bring you to the toilet.”

“I’m sorry,” his voice trembled.

He wanted to tell her that he wasn’t actually a child, that he didn’t belong here; that he was an adult but at this moment he wanted to find a place to lay down even more. She led him down the hall and before long they came to a door with a plaque that read “Main Office.” She brought him in and sat him in a chair across from the secretary. They handed him a waste bin and told him if he was going to get sick again to do it in there.

“Okay Daniel, we’re going to call your mommy to come pick you up,”

Daniel was taken aback by the statement. It was starting to seem his entire life had been affected by the monster’s transformation. As an adult he would have never thought about seeing his mother so casually. In fact he hadn’t talked to his mother in 4 years, since he graduated high school. When he lived with her she liked to micromanage his life and it only became worse when Ally disappeared.

He threw up again. This time he was sure it was brought on by nerves. He coughed and looked up from the bin. He felt so displaced. He was a child again but everything was still so modern. The thought he had travelled back in time was no longer an option, so what did the monster do to him? He continued to try to form ideas on what happened as he waited but found himself, after a while, dozing and struggling to keep his head up.

Then the world slipped away from him and all thought ceased to be.

“Danny,”

His head jerked up. The lights were out and no one was in the office. His surroundings had become decrepit and misplaced. Daniel slipped off the chair and cautiously made his way out into the hall. Everything was thrown about. Doors were left open and papers were strewn across the floor.

“Hello?” his voice resonated eerily. He waited for a response but the only sound he got back was that of his own echo. Fear set in and all Daniel wanted to do was cry. Why was this happening to him? He continued down the hall but soon stopped. There was someone behind him.

“Who’s there?” he refused to turn around.

Daniel felt a chill run up his spine and then there was a whisper in his ear, “Time doesn’t flow backwards Danny,”

Daniel startled awake. He was still in the office, in the same chair holding the same trash bin. He threw up once more just as his mother walked in. He looked up at her pathetically. She had become younger too, by at least 15 years.

Her chestnut hair was cut into a stylish bob; she was wearing a dark navy business suit and carried a large black studded purse. She was slender rather than the former plump self and looked content too, which was weird because she had been neither skinny nor happy since before his sister was taken. Even her stress and age lines were minimal. She could have passed for late twenties but in reality she was a cool thirty-four.

“Mommy…” Daniel realised that all he wanted right now was to be held. So he set aside the trash bin and held his arms out to her.

“Oh, my poor baby,” she picked him up and let him rest his head on her shoulder, “If I had known you were sick I would have let you stay home,”

Daniel hugged her tight. Whatever anger he had towards her had dissipated with his transformation. He needed as much comfort and support as he could get. Daniel’s mother carried the boy over to the secretary’s desk, “You need to sign Daniel out, Ms. Kane,” Daniel didn’t bother to look up. All he noticed was the sound of the pen scratching on paper; then they left the office.

They picked up Daniel’s jacket and backpack from his classroom before they left. Once they were out of the school, they made their way to the parking lot, to a candy apple red minivan. The headlights flickered and there was a high pitched beep as the back sliding door opened automatically. Inside was a child’s car seat obviously meant for Daniel. After being strapped in, Daniel’s mother kissed him on the forehead.

“I brought someone for you,” she told him.

She reached past the boy and pulled out a stuffed; green T-Rex.

“Munchy?” He smiled half-heartedly.

She set the toy in his arms and then covered him with a knitted blanket. She caressed his cheek before shutting the door and getting into the van herself. Suddenly they were off and Daniel was no closer to figuring out what was going on.

* * *

Old Places, New Surroundings…

The ride home was short and uneventful. Not much had changed about the neighbourhood. It was still the same suburban family community. The trees were barren and the ground covered in rustic orange, yellow and brown leaves. Some of the houses had a few Halloween decorations up, where other had transformed there yards into a cheesy haunted necropolises.

When they pulled into their driveway Daniel tried to undo the restraints on his car seat but found they were child proofed.

“Mommy,” he groaned wanting to be free. He hadn’t realised he used the childish vernacular until after he said it.

“It’s okay Danny,” she assured him, “Mommy will let you out soon.”

It wasn’t long before he was out of the car and in her arms again. Then he noticed it. It was the house. Not that he expected it to be but it was no longer dilapidated. It was like it had never been abandoned. The yard was well maintained; the driveway and sidewalks were no longer cracked. The white paint on the house’s exterior was no longer peeling and it was only slightly dulled with age. The steps leading up to the deck and doorway were lined with four jack-o-lanterns. The door was painted bright red and had a cheerful decoration of a witch flying across the moon hanging from it.

They made their way in and Daniel’s mother removed his shoes and jacket. The inside of the house was more contemporary than before. The walls were beige with white panelling on the lower half. The floorboards were lightly stained mahogany and everything was neat and organised. Just the way his mother liked it.

Daniel was lifted up once more and the ascended the stairs. The walls leading up were lined with pictures of his extended family, his mother, Ally and him. Some pictures he remembered while other he didn’t. Finally they made their way past where Ally’s would have been and into his own. She set the boy down and started digging through his dresser. The room still held its dinosaur motif the only difference being the modernization of the furniture, decals and bedding.

“Here we go,” Ms. Kane pulled out a pair of monkey themed footed pyjamas. She tossed them on the bed and turned her focus on her sick little boy.

She kneeled down and undid the boy’s tie. After setting it aside, she pulled both the sweater vest and polo shirt over his head. Making her way down she started unbuttoning her son’s pants but he pulled away. Daniel shook his head curtly.

“Don’t be silly,” she pulled him closer to her, “you need to change into your pyjamas,”

Daniel blushed as he was stripped of the rest of his clothing. He tried to cover himself but his mother moved his hands.

“We can’t get you dressed like that,” she retrieved his pyjamas from the bed after putting his school clothes in the hamper. Daniel shivered but soon his mother had him stepping into his pyjamas. He looked down at what had once been his manhood. He had been very proud of it but now it was reduced to a little boy’s plaything, no bigger than his pinky. He was mortified when his mother took hold of it and moved it out of the way so it wouldn’t get caught in the pyjama’s zipper.

“Such a cute little monkey,” Ms. Kane admired her son and tugged on the tail of his pyjamas, “so do you want to stay in you room or on the couch,”

“Couch,” he told her straightaway.

The thought of staying in the room wasn’t a pleasant one. So Daniel was once more in his mother’s arms as they made their way downstairs; he soon found himself curled up on a taupe microfiber couch covered by a blanket.

“Now Danny, Mommy needs to do some work on her computer,” she told the boy, “there’s water on the table and if you’re going to get sick Mommy left you a bucket,”

She kissed the boy on the forehead and turned on the television to cartoons before leaving. Daniel laid down for a while; staring at the television. He found that the bright colours and multitude of sounds seemed to draw in his attention. He smiled and giggled softly from time to time, discovering that he was actually enjoying the simple slapstick comedy of the shows. Not once did he find himself thinking about much of anything as the cartoons seemed to have him hypnotized.

Soon enough the sickness got to him and he threw up into the bucket. His exhaustion felt paramount as he sluggishly pulled the blanket around him. He tried to stay awake but eventually he fell asleep.

* * *

When he woke, Daniel had no doubt where he was. He was still in footy pyjamas, wrapped in a blanket and feeling sick. He was almost certain this reality wasn’t a dream. Upon looking up from his pillow, Daniel found that the television was now showing some sort of drama. The people on the TV were hugging and it reminded him of how good it felt when his mother was holding him. He started to feel his emotions well up inside him and suddenly he needed to be held.

“Mommy!” he called out. He heard footsteps from the kitchen but what followed wasn’t what he had expected.

“What’s wrong Kiddo?”

It was Ally.

 

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