A Monster (Pt. 2)

Saturday

Despite not being a morning person, I wake up and I’m already ready for my date with Allen! I can hardly contain my excitement.

It’s a little nerve wracking too though, what if it goes poorly?

All I can do is believe that it will go well.

I shower, pick out the perfect dress, and do my makeup.

“Pling”

That must be from Allen.

“I’m ready for our date! Just confirming that you can make it.”

“Of course. I’ll be there.”

After I finish getting ready, I grab my car keys and walk out the door. My parents aren’t home, as usual, so I simply leave without anyone to say ‘goodbye’ to.

On my way, I listen to my favorite song and try to calm down. This is going to be great! My first ever date.

I’d never listen to this song in front of Allen, or anyone else. It’s a bit embarrassing. My taste happens to be a bit odd. Unfortunately, it isn’t something I can bring myself to be honest about.

“You look great, Sarah,” Allen compliments me as I meet him in the theater.

Just the words make me happy. I’m glad he said that, “Thank you. You look great too.”

We order some popcorn and take our seats.

The movie plays like any other horror movie. It’s decent but the plot isn’t amazing. It’s about a mad scientist who sacrifices everything to bring his dead wife back. He only ends up creating a monster that haunts him. There were plenty of holes in the plot and the characters were decent at best, but I watched it with Allen.

Actually, the effects were really good. The scary elements were even enough to bother a horror veteran like me. Allen must be great with horror too. He never even jumped once.

As we walk out from the theater, “That was a pretty good movie, right Sarah?”

“Yeah. I enjoyed it a lot,” It’s not a lie. Despite being a mediocre all around movie, being able to watch it with Allen made it amazing.

“I’d ask if you wanted to come back to my place, but my parents are still there. I’m sure they’d bother us. Would it be alright if I went with you to your place?”

“W-w-what?!” Control over my voice falters. How bold! I never thought of him as that type, not that I dislike it, “I-I guess so.”

“Perfect.”

Eek! I’m so nervous. He’s so bold all of a sudden. What’s he going to do?

We enter my house and I escort him upstairs to my room. I feel like any other room would be a little strange. In my house, no room other than my own feels like home. Although bringing him to my bedroom when no parents are home sounds scandalous.

I walk him into my room and turn on the light. He shuts the door behind us without saying a word.

My room is relatively girlish, I’d say. The walls are painted a deep purple and all of the furniture is a clean white. Since I spend so much time here, it isn’t sparkling clean. I follow his gaze to ensure he hasn’t spotted any crumbs.

“H-how do you like my room?” I sit down on my bed quickly.

Between combing my hair with my hands and twiddling with my fingers, there’s no way he hasn’t noticed how nervous I am. Which only makes me more nervous.

“It’s pretty,” he sits down on my bed close beside me.

“…”

I can’t think of any words to say. My heart threatens to beat itself out of my own chest.

Allen stands up and starts to walk around, looking on the tops of my counters, “It’s really spacious. My room is much smaller.”

“Oh, thanks.”

“The color of these walls reminds me of your gem. Whatever happened to it?”

Huh? That’s a weird thing to ask.

I stand and open a drawer, taking out the transparent remnant of my gem. After losing my Delusion, it became clear like glass. All of the glitter and light inside disappeared. The hollow shell of my childish delusions.

“Oh wow,” he picks it up out of my hands.

“U-um.”

I guess he took it. I can’t get my words out to ask what he wanted it for.

He examines the gem with a stiff grin. After a second the empty gem begins to glow once again.

Wait.

That’s not right.

Something is wrong. It has been for a while. All of this is weird.

The glassy gem between Allen’s fingers begins to sparkle with every color of the rainbow.

“Thank you, Sarah. You’ve been a great help to me,” Allen speaks in a voice that is not his own.

It sounds familiar, but I can’t identify the voice by itself.

It takes me a second to realize, Rachel. The voice itself has nothing to do with the realization, just the recollection of her Delusion. For some reason her voice is so indistinct that it’s hard to pin it down in my mind.

“W-what’s going on!” I demand.

I already know. It’s obvious already. Too obvious.

Rachel just obtained her third gem.

If the gem wasn’t there when Kyle disposed of the body, there was still one person who could have taken it behind my back. Rachel. I was distracted by both Allen and Dylan dying. She could’ve easily raided Luke’s corpse.

“You’re smart. I’m sure you figured it out. You’re a witness of my crime, but killing is wrong. I have a different plan for you.”

Allen’s face and body melt and mush back to that of a female. The squelching of her liquid like composition sends a chill down my spine. Rachel stands in front of me with her shoulder length brown hair and matching brown eyes. She stands above me, slightly taller than the average girl.

It feels uncanny. Something is wrong.

Doesn’t she have blue eyes?

Trying to sound calm despite the precarious situation, “Your eyes. You forgot to change them to blue.”

“Is that so…” she blinks and upon reopening her eyes, they’re a beautiful blue once again.

“I see… Rachel doesn’t look like that, does she?”

She glares at me. I must be striking a weak point.

I, myself, am weak. I don’t even have the power to turn invisible anymore. I have no hope of leaving here unless I use my brain. My words need to hit her where it hurts, in her mind. Maybe I can somehow distract her to buy time for my escape. If not, I’m done for.

I continue my provocation, “Yes… Who knows what Rachel looks like? If not even Rachel does, then who- what even are you? A monster! That’s what!”

She stares me down angrily. She really doesn’t know what she looks like anymore? What a fate. I almost feel bad for her.

After shape shifting, unless you perfectly remember what you look like, you can never go back. After morphing your shape a large amount of times, there’s no doubt you’d be a little different. To completely forget who you were? Eye color and all? She must have been shifting her whole life. Even before we got the gems.

As I taunt her, I begin to circle around her towards the door.

“Your Delusion is obvious! You’re an open book,” this is hard, I usually don’t talk so much, but my life depends on it. “You’re ‘two faced’! Right? An empty liar who doesn’t have a personality of their own. No wonder you’re popular at school. You just say whatever the other person wants to hear, right?”

“No! You’re wrong!” Instinctively, Rachel breaks eye contact and looks down to her left.

Now’s my chance.

Without a second thought, I dart for the door.

“Hey!”

She’s right behind me.

I throw the door open without care and it smashes into the wall.

My heart is beating faster than ever. Even on my date with Allen my heart wasn’t this fast. Oh, I guess that wasn’t him, huh?

My legs can hardly keep up. I need to be faster! I’m much shorter than Rachel, but the adrenaline is keeping me in the competition.

The sound of her footsteps echoes behind me. The vibrations of her steps travel through my feet and up my legs and back. Sprinting down my staircase I nearly slip and fall onto my neck. My breaths become heavy as I reach the front door.

Rachel’s footsteps stopped following me at the base of the stairs, though I didn’t notice until just now.

Frantically yanking the doorknob, I swing the door open and take a step outside. The fresh air pours into the house and into my lungs. The bright sunshine bounces off of my skin and burns my retinas.

Uh oh.

Something grabs my leg and I trip over forwards.

Thud.

My head slams against the metal on the bottom of the doorway.

Blood runs down my forehead.

I… need to… get away!

It becomes increasingly harder to think as fear engulfs my vision.

“No! AAAAA!” I scream as loud as I can.

No one will come, will they?

I turn around to see Rachel still standing several feet back at the base of the staircase. Her arm that grabbed my leg is stretched out across the floor towards my ankle like some kind of dough.

You’ve got to be kidding me. I never even stood a chance.

She really is… a monster.

Her arm begins to retract and pull me with it. I desperately try to grab onto everything as I pass by in vain. My grip just isn’t tight enough.

I’m helpless. My brain can only take me so far.

Rachel lifts me up effortlessly. Does shape shifting give monstrous strength too? Can she even create stronger muscles in her arm?

It’s no use. I can’t think clearly.

She puts her hands around my throat, “Don’t worry, I won’t kill you. Killing is wrong. I’ll just knock you out and hide you somewhere until I’ve obtained the rest of the gems.”

As the blood flow to my brain is cut off, I feel true fear for the first time.

I stare into Rachel’s empty, fake eyes. She’s a complete monster who isn’t even human anymore. Her body isn’t composed in a normal way, it’s not right!

Does that mean I wasn’t human until I lost my power? Is this what Delusions really are? Is Allen human?

Allen?

Allen.

Allen!

My mind can only think one last thing before I can no longer stay conscious.

“Save me… Allen.”