E: Anger

Every part of me hurts. I can feel the sloshing of my organs as they jostle against my stomach. Feel the blood spill from the holes that have been cleaved into arms. The places where my ribs begin to crack as it knocks the wind out of me. The fraying of my limbs from where it tries to pull me apart.

My arm isn’t supposed to twist like that.

It is excruciating.

But.

I know that I am stronger.

It can’t break my horns.

It grins maniacally as it leans into my face.

Kinking and spiraling my arm.

…Sorry pal. You picked the wrong one.

I’m a leftie.

I slug it right in its midsection. The sensation is unsettlingly familiar but I don’t have time to reminisce. This one, however, doesn’t crumple. It pops.

The beast has eyes dotting the entirety of its body.

They vary in size and shape but they do share one thing in common.

They’re all fixed on me.

It howls in pain as it recoils from the hit, aftershocks rippling throughout its body, eyes rattling with the vibration. Bright. Red. Eyes.

It jumps back.

Its limbs are sickeningly long, contorting wildly as it zips about the plain. It’s almost humanoid. 

And that is infuriating.

How dare you pretend?

I’ve been beaten back from the crumpled metal tube that was our train car by some freak who decided to ruin our night.

I may be stronger, but it is much faster.

It hits and runs and dodges and jumps.

It cloaks itself in darkness by closing its many eyes.

I assume it’s blind when it does that.

But it means I can’t even track all of its movements.

I can’t dodge. I have to tank the hits.

It’s all I can do to get a punch in whenever it gets a little too confident.

Whenever it tries something that means it needs to slow down.

I keep having to wipe the blood out of my eyes.

It’s annoying.

Even more so now that I’m down an arm.

Give me enough time and I think I should have it back, but this creep is definitely not generous when it comes to time.

I have to fight it. I’m the only one who can.

I’m also the only reason it showed up. Need to clean my own mess.

I have to assume it’s because of me right? There’s no one else it could be.

Why else would it be here?

Freak versus Freak.

Monster versus Monster.

Beast versus Beast.

I was scared before.

Back on the train.

Scared because I didn’t know what would happen.

If it’s just a fight.

A fight with something that isn’t human.

I don’t have to be scared.

I get to be angry.

The only monster that scares me is me. 

And I'm going to show this thing why.

It grabs my horns once again. It’s claws scrape against my skull as it attempts to skewer me.

In the eyes of the monster, I can see my reflection.

She is angry too.

Good.

You and me both.

I am anger.

I grit my teeth.

I grab it by the neck. Rip it off my horns and slam it into the ground.

With my leg, torn and bleeding, I stab my foot through the beast’s sternum, pinning its body in place.

“Okay. You wanna fight? Let’s fight. No more running.”

The beast begins to laugh.

...And then I see them.

Rin’s backpack.

Her glasses.

No.

No. No. NO.

And the fear takes me.