As I looked out to the stars, out to the infinite mass of darkness that lie above me, I felt like the most insignificant being on the planet; a parasite fighting for survival on mother Earth. As I lugged my black and grey plaid printed suitcase behind me, I realized that if I died, I’d be doing the planet some good. Humans were never meant to exist, let alone here. The universe would be so much better off without us.

I don’t want to be human anymore.

The suitcase got heavier with every tug. My muscles strained, and knew that I would be feeling it in the morning. Would I get to sleep on the bus? I hadn’t had much sleep the past few weeks. My home life had been hard. Too hard. So hard that my mother, the only one I had ever had in my life, felt the need to kick me out of the house because I was “Unneeded,” and, “Getting too old and caused too much trouble for her.”

I am 15 years of age.

I sighed as I walked the rest of the deteriorating sidewalk, my footsteps ringing in my ears, the silence enveloping me in its never ending pit of blackness. I shivered as a cold gust of wind wrapped itself around me like a blanket of ice. My hair whipped around my face every which way. I bet I looked like an absolute disgrace. My long black hair was tangled and knotted due to the harsh winds, and my jeans were 2 sizes too big and stained with mud and a glop of mustard from the last meal I had eaten. A drop of rain hit the tip of my nose.

“Great…” I muttered under my breath. As if I needed it to rain. It was already freezing enough. I quickly pulled up the hood of my navy blue hoodie, bracing myself for the oncoming rain. I neared the end of the sidewalk and came upon an alleyway lit with a single streetlight at the end. For an alley, it was pretty long. And pretty spooky. However, I needed to go through it to get to my bus stop. I took a deep breath and started through it, taking slow, soft, silent footsteps, trying not to make a sound. The rain poured harder and faster, soaking me in a matter of minutes. Suddenly, I got an intense feeling of being watched; my every movement being carefully observed. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I stopped walking, trying to listen for any footsteps or voices on this deathly silent night. Nothing was heard, but as I stood there, the feeling only got stronger. I had a long way to go before I even neared the end of the alley. I shook my head vigorously and excused the feeling as it being all in my head, paranoia created by the darkness that I had always feared.

As I journeyed on, though, the feeling just wouldn’t leave me. I stopped yet again, trying to gather my thoughts that swam around my head. I then heard a child’s giggle. It was faint, but it was there. I know I heard it. What child would be outside at this hour? When I left my house it was 1 in the morning! I looked towards the back of the alley. I hadn’t come far. I spun around to check the front and-Oh! A man stood there, under the streetlight that lit the end of the alley. Boy, was he tall. He was the tallest man I had ever seen! His arms were longer than any human’s, and hung limp to his sides. He didn’t make a sound, nor did he move. He simply stood under the streetlight, looking in my direction. The streetlight illuminated the surrounding area, and I could make out his features. Wait, what features? He had none. Nothing on his face! No ears, no eyes, no nose, no mouth, no hair, nothing! The only thing that I could see on him was a clean black business suit. It looked almost too clean, and looked perfectly dry, untouched by the rain. Who and what was this being? He couldn’t be human, he was much, much too tall. He towered over my height of 5’7. He had to be at least 9 feet tall! His limbs were spindly and extremely long. He looked very malnourished, like he hadn’t eaten anything in months. And, of course, the fact that he had no face struck him as completely off and out of place. How long had he been standing there, watching me? I tried calling out to the unearthly being before me.

“Hey! You, over there!” I called, paying no attention to the fact that the people tucked safely away in their homes were sleeping, and that if I wasn’t quiet, I could call attention to myself. He didn’t respond. He didn’t move. He just looked at me and watched me, watched me with no eyes. I daringly took a step forward, my suitcase rolling along behind me. I closed my eyes. Looking at this being made me feel sick and disturbed in a way I couldn’t describe. I took another step and opened my eyes to see if he still stood there. Something only a few inches from my face blocked my vision. I was staring into something black, like everything around me had disappeared. I looked above me and realized that this thing had somehow appeared right before me without making a single sound in a matter of seconds. My eyes were locked on his… Face? He slowly bent down so his face met with mine. He tilted his head. His arms hung limp to his sides still. I wanted to scream, I wanted to run, but my body wouldn’t let me do anything. The only thing I could do was blink and breathe. He then lifted his body back up and away from my face. I then felt something trail over my shoulders, the movements snakelike. The movement stopped and I saw that it was a black, tentacle-like appendage that came from this creature’s backside. The tendril wrapped around my wrist tightly, and I then felt surprisingly warm. I could no longer feel the cold, sharp winds or the pouring rain on my skin. The creature then lifted me up by the wrist, and left me dangling in mid air. He seemed to be studying me there. Even though I was warm and safe from the sharp winds and cold, pouring rain, I still wanted to get away from this thing, as I could tell it had evil intentions. I was getting serious creepy, evil vibes from the creature. If I didn’t get away fast enough, he would surely kill me.

He let go of my wrist suddenly and I went falling to the ground. I landed on the hard, wet concrete road with a thud. I was still unable to move or scream. I lay there, my tailbone throbbing with pain from the fall. I no longer felt the warmth I had felt previously when he had grabbed me, and I wanted more of that feeling. It had been so long since I had felt that kind of comfort, that kind of security. The creature looked down at me, its now many tendrils sprouted from its back waving around the air like garden hoses left on full blast unattended. A tendril came down and wrapped around my neck, tight enough to make me gasp for breath. It lifted me once again. He was treating me like some sort of doll, not a living, breathing, person. I then felt the warmth again as I was hanging from the tentacle appendage. He then, surprisingly, set me down gently, and I was left with my back to him. With one of his hands, his pale, bony, hands, he lightly grabbed my chin and lifted my head back so I could see his face. His other hand made its way to my cheek. A long, sharp nail traced a circle on my cheek, but the pressure wasn’t enough to break the skin.

I heard the child’s giggle again. Where was that kid? Surely this thing couldn’t be making those sounds, could he? All of a sudden, he stopped tracing the circle and quickly slashed the nail along the length of my cheek. The skin broke, and there was a deep gash left in my soft, fleshy cheek. The blood poured down from the wound, trickling into my mouth. I started to cry. The salty tears stung the gash, but I didn’t care. I wanted to get out of here, Why did my mother send me out on my own? I’m fifteen for God’s sake! I can’t die now! Oh God he is going to kill me! More hot tears ran down my face, as the looming shadows painted a twisted smile across the man’s face. Unexpectedly, I choked out a loud sob. I could speak! Oh, I started bawling. I cried and cried and I was worried that if I cried anymore my tear ducts would dry out. I let myself fall to my knees and I let out the loudest scream I had ever heard myself make. Opening my mouth so wide tore the wound open more and let more blood flow out. I screamed even more, my whole body trembling with every breath I took.

“OH GOD, SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME!” I wailed out into the darkness, swallowing me whole. I felt so small. Abruptly, in mid-cry, long, black tendrils scooped my body up, wrapping around me like a blanket. My eyes felt heavy, and oddly enough, I felt completely at ease with him then. I was engulfed in warmth and comfort, and I snuggled closer into the tendrils. My head went limp and fell onto his black suit. The fabric felt thick, yet soft, like a good quality pillow. The blood from my cheek flowed freely down onto the suit. I finally let my hazy blue eyes close, and I fell into the deepest sleep I ever had.


“Rest now, my dear, for tomorrow there is much to be done,” The monster said quietly, his voice demonic yet soothing, playing with the girl’s messy black hair as he walked slowly and smoothly down the road. The girl only whimpered, and let herself be carried by this horrible demon that she felt so comfortable with.