the darkness hides my monsters [Dee]

The sun was slowly beginning to sink, tipping lower and lower into the earth where the horizon would eventually swallow it all at once and darkness would rule over the land for a number of hours. Stories were the best at night, your mind had reached that point where it was not all about work, and instead the creative juices would flow. Esme loved stories, and her storybook was clutched tightly in her hands as she stared, momentarily struck by the beauty of the setting sun. Her feet were bare, dirt covered and sore, she was never one to wear shoes, Simon was ever telling her she should really start to. But shoes blocked the Earth, and no one could possibly begin to understand the life and beauty around them in they could not feel it every time they took a step. She loved being able to feel the Earth beneath her feet, the hum of the energy that created the world filled her, with shoes you felt nothing and the fabric of life was just there. It was difficult to understand how people saw that as a good way of living, she’d never yell or scowl at someone for not agreeing with her opinions. Simon was staring to see it, the memories of him pulling his shoes off to dance with her, or walk with her were some of her fondest.

He was awfully tolerant of her bad habits, but that was hardly saying anything, after all she was very tolerant of his outbursts. Of his need to run and run, to growl and glare like a feral animal, how many times had she chased him down and done everything in her will power to calm him? How many times had he fallen asleep in her bed, arms wrapped around her to stop her nightmares? They were medicine for one another; they healed each other’s wounds and prevented them from appearing again. They were two broken dolls slowly stitching the other one up until they were completely fixed. They were both monsters in that way, her hands stained with blood, just as his were. Two monsters that had fallen in love, it was a twisted fairy tale, but their tale, and she wouldn’t change it for anything in the world. Love. It was always the one word that would make her smile, a giddy grin that seemed to take hours to falter. They were in love, she loved Simon with all her heart, and today she had spent her entire evening sitting by her parents grave reading them stories and telling them all about the boy she had fallen for.

The colours burst across the sky, red, orange and yellow and a light tinge of purple sparked the darkness that slowly fought its way out as well. It was always interesting to watch as the darkness pushed the light back, sometimes she could lie down in the orchard for hours at a time, staring at the sky, watching as the stars slowly appeared to replace the colours of the fading sun. Stars were nice, they were the barrier between total darkness and a faint amount of light that lent an edge to those who were comfortable in its power. Esmeralda Ayres love the night, she loved wondering around the orchard as the moon shone down, as it left patterns of shadows in her wake. The darkness hid her monsters, where she could pretend they were nothing but looming shadows. Most people, just like those in her stories, were scared of the shadows. They hid dark things, and scary beasts, and that was so completely and utterly true.

Shadows hid the secrets you wanted to run from. But Esmeralda, unlike the princesses and princes in the stories never ran from the shadows, instead she walked amongst them forever dancing away from them, but never trying to escape them either. Her nightmares could not escape the orphanage, so she did not fear the darkness in its confines. She, however, hated the darkness when she was not in the security of her orphanage.

It was the looming night that struck her, forcing her to tear her gaze away from the setting sun. It was creeping up and up, crawling up the skin of her bare legs. She was a good hour away from her home, her parents graves closer then the security of the orphanage. She’d stayed too long; to engrossed in her love life and the tales her parents had always told her. Clinging tightly to the book she began to ran, feet stumbling and scratching the rocks that stood in her way. Panic clutched at her chest and she forced her body to move faster. The darkness that slowly clawed its way into this world was filled with nightmares she couldn’t run from. It had been dark, just like this on that night.

What if it happened again?

Could she kill again?