Monster - Abigail Livinghouse (reading cloud ebooks TXT) 📗

Chapter Sixteen

It was like someone had taken their fist and hit Ana in the gut as hard as they could. The creature was so cocky, when it told her it had come for her friends, it was smiling, its teeth shining and glowing like its eyes. So proud of what it had done.

 

"You . . ." Ana couldn't even speak.

 

How could this be? If this thing was a figment of her imagination (which she was highly doubting considering she could actually feel the heat radiating off its body), then it was telling her that it had killed Lisa and Kristen.

 

"How-" She was trying so hard to put all the pieces together, to get her thoughts to grind forward so that she could comprehend what was going on. But every time she looked at the creature, all parts of her that were rational went soaring out of her reach.

 

"It's so complex isn't it? The world, this life. If you think about it Ana, life is a very fragile thing. Not so easy to give, but exceptionally easy to take away." The thing was literally baring down on her with how massive it was. When it spoke, its hot breath washed over her face, smelling like death and decay.

 

Ana's stomach churned, and when the thing leaned down and was literally two inches away from her face, she couldn’t help it, she flinched away in horror and disgust.

 

"You've been searching so long for the source of your friends' demise. I will at least provide you with that before you die." It said in almost a kind, conversational tone. Like they were talking about what shirt would go well with the shoes Ana was wearing.

 

Her eyes widened and she opened her mouth, but it spoke before her.

 

"Finding you all was easy. Getting you all alone was even easier. It's amazing what girls will do when a handsome man comes into the picture."

 

Ana still wasn't quite comprehending what it was saying, but at the mention of that, her stomach took a downwards spiral to her feet. Kristen was the only one out of the three of them who had had a boyfriend . . .

 

"Everything is connected."

 

"That's impossible." She stated. They had known Kristen's boyfriend for about a month, the had even seen the two kiss for Christ's sake. That couldn’t have been this thing standing in front of her right now.

 

"You poor, naïve girl." It mused, then to her utter horror, it reached up and took a lock of her hair between two long, skeletal fingers.

 

"In a way, I pity you." The creature twisted her hair between its fingers, clockwise, then counterclockwise, over and over again. With its every movement, it felt like hundreds of tiny bugs were crawling across Ana's skin, she had the overwhelming urge to scream and writhe, just to get the thing to let her go.

 

"You always want to look for the good in people, in the world. You would've never guessed that just because you look for the good, doesn't mean it's going to find you." The monster tugged roughly on the chunk of hair it held, and Ana screamed in surprise.

 

The thing was now leaning down so that they were face to face. The creature had pulled her so close that their foreheads were resting against each other. With the contact, the bugs she seemed to feel skittered even faster over every surface of her body. Ana began to shake.

 

 

 

Chapter Seventeen

"Let go of me." She managed to say in a fairly strong voice.

 

 The monster's grin only widened, showing off its rows of glowing teeth.

 

"What's stopping me from killing you right now? From reaching my hand inside of your chest and tearing through your heart just like I had your pitiful friends?"

 

Ana's stomach dropped like she had just been on a roller coaster going down, down, down. She had to hold her breath to keep from throwing up. This couldn't be possible, it just couldn't . . .

 

"Why don't I show you just how possible this is?" The creature's milky white eyes gleamed, as he let go of her hair and its fingertips glided to a stop at her chest, directly over her heart.

 

In response, her heart pounded wildly in fear. If this thing could so easily rip through human flesh like it was nothing, then she was inches away from meeting the same fate as Lisa and Kristen. Ana wasn't about to let that happen. She had to stall him. She was a smart girl, she was nineteen years old, what nineteen year old didn't know how to buy themselves some time?

 

Slowly, Ana reached forward and placed her own palm on the monster's chest, above where its heart should've been. Its skin was slimy and cold, even though the creature radiated heat. Underneath Ana's hand, she felt nothing. No pulse whatsoever.

 

Ana's mouth went completely dry. How could something clearly real and in the flesh in front of you, be living and breathing without a pulse? It couldn't.

 

The monster's lip curled, pleased at her startled reaction. "Surprised? Creatures like me, we don't have heartbeats. We don't even have a heart. You see, we feed off of the hearts of others. Eating parts of their hearts construct our very own beating vessel. Midway through our lifespan we should have a fully built heart, and we shall begin the transition to something so much more powerful than what we are now."

 

Ana's heart wouldn't stop its loud, frightful rhythm of terror. With this news, it was pounding faster and even more frantic than before. It wanted to eat her heart.

 

"I wonder what yours tastes like." The creature mused, leaning in to sniff at her chest.

 

She couldn't take it anymore. She wasn't about to be dinner handing itself to this hellish being.

 

With a shrill scream, Ana launched herself at the beast. Its back slammed against the bricks of the alley way making a small thump.

 

Ana barely skimmed the monster's shoulders, but she used all of her body weight to pin it to the wall. She was gritting her teeth while the creature was just smiling at her, contented somehow even how things had turned out. She got the sinking feeling that it was just playing her, and that it was a lot more powerful than it was letting on.

 

Oh who was Ana kidding? It was strong enough to get inside her head and then manifest itself in front of her. She knew she was as good as dead, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to go out kicking and screaming.

 

"I admire the fight in you Ana. It's something that the other two girls lacked. They didn't even try to struggle, it's as if they knew that it was the end for them." The monster recalled joyfully.

 

Ana's chest filled with the familiar emptiness that had really never left, but her rage at this creature overwhelmed any other present feeling. That, and the will to survive. She was not leaving this alley in a body bag, she would be walking out with her life no matter what.

 

Even though it probably wasn't the best thing to say, and was immature as could possibly be, it was the only thing that Ana could get out without bursting into furious and sorrowful tears.

 

"Fuck you."

 

The monster erupted into laughter. Hissing-nails on a chalkboard-laughter. It reached up and squeezed Ana's shoulders in its hands as it laughed, and as easily as you would flick a bug off your arm, flung her to the other side of the alley where her back and head bounced off the bricks. 

 

A sharp jolt of pain heated up the back of Ana's head and her spine. She felt a warm stream of blood flowing from her head to her neck and into her shirt. A sense of déjà vu threatened to flood her mind, but she pushed it back. There was absolutely no time. Ana knew, without a doubt, that she was now in a fight for her life. A fight that Lisa and Kristen had lost. Ana was ready to bring justice to her friends, and to clear her own name. 

Chapter Eighteen

"So intelligent yet so utterly stupid at the same time." The monster said as it knelt down so that it was at eye level with Ana who was reduced to lying on her butt on the ground, her own blood pooling on the dirty surface.

 

"Even though you are very entertaining, I haven't eaten in a while and I'm starting to get hungry." The creature gripped Ana's chin with it's supposed thumb and forefinger, digging into her skin and sending little shots of harsh pain to coincide with the other agony she was already experiencing.

 

A sense of dread slowly crept up on Ana, attempting to fill her altogether. She wasn't ready to give up yet though. There was one thing the creature had said before that Ana was hoping she was right about. If the monster was constructing its own heart, then shouldn't there be something existing inside of its chest? Keeping it alive for the time being? If so, all she had to do was harm it. Now the real question was . . . how?

 

"It's been quite a thrill being inside of your mind Ana Walcott, but unfortunately all adventures must come to an end at some point."

 

The monster suddenly thrust its fingertips into the skin of Ana's chest directly above her heart, literally puncturing her skin and causing blood to gush out, onto the creature, and onto herself. Ana screamed as waves upon waves of fiery pain assaulted her, but she willed herself to lift her hands up and shove with all her might against the creature's shoulders. It lurched slightly backward, but it was enough room for her.

 

Ana jumped with all the strength she had left and using her shoulder, pushed the monster up against the brick wall. The impact had caused the creature's hand to dig even deeper into the flesh of her chest. The pain was excruciating and all consuming, but she focused