The Creature

One night I found myself sitting.

Nothing that day had been of the peculiar sort.
Nothing was the least particular about the evening.
The day had been mundane and long.
The night had been solemn and salt filled.

Yet there I sat.

It was unusually dark I suppose though.

A heavy blanket of clouds shrouded above, shielding me from the night’s eyes. A tinge of moisture was pungently in the air as a late summer breeze crossed over my shoulder. With it, it carried a promising kiss from autumn as a chill ran down my back, raising hairs from the nape of my neck to my rump. The season was fading and the world was changing.
But that is nothing new. Seasons always change and the world never stops moving, not even for a moment. Yet I was unmoving.

I dared not move.

I could feel its breath upon me.
It was close.
To close.
It felt as though it was all around me.
The fear was imminent as it lurked behind me.

The creature was fashioned with gnarl some teeth. They were large and crooked and prime for killing. Stained a tint of yellow from all the years, some stuck out from under its lip and into the night. Its fur was matted and patchy. Not the healthiest coat one would have seen, but certainly enough to live on. The claws were dirty and chipped. Maybe not as strong as they once were, and worn from all the years of fighting, yet sharp enough to make a mark.
This creature is iconic where I am from. It has done many gruesome things to a good lot of people everyone’s heard about it and many fear it. The creature has hurt the good and helped the bad, people look down upon it as a feral thing that is to be feared.

Yet the creature lives on. And for that you may be wondering why.
Because yes it is scary and yes it is ugly. But as its breath rings hot through my ears, I remember why I must forget the fear. I open my eyes and my eyes meet with the creatures. And through the grunge, the horror and its dominating stature, I see a light beaming from its eyes. The light is blinding as it consumes me, but I dare not turn away. You must never show your weakness to the creature; for it would be in that moment it would consume you.
And for a second I find fear beginning to creep back into my heart. That maybe I’m not strong enough to battle the creature, people have lost many a time before. But I didn’t allow myself to think that way. I watched as its glowing eye’s shown like beacons in the night. It began to prowl upon me as its prey, lurking in the shadows of the rooftop, circling me, planning my execution.

I just sat there, watching. Watching the way its claws curled as it walked, splaying across the shingles individually with every step the creature made. To watch as the creature’s joints flow so eloquently making each movement precise with stealth. The creature’s broad shoulders were strong and powerful, you could watch the muscles work with every calculated step. The creature is the perfect killer.

I breathed slowly, in time with the creatures movements. My eye’s stayed locked with the creatures glowing eyes. I studied the way the creature would curve its neck upward just before it was about to growl. Oh its growl was simply terrifying. It seemed to be composed of the lost screams, crying children, and sirens of all those before me who had fallen victim to the creature. Its growl was the pain of all those who had lost to the creature; it was mortifying.

But I dared not give in to the creature. I stood my ground firm as it growled at me, my eyes never leaving the creatures.

And in an instant everything changed.
The creature turned about and faced right at me.
There the creature stood, unmoving.

Locked in a stare with the creature I felt my heart rate begin to escalate. Beads of sweat soon began to form upon my brow and a quiver took a hold of my lip. My hands began to shake and my eyes began to tear, all the while the creature stood unmoving.

Still.
Silent.
And then, my end, crept slowly towards me.

With the creature now coming straight at me, it allowed me to better to see its size. It seemed to be impossibly big, and from that, impossibly strong. The tallest and strongest man in the world would still pale in comparison to the creatures. It ears were large. I imagined that was so the creature could hear the panic in its prey’s breath, to know when to strike. I thought about how the creature is said to be able to smell fear, I couldn’t help but wonder what that must smell like. And as the enormous beast was becoming ever closer, I kept trying to comprehend how to beat the creature at its own game.

And all the while the creature’s glowing eyes, stayed locked with mine.
I saw as the creature curled its powerful neck to release another one of its life shattering growls out into the night.

The sound made my feet go cold.
The creature continued to grow closer.
Closer.
Closer.
Until it was so close I could almost touch it.
I was shaking uncontrollably, battling to not let the fear waft into my heart.

Then I felt the creatures burning breath fill my nose. The smell was worse than one could ever fathom. Yet there I was, staring down the beast.

I waited for what seemed like an eternity.
I just kept staring into the creature’s ever bright eyes. Waiting for its teeth to latch upon my neck. Imagining tomorrow’s headlines, of how the beast will have claimed another life. And it was there, in those thoughts, that I found it.

I knew how.
I knew how to win against the creature.

I managed to gain control of one of my shivering arms, breathing deeply to try and stop the shake, and I reached out. I reached out to pet the creatures matted fur, bravery laced into and across my hand. But I still couldn’t bring myself to do it, to pet the creature. Sweat was pouring from body and a tear went streaming down my face. The creature’s eyes burning straight into my soul.

Then I found it once more.
I closed my eyes and went to touch the creature’s fur.
But I felt nothing.
I opened my eyes and the creature looked different.
Yes it was still scary to look at, but I was here to stay and we both knew that.

It was there upon that rooftop that I found my courage within the creature, and instead of seeing a terrifying beast before me, I now saw a beautiful cityscape of possibility.

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Artwork is not my own