Page 2 of Love & Monsters
However, when I finally pried my eyes apart, it was the sight of the sky that made me freeze with a heavy sense of dread. Anxiety curled around the back of my neck, and I shuddered under the sight of a black sky painted with a slash of red.
I almost thought it could be the same sky I left behind. It was pitch black, stars twinkled, and the moons were full.
Moons? Yes, I was seeing two moons. A small pale violet moon and a larger blue-silver moon, both heavy in the sky.
And that red. So much red. As if the stars were bleeding ethereal light across the night sky. Crimson with hints of yellow and orange curved in dazzling waves, moving and writhing across the sky.
Like a bleeding aurora borealis, I thought.
Sheer panic raced through me, but my lungs were hurting, and my body was in so much pain. It was impossible to keep my eyes open any longer and the edges of my vision went dark. My last thought as I fell unconscious filled my dreams. One constant thought floating with me in that terrible darkness.
Who murdered the sky?
Two
The ground trembled beneath me. Every few seconds, as if something massive stomped over the earth in the distance. I felt the shuddering deep in my bones as something rocked the world. This made me bolt upright, waking with a start as I felt the rumbling in the ground. Thought of what shook the ground slipped momentarily from my mind as a black and red sky filled my vision. And those two large moons stared down at me.
“Where am I?” There was no one around to answer. The only response I received was a thundering stomp and another shake of the ground. Whatever it was, felt like it was getting closer. Despite the weariness in my joints, I pushed up from the black sand.
I took in the blackened trees. Last night I thought they were burned, but under the red aurora borealis in the sky, it appeared they were just ebony dark trees. Everything here was so dark, save for the light reflecting off the moons and the crimson bleeding into the sky overhead.
Wherever I was, this nightmare hellscape, it couldn’t be Earth. There was no place that looked like this.
I felt the tremble under my feet again, angling my head up as I searched through the nearby fog on the other side of the trees. There was an inky ocean behind my back. Soft wisps of mist floated off the waves into the warm air. When I turned back, I thought I saw something in the sky, dark and moving through the pale fog.
In the sky? But why is the ground shaking?
Something on that thing moved through the fog and cleared some of the air. My chest clenched with pure fear when I caught the sight of a monstrous creature trudging slowly toward the water at my back. Easily as large as a small mountain, shaped like an elephant with six legs,. Even with the fog still obscuring its body, I could see the massive writhing tentacles flailing around its head.
A scream clawed its way up my dry throat. I had to slap my hand over my mouth before it escaped. My palm muffled the scream. The monster took another powerful step forward on one of its towering legs making me fall back into the sand.
Hot tears streamed down my face as I scrambled back. Forcing myself to swallow my sounds of terror, I could only watch as that living horror marched forward through the fog, shaking the ground as it went. It surprised me that its massive head full of thrashing tentacles didn’t turn in my direction.
But it was almost as if the beast was so focused on getting to the water it didn’t see or care about me. Maybe I was only another grain of sand to a creature of its size. It was larger than any living thing on Earth, further telling me I was far from home. Far from safety.
My thoughts screamed at me to turn and run, but I froze, watching in apt terror as that thing crashed through the remaining line of trees. It wasn’t until a thin tree fell in my direction did a burst of energy rush through me. The scrawny branches landed in the sand, inches from my feet, reaching out for me like dark claws.
I rolled over in the sand, my stomach twisted and the next thing I knew, I spilled all the contents of my stomach. The last meal I ate before going for my run and all the water I swallowed. I emptied everything as fear and anxiety kicked me in the gut. Every last drop until all I tasted on my tongue was acidic bile, and tears blinded my vision.
Another shuddering stomp hit the ground way too close for comfort. Though my body shuddered and stomach twisted, I pushed my limbs to listen to my silent commands to move. To run away.
Once on my feet, nothing but adrenaline and instinct moved me. Somewhere behind me, I heard the great splash of that gigantic monster crashing into the black sea. That didn’t stop me. I kept running, moving so fast through those dark trees and sharp branches. I didn’t care if they whipped at my arms and face.
I ran until the ground stopped trembling, and I no longer heard the sloshing waves. I ran through the trees, noticing they grew thicker, taller and grew closer together. I ran until my lungs felt like they were on the verge of bursting. No matter how long I ran, I couldn’t escape the red sky. Even when I disappeared under the heavy fog in the woods, there was no mistaking the ruby tint up above.
Running track in high school and keeping up with jogging through college and beyond helped to keep me going now. I don’t know how long or how far I ran. It could’ve been an hour or more. Just moving as far as I could get from the inky ocean that spit me out and the monster settling into its depths.
Eventually, I couldn’t run any longer. I spent my energy, my stomach was empty, and my muscles were sore. Though they were dry now, my athletic clothes felt stiff on my bruised, raw skin. In this moment of silence, I didn’t care. I collapsed onto the strangely soft ground, panting hard and pulling in long puffs of air.
When I left for my jog, it was early nighttime. The air had a hint of a chill and leaves were only just changing colors for the incoming change of seasons. Here, the air was comfortably warm, like a pleasant late spring day. The deeper I went into the woods, I noticed they were full of foliage. Each leaf a rich shade of purple, border lining on black. They might have been beautiful if I wasn’t panicking out of my mind.
I swallowed over my dry tongue, then ran my hand through my short blonde hair to keep it out of my eyes. My hand trailed from my hair and landed on my chest, where I felt my racing heart pounding painfully against my ribs. It seemed prudent that I calmed down and regained control of myself if I was going to have a chance of survival. If it was at all possible.
Long minutes in relative silence went by, and I felt the pain in my body and across my skin growing stronger as the last of my adrenaline faded. It was so silent and serene that I wondered if maybe I was alone now.
“What am I going to do?” I sighed and tossed an arm over my eyes.
A branch snapped somewhere in the woods near my feet. My body stilled, tensing every muscle as if made of stone. After a silent heartbeat, I lifted my head and peered down at the foliage.
