Page 3 of Love & Monsters
Two little red eyes were staring back at me. And then two more. And then two more. Until three pairs of beady little ruby eyes squinted through the bushes at me.
My heart skipped a beat, and I flung my arm out to move. To run again. The sound of malicious, high-pitched laughter floated through my ears and a shiver spider-walked down my spine, spearing my skin with prickling goosebumps.
Three short figures emerged through the rustling forest undergrowth. Wide mouths full of pointed yellow teeth, long pointed ears, dark green skin, and those sharp red eyes came into view.
Goblins?
“What are we have here?” One of the little green creatures in the front stepped closer. At the sound of it speaking, my ears perked, and I sat up.
Though my heart raced, and my blood felt like ice, there was a strange new hope blossoming in my chest that these creatures could talk. And I understood them.
“I no know, but it look strange.” The second creature stepped forward. I noticed the unusual brown fabric they wore, almost like animal skins.
My lips parted, words forming on the tip of my tongue to speak to these little green men, to ask for help or guidance. There were too many questions wrestling at the front of my mind to get out first, and my silence went too long as they approached.
“It do look strange. Never seen a thing like it.” The first one scratched its round bald head with yellowed long nails.
“Can we eat it?” The third one pushed to the front, and I yelped as it landed at my feet. My thoughts stopped in their tracks, trying to figure out if I really heard what it said correctly.
“Hm.” The first one pushed the third aside, scratching its chin and looking me over from head to toe. Gauging the look in its beady eyes, I knew I heard them clearly.
My body moved into action, clambering back over the forest debris to increase my distance from the goblin creatures. They moved so much faster than me. So fast I hardly saw them move at all. But I felt their nails in their long bony fingers as they wrapped them around my legs and dragged me back, holding me down. Several sharp screams left me as I kicked at them.
“We take it to market!” I heard the first one shouting. “If we not get good money for it… then we eat it!”
The other two monsters belted out strange cackling laughter. My world went dark as they threw what felt like a burlap sack over me. As much as I flailed and screamed and fought, I couldn’t get out.
I kicked and screamed at the top of my lungs, fighting through my fear in order to escape. I could feel them dragging me over the lumpy ground and grunting from the effort as I fought.
“Shut it up!” I heard one of them screech. In the next instant, something hit me in the head, and my world was dark again.
So dark, I floated through nothing. No dreams, no thoughts. Just cruel unconsciousness as three monsters carried me off into the unknown.
Three
This was Hell. It had to be. There was no other explanation in my mind. It seemed the most likely that I must have drowned in that pond and now I was dead and being passed around by monsters in Hell.
When I woke from unconsciousness, it was to find myself tied and gagged in the back of a jostling cart. They bound my wrists, and I couldn’t move my feet. The fabric on my tongue tasted sour. It muffled the sobs wracking my body. The sight over the edges of the cart invoked the thoughts of Hell in me and heightened the sheer fear that made a permanent home in my chest.
Creatures and beasts worse than any nightmare on Earth peered into the cart as it moved through a muddy, cobbled street. I couldn’t pay attention to the shapes and styles of the buildings in the village or town we were in now. My focus stayed on the curious stares of freakish faces, gnarled horns, glistening fangs, scales, fur and rough skin of every color imaginable.
A giant with grey skin and one bulbous eye sniffed the air over me as the cart passed and I had to squeeze my legs to stop from pissing myself. Something that looked like a living shadow with only a white space where a face should have been undulated, and I somehow knew it looked at me. Another monster that I could only equate to sasquatch with horns and spines down its back turned to watch the cart.
The town was noisy, bustling with life as the cart shoved through the crowd. I saw random trees, dark wood and stone buildings, awnings of red and gold, market stalls where beasts crowded for items I couldn’t make out.
In between the more horrifying monsters, I noticed others that were vaguely humanoid, but they had horns and tails, or hooves and claws. They were nightmare creatures, whatever they were. No matter how humanoid they might look or if they spoke. If given the chance, they would kill me.
I forced my eyes shut, wondering if this was my fate for the rest of eternity? My tears never stopped falling, even when the cart stopped, and a small grubby green hand reached in to grab my hair. Sharp nails scrapped my scalp and jerked my hair forcefully. I shouted into the gag in my mouth, trying to squirm away. The three goblin men pulled me from the back of the cart after untying my feet.
I fell to the ground, bruising my elbow on the lumpy cobblestone. Mud splattered across my clothes and skin. Surprised murmurs and gasps flew up from the surrounding crowd. I did my best to keep my eyes down. Whatever curiosity I might have had died Now I didn’t want to see the horrors crowding around me.
“Out of the way!” One goblin grumbled as he shoved the crowd away from me and another one pulled me to my feet.
“Get back,” the goblin pulling me hissed out at prying eyes. I kept my eyes down on the grey stone and brown mud under my running shoes. At this point, I was too overwhelmed to feel anything anymore.
All my terror had coagulated into a lump in my chest, spreading until I was cold and numb on the inside. Like an animal on the verge of death, too tired to continue fighting. A lamb with the lion’s teeth around its neck, accepting its fate.
“How much for this thing?” The green goblin beast asked. With my eyes down, I only saw enough to guess we were standing in a wooden stall.
