Monster's Game

Adalaide stood silently in the same hotel room, staring at the white ceiling. She held a look of sorrow and exhaustion.

“You're not letting me talk this time at all, are you Mr. Monster..?” she whispered sadly.

'No, Adalaide. This is the last interview and I intend to make it interesting for your beloved god-father.' the monster said coolly, still planning his conversation with Brandon.

“Okay.” Ada was not prepared to fight the monster anymore. She barely had any sleep the night before due to continuous arguments with him, and she had also been informed that if she spoke one word out of turn, it would be her last.

'Ada, sweetheart. Do not fret, let him have his fun. It is almost over, my darling.' Ada heard her mothers comforting voice in her head and smiled warmly.

Any other person would have believed this voice was simply due to an overactive imagination, but to young Adalaide it was really her mother speaking to her. It was this voice that had reassured her the entirety of her life up until the machine monitoring the woman's heart had signaled her departure.

Ada remembered that moment so clearly. It was the only time the young girl had ever seen her father cry. It unsettled her, and caused her to cry with him although she did not fully understand the situation. All she knew was that Daddy was crying, so something must be wrong.

'This man is beginning to get on my nerves. Where is he? He should have been here fifteen minutes ago.' The monster growled angrily.

Ada shrugged and said “It's okay Mr. Monster. He'll get here soon. Papa is never very late.”

At that moment there was a knock on the door, and Brandon walked in quickly as he usually did. He was the type to rush things even when they did not need rushing.

“Hello, Adalaide! Would you like to start right away?” he asked as he set his few things down beside his chair.

“Yes, and I was thinking we could talk about Zander Hattch today.” The monster suggested, grabbing his opportunity to set the stage for his final triumph.

“That's exactly what I had planned, Ada.” Brandon replied as he readied his tape recorder for their final interview.

Click

“Okay Adalaide. How did it begin? This was your fathers final murder, was it not?” Brandon questioned, opening the floor for Ada's story.

“Yes. This was my father's last murder. It was also actually the very last one he had planned.” The monster began.

---

“Daddy, where are we going today?” Adalaide inquired from the passenger seat of her father's truck.

“We're going to see a mister Zander Hattch. He wants to play a game with us, darling.”

Ada moved excitedly, a smile spreading across her face. The monster let out a soft chuckle, and looked slyly over at Adalaide.

“Are you... excited?” he asked, a sadistic grin plastered on his vessel's worn face.

“Yeah! What game will we play with Mr. Zander?” Ada wondered.

“A fun one.” The monster enjoying Ada's childlike impatience.

“Come on! Tell me! Tell me!” Adalaide was beginning to get excited, and that was all the monster wanted out of her at that moment. Someone who was intrigued with his plans.

“Well, I guess I could tell you.” The monster's grin was now showing teeth. “We will play freeze tag.”

---

“Freeze tag?” Brandon asked. “This man was found frozen to death, was he not?”

“Of course. We played freeze tag, didn't we?” The monster's grin distorting Ada's childlike features.

“The police reports were never very clear. How exactly did your father freeze this man to death?” Brandon questioned.

The monster was becoming slightly irritated by the young reporter's rushing questions.

“I was getting to it, but I will skip ahead, for you are quite an impatient being.” The monster had grown tired of being rushed, but decided telling a story choppily was better than not telling one at all.

“Alright, please continue.” Brandon had grown quite nervous being around this being the past few days. He was certain something about Ada was different, but could not quite put his finger on what had overcome this poor girl.

“Very well then.” The monster sighed.

---

“D-daddy... He's screaming... W-we should help him...” Ada was reaching for the handle on a freezer door. This was no modern-day freezer, either. It was the type of freezer you find in a store or restaurant.

“No, Adalaide! You are not to touch the freezer!” The monsters eyes were ablaze with anger toward the young, innocent girl.

Her eyes were filling with tears as the monster opened the freezer door to dowse the man in water once more. Ada had began to suspect that this was not right, and ran from the room to sit on the couch and wait for the monster to finish his deed.

---

“So he put Mr. Hattch in a freezer? How horrible.” Brandon thought aloud.

“Yes. That is what happened. The fun, however, did not last much longer.” The monster stated flatly.

---

“This is Police! We have the perimeter surrounded! Come out quietly with your hands in the air!” Ada covered her ears with her small hands.

“Daddy, what's going on? Why are the policemen here?” Adalaide looked up at her father, who looked down at her and frowned, every trace of the monster erased from his features.

“I'm sorry, Ada. Daddy is going to have to go.” Cain said softly to his daughter, knowing it may be the last time he saw her.

---

“Those bitter policemen had finally caught me! It took them such a long time, but that just shows my brilliance!” The monster exclaimed, raising his voice more and more with each word.

“Ada!” Brandon interjected quickly, but almost hesitantly.

“Do not interrupt me, Westley. My patience with you is growing thinner and thinner with each warning I must give you.” The monster distorted Adalaide's face into a cold glare aimed at Brandon.

Brandon stood up immediately and took a frightened step back. The monster followed suit and stood, twisting Ada's small pink lips into a menacing grin.

“Mr. Westley, I'm sure you know by now that I am not Adalaide. Maybe you've even figured that I was controlling Cain at the time of the murders. Yet, I doubt you know who I am. What I am, even!” The monster cackled at Brandon's fear which was all too evident in his eyes.

“Y-you're not human. Y-you are a demon!” Brandon shouted, pointing his shaky index finger at the body of his god-child.

At this the monster laughed even louder, even more demonically than he had before.

“I am not obliged to answer to the petty term you on earth have made for beings such as myself! I have not only killed these mere twenty-two! Oh, I have killed far too many to count! Mr. Westley, you would never comprehend my being, nor my methods! Most certainly not my motives! Evangeline Smith, Faustou Gonzalez, Gennivive Falls, Harold Webster, do you not see it? The connection is obvious!” The monster's eyes were ablaze as it continued to smile wickedly at Brandon.

“Adalaide, Brandon, Cain, and Dahlia. You are the ones I chose to play my games with this time around. Now, fill in the next twenty-two spaces. They must be in order, now! Its really as simple as the alphabet magnets little Adalaide plays with on the refrigerator in her home.” At this Brandon gasped.

“You're sick! All you wanted to do was create situations similar to her toys and games!” He held only anger in his voice now.

The monster cocked his head at the statements.

“I wanted to see what children's games were like, but they were too boring. Those two weeks of watching little Adalaide mindlessly play her games were uneventful, and then her mother died. Cain was devastated at his Dahlia's death, and I saw my chance. They will rule him as insane, and they will believe he went insane due to his love's tragic death. Cancer is no one's friend, now is it?” He turned and walked towards the back of the room.

“It was fun while it lasted, Brandon Westley. I must move to my next oblivious set of victims, now. I cannot stay in this grotesque place any longer with it's disgusting inhabitants. I do not understand how you could stay so long.” The monster turned to Brandon again.

“Goodbye Mr. Westley. May we meet again someday.” Adalaide's body fell to the ground and Brandon ran to her without hesitation.

“Ada! Are you alright? Adalaide!” Brandon held her body in his arms, her breathing was even, and she seemed to only be unconscious.