The Beast

Crunch. Crunch. Snap.

My heart was pounding in my ears as I kept running through the night, under the midnight blue sky. My lungs felt like they were about to explode, but I had to keep running. I was running away from my past, my present, and my very near future.

I was running from the beast.

The beast has been in my life ever since that fateful night at the park. I was crying because my father and I had gotten into a fight over what I had written in my notebook. He thought I was suicidal because of a few poems I had written.

I was on a swing, letting the sobs rock my body, when I suddenly heard rustling from the bushes behind me. I didn’t even bother turning around, thinking it was just a rabbit or something.

Then I heard the growl.

I turned around as I jumped up from the swing, my tears drying instantly. I looked at the bushes behind me and a pair of large, bright, midnight blue eyes stared back at me. My limbs froze from fright as it growled again, sending shivers down my spine. It growled even louder, finally melting my limbs. I didn’t think twice as I ran from the park, straight to my house and through the door.

I didn’t pause as my dad yelled to me, telling me to go to the living room where he was sitting in his usual spot in front of the TV. I ran into my room and shut the door, not relaxing until I made sure that my door and windows were locked. When that was finally done, I flopped back onto my bed and looked out my window, wondering what it was I saw at the park. It certainly wasn’t human, though it might have been a wolf of some sort.

I hadn’t realized that I had fallen asleep until a loud crash woke me up. I jumped up from my bed and looked at my door with fright. I slowly got up and opened the door quietly.

“Daddy?” I called out softly. I didn’t get a reply, so I slowly stepped through the door frame and went into the living room. What I saw made my breath stop in my throat.

There was glass everywhere because of the now broken window. But the thing that really made me start crying was the sight of my father, lying in his chair with red splattered all over his shirt. I could’ve told myself that he was sleeping and spilled Kool-Aid on his shirt, but I knew better. I knew my father was dead. And I knew what had killed him.

I ran away that night. I couldn’t stand living in that city, that house, that area. My mother had died the night me and what would have been my twin brother were born. So now, not only had I lost my mother and possible brother, but I also lost my father.

Whoop-dee-fucking-do.

The beast has always somehow found me, no matter where I go. I want to know how it keeps finding me. It seems like wherever I go, somehow those midnight blue eyes always seem to land on me. My question is, why me? What did I do?

Thinking about all of this made me trip on a root and fall to my knees. I felt a sharp pain shoot up my leg as a stick jabbed into my knee. I struggled to get back up, only to end up falling again because of the severe pain in my leg. I heard the rustling behind me and turned around to face my fear.

And now, my death.

The eyes that have been haunting me shined out from the darkness right in front of me. I closed my eyes to brace myself for my most certain death as tears started to flow from my eyes. When nothing happened, I looked up and met the eyes of my hunter. I saw confusion, agony, and what looked like… hope.

It started to pad closer to me and I was frozen to my spot, my bright blue eyes wide with fear. Through the break in the trees above us, the moon shone down and lit its bluish-grey fur. It actually looked like a large wolf, but the eyes were strangely human.

It came closer, like it wanted to be seen. It leaned down and nudged the stick in my knee, making me wince. It jumped back a bit with what looked like fear or apology in his eyes.

“I-it’s okay. It j-just hurt i-is all.” I managed to stutter. I was honestly frightened, but I didn’t want the beast to feel like he had hurt me. Don’t ask me why, I just felt almost… protective over him.

The beast came closer again, and this time, I held out my hand to lightly touch its fur. It began to shudder and then it toppled over. I froze, not knowing what to do. Its midnight blue eyes looked up at me with obvious fear as it shuddered. Right before my eyes, it seemed to shrink. Its fur began to disappear, leaving pale skin. It began to take on a human form.

A human boy’s form.

I was watching with wide eyes as the shuddering finally ceased, leaving a teenage boy lying before me, naked. He began shivering hard, so I hurriedly grabbed a sweatshirt and a pair of big basketball shorts from my bag. He gladly took them and put them on quickly. When he turned to me, I gasped at his eyes. His midnight blue eyes.

“C-C-Casey?” He asked, still shivering a bit. I was shocked.

“Wh-who the hell are you?” I asked, backing away slowly, momentarily forgetting the stick in my knee.

“Casey, it’s me, Jeremy.” I just looked at him, not knowing who he was. He must’ve seen the confusion in my eyes, because he cleared that up right away.

“Casey, I’m your brother.” I should’ve seen it. My mother’s eyes, my black-blue hair, they all pointed to one thing. The beast who had been chasing me was my other half. My twin.

My brother.