Inkling 2023 - Flipbook - Page 26
Put to Rest
At night, there are monsters in your
house. They whisper to you from the
shadows. Sometimes they’ll stand at the
end of your bed, and if they’re feeling
brave, they lie down beside you, sing
you desolate lullabies and rub your back,
run their fingers through your hair. The
gestures are kind, but the creatures are
not. You can only sleep after sunrise,
when they fade with the dawn, with the
light. The moon and her stars no longer
bring you rest.
There are four monsters in your house.
The first denies it’s even there.
“Don’t be stupid, girl,” it croons,
“I am not real.” It is on the bed, laying
beside you on top of the covers. Its
fingers dig into your scalp, just a little bit.
“None of us are.”
The second monster only speaks
through screams and destruction. A
plate breaks on the wall behind you,
but the accusations thrown will not miss
their target.
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“YOUR FAULT! YOUR FAULT!” Covering
your ears doesn’t help. It never does.
“SHE WON’T EVEN LOOK AT YOU
ANYMORE. WHY DID YOU HAVE TO GO
AND RUIN IT ALL? WHAT HAVE YOU
DONE?”
The third monster only ever tries to
make you a deal. It grabs your shoulder
and speaks like a buisnessman.
“I can bring her back to you, y’know.
She’ll speak with you again. Laugh with
you again. Hug you again. You’ll walk
to each other’s houses on rainy days
and have campfires and sing at the top
of your lungs. You can have endless
adventures, infinite summers together.
Doesn’t that sound nice?” And oh, it
does. But you don’t make deals with
demons. The price is never worth the
purchase.
The fourth and final monster is easily
the worst one. It seldom speaks, and
it does not touch you. It haunts the
darkest corners of your house, with
its knees curled up to its chest and its
