The Beast

The Beast


        What exactly is a "beast"? In my imagination, I always pictured some deranged creature with wild eyes, snarling teeth, foaming at the mouth, standing on four legs, just waiting for something, anything that moves to come too close so it can snatch it up and rip it apart only because it enjoys the feeling of destroying.  I always had and over active imagination, at least that's what my mother told me.
        When i was just a young child, only about nine, I lived with my mom and dad, and my older brother on a farm, far out in the middle of Louisiana. On our farm we had chickens, pigs, and ducks, but most of all we had horses. Me and my mom loved horses, they're such intelligent animals, and they're so gentle, just like my mom.  I loved my mom, more then anything, my brother and my dad would always play mean tricks on me, but my mom always comforted me and she always believed me, even when what i said seemed absolutely impossible. I'll never forget the night The Beast came to our farm, that was the worst night of my life, but if I'm going to tell this story right, i need to start from the beginning.
        It was early one morning and mom was getting the pans ready for breakfast.  It was a Sunday, and on Sunday we always eat eggs from the chickens.  Dad came down stairs just as mom was about to go get the eggs, but dad stopped her,
        "Let Johny get the eggs Beth, he needs the exercise, just look at his arms, they're like noodles" dad said.
        "Hey! I'm not like a noodle!" I would have said more, but mom stopped me.
        "We can get them together" She said, and then smiled at me.
        I smiled back and then got my shoes to walk out to the chicken coop.  The chicken coop was out by the barn, normally in the mornings we would let the chickens out to run around a bit while we got the eggs, but when me and mom got there, we stopped dead in our tracks.  Hanging on the chicken wire around the coop was what looked like a cloth, or maybe a jacket, then, realization struck and i saw more closely now that it was a chicken.  It was hard to tell that it was a chicken, most of our chickens are plump and fat, but this one was practically nothing but feathers and bones.  I went over to the chicken and looked at it.  There was a long gash from the chickens chest down to it's feet, and inside the chicken was....nothing, i was wrong, this chicken wasn't even feathers, skin and bones, it was just feathers and skin! Everything had been taken out of it, there were no organs, no blood, no bones, no veins, nothing.  The chicken was sucked dry with nothing left, even it's eyeballs and tongue was missing.
        "Mom, look! The chicken is only feathers! There's nothing in it!" I said to her.  She said nothing but her eyes were wide and her face was a pale white.
        "Come on Johny, we need to go get your father" she said, there was fear in her voice. We left the chicken coop and went to get my dad.  But my dad examined the empty chicken and only said that it was a raccoon, he said he would set up a trap near the chicken coop, but besides that we had nothing to worry about.  Mom didn't buy it.
        "Henry this is no raccoon, trust me i grew up on a farm all my life and i have never seen any animal capable of doing something like this." She said.
        "Beth, your just being paranoid.  Maybe it's a fox, maybe it's a raccoon, or maybe it's even a wolverine.  I'm not sure, but I'll set up a trap and whatever animal it is, we'll catch it." he said to her.  That calmed her down a little, but dad still didn't believe that this wasn't an ordinary animal.  I didn't know what it was, but i did know that it made me uneasy, what kind of animal could rob a chicken of all it's blood, organs, veins and everything else, leaving behind the only a scratch, not to mention that it must have found a way to pull the chicken out of the coop without harming it, I'm pretty sure that neither a fox, or a raccoon, or a wolverine could ever be able to do something like that.

The next day, me, mom, and dad went out to the chicken coop to see if we caught the vermin stealing our chickens.  As we walked towards it, we saw something in the trap, but it wasn't a wolverine, it wasn't a raccoon, and it definitely wasn't a fox.  It was bigger then a raccoon, almost too big for the cage it was in, it had strange fur that looked like dog fur but it looked like porcupine quills at the same time, it was gray and it had very long claws, plus a fifth digit that was like a thumb. That was all i could see of it because it was hunched over.
        As we approached it, the creature saw us.  It raised it's head to growl and snarl and roar at us, and when it did i got a full look of what it's face was.  I had a long snout like a dog but instead of a dog nose it just had two holes, it's teeth were yellow and razor sharp, and it's eyes were like human eyes, but with cat pupils and it had red instead of white in the corner.  It was a menacing beast and I never saw anything like it.
        Mom screamed when she saw it, "Henry! What is the thing!" She said.
        Dad just stood there, confused as to exactly what he had caught. "It...it looks like some kind of wild dog." He said.
        "Henry that is no wild dog! That thing is a beast from hell!" She yelled. I studied the creature more, the louder my mom yelled, the more the beast howled and fused in it's cage.
        "Well what do you suppose i do about it!" My dad yelled.
        "Kill it! Don't just leave it there!" Mom yelled some more.
        "Beth i can't kill the thing! What if it's some kind of new species, i think we should take it to the police to see what they think of it."
        "I am not going anywhere near that thing. I want it dead! NOW!" my mom screamed the last part. The beast was absolutely enraged now, it struggled and kicked so much that it almost knocked the cage over.  My dad turned his attention on the creature.  "How should I do it though, is what i wonder." He said, talking to himself. After a moment of thought he came up with a plan.
        "Well, considering how much it's thrashing, I'm pretty sure it would be a bad idea taking it out of the cage to kill it.  Listen, I'm gonna drive down to Bob's farm, he's got a big ol' saw that I can use to saw through the bars on the top of the cage and then behead the thing." Dad said, speaking to my mom, "In the mean time, I'll put it on the side of the barn, where it's out of the way."
        "So your just gonna leave it there?!" My mom yelled.
        "Well just until i get back from Bob's!" he yelled back.
        "But bob lives way out past town! It'll take you hours to get there and back!"
        "Beth, it's just an animal, and plus it's locked away in that cage, there's nothing it can do.  I promise I'll be there and back as quick as i can."
        Finally, my mom gave in, "Ok, drive like lightening though, there's just something about that creature that makes me uneasy." And with that, my dad left for Bob's farm.

The rest of the day went about as normal.  Me and my brother took over dad's chores while he was at Bob's farm. Mom went about doing her usual chores, but she had a worried look on her face all day.  Eventually dad came home with the saw, but when he finally did, it was sunset, almost night time.
        When dad came home, he went straight to work taking care of the beast. He brought the creature out from behind the barn to the front of it, then he lay out a tarp so the blood didn't stain the ground.  Me, mom and my brother watched from the kitchen window. Slowly and carefully, dad used the saw to cut the bars of the cage on the top.  When he cut through, he pulled the saw back so he could get it in a good position to chop the beast in half, but that part never came.  The whole time my dad had been cutting the bars, the beast had been sitting quietly, waiting for the perfect moment, and now it had come. The beast used it's nine inch long claws to reach through the bars and grab hold of my dad's shirt. He pulled my dad in close to the cage and, with one swift move, the beast cut a long gash from my dad's throat to his chest.  The beast realized it couldn't to a proper job of eating my dad's inside from inside the cage, so it released him and then pushed it's abnormal gray body out of the cage. My dad could have run, that is, he could have if he still had the mind to, but the beast took him by surprise, and by the time he realized he should be running, the beast was out of the cage and on him.
        It didn't take long for the beast to suck my dad dry.  Only about five minutes.  As soon as the beast started eating out my dads organs, my mom screamed, she screamed long and hard, screamed louder then she ever had before, then she fell to the floor and started crying. My and my brother tried to comfort her, but we didn't do a very good job, because we were also dealing with the shock of what had just happened. After a few minutes, i stood up to look out the window to see what the condition of the situation was, but what i saw was my dad's empty carcass lying on the ground, the beast was gone.
        I felt panic bubbling inside my stomach. I prayed that the beast had gone to kill the chickens, then the pigs and the horses, leaving us time to escape, but deep down i knew that was wrong.  The beast has the taste of human now, and i know it's going to want more.
        Before i even had the chance to make a move, to help my brother and mom, there was an awful scratching at the door. I froze, every muscle in my body gone rigid. My mom stopped crying too, to listen to the noise.  The scratching came again, it was a terrifying, horrible noise, i could just imagine that creature, out there, scratching at our door with its' nine inch claws, a horrid, murderous grin on it's deformed, animal face. I knew i had to do something, something to help my brother and mom, but my mind was blank, i didn't know what to do, so i turned to my mother, hoping that she was still able to help.
        "Oh mom, what do we do? The Beast, it's at the front door!" I cried.
        My mom's panicked eyes stared at the front door for a moment, then she spoke. "We need to get to the shelter, we'll go out the back door as quietly and quickly as we can and get into the shelter, that way we can lock The Beast out." She said
        "But what if The Beast breaks through the door?" I said
        "It can't, that door was built to keep a tornado and bay, I'm sure The Beast can't get through."
        "What if it hears us coming through the back door and we don't make it?" I cry
        "I don't know what then, but it's the only chance we've got, know come on."
        My mom stands and quietly leads us to the back door. Carefully, we open the door and sneak out onto the back steps.  I can hear my heart drumming, it's so loud i was sure that The Beast could hear it from the front door.  Mom opens the door to the shelter and motions Billy, my brother inside. Billy steps in and, just as i was about to go in also, The Beast comes barreling down the side of the house, roaring and snarling as loud as it ever did. I scream and quickly grab the baseball bat me and my brother were playing with yesterday. The Beast lunges at me and i use the bat to smack it across it's foul head, the bat connects nicely and The Beast goes flying across the yard, but quickly shakes it off and stands up, ready to go again, I scream at my mother to get in the shelter, then swipe at The Beast with the bat, "Stay away from my family you demon from hell!!!" i yell at it.  The Beast lunges at me again and i swipe with the bat, but the bat misses and me and The Beast tumble to the ground. I still have the bat, and use it to hold The Beast away from my face, it pushes against the bat and snaps at me with its sharp, yellow teeth. I push it off and to the side, then crawl for my life to the shelter. My mother grabs my hand and starts to help my through, but The Beast wasn't giving up, it grabs my foot with its teeth and tries to pull me back. I scream as loud as i can and start kicking at it with my foot. The Beast holds on, but my mom doesn't, her hand slips out of mine and the next thing i know I'm quickly being dragged away from her.
      The Beast goes to work trying to hold me still so it may kill me, i could feel the end, i knew i wasn't going to live, i was going to die hear. Before The Beast has a chance to rip open my flesh and suck me dry, something connects with it's shoulder and sends it flying for the second time across the dirt, I look up to see my mother clutching the baseball bat in her hands, "Get into the shelter, now!" She yells at me. I was filled with fear, all the way up to my eyeballs, and i was in no condition to argue, so with out a word, I crawled to the shelter and left my poor defenseless mother to face The Beast.
      It was just me and my brother for a while. I knew my mom was gone, sucked dry by The Beast. But it wasn't the two of us for long. Soon, my brother couldn't take it, he thought there was a chance mom was still alive, he left the safety of the shelter to face The Beast too. He's gone.
      So know there is me. Left her all alone in the shelter, just waiting for The Beast to break through the door and suck me bone dry, whoops, wrong term, more like suck me skin dry.  I know what your thinking if your reading this, it probably has no point really, just a scary story, but it actually does serve some point.  I know that after The Beast kills me, people are eventually going to wonder what happened, why my mom isn't going to the town to by groceries, why my dad hasn't yet returned Bob's saw, and when they come to see for themselves, they'll probably call the police, then an investigation will take place and detectives will try they're very hardest to find The Beast, but try as they might, I know they wont. So that is why I'm writing this, the detectives will find this paper and read it, then they might be able to track and kill The Beast so that no one else may be killed by it, I already know it's too late for me, The Beast is out there, waiting to finish what he started, he's clawing at the door with his menacing, nine inch claws, wait, no.....he's opened it, opened it with his thumb.....The Beast is, slowly, walking towards me.....he's standing in front of me, grinning, like a murderer, and then...................




                                                                                                                    THE END