Into the Thick of It

Alli pulled her bookbag up higher on her shoulders, careful to keep her eyes firmly on the ground. She didn't want anyone to see her, and she didn't want to see anything. She hated looking up when she stepped outside of her house. She didn't want to see all of the things that she did, and she absolutely didn't want anyone to know that she could see things that were outside of the norm. Her therapist told her that the monsters she saw were her "trauma demons". Alli knew better. They were real. It didn't matter. Real, or not, she had a job to do, and she needed to get to work. She tossed her bookbag into the back seat of her beat-up SUV and got into the driver's seat. Turning the key, the clunker turned over, emitting a cloud of smoke, then purring like a kitten. Alli grinned. No one ever seemed to think that her vehicle was worthy of the space that it took up on the road. What they didn't know was that the engine was clean and ready to go. It had to be. Some of the stuff she had outrun in the vehicle would turn most people's hair white. Alli didn't have time for that. Heading into town, a five minute drive, Alli managed to avoid seeing any of the usual beasts that plagued her morning drive in. And when she said beasts, she really meant beasts. Once, way too early in the morning, she saw what looked like a sloth, claws and all, except it was at least six feet tall, and running faster than her truck. It also had blood red eyes, and kept looking right at her. Alli shuttered at the memory. That was only last week. Alli recalled the time when she didn't see things. Those were the days! Before she turned 18, before "the incident", before life really set in, Alli used to be like everyone else. She didn't see things that no one else did, and she didn't feel the crazy urge to do away with them. She had never even been in a fight! Then, after everything happened, Alli started seeing demons, fighting demons, and even talking to some demons. She didn't know what they were, or why no one else saw them. At first, she asked everyone if they could see them. When people started suggesting she was crazy, she stopped that. Instead, she started fighting them when no one was looking. And she started learning about the world they came from, and how she could help her own world. Alli pulled into her parking spot at work and grabbed her bag. She was a school teacher, for crying out loud! She didn't need to be a demon slayer, on top of her day job. As it was, as a high school Special Education Teacher she dealt with a very different kind of beast and demon, the kind that was created by parents that didn't love their kids and kids that got lost in a system that could care less about them. Those were the beasts and demons she chose to fight, not the giant sloth on the side of the road. Alli shook away her thoughts. She had a long day ahead of her and she didn't want to walk inside still thinking about the things that haunted her nightmares. She started for the building, trying to center herself. She had a kid with suicidal ideation, one that was just placed in the foster system with three younger siblings, and two that were just trying to graduate. She had enough on her plate. She didn't need the giant, hulking, green thing that was standing at the door, drool dripping from it's jowls, licking its lips as she walked closer. 'Not today,' she thought tiredly. 'Please, just not today.' The Universe, per the usual, ignored her silent pleas, and hit the "Go" button on the monster right in front of the school. It was not how she wanted to start her Monday. "Do we really have to do this," she asked as the monster chuckled darkly and cracked his knuckles. It was like he was looking forward to it. "Girl goes," he said plainly, his voice almost goofy sounding. Alli didn't take anytime to think about his words, just charged in, hoping to dart under it and go to work. They didn't follow her into the school, usually, but they would try and reach through doors and windows to grab her. And they all said the same thing. That she was supposed to go with them. Maybe, one day, when she got tired of trying to fix her own world, she would go with one of them, but that day hadn't come yet, so she wasn't interested in going with the big green dude. Alli slid her knife out of the sheath hidden in her sleeve. He was a big monster. Big enough that she could roll under him to get to the door, so, she threw her weight forward, rolled, and came up behind him. With a quick slice, she separated the ligaments in his ankles from the muscles, ignoring his howl of pain. Everyone else around her would ignore it too, since they couldn't see him. What they wouldn't ignore was her actions, and what she was doing in the parking lot. "Damn," she hissed, seeing the students starting to pull in. How many people had seen this little show? She slid her knife back into its sheath. No one, even if they searched her, would find her knives. Because they were just like the beasts, demons, and monsters she disposed of, invisible to mortals.