Trapped

"Monsters"

"Okay, so we're still working out what the full long-term plan should be. We're probably going to have to make some things up along the way, but for now, our best option is for you to stay here. No one listens in to our conversations here, and the only other way for them to find you is if one of our board inspectors comes here, but they only come around once a year and give a notice before showing up, and besides all that we could hide you some where anyways. We have to find a way to convince them that you knowing, isn't a concern for any reason at all. We have to prove that you can keep all of our secrets, that you can handle knowing the truth about certain things, and handle things that we deal with in our little world here on a daily basis. The best way I can think to start doing that is to get you involved in what we do, to teach you what we know, and show you the ins and outs of everything. Do you think you can handle that?" Zane explained. I thought hard for a moment. I dont really have a choice other than to just handle it. If they let me leave I would be risking being hunted down by multiple people and would quite possibly have to spend my entire life just running, until I'm inevitably found and killed by Michael or someone he knows or someone in the government. I would eventually be found out by one or both parties in that scenario, and I don't think there's any way I can avoid it. If I stay here and prove that I can handle it all, prove that I'm not a concern at all, then maybe we can convince the government to let me live at the very least. Maybe they'll even put me in witness protection to seperate me from everything and everyone involved in this and despite how powerful and how many connection Michael has, maybe, just maybe I will finally be out of his reach." I thought to myself. I looked up at Zane and confidently said, "I can handle it. Just tell me what I need to know and what I need to do." Zane smiled, almost as if he was showing he was proud. Of who or what exactly, i'm not sure. "Good, that's what I was hoping to hear, you say." He said eagerly.

"Good, now that that's settled, I have to get to work." Blayke said as he stood up from the couch. "Wait... work? I thought the whole monster hunting thing was your guys' jobs, including the paperwork and behind the scenes stuff. I'm confused, "I questioned. "We all have to have an outside job to be a part of the family job. That way, we don't raise too many questions or alarms with anyone, whether it be a neighbor or someone in passing. We still have to maintain some form of normalcy so we can pass our psych evaluations, and we have to blend in. Most of us work in the city about half an hours drive from here, but Zane and I work in a local shop not too far from here." Danny answered. "I guess that makes sense. How old are you all anyway?" I continued to ask. "Danny, Greyson, Eli, and I are all 23, Blayke is 22, Ty and Noah are 21, and Tara is 19. How old are you?" Zane explained and questioned back. I debated for a moment on whether or not I should answer, wondering if and how any of them could use that information against me one day. "First lesson, we know everything about each other. Don't be shy, just tell us." Blayke explained bluntly. "I gotta do what I gotta do." I thought to myself. "I am 21." I answered plainly. "Perfect! so you'll fit right in here. No one will question you being here or going anywhere with us. We will have to come up with a back story for you, though. Where we all met, when you moved in with us, what you do for work, down to the last detail so that there's nothing left to question and we don't set any alarms off with anyone if the situation comes up." Ty added. "Great idea, Ty! rather safe than sorry." Zane complimented. Although I'm sure their first choice isn't going to be letting me jump ship and leave somewhere with them right off the bat. "Okay, Danny, I want you to start her off by teaching her about all the different creatures before you go to work tonight." Zane stated as he pointed to Danny. Blayke hurried off down the same hall that Eli left through a little while ago, and Danny agreed to what Zane said. Everyone eventually went their own ways, and Danny got out three large books. It was clear to me now that this wasn't going to be a one-time lesson and done. I guess I showed my thoughts through my expression because Danny laughed sympathetically as he placed the books down and said, "Yeah, were trying to pack in a life time worth of lessons, in much less time than a life time. We spent our entire lives studying these, as well as a multitude of other things and physical training. These aren't all books on the different creatures there are. One of these talks about the different species and everything there is to know about them, one is about our machines and the different chemicals and weapons and gear we use to take on each creature, and the third one is the history of our job throughout the 500 years. It won't be easy, but we will all be here to help you learn it all." I laughed at his understanding of my current thoughts. "I'm going to try my best to learn everything I need to if that's what it takes." I replied.

We studied for about three hours and barely began to touch the surface of the first book that day. We studied the Gorien's and how they prefer to live underground or in dark caves because the sun hurts their skinless bodies. How they're an extremely dangerous race of creatures and aren't afraid to make contact with humans to lure them to their deaths for sport and for food. We studied a creature called a Cambroa, it has longer hair, a flat face, no visibly ears and is usually the size of a cat. They usually shy away from humans, but an extremely poisonous liquid seeps out of their hair like the natural oils humans have in their own hair, and it can trail wherever they go. The poison causes violent seizures, and usually, the victims end up either having a stroke or a heart attack or something similar and inevitably dying with no hope to be saved. The poison masks itself into what looks like a massive overdose of natural hormones like estrogen and progesterone that doctors have yet to discover weren't naturally made in the bodies of the victims. We studied at least a total of fifty different species, along with every detail that's ever been discovered and written about them, and we continued on studying like that for a few days. "It's amazing that all these different creatures exist in real life, staying hidden from the public for the most part." I commented as I flipped back a page to re-read a certain section. "Doesn't it bother you at all that there's all these dangerous creatures out there that you never knew existed until now?" Danny asked curiously. "No, not really. I mean it would have been really cool to get to read about them all when I was in elementary school, the same way I got to read about the other dangerous and strange creatures that everyone is already aware of like bears, crocodiles, snakes, spiders, and even centipedes." I replied. Danny got a confused look on his face for a moment before he very hesitantly asked, "What's a centipede?" I chuckled at first, thinking he was joking, but his confused look remained plastered on his face. "Oh wait, you're serious? You seriously have never heard of a centipede?" I asked, surprised. He laughed, clearly feeling a little embarrassed, "No, I've never heard of it before." He confessed. "23 whole years on the same planet as me, seeming to know absolutely everything there is to know about anything monster related and you've never heard of a centipede." I mumbled to myself from surprise, not trying to attempt to make him feel bad in any way. He laughed again, but this time harder and more confident. "Hey, give me a break, when you were in school getting to read about the centipede creature, I was driving back and forth between hot zones with my grandparents, Tara, and Zane, reading about our own creatures and training to take our parents places in their line of work." He said light heartedly while still chuckling. I smiled at him. "Do you ever feel you've missed out on a lot?" I asked him. "With the centipede? No, honestly I don't imagine it being that big of a threat to my day to day life considering I've never heard of it before today, so I imagine the rest of my life will strongly lack its presence as well." He explained. I covered my mouth while laughing in an attempt to stop myself from laughing obnoxiously loud. "No, no." I said between laughs as I tried to compose myself, "I meant like, because your whole life was spent studying and training for a job that was passed down to you. Do you feel like you missed out on being like a normal kid, having a normal childhood?" I asked, no longer laughing. He began to laugh now and put his head down for a moment in recognition of him misunderstanding my question at first. He looked back up and calmly explained, "You know, I could see why most people would think that, but honestly, I enjoyed my childhood and wouldn't change any of it for the world. As much time as we all spent on studying and training, we also spent playing with each other. We all grew up together and always had each other to count on, so I never once felt lonely even. I'm pretty sure I speak for all of us when I say we were meant to do what we do. It gives us a purpose that feels a little bigger than the normal world." I nodded as I thought his answer over. "Wow, we really do come from two completly separate worlds, or two separate realities", I commented and paused for a moment before continuing,"I hope my question didn't come off as offensive or anything. I was just curious about your opinion, and for future reference, a centipede is a smaller creepy looking carnivorous and venomous bug with about 10 to 300 legs." He raised his eyebrows, surprised to find out what a centipede is. "No, it wasn't offensive at all. It was a good question, and if that's what a centipede is, then I'm glad I've never had to cross paths with one. I don't think I would enjoy that very much at all. You'll have to show me a picture one day." He replied. I laughed and said, "Of course, the second I get an opportunity to find a photo of one I will show you." He pulled out a phone from his pocket suddenly and said, "Oh hey, you could just show me on here, actually." He handed the phone over, and I must have looked surprised because once again reading my mind, he said, "You're not a prisoner here, Alethia. You might be stuck here because of a series of unfortunate events, but you're not a prisoner. We're trying to help you, not hold you hostage or something. " I paused for a moment and let a slight smirk appear on my face. It's been a long time since I could freely use a phone to this extent even, Michael only allowed me to have a flip phone that had just enough minutes on it to communicate with him and no one else. He would check it every night to make sure there were no other phone numbers or texts in it and that my minutes were where they were supposed to be. I think I dropped it at one point before coming here, so I haven't even had that phone, though Michael is probably tracking it anyway. I quickly found the search bar on Danny's phone and typed in centipede and we laughed for a solid 10 minutes at least about the fact that centipedes seem scarier than some of the creatures they hunt and wondering how centipedes ended up in my books growing up instead of his. Zane walked in to see us laughing and asked us what's funny as he sat on the other side of me. Danny tried to tell him but couldn't quite explain why we thought it was so funny. He chuckled anyway and then pointed to the books on the table in front of us and asked me, "How's the studying going?" And then pulled the book closer to see what page we made it to. "I think it's going good. It's really interesting for me to learn about all these things I never knew existed." I replied. We spent another 20 minutes or so talking about everything I've learned, and Zane cracked a couple of jokes that made Danny and I both laugh. "I feel so... content, " I thought to myself. It's odd, I know, I shouldn't feel so at ease in a house full of strangers who kidnapped me, but I do. I haven't felt this calm and comfortable in such a long time. I'm still weary, but I don't feel like these people want to hurt me or anything. It's like I'm stuck in a dream, and im going to wake up any moment. "So the thought of these scary creatures existing and you never knowing until now doesn't scare you?" He asked, breaking me from my thoughts. Danny and I laughed again, "Danny asked me a very similar question just a little while ago", I began to explain, "but I mean, of course to a certain extent it's scary to me, but not much more scary than the ones I did know existed before." I finished explaining as I reached out to gently close the book. Zanes gaze suddenly shifted towards my wrist, and my breath caught in my throat as I grabbed my sleeve to pull it back up and hold it close to my chest. "Alethia, what was that?" Zane asked, sounding very concerned. "Nothing, it's nothing, I swear." I replied with more panic in the tone of my voice than I had intended to show. Danny didn't see what Zane saw, but the worry was becoming contagious. "What is it? What did you see, Zane?" He asked, worried. "She has dark bruises on her wrist, I saw when her sleeve pulled back some." Zane explained. "No, it's nothing, really it's not what you think. I just accidentally hit it something. It's nothing." I tried to explain convincingly but not succeeding in the slightest. "If it's nothing, then show us that it's nothing." Danny said, and Zane nodded in agreement. I felt defeated, the one thing I told myself I needed to keep a secret from them, they noticed so quickly. I held back the tears that wanted to escape, and my throat burned from trying to hold them back. I knew there was no getting out of this, so I started to pull off the cardigan I'm wearing over my tank top and exposed my arms covered in deep black and purple bruises. Both of their eyes grew wide, and they examined my arms. Zane reached up and lightly touched my neck where the cardigan had began to rub off the cover up and realized I was hiding more with make up, so he ran to the kitchen and wet a cloth with warm water and started to wipe away the make up from my neck, showing the even more obvious hand print shaped bruises that were still quite visable. "Alethia... did someone here do this to you?" Zane asked, clearly in shock. The tears finally won the fight and escaped my eyes. "No, it wasn't anyone here." I answered, my voice cracking with the word no. "Did... did someone you know do this to you before we brought you here?" Danny now asked, equally as shocked and unsure how to react. I felt there was no way out but to just tell them and hope that them finding out wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. "My awful husband did this the night before I caught you guys, and you took me away." I confessed as a few more tears fell. I started to pull myself together and wipe my tears before any more could escape. "But how?" Danny began to ask confused, with a sadness in his tone, but Zane interrupted to say, "Why?!" Equally as confused as Danny but seemingly more angry for some reason. I wiped another tear away and said, "We both fight our own monsters, only the monsters I fight look a lot different than the ones you fight."