THE CREATURE - A SHORT STORY

My heart is pounding as I run faster than I knew I could. I want to turn back and save him but I know I can’t. I know that if I stop for just an moment it will get me too. *** It’s been five days since the monster attacked our village. Almost a week since losing him- my Adam. Almost a week. And it still feels like it just happened. I haven’t gotten any sleep since then, I keep having the same nightmares over and over. Adam getting torn apart by that beast. It’s claws digging into Adam, tearing his skin open. All while Adam yells for my help. And every time I hear his voice in my mind my heart breaks all over again. “Jamie! Please help!” I’ll hear him over and over, until I burst into new tears. Its been days since my face hasn’t been filled with tears. And I’m starting to think I’ll be crying for the rest of eternity. I rest my head against my knees as I cry. I should’ve turned back, I should’ve tried to save him. Even if it killed me. At least then I wouldn’t have been such a coward. And if I died while trying to save him I wouldn’t have to feel this guilt and pain. *** “Hello?” I hear a soft voice calling out. The voice seems to be the voice of a little child. I stand up and look around to try and find where the voice is coming from. But after a while of searching I tell myself that it was just in my head. As I walk back to my campsite I hear the voice again. And again. The voice is getting louder and louder the closer I get to the campsite. When I get there I see a little boy wandering around. He looks to be about six or seven years old. His clothes are torn and his hair is a mess. When he heard my footsteps he looked at me. His face was dirty and stained from all the tears he cried. He seemed so scared. Maybe he also encountered that thing. Maybe it also chased after him, maybe it almost killed him. I hope not. A kid doesn’t deserve to see what I have seen. He runs to me in tears. “Have you seen my mommy?” He asks. I shake my head, sad expression crossing my face. This poor kid. Lost and alone. His parents might’ve died and he wouldn’t know. I stretch my arms towards him to see if he’ll let me hug him. He slowly moves closer, I can tell he doesn’t know whether or not he can trust me. “It’s alright. I’m not going to hurt you.” I say softly, still holding my arms out. He comes closer and collapses against me. I hold the kid tight as his tears soak my shirt. “What’s your name kiddo? Mine is Jamie” I ask, still holding him tightly. No answer. “Do you want some food?” I ask, hoping that he’ll answer that. Maybe if I can make him feel more comfortable he’ll talk to me so that I can help him. He nods against my chest. I pick the little boy up and carry him to where I’ve been sleeping these past few days. As I put him down I realise that he had fallen asleep in my arms. I look at him for a moment while he sleeps, he looks so peaceful. It looks like all his fears are gone, but I know as soon as he’s awake he’s going to be scared again. The boy has been asleep for around an hour now, and I just finished cooking some dinner. I had some eggs that I was able to find in a nearby nest and some canned food that I grabbed when we were told to evacuate town. Even though I don’t want to disrupt how peaceful the kid is, I decide to wake him up so that he can get some food into his tiny body. Before taking the food he looks at me, his expression a mixture of sadness and gratitude. I give him a smile, before taking a bite of my own food. Only then does he eat his meal. When he finished his food he looked up at me. “Joshua.” He says but pauses for a minute. “My name is Joshua Owens.” I give him a thankful smile and a hug before he speaks again. “My mommy told me to hide in a closet but then I got hungry so I climbed out, and I couldn’t find her.” He says as he starts to cry once again. I hug him tighter, hoping to comfort him, but instead his cries get louder. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to help him. I know his mom is most likely dead, but I can’t tell him that. I haven’t seen any other survivors from the attack, only myself and now, almost a week later, this little boy. Maybe there are others, I really do hope there are more people who made it out alive. But I’m starting to doubt that. *** It’s been three days since I found Joshua. I told him to stay with me so that I can keep him safe. I can’t let someone else get killed because of me. I couldn’t save Adam but I’ll do anything to keep the kid safe. He’s just an innocent kid. At least Adam was able to realise what’s happening. He saw the creature. He was chased by it. He saw the town get destroyed. Joshua doesn’t know. He didn’t see anything. All he knows is that his mom is gone and the town is in ruins. Our food stock is running low so I have to search for more. I want to run into town and look through some houses, but I’m afraid the creature is still there. And I need to take Joshua with me. The only other option is to hunt, but I don’t know how. And I don’t have the time to teach myself. So going into town is the only logical option. We’ll just have to be very careful. “Just please be careful kiddo. The town isn’t safe anymore. We don’t know what we’ll see there, okay.” I say, and he just nods with a look of fear covering his face. I give Joshua a hug, promising to keep him safe. I pull away, holding my hand out for him to take. When he puts his tiny hand in mine, I nod at him and we start heading towards the small town we used to call home. I can tell that he’s getting more and more scared the closer we get. I decide to star a conversation with him to take his mind off of everything. I ask him about his favourite animals and his friends at school. I ask him what his hobbies are and what his favourite movie is. We talk the entire way there. Little kiddo smiling from excitement as he talks about everything that makes him happy. He tells me about all the small things that matter to him. Especially his mom. I can tell that they were close. And that he misses her a lot. A tear rolls down his face as he tells me more about her, but his smile is still there. *** When we reach the edge of the town I kneel down next to Joshua to explain the plan to him. “Remember, we’re going to search the houses closest to the forest, so that we can quickly escape if something happens. We grab as much food as we can, then we leave. Understand?” He nods and points to a house not that far. “Can we go there. It’s my house. Maybe my mommy is back.” A wave of sadness falls over me, but I nod. “Okay, we’ll do that one first.” I give him a hug before standing up and taking his hand once again. “Let’s go, just stay by my side. I’ll keep you safe kiddo. I promise.” He smiles at me, but I can tell he’s extremely scared. He’s just trying to not show it. I smile back, nodding at him. We walk into town together, little Joshua holding my hand tightly, putting all his trust in me.