Monsters Aren't Real

His fangs were long. Sofia ran her thumb from his lips, over his gums, down to the pointy curve of the fang. Austin was lost deep in the ocean of her blue eyes. She looked up at him, trying to hold her composure, but let out a slight snort, then a winkle at the end of her lips. His eyes focused back on reality instead of his fantasies. She noticed and shut her eyes. If she looked at him, she would laugh. And her not lot looking at him wasn’t hiding the fact she had a smile on her face, and he had a disappointed grin.

“I’m so sorry, the fake fangs and the garlic. I can’t.” She stepped away from the comfort of his arms and laid back on the bed.

“Oh, come on, you promised, and you said—”

“I know what I said, Austin, I just can’t.” She shrugged. “I’m not ready.”

Austin spit out the fangs in his hand and wiped the saliva with his sleeve. He placed them on her dresser and laid next to her.

“That’s it. I’m gonna die a virgin.”

“Oh, please.” She punched his shoulder, “Shut up. Who said we had to rush into things.” She flipped onto her stomach and got a closer look at him. “Besides, virgins don’t die in horror movies anyway.”

“Sofia! Sofia! I need you!” Her brother shouted.

“Coming.” She shouted back as she climbed on the bet. Austin looked at her with a slight grin. “You’re gross.” She said, walking out the door.

Sofia’s brother was still sitting in his costume in the living room. The floor was spotted with candy wrappers. He sat in the center, pointing the remote at the TV and clicking all the buttons with both hands. The screen only displayed static.

“You better clean this mess before mom and dad get home. How much candy did you eat?”

“Yeah, I’ll clean it up before they return. Can you fix the TV? I don’t know what happened.” He handed her the remote.

“I’ll do it if you start cleaning.” She snatched the remote from him, “Now go.”

He took off towards the kitchen with his cape in the wind behind him. She pressed a few buttons, but nothing came up, still static. She couldn’t even turn it off. She threw the remote on the couch and told her brother to keep cleaning as she went halfway up the stairs. “Austin! Austin, I need you.”

Silence.

“Austin!”

Silence.

She let out a slight sigh. A loud thud came from somewhere upstairs. Sofia and her brother heard it, looked at each other, and looked up. Another thud. “Austin!”

Silence.

“Grant, stay here.”

She walked up the stairs, and he followed, “You’re out of your mind on Halloween, leaving me alone—what if I die!?”

“Relax, monsters aren’t real, bud.”

They stood at the top of the stairs, waiting. They called his name again, but there was no answer. Her brother hid behind her as she slowly opened the door to her room. She didn’t want her to see Austin if he was going to surprise her by trying to seduce her in his birthday suit. Then she’d really be in trouble. He shouldn’t be over in the first place.

She opened the door to a pool of blood on the floor next to her bed. Her hand pushed her brother back behind her, just in case. The feeling in her limbs faded as she pushed the door open more. Hanging from the ceiling was some creature wrapped in black wings with its lips sucking on Austin’s neck and blood dripping down his face to the floor, forming another pool. She slowly shut the door as soon as she saw the sight.

“Grant…run.” He took off ahead of her, and they ran down the hall. She heard her door open, and the creature took off after her. Thum, thum, thum, thum! They were almost down the stairs when the front door opened. Both were screaming for their parents not to come in, but the door opened anyway…

Yellow tape surrounded the house. Red and blue lights flashed in the neighborhood. Grant sat in the back of an ambulance wrapped in a blanket with minor scratches. The officers talked to each other, all eyeing Grant. One by one, they pulled the bodies of Austin, Sofia, and Grant’s parents out of the house. The officers eventually walked over to him and put Grant in the back of the police car.

“Chief, all the evidence points towards the boy. I don’t believe he could have done it. He’s just a boy.”

“Take him in for now, and we’ll figure it out in the morning. It’s been a long night.”

The officer walked away, leaving the chief facing Grant. It smiled at him, winked, and walked away.