Tag!

I sat with my backed turned against the endless pain of the cold steel that was holding me up while I caught hold of my breath. I had been running for some time and ducked inside of the building where I would hide until the creature searched for me no longer. I had hoped that would be the case. The scratching sounds of the creature claws burrowed like daggers inside my ears, whilst its sweet voice called out to me, calling me by name, “Virgil”, its voice was melodic, soothing, luring, it beckoned to me from deep within to a place inside of me that I had not known. It wanted me, but for what I was not certain. It cried out to me. It knew my weaknesses and how to lure me, as if it had been an expert at the game, it knew how I would react, but this is where the creature was blind, it knew, I decided I would do something that it would not anticipate or had been known before. But what?

I heard the redeeming sound from the creature as it lurked around a corner. It was in my line of sight but somehow it had not seen me yet, but its call grew more compelling to my heart and ears, the word redeeming again, that’s the urge, all my past forgiven and all my future, everything was to be forgiven by the creature, redeemed. As much as I yearned for the warm embrace that would fracture the thoughts of me never once finding that redemption again, the cold steel that I was leaning on happened to remind me what it was and why I was running from it. I should had known not to listen or to trust that the creature was not going to hurt me, in one way or another. A small moment of weakness and I would have leapt from my hole to lunging into the open arms of the creature.

I dared my body to make a small movement to the right of me where the creature would not see me if it happened to turn. “Virgil,” the sweet toxic yet melodic voice beckoned. It was pure of love in the voice but seemed to have a murderous eye. I had seen it! My body was begging me to run to it, the steel stopped me. I hunched lower in the corner where I hid and moved to my stomach where I could lay lower and possibly more still, stillness against the urge to run to it. My shirt, if I had noticed sooner, it would have been nice, however, my shirt I found had been tattered and ripped in different areas and upon lying prone on the cold steel floor the chill made me give out a loud shrill, sadly it was too late once I tried muffling the sound with my hands, it seen me and was moving toward me.

It seemed to take a different approach now, hunched, as if it were ready to defend itself, it looked more primal and inhuman the way it moved, silent, but visible, its claws pulsing in and out of its body while it scratched at the metal making it give off the screeching ear piercing noise. Its smile seemed more devious than anything and the TEETH! Oh! MY! LORD! The teeth look long and jagged, saber quality, sharp, instant redemption. I felt it, when that last thought entered my mind, that word once more, redeem, it would solve everything once it ate me and though my mind knew it, my body wanted to react on its own, fighting through the lure and pull given by the creature, I ran. Ran as fast as I could.

With one swift movement the creature was in front of me. its eyes looking directly into mine.

“I found you, my husband. Tag! Your it!” and she ran off and now I was the monster upon the hunt. And I was going to capture her.