Writetober, Day 1 - The Beast

Hello readers! This is my first entry in the Writetober challenge! I am obviously a bit late to the game, but don't worry, I'll catch up soon!

I have a game I'll be playing for each entry. The title is not the prompt - the prompt is in the title, and it is for you to find in each piece I write! See if you can guess the prompt by the end, but don't worry, if you can't, I'll reveal it to you somehow. :)

Anyways, I hope you enjoy the read!

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I am abruptly awoken by a slight rumble. Oh no, I thought. It's coming back.

I wish mom had picked a different place to live. It was great and all - it was super sturdy, with stone floors, wood walls, and a shiny metal roof. She had worked hard to make the inside as comfortable as any home. We always had food, and plenty of exciting places to explore outside, my favorite being the edge of the forest, though she never let me go any further.

These things were all incredible, but there was one very large issue, at least, for me it was - the beast.

It was huge, black, and made the most atrocious noise I had ever heard. when it flew over our house, it shook the ground so bad I always thought the house would collapse, even with its sturdiness. The beast shot black dust everywhere, and after it left, we had to wait for the dust to settle. Sometimes, the beast flew quickly. Other times, it dragged out for what seemed like hours, screeching and spitting dust the whole way.

I think you see why I hate it here. The sound keeps getting louder and louder, and suddenly I realized: mom wasn't here. She was always here when the beast flew over. Why wasn't she here? Thoughts race through my head, each more unnerving than the last. Whenever the beast would fly over, I would snuggle up close to her, and though it wouldn't block out all of the sound (and definitely didn't help with the rumbling), I always felt safer.

It's getting closer and closer. The shaking is getting worse. With nothing else I can do, nowhere I can go, and no one I can snuggle into, I bury myself in the deepest corner of the house and wait.

The noise is deafening - the beast is practically right above me now. Here we go.

I hear the crashing and squealing above me. Once again the whole house shakes. There is nothing to stop the awful, ear-splitting noise from making my brain feel like it’s on the brink of exploding.

After what seems like forever, the beast finally leaves.

It takes me a minute to gather my thoughts – at least, the ones I am able to scrape together.

It hits me. Mom. She had still never come back, not even at the last second like I was hoping she would have. What if the beast got her? The thought makes me bolt out of the nest – so what if the black dust is still flying, my mom is out there somewhere!

I run, calling as loud as I can for her. The dust is still hanging thick in the air, and I am finding it harder and harder to take a breath, especially because I am sprinting. “Mom!”, I scream, over, and over, but to no avail.

I dart hopelessly through the slowly settling cloud, breathing heavily. I need to catch my breath. As I grind to a halt, I cry out once more: “Mom!”

And then I hear it.

“Viren?”

Was that…

“Viren?”

“Mom?” I shout again, barely believing what I had heard.

“Viren? Viren, Viren where are you?”

I see a comfortingly familiar silhouette. “Mom!” I cry, scampering as fast as my little legs can go.

“Viren!”

“Mom!”

My eyes are watering as I reach her, though how much of it was caused by the dust I do not know. All I know is, my mother is here; I am no longer alone.

“Viren, what are you doing outside the nest?” My mother exclaims.

“I don’t know I… I thought the beast had gotten you! I had to come find you, save you… I didn’t know what to do, all I could think was that I had to find you.” Tears continue streaming down my face: “Why do we even live here? The beast is terrifying! Why don’t we live in the forest, why…”

“Oh Viren”, she says, gently cutting off the end of my sentence. She pauses for a moment, as if contemplating whether or not she should speak the next words. “Viren, there is a specific reason I chose this place for us to live. The beast is scary, yes, but as long as you stay where I have you, you will be safe. The only thing the beast can do is screech, spray dust, and shake up the house a bit. Have you ever noticed something? The beast can never leave its path on the metal roofs. Unless you go where you are not supposed to, it can’t do anything to hurt you. That’s why we stay in the house when it comes.”

The revelation of this information does a funny thing: it both sets my head spinning with more questions, and yet, there is something about it that is calming.

“As for the forest” she continues, “there are even greater dangers that are in there. There are other creatures that screech, and rumble, but they are not confined to one direction. They can chase, and worse, they do have the intention to hurt you. That is the other reason I chose this place – at least for now. I want you to be able to bravely face this challenge before you confront something even more terrifying.”

As I come to understand my mother’s reasoning, I notice that the dust has almost completely settled. I sit for a moment, thinking over what I’d just been told.

“Mom?”

“Yes?”

“I’m sorry I didn’t stay in the nest. Thank you for all you do to protect me.”

“Of course Viren – I am your mother; it is my job to protect you. I love you so much, and would never want anything bad to happen to you.”

“Someday I’ll be big and brave," I say. “Then we’ll be able to move to the forest, and I’ll get even braver there too!” I say.

“I know you will Viren. I’ll be with you every step of the way.”

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Did you guys guess the prompt? Or what kind of creatures my characters were?

If not, that's completely fine! Future writetobers may be easier to decipher. But hopefully this sketch I did will help:

Get it yet? The creatures were mice, and the prompt? A train, thundering above their cozy home.

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I hope you enjoyed! Hopefully I can upload more stories really soon!