“That’s enough,”the monster growled.
“He bleeds green now!” Lenny shouted. Red bloomed down his neck in a flush.
The monster flicked a look to Eva, whose eyes were now shining with horror.
“My brother, he’s… not the same,” Lenny said, pained.
“I’m sorry.” A little sob slipped out of Eva.
“No,”the monster graveled.“Don’t apologize to him.”
Lenny swung the gun back toward Arthur, his bad arm dangling heavy and loose from the shoulder joint.Like a broken doll.“Stop!” Eva cried out.
And maybe it was foolish, with the barrel of a gun aimed straight at its heart, but the monster couldn’t help the tug of its smile as it stared at the vile man, knowing Lenny’s life was quickly coming to a close.
Lenny scowled. “There’s something wrong with you.”
“I know.”
Lenny huffed. “You’re just going to stand there while I kill you?”
The monster cocked its head.“You don’t want to shoot.”It could tell by the shake of the gun, the crack in Lenny’s voice, the delays, one after another. The coward wanted to scare them, but he didn’t actually want to kill.
Not like the monster did.
A muscle twitched in Lenny’s jaw. The monster glanced at the faded scars marring Lenny’s throat, remembering how it had felt to hurt him all those years ago.
Its mouth watered.
Eva made a pitiful sound of protest as the monster took a step closer to the barrel of Lenny’s gun. The monster was made ofhunger, all the want consuming the body it shared with Arthur forming a tight knot in their belly.
Confusion flickered over Lenny’s face.
How would it do it? The monster had tried to cut Lenny’s life short once before, and had nearly succeeded. Now death by its touch felt like a mercy after all the monster had imagined doing to Lenny over the years.
Arthur’s dread fluttered in the monster’s chest, so much like the wings of an injured bird.
Of course the boy’s moral compass would put up a fight. Though unable to hear his thoughts, the monster knew Arthur well enough to guess exactly how he felt about this, the tension in their shared body making it clear that Arthur was stillhere.
The monster growled under its breath and tried to ignore the feeling as it prepared to lunge forward. It would grab Lenny’s arm and thrust it skyward before he could get a shot off. Humans were complex. Like any animal, they took more time to poison than any weed or flower. The monster would have to hold on for several seconds, maybe more, for its deadly touch to take hold.
You hurt me every time.
The monster ground its teeth together, hating how the words pressed and pounded within its skull. Even frozen inside, locked away where the monster couldn’t hear his protests, Arthur was everywhere, his soft heart pounding in the monster’s chest and his goodness leaking into its veins.
The monster loosed a harsh exhale.
“What are you doing?” Lenny asked uneasily. Blood from the cuts on his arms wept down his sleeve.
You hurt me every time.
The monster could kill him so easily. If only it could tuck Arthur away where he wouldn’t see. It took a step forward.
“Stay back!” Suspicion and fear bled into Lenny’s voice. He was close now, and the monster lurched forward, digging an elbow into Lenny’s ribs and forcing him to the ground with a howl.
The tussle had brought their skin into contact, and the brief touch woke the monster’s hunger. It wanted more. It wanted to consume, to kill this pathetic creature that had brought so much ruin to their lives.
You hurt me every time.
