Vincent

Neither Vincent nor his father Felix could sleep that night. Vincent tossed and turned for hours, unable to fall asleep. The monotony of his room drove him to the brink of sanity. He got up, spun around on his axis, and lied back down. The summer heat irritated his skin, causing him to itch himself all over. Hearing his father roam about the house in the middle of the night, he got up and went to greet him.

Seeing Vincent’s eyes, Felix knew what he had on his mind. The man knew that stare. “Dad, I’m bored, let’s go out!”. Not thinking much of it, they both got ready and set out for a walk. A million stars showered the skies, and the moonlight brightened the streets nicely, creating decent visibility for the night.

The two walked around aimlessly for a while, side by side. Something caught Vincent’s attention, however, and walked ahead of his father. Felix lost himself in thought, as he hadn’t noticed his child creating an ever-growing distance between them. By the time Felix noticed the gap between the two, Vincent was ahead of his father and could barely hear his calls.

“Vincent, come back here!” the man called out.

Vincent ignored him however, something urged him to go on ahead. Felix picked up his pace when he noticed his child growing even more distant. Vincent started running ahead almost instinctively, occasionally glancing back to see if his father had still been following him. Vincent was always a playful boy. Teasing and messing with his parent. He was full of life and energy.

Walking past a bush line, Vincent found himself in Eden. A sea of freshly grown grass swaying gently in the wind. The sight and smell of this marvel took over the boy’s mind, and he dove straight into the grass. Rolling in it, soaking in it, he crawled all over the grass. Letting the blades caress every inch of his body. He was enjoying himself so much he failed to notice his father’s voice had all but disappeared into the void. No longer he could hear anyone calling out his name in the distance. At first, he didn’t care either. The feeling of moist vegetation against his skin was too good. Eventually, his mind drifted onto the next thing, returning to his dad and going back home. He stood up from the grass and turned around.

A scream tore through the silence like a knife. Vincent’s head turned in the scream's direction. Another scream echoed in the distance. Vincent looked around, intrigued. Another scream, and another, and another. Soon enough, all he could hear were someone’s screams. The hairs on the back of his neck stood upright. Something wasn’t right.

He started walking towards the noise. As he got closer, the noise got louder. He called out into the distance. At first, no one responded, so he called out again. This time a voice came calling back from the darkness. A familiar voice.

Felix’s voice.

Recognizing his father’s voice, Vincent ran in its direction, shouting that he’s coming over and over.

Something wasn’t right.

Felix was telling him to stay away, he was telling him to run away.

Vincent couldn’t do that. He wanted to get closer to his father, so he ignored the commands and kept on running. Bursting through the bush line, he saw something that forced him to stop dead in his tracks.

A sight that shook him and sent waves of chills across his skin.

A massive black thing pinned his father down. The creature smelled bitter-sweet, like spoiled meat. It was covered in strange dark patches around its hands and face. It buried its face deep in Felix’s shoulder, who tried his damnedest to push away the creature while telling his child to run away.

Vincent yelled at the creature with all his might, “Leave papa alone!”

The beast outstretched its form, displaying its full size. It was a few times larger than both Felix and Vincent combined. The boy trembled before bouncing backward between his desperate shouts.

To seem frightening, Vincent bared his teeth to the beast, but it didn’t seem too concerned. Instead, it kept its attention on Felix, biting into one of his arms as he struggled to protect himself.

Vincent charged the creature, and it finally let go of its prey and stood on its hind legs. Its massive form cast a shadow that swallowed both Felix and his child. The creature stood many times taller than Vincent, covered in shining black fur. Its forelegs had five massive claws, and the head had a hairy appendage that stretched to the ground. The monolith stared directly at Vincent. Its facial features were reminiscent of a stickman’s; two white holes for eyes and a jagged, wavy line underneath which the monster’s jaws were hidden. It roared into the heavens, shaking even the trees all around with its shrill cry.

The awful call paralyzed Vincent. Panic took over his brain, and he stood there, mortified by the gloomy giant before him. The beast was about to charge the boy, but seeing this, Felix mustered all of his strength to grab at the monolith’s leg. He screamed at Vincent to get out of there.

That scream awoke something inside the boy. His fear had turned into anger. Rage bubbled inside of him. All the hairs on his body stood up as he reared his lips to reveal a beastly grin of his own.

While the beast was struggling to shake off Felix, Vincent charged it and attacked its massive foreleg, causing it to shriek in pain and shove the boy aside. Vincent landed on his side before rolling back onto his feet. He yelled at the beast again before preparing to charge it again. The beast, however, the pain caused by the boy shocked the beast. It merely waved its massive forelegs in the air before running away into the darkness, limping and wailing like a scalded dog.

Vincent ran to his father, licking his wounds and wagging his tail. The white V-shaped patch of fur on his chest shone under the moonlight. Felix rolled over and placed his arm over his boy.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better dog, Vinnie.”