Unexpected Light

He was alone- alone in the site that once contained him. He could remember that this place used to be full of scientists and agents, but now there is only the shadow of what the site was. The shadows are fleshy things that would just ignore him, and he would ignore them too because they were never looking at him or his face.

He did not go outside; the outside scared him more than anything. He was scared of the outside- not because he would become one of these shadows, but because he has the horrible feeling that someone would look at him. At his body. At his **face**. He also knew it would not be a person that was looking at him- it would be the sun, and he would not be able to do a single thing about it. The idea of going outside at night was an option, but he was still too scared. Besides, he had no reason to go outside- inside the site he was alone. There was no one to look at him; he was free to cry alone in the darkness. It was like a paradise for him.

Then, one day, he was sobbing alone, like every other day, when he heard a voice- the voice of a woman. He could hear the women asking for help and food. Through the sound of the sobbing, he heard her come closer. He could hear the voice begging for help as she approached, little by little. When she arrived in the room with him, she screamed in fear, terrified by the crying, pale monster that was sobbing in the corner of the room. Surprised by the scream, he turned around, he could see the woman, as well as a small child holding her hand. The woman was looking directly at him- and directly at his **face**. He could feel the anger, an emotion that he had not felt in a long time. He screamed so loudly that the women fled in panic, leaving the child that was holding her hand alone. He could feel the anger boiling again. The woman seized her chance to run through the hallway of the site and into the stairs. As the anger subsided, he realized: She looked at his face, his face, HIS FACE, **MY *FACE***.

His hunting instinct rang out again- he could tell that she was running on the floor beneath him. He raised his arms above his head and started punching the ground of the dilapidated site. Sinking his claws into the cracked floor, he drove them deeper and deeper until it gave way. He jumped into the newly-formed entry and rushed in the direction of his target. He charged through wall after wall, clearing a path to get his prey faster, concrete shattering and rebar twisting in his frantic rush. The woman continued running. She looked over her shoulder to see the monster-catching up to her more and more. While she looked back, she failed to realize that she was outside. "Ho shit," she said knowing her fate.

At that moment, her body started melting, beginning with her head. Her nose dropped off her face, hitting the ground with a splashing sound. One of her eyes popped out of her skull, leaving the eye hanging on by a single, stringy vein. She tried to move to the refuge of a shadow, but her legs were already decomposed into so much red flesh-mud. She screamed in pain until her mouth melted too. The monster looked furiously at the dying prey, stolen from him. After the painful death of his target, he continued sobbing like always. He was interrupted by the sound of another human. Not from the woman, now a shadow like the rest, but from behind him.

He turned back. The little girl that had been holding the woman's hand was standing in front of him. The girl was crying and calling the name of her mother. When she finished rubbing her eyes, she opened them, and looked in the direction of the pale monster, directly at his **face**.

(…)

(…)

Nothing…

(…)

(…?)

…Nothing?

She looked directly at his **face** but… He did not feel angry? He was confused, he approached the child to make sure of what he had just witnessed. No, the girl did not see him. Sure, he and the child made eye contact, but the girl did not see the **face**. This little girl was… blind.

The girl was still crying and asking for help. She assumed there was someone else with her since she heard the sound of crying. She approached the sound by lifting her arms to make sure she would not bump into something else. Once she touched the monster, she said with a tiny and innocent voice, "Mo-mommy?". These simple words touched the monster. He thought he would only feel sadness and anger for the rest of his life, but these words changed everything. With this realization, the confusion turned to happiness. He looked at the little girl to make sure that she was real, and he slowly surrounded the girl with his long arms to hug her. The girl, who was searching for hope, accepted this hug and hugged him back. The crying of both the monster and the little girl stopped.

They lived together. The monster found a friend, and the little girl found a guardian. When the monster is interacting with the girl, he feels human. He was treated like an animal in his cell, like a monster- nobody could think that there was a heart inside that ruthless killer. For the first time, he found someone that could understand him. The girl too was happy with the monster, she didn't know what he looked like, but she knew what he was.

He was a surprisingly good parent; he would protect the girl at any cost. The monster would even bring food, most of the time scavenged from other survivors. On one occasion, the girl tripped on a metal beam. The monster was so furious, he destroyed the beam as he would kill any other prey. He took the beam between his longs flongs, and slammed it into the wall in front of him, screaming furiously until the wall collapsed. Afterward, there was nothing left of the beam and the girl seemed happy about it. The girl had total confidence in the monster, confidence he shared. Nothing could stop them.

The only thing that ever bothered them was the flesh shadows. The things tried to make a prey of the little girl, trying to push her into the brightness of the sun by imitating the sound of her mother or trying to simply kill her themselves. But, every time the shadows became a nuisance, the pale monster would swiftly correct them. They couldn't approach the girl. Even the deceptive voice of the flesh-creatures couldn't reach the girl through the screams of the monster. The monster protected the girl, no matter what.

There was only that one day- that one, single moment that destroyed *everything*.

The monster and the girl were playing around with the rubble of the site. He was lost in thoughts. He thought of the sun, the big red monstrosity that broke the day, and was waiting to break *his* day. He had a bad feeling, looking back at the little girl only to see that she was not near him anymore. He looked all around him, she was not there. He left the room, only to see the little girl walking toward the entrance. She was two feet from the entrance- two feet from outside where she would meet the sunlight. The little girl was following the voice of the shadow man, but this one wasn't imitating the sound of her mother. Its voice was that of the crying monster.

He was far from the entrance, he ran so fast- faster than when he would track prey. The girl didn't stop- she was still following his false twin's voice. He was so close to stopping her, but she was already outside when he arrived. The little girl screamed in pain as one of her arms began to melt. The monster made a choice. Without hesitation, he left the building to confront the sun. He, too, began to melt but it wouldn't matter. He got above the little girl and blocked the sunlight that had been melting her. The pain was immeasurable, but it wouldn't matter, so long as he protected the girl. He knew he would not survive. He just hoped that the girl would.

The monster dragged her back into the site while blocking any sunlight from reaching her. She was unconscious, and her left arm was missing. The melting of his body didn't stop- he knew he would become one of these flesh things soon. He took a final look at the girl and shed a single tear; the tear landed on the arm of the child, and by miracle, the melting stopped.

He ran as fast as he could away from the site to make sure that he would not harm the child. He only stopped when his legs were entirely melted. He could not see the site anymore, but he could now look upon the sea. He laid on his back and looked one last time at the sun, placed just above the ocean. He looked on as his eyes melted. He gave a long, powerful scream that could be heard from a mile away- a scream so powerful it dragged the dust off the ground, carrying it far into the distance. A scream of sadness mixed with anger. Then, the scream stopped, leaving the silence behind. A dead silence.