They looked delicious. Humans always seem so tasty from afar, and they look even more delectable when they eat dinner and fatten themselves for him. The monster licked his lips as he watched them from the window. Wanting to jump right in and tear them apart to feast on their flesh or experiment with their bodies. It wouldn’t be hard either, and no one else from town would interfere or investigate. As the family was located outside of town. No one would hear their screams.

  But the person who made him curious was the young girl in rags. Once she took them off and revealed her scales and a strange claw in the comfort of her own home, he understood her a bit more, how she managed to stare directly at him. She noticed him; a small 12-year-old girl noticed him. That fact alone made him both furious and impressed. He wondered what he could do to her, the sort of horrors she could spawn.

  Human relationships confused him. He could tell the children were the creation of the woman inside. However, there was no evidence of a human father in the picture. Perhaps he left, died, or something else happened that the monster wasn’t aware of. Whatever happened, he was out of the picture. But what was most odd to him was how the human children always clung to their parents. He assumed it was because they were a weak and pathetic species, or just too stupid to really comprehend existence.

  It was all so, so confusing. Why bother caring for your young when you can do something else? How could someone waste their time on smaller creatures who do nothing but waste the resources they have accumulated? All of that disgusted him deep down. It needed to be corrected. Preferably, by force.

  He wanted to burst in there, get it over and done with and move on somewhere more interesting. The town annoyed him, and the monster had no desire to linger any longer than it already had. He figured he would travel inland in search of a home, to do what he was made to do. Create new nightmares. Perhaps go into the desert and away from civilisation. He wasn’t sure why, but he had a strong urge to hide from humanity to safeguard his future.

  Before he could finish his scheme, he didn’t notice the little girl walk outside and stare directly at him while holding a bag full of rubbish. Clearly terrified by his presence, but brave enough to stay put to speak to him. ‘You should leave.’ Miranda whispered, her voice quivering as she made her demand, as she saw through the monster’s chameleon camouflage.

  Stolen story; please report.

  The monster raised a brow and chuckled. ‘Brave of you to come out here and speak to me like that. Making demands when you can’t force me to follow them.’

  ‘It doesn’t matter! You shouldn’t be here.’

  He chuckled as he took a step towards her. Miranda winced at the monster’s movements but remained firm as he approached.

  ‘Or what?’ He sarcastically asked.

  Miranda curled her lips. Her hands shook as the monster breathed down her neck. ‘Just leave,’ she whimpered. ‘I know what you want to do. We did nothing wrong, and we don’t deserve it.’

  The monster took a step back into the darkness, cloaking its body in shadow. ‘Why don’t you deserve it?’ He asked, and for a moment Miranda noticed that he was sincere. A strange bit of curiosity to understand why they don’t deserve to suffer.

  ‘We are innocent. You are like me. Changed after what happened.’

  ‘Changed?’ The monster glanced at her mutations before examining his right hand. ‘Yes. Changed. So, you might know what I am? What I need to do.’

  The girl shook her head. ‘I don’t know what you are or what you need to do. Perhaps you can do good instead and help people? There is no point in doing evil.’

  ‘There is nothing evil in what I am doing. It is just nature, an expectation I need to follow.’

  ‘But you don’t have to follow it.’

  ‘I do,’ the monster growled. ‘There is a balance I must follow, an itch I need to scratch. Why must I deny it when it needs to be done? My nature has a core to it, young one. You can’t destroy a core you have inherited since birth.’

  Miranda stuttered, unsure how to respond to that or understand what the monster meant. ‘Maybe you can choose a different core? Do something good instead of evil.’

  The monster paused for a moment, contemplating the words of a human child and trying to see what it should do next.

  ‘Go inside,’ he smiled. ‘Be with your family. I promise to leave you alone. Your mother must also be worried sick about you. If you are lucky, there might be ice cream inside.’

  She lowered her head, nodding at the creature’s answer before putting the trash away. She didn’t need to say anything else to the monster. Instead, she headed inside to be with her mother and brother. All while the monster walked away from the house, grinning as it salivated. It would change its way of doing things.