Hate by K.A Knight
“Papa!” comes my little girl’s scream. I jerk up in bed. Antoinette is awake by my side and staring at me with fear in her dark brown eyes. Her curly brown hair is up in rollers and askew from sleep. Yanking away the covers, I grab my gun and stumble from our farmhouse in just my sleepwear.
“Ella!” I shout, gazing around at the dark night. Our cows are asleep in the field, as are the sheep. The trees are moving with the breeze, and I shiver from the cold mountain air. The darkness seems somehow stronger tonight, the mountains behind us casting shadows along our land. Something is out there, something evil, I can feel it. I felt it once before, in war, but this is so much more, and my little girl is out here somewhere. “Princess, where are you?” I yell, loading my gun as the mud squelches under my bare feet. To the right are the fields and crops, and I search them as far as I can see, but nothing moves out there. To the left is the barn, the candle burning in front of the fogged windows. I narrow my eyes on it, stepping closer.
The barn doors fly open then smash closed with the breeze, and I notice the light in it then. Racing towards the structure, I slip in the mud before scrambling back to my feet, then I freeze when a high-pitched scream comes from inside, so filled with pain that I don’t know what to do for a moment.
The horses whinny in fear as well, a predator is in there...so is Ella, I know it. Moving forward, I raise my gun and check behind the doors. The light is from the very end, so I move as quickly as I can past the stables and horses, which are rearing with screams.
“Ella!” I shout again.
A laugh cuts through the barn, the eerie sound raising the hairs on the back of my neck, and then I see it. A little, pale hand is stretched out on the hay, covered in blood, still clutching the figurine I made for her yesterday from hair and buttons.
“Ella?” I cry, stepping around the wooden partitions to see my little girl.
Dropping the gun, I fall to my knees with a grief filled scream, clutching her broken body to me. Her face is pale, her eyes open and unseeing. I have seen enough death in my time while fighting the war to know what it is. Blood saturates her nightgown, her little legs covered in mud, her once pale blonde hair streaked with her death.
“Ella, princess,” I cry, tears flowing down my cheeks as I hug her to me. She is so cold, she always hated being cold. “No, no, no.”
A laugh comes again, the light flickering overhead, and I still, something…whatever, whoever is still here and watching me. I slide my hand across the hay to reach for my gun just as the barn doors fly open behind me.
“Ella?” Antoinette shouts, and my eyes fly wide open.
No!
I jerk in my chains, a scream of grief caught in my throat. I am trapped in my own mind, the madness taking hold. I can see the cell, feel the cold, pain, and thirst, but my head is still hearing that laugh. The one that haunts me even today.
The thirst is too much. I’ve gone too long without feeding, and my injured mind is breaking. Caught between the past and present, filled with pain, hate, and grief. My memories flash by like a slideshow of horror.
All the evil I committed, all that I allowed to be perpetuated, reminds me that maybe I deserve this. I am the monster of legends, though most get my origin wrong. I did lose my wife, that is correct, but it was long before I became the monster I am today.
Blood splatters my armour as I rip away the man’s head with my fangs, crying out with glee as I raise it up before me like a trophy, another to add to my spikes. The castle looms behind me, an army before me marching straight towards their death—me.
Panting, I force my eyes wider to keep myself in the present. I can feel my fragile state of mind. This is what they want. Me, weak and broken, until I am nothing but the creature of the night they can use to kill and leave a trail of bloodshed.
I have done that. I told myself I would never again fight for a cause I didn’t believe in. I would withdraw from this world, be nothing but a tale. But here I am, caught in the middle once again.
The cell door opens and another girl is shoved inside. Snarling, I lunge at them in my chains, but all the men in black do is laugh and slam the door shut. The girl’s sobs fill the air as I force myself to be still.
To not give in.
Not now.
