Monsters inside ( I )

Monsters within

He could not help but smile at the gathering of people that filed the streets, the night was in full revelry, the true meaning of this night lost on so many, but it was more than the act of dressing in costumes and using it as another excuse to drink themselves into some drunken stupor whilst looking to make evil look sexy or adorable.

This mass of people in various states of intoxication whether through the consumption of alcohol or some other such substances that altered the mind, the mood of the crowd seemed joyful and without little conflict to speak of, but of course with all things that never lasted.

He feel the growing rowdiness of a group of young men in their mid-twenties, he could not immediately identify the costumes they wore, but they must have been movie monsters of some description.

The costumes they wore were made up to be clothes of something modern, Jeans or overalls and fake weapons like Machetes and clubs that instead of being made from metals that would kill, were instead made from rubber or plastic and in that sense made a mockery of what their real worth was.

He watched them with a sense of curiosity forming inside of him, he had to stop himself from laughing as he watched the four of them move together against the crowd, in their minds they must have thought they were the embodiment of their costumes and monsters, but in his mind, all he saw were men playing at being such.

There would have been a time in the past that men such as these would do what they liked with impunity, the strong or those who perceived themselves to be such would seek out the weak and take what they wanted.

But that had changed over time, morals grew within these people and the threat of retribution would stop all but the most dedicated or deranged from succumbing to their baser instincts.

The sheep were allowed to sleepwalk through life because the wolves had been muzzled and only occasionally did they break free of those restraints and let the beast escape into the world and to hell with the consequences.

That was a simpler, yet more brutal time and he could not help but think that it often helped to remove the weak from the strong and allow society to test its limits and understand what or how far you could go.

Lost in those thoughts for a moment he was pulled back into the moment, a laugh emanating from one of four men as he noticed what could only be described as his victim.

He looked from the four and saw the young woman, she appeared to be in her early twenties much like the four would-be predators, but even the overly sexualised costume she wore, it did not seem to come from a place of confidence. maybe she had been with friends and they fed each other that confidence, .but now she was the lost lamb wandering the streets and it seemed she had found a pack of wolves on the prowl.

The Alpha of this group stepped forward to block her path as she tried to move past them, she instantly froze and the lack of confidence he had sensed in her now turned to fear.

He watched as she tried to move around the larger male, the plastic dagger he held in his right hand now being twirled around like it was a real weapon and he could do something with it.

Pathetic he thought to himself as he continued to watch as words were now being exchanged between the pair, her actions seemed to be some sort of submission or lowering herself in an attempt to buy passage past the group.

His was the sheer glow of arrogance, seemingly feeding off her discomfort and the confidence that he drew from his three friends, the lamb penned in on all sides and nothing more than a meal for the pack.

Man would be man, he thought to himself and considered for a moment as to whether he should continue to watch this unfold, walk away or even take action and show them what a monster really was.

The young woman backed up suddenly and tried to turn to move away from her tormentor but as with most predators, her assailant was quicker and strong, his arm shooting out and grabbing her with his hand by the shoulder and pulling her back to face him once more.

The people around them seemed to want no part of this as they moved to create space and flow past what was happening, one man seemed to have enough courage for a moment to say something in protest but was quickly hustled away by two friends.

The courage of man falters in the face of horror, he thought to himself and felt something rise inside of him, a feeling that should be ignored, the world was complicated enough without making an issue where you did not need to make one and bringing trouble.

It was not fear, he had seen more in one lifetime than any of those fools would ever or could ever see, he had seen death and done nothing to flinch away from it, he had offered that intangible form so much.

No, he would not let these sheep in wolves' clothing take anything without paying for it first, if they wanted to show the world what monsters they were, he would make them pay for that pleasure.

He would show them that the monsters inside burned far fiercer within him than they could ever wish to see, but see them they would as sometimes the monster must become the protector.