The Beauty of Death | Maxine Parks

5 | Monsters Inside

"It sounds pretty powerful... so why does he seem like he hates it?" (M)

"That's because he does. He never uses it on his own, Minerva forces him too. Instead of him being the puppeteer, he becomes her puppet. She will use it as she pleases wether it's to lure in people and make him kill them, get secrets out of others, lure other demons to her... even worse things than you could possibly imagine.

Even if he isn't in control, he is disgusted with himself and his body, for what he's done to innocent people makes him sick. He hates himself for this ability, and I know when he wakes up he will be terrified and avoid you for a bit. He will avoid everyone, needing to be alone.

He is like this with any of his abilities when he is forced to use them...

...Greysin doesn't want to live anymore. He doesn't want Minerva to have that control..." (GA)

"..you can't fix him, can you? You can't change his ability or change the fact he is a hider. If I became a demon, can't we take it away as well?" (M)

"No, it's not possible. With people like me and you, we turned into demons due to Minerva cutting our main wounds and pouring demons blood into our blood stream. For usual people, they should die... but me and you are the very few that could handle it and let it fuse with our DNA.

He was born a hybrid... that's something I can't change." (GA)

"...What other abilities does he have?" (M)

"He has countless amounts. He's been forced to kill, sometimes he does it willingly due to people knowing how to manipulate his mind and push him to his limits... he's been so mentally and physically tortured that I fear one day he's just going to snap and no longer be the Greysin I've always known." (GA)

"How long have you known him?" (M)

"Since I was... maybe 15? I remember that day like the back of my hand. It was in the early fall, I had just stolen food from a market and was running for what felt like forever. I ran into a clearing and I saw him standing there by a lake, spearing fish for food.

I remember he turned around and looked terrified, immediately pulling his hider mask down and I laughed before approaching him, handing him an apple I had stolen. It took him a while to open up to me, took days watching him and he seemed like a normal human being, just without a home.

Hunting for food, making tools to carry water or chop down trees, making clothes from animal fur. I watched him for days, observing him. I would leave him food or supplies like clothes and even books. I saw that he had an interest in books so one day, I left a book about beauty and the beast... it ended up being his favorite story for a few years.

After about maybe a week and a half of watching, I finally came out of hiding and sat down across from him when he was eating by his fire. That's when we finally introduced our selves and had a real conversation. He wasn't scared, he did stutter though and refused to touch me or even look at me...

He was like an abused animal, not wanting to be around anyone or even be seen. It took maybe two years before this guy would even give me a high-five. He was so scared of hurting me... yet when he finally touched me for that split second and realized I was fine, it was like he completely trusted me. After that day, we worked and lived together. We built our own home, found our own food... I still stole books and clothes though...