The Dark Monster

1. Her Life

"Father, I am going out to get bread," she called and wore her mehroon cloak over her dress, taking the basket in her other hand.

Once out, she made little steps towards the direction of the bakery. There is only one bakery in their village that sells bread. On her way, she hummed a poem to herself. A poem of her mother that her father read to her every night when she was a kid.

Moon is sleeping..
The stars are shining..
Darkness is surrounding us..
Beware of the Monsters..
Lurking in the night..
Trying to harm us ..
Close the doors...
Close the windows..
Stay safe and sleep tight..

Most of the people in the village were still sleeping. Only a few were awake at the hour, and some were also on their path to bakery and some to their work. As she neared the bakery, a delightful smell of fresh bread wafted through her nose. She inhaled the delightful scent and hummed in response.

She went inside the bakery and was greeted by Mr Tumbler, a healthy man of 50. He was the owner of this bakery, but his wife was the one who baked. She is a sweetheart. She makes the world best cookies and often saves some for Flora as she is her most favourite child, her words, not Flora's! Mr and Mrs Tumbler don't have any children, that's why they love Flora and the other children's in the village but they have a soft spot for Flora because her mother was Mrs Tumbler's friend.

"Good morning, Mr Tumbler," she greeted him.

"Good morning child, here," he said, handing her the bread with a wide grin on his face. She gave him the coin and put the bread in the basket.

"Where's Mrs Tumbler?" Flora asked, looking at the empty shop. There was a door at the corner that is connected  to their home.

"She got tired. It seems like old age is catching up to her," he whispered lightly with a teasing smirk, and they both laughed. Mrs. Tumbler doesn't like to be called old, and Mr Tumbler never let a moment go when he doesn't tease her about that.

"Careful. She will listen, and then you will be the one crying." Flora teased him, and he laughed.

"See you," she said and went out to go back towards her home.

At home, her father had already set the plates on the table for them. They sat down and started having their breakfast in silence. It is not allowed to talk while eating because her father thinks it's disrespect to the food.

"I am going," Father said, wearing his coat as Flora followed him towards the door. Her father has a vast piece of land on which different vegetables and fruits are grown. He has some workers to help him too, but it is him who mostly does most of the work. Once a week he went to the city to sell his vegetables and fruits and he earned good enough from it. He also sells in the village too but most of his earnings come from the city.

In two days he has to go to the city with his worker Billy. He is a boy of 15 years old, he is the breadwinner of of family. He takes care of his mother and 2 younger siblings. He worked with Flora's father, Edward, since he was 10. The old man took pity on the family, and since then, he paid him in return for his services. Billy also admired Edward a lot as Edward had always helped him. He is like a shadow of Edward, always doing whatever Edward told him to without any complaints. Edward also admires young men's hard work. Billy also respects Flora and considers her as his older sister. Flora makes lunch for both her father and Billy.

She cleaned the house spotless after washing the plates of breakfast. She did the laundry after that. Their house wasn't that big it was an average sized with three rooms, one kitchen, two bathrooms. Two rooms are on the ground floor whereas Flora's room is on the top floor. Her room is her little sanctuary, where she spends most of her time. She cleaned her room and dusted the shelves, rearranging her books so that there wasn't any speck of dirt left. Her father said that she got that habit from her mother, and her mother also liked to see the house clean without a speck of dust.

After making lunch for Billy and Father, she resigned to her room. She was sewing a sweater for her father, winters were approaching, and she wanted to prepare it until then. When she was halfway through it, she took out a book that her dad bought for her a few days ago. She went out of her home from the back door and walked towards the forest. She walked to the nearby creek and sat under the tree with her book.

She opened the first page and went into the imaginary world that the book had created. It was a story of a beauty and a beast who abducted the beauty. The beast made her fall in love with him over time, but Flora didn't like the book. She believed that beasts could never be loved. Once a beast always a beast, she thought! As she was near the end of the book, she felt like she was being watched. She gazed around her to see if someone was there, but to her dismay, there was no one. She sighed and went back to reading, but then she heard the snap of the twig from across the creek on the other side from her.

"Is someone there?" She asked in a little panic.

"Hello," she called, but no one answered.

I think I should go back, it's going to be dark soon and I have to prepare dinner. She thought and stood up from her place, dusting her dress to free from any speck of dirt or grass. She turned around to walk back to her home when she felt like someone called her, and she snapped her neck back immediately. She really thought she heard a voice, a very dark voice. A shiver ran down her spine, and she whimpered and then ran back to her home. In her rush, her book fell from her hand and left there near the tree. She came back to her home and locked the door behind.

She took a relieved breath and composed herself.

"My book," she said when she realized that it's not with her.

It must be there under the tree. Should I go back? She contemplated for few moments than thought better of it and went back near the tree, when she reached there she look for the book around it but she didn't found it there.

'But no one comes here,' she thought to herself. She huffed in annoyance! It's oka. You didn't even like the book. She told herself.

When she stood under the tree, a strong scent was in the air. It must be of the person who has my book. But the scent was so different, musky and manly. She knew it wasn't someone from her village but then she dismissed the thought by saying that no outsider comes to their village. She took a deep breath unknowingly, inhaling the scent it somehow calmed her, and she walked back.

After coming back home, she prepared dinner for her father and her. Her father came and they both had dinner together. After that, they both talked about their day it was mostly her who was doing the talking. the father was only listening to his daughter stories. He loves listening to her. It's his favourite part of the day!