short stories/ one shots?

old story

I've lived my entire life in the dark. Literally. And I have a fear of the dark. Bad. but I've learned to live with it. Even if it's hard.

I live in an old volcano and the only light we have is not those old flashlights. Or those nightlights that human parents would put in their child's room to help them sleep. We have stars. And no, not like real stars you see in the sky at night. I mean sticker stars. Those glow up stickers you put in your room when you were 8.

I am 17 and a monster. Not a literal monster like a zombie or story tale skeletons. But more like a monster like Hitler was. Evil, but not that evil. With fur.

I only killed 3 kids. Because they killed my brother. The only person who showed respect for me. They beat him. Abused him. And yet, he came home every night with a smile and a warm hug.

They were humans who climbed down. The eldest was 15 or 16. I watched them beat him every day. Until one day they got bored of him. And killed him.

I still hate them. And I killed my first human when I was 12.

I became what humans thought of us. As a killing monster. I killed them in revenge. For my brother. I cried every night after his death. Even now. 5 years later, I'm still mourning his death. And I still hate those kids.

But where am I now? I'm at the only entrance and exit to this place. The crater of the volcano. I climb out into the bright light. I make sure I get a good foothold on every rock. I reach up to grab the rock overhead and it falls out of place. It falls onto my head and then to the darkness below.

1. . .2. . .3. . .4 . . . Pak! It makes contact with the ground below. I've climbed up so high and yet I have so far to go. I slip my hand into the fresh hole and lift myself up.

I keep doing this until I'm at the top. I pull myself into the bright, blinding light. I lay down and close my eyes. My body started rolling. Falling downhill! I'm rolling down the volcano! My head and body are spinning hard. I can't focus. I scream and hit my head and my body stops rolling.

But the world around spins.

I look at what hit my head. A rock. Talc. a metamorphic rock. My mother taught me all about metamorphic rocks. She was an 8th-grade science teacher.

My brother would be 18 today if he wasn't killed.

I shake my head of that thought and sit up. I see a forest straight ahead. I get up and walk into it. Hopefully, I won't die or anything like that. I can smell the salty ocean ahead. I run to it and before I know it, I'm at the shoreline. The waves roll on to the beach and rollback. The soft sound could lull anyone to sleep.

I close my eyes and imagine my brother telling me the story of the sea. "Millions of years ago the earth had no water or life and god weep because he was alone. His tears filled the craters with water and life began. He treated each of the new life with one gift. Our gift is our magic. Humans are their determination." he said. "Why was he lock us away?" I asked. He never answered me.

I whip my eyes and sit down to watch the waves come in and out. In. and out. In. and out. Back and forth. Until the sunset.

I fell asleep against a tree. Shivering.

***

Laughter. I open my eyes to find I'm tied to the tree. The three humans who killed my brother. I tried to scream but they had gagged me. I fight against the ropes. Tears run down my face.

One of them takes a rock and bashes it into the ropes and ungags me. The ropes released me. He picks me up carefully bridal style. Fight him.

"Sh. it's ok. I'm not going to hurt you." he said his voice was kind like my brothers. His dark hair tossed perfectly.

"Who are you?" I cried. The other boys start to crumble away like they never existed. To dust and ashes. "That doesn't matter right now. What matters is if you are ok. Are you?"

I hesitate and then nod. I shiver as the wind starts to pick up. It must be 20 or below with wind chill.

"Cold?" he asked and put a blanket around my shoulders. "Thank you," I say and hide my face in his chest. He smells like the salty ocean. "No problem," he says. A moment of pause between us. I can hear the waves in the distance. "Wake up" he whispered in my ear.

"What?" I stammer nervously. I fight him. He holds on tighter to me. The more I fight him, the tighter the grip he gets on me.

I relax so he lets go. He doesn't. "Wake up or you'll be dead~" he sings in my ear creepily. I fight him as hard as I can and scream. "Let go! Let go!" I scream. "Let go!"

I scream and wake up. I'm in a small, empty, room a blanket is laid on my chest and arms. I sit up and realize that my hands are cuffed together behind my back.

Someone came in. a boy. A human boy! I back away, fearful. "Hey relax! I'm not going to harm you!" he got down next to me. "Are you ok?"

"No! Let me go!" I cried out. I struggle against the cuffs. "I can't. I'm sorry. They won't let me have the key to free you. I know you aren't dangerous, but they believe you are." he clearly means it. I relax a bit. "Come with me." he starts to help me up. "Where are you taking me?" I ask and swallow hard. "Are you hungry? They have breakfast ready. I bet they'll take the cuffs off!" he smiles. So do i.

"What's your name?" he asks me. "Amelia. You?" We walked outside. "Keanu. It's Hawaiian for the breeze."

There are rooms around us. People walk around in the halls. When someone gets close to us, they walk around us like I'm a rabid dog.

A man approaches us with a woman. He looks like he's 35 and she's in her early teens. "Keanu, why do you have her out of her room?" the man asked. " ʻili, amelia was hungry. She wanted some food. Please ʻili!"

"Pua, take her to the dining hall. I'll deal with Keanu." 'ili said firmly. Keanu seemed tense. He went rigid. "DON'T HURT HIM!!!!" I scream. 'Ili froze. Pua hid behind 'ili in fear. 'Ili raised his hand to slap me. I wince before he does. "Makuakāne! No!" pua screamed and blocked him from hitting me. SMACK! Pua fell onto the ground and 'ili jumped with fear. "Pua! I'm so sorry!" 'ili cried. "Don't hurt her. She's just trying to protect Keanu. Please!" pua begged, tears rolled down her freckled skin.

'Ili helped pua up. "I won't, kaikamahine"

Daughter. I know that kaikamahine means daughter in Hawaiian. I don't know much Hawaiian.

'Ili is pua's dad. Does makuakāne mean dad or father? Maybe. I have no idea.

'Ili handed Keanu some keys. "Take her to get some food. I'm taking pua to the doctor to make sure she's ok," he said blankly.

Keanu nodded and started to drag me away. 'Ili and pua went the opposite way.

"Are they gone?" Keanu asked and looked behind us. "Ok, good." he took me into the bathroom and started to unlock the cuffs. Click. Click. Clack. The cuffs fall onto the soft bath mat with a thump.

"Thanks," I say, rubbing my wrists. He smiles. "No problem."

"now. How do we get out without people trying to attack me?" I ask with a bit sassy.

"Oh yeah. . ." he pauses. He stutters a bit. "You have no plan, hu?" I roll my eyes. He nods guiltily. I sigh.

I toy with my choker necklace. Then it hits me. "Do you have a rope?"

"What?"

"Do you?" he nods confusedly. "Give it to me." he handed me about three yards of rope. I look in the mirror and carefully tie it around my neck. Once I finished that, I put my hands out.

"Cuff me," I say. "Wait what!? No!" Keanu shakes his head. "Do you want to sell that I'm a controlled, captured monster or not?" I hiss. He nods. "Then cuff me."

He hesitates to pick up the handcuffs and putting them on my wrists again.

"Are you ready?" he asks. He picks up the end of the rope and grips it, but so he won't harm me. "Yes," I nod.

We head out of the bathroom and continue down the hall. I can smell oatmeal and eggs from here. My mouth salivates.