Part 5: We All Have Monsters Inside

May 9th, 2021 3:45pm

“You’re late.” Harling said to Jenny.

“Since when did you have so much work ethic? You’ve never come in on time.”

Right as Harling was debating whether or not to tell Jenny off for smart mouthing a superior, Nguyen and Blake walked up with two bags of food from Beavers Bagel’s.

“Breakfast is ready.” Blake said while waving the bags in the air. “Come get your bagel, because I’m eating whatever is left in this bag when I get back.” He dropped the bag on top of Blake’s truck before heading off.

Harling looked at Jenny. “DId you get a chance to speak to Nina before you came?”

“Yes, but she’s not replying anymore. She only smiled and looked at me funny.”

“Huh. Guess she’s starting to have conflicting feelings.” Harling said.

“I don’t know. Some of the other’s think she’s just afraid of going full monster again.” Jenny whispered.

Blake nodded his head. “This is going to be a long day.”

May 9th, 2021 3:45pm

“I gotta pee.” Blake said.

“Again?” Harling replied. “You need to see a doctor Blake. We’re almost there anyway.”

“How far are we?” Jenny said.

“Three minutes.”

“Three minutes?! You were supposed to warn us at the half an hour mark. We haven’t even gone over the plan.”

“The plan is Mr. Tiny bladder and I are going to get Nina’s parents to tell if they are secretly monsters or not. You and Nguyen will stay by the car in case they turn into those monster things and try to make us not alive. Sound good?”

“We came all this way to be your getaway car. Got it.”

BRINGGG BRINGGG

Lucas Johnson answered the door with a confused look on his face. He waited a few seconds before saying “Hello Officers, how may I help you?”

“We need to talk to your husband and yourself.” Harling replied. “It’s about your daughter Nina and her case.”

“LIAM!” Lucas shouted. “Come over here honey!”

The two men, Harling and Blake, stared awkwardly as Lucas avoided eye contact with them.

“Hi!” Liam said as he approached the door. He didn’t look nervous at all. “You’re here to talk about our Nina right? Come on in!”

They were seated in a neat living room furnished like Mary’s had been, an Ikea dream room. When they sat Liam quickly went out of the room and returned with a plate full of cheese, meats and crackers.

“No thank you.” Harling said as the plate approached him.

Liam nodded, put the tray on the center table, and sat down.

“What do you two know about Nina’s case?” Harling said.

Lucas spoke for the first time since he opened the door. “Nothing useful.”

Liam hit his arm gently before looking back at Harling and replying “We know that she caused some mayhem and is being charged for destruction of public property, but they went light on the details. They said we should wait on our questions until you two got here.”

“You have some of the story.” Blake said, stepping into the conversation. “You can ask your questions now. We’ll give you some questions of our own after we answer yours.”

“What did Nina do exactly?” Liam said. “Why won’t anyone tell us the details?”

Harling nodded at Blake, a signal that meant he’d answer this one. “Your daughter was a very different version of herself that night. She destroyed public property, but at a much larger scale than you could imagine. What we have to say sounds ridiculous and probably wouldn’t be taken seriously by most people. So we’d rather share the truth in person.”

“And the truth is?” Lucas said impatiently.

“She looked like some kind of monster.” Blake said, speaking on Harlings defense.

The room went silent for a moment. In the next moment, Lucas began to laugh.

“A monster? What the hell do you mean?” He said while still laughing.

Liam looked flushed and didn’t bother to speak.

“We have camera footage.” Harling said pulling up the video he showed Nina. 

After watching the video both men looked flushed and done with the conversation. 

“I’d like to ask you to leave.” Lucas muttered out. His face was pale and Harling could tell that he’d been trying to get those words out since he paused the video ten minutes ago.

“Sir, it’s important that we ask you about a few things Nina told us.” Blake said.

“I don’t care. Leave. Now.” Lucas said, not backing down.

“If we leave,” Blake started, “Nina may never be a free women again.”

“What do you mean?” Liam said, coming out of his daze a few moments later than Lucas.

“We need a testimony from you two backing up her story. Otherwise, we’ll have to treat her as if she’s guilty. Which likely means a lifetime in prison.” Harling said in a low growl.

“I don’t need you threatening me in my own home.” Lucas said. “Get out. Now.”

“Honey please, this is our Nina they’re talking about.” Liam said. He looked like he was getting desperate. There was a sharp fear in his eyes that Lucas seemed to hate.

Lucas became even more heated after looking at his husbands face.

“All of you out! I will not be disrespected in MY home like this!” He was standing now and pointing at the door. His chest heaved as the rage inside him began to boil to the surface.

“Lucas, please, don’t do this right now.” Liam looked embarrassed. “This is for our Nina.”

“SHUT UP!” Lucas said as the room began to shake. “YOU’RE PISSING ME OFF LIAM!”

Lucas closed his eyes and a moment later his face started to disappear. Slowly, color started to drain out of the man’s face and a black smoke substance began to appear. When he fully developed into a snake monster faced man, he looked a lot like Nina.

The creature looked at Harling, smiled, laughed and said “We all have monsters inside.”

Part 6 will be released soon.

Monsters Inside, by Leeann Diaz