PROMPT : MONSTER
“But I don’t know how to control it, see?” I explained to my Cousin Mara, clambering up behind her on the rocky outcropping close to the cliff’s edge. “It’s like—I don’t know—like there’s something inside of me.”
“A monster,” Mara said, softly. “We all feel like that. It doesn’t go away overnight, but you can control it and it’s just—it takes practice.”
“But what if I mess up? If I mess up, people get hurt, Mar. People could die.”
“And if you what if yourself to death, you might die,” Mara snapped. “Again.”
I snorted. “Thanks for the reminder.”
Mara huffed. “You know what I mean, you dork. I’m just saying, it’s—it’s like you have a monster, okay? Everyone’s got two kinds. One will win in the end. That’s the way it has to be. That’s the way it’ll always be. But—you can pick the one that you want to win.”
“That’s not what the Elder told me.”
“The Elders don’t know everything. They’re ancient. That doesn’t necessarily make them wise, it just makes them old. Really, really old. Now would you just listen already?”
“Yeah. Sorry.”
Mara grunted. “Your blood teeth will hang around until your control snaps into place. Then you’ll get your fangs. They’ll hurt like all else when they come in, but you’ll be alright after that. In the meantime, just focus on what you can do. Not what you can’t.”
“But-!”
“Feed the monster that wants you to win, not the one trying to take over you, alright?”
I blinked at her, vision blurring red, before it settled. That was unnerving. But it was also shorter than all the other blurs I’d experienced that day. “…Right.”
“Good girl. Now hurry up, we’re almost there.”
(C) S. Harricharan