monster adoption

[psifi872]

Over the course of three generations, monsters came to the town of Oak Shade. And to the forest. And to the river. And, according to Old Lady Habich, to the mill yard. Of course, Lady Habich was known to be a bit overfond of a nip of sherry. Ahem. No one was overly surprised at the arrival of the monsters. Everyone needed somewhere to go. Everyone knew that nothing was forever, not people, not towns, not nations. The only thing that seemed to last was the War Time, when thousands of towns had been established, abandoned, then re-established. Finally, though, even the War Time had finally ended. Peace reigned and everyone settled into their homes, setting down roots, including the monsters.

The nosferatu came and settled in the abandoned manor house. They were most frequently seen, coming to town at dusk. The male, called Steffen, was tall, with black hair and black eyes. His wife, Lauren, had chestnut hair and pale, golden eyes.


People, human ones, understood this.

They were still afraid, of course. Monsters were, after all, monsters.

Henry Lofton was five years old and very afraid of the monsters. They liked the dark and the dark was scary. Henry was sure that the monsters were responsible for the soft, slithery sounds outside his window, the ones that only came at night. Monsters, Henry was sure, liked tromping around outside at night.

Only someone awful and very wrong would be out, once the sun was down, unless it was an emergency. Daddy had gone outside at night sometimes, usually when one of their animals was in distress. Daddy wasn't awful, but, Henry conceded, Daddy was wrong. Daddy was laying in bed with Mommy and neither of them was moving. True, their horrid, coughing sounds had stopped, but so had everything else. Now, Daddy just stared at the ceiling, looking tired. Henry supposed Daddy was sleeping now, so maybe that was okay, but Henry was afraid.

Monsters were scary, but death was scarier. Death was so scary, that Henry was sitting outside in the moonlight. So, something was wrong with him too! Henry gave a hiccupy sob, wrapping his blanket more tightly around his shoulders. He didn't dare sleep, in case the monsters came to get him. All he could do was sit and wait. He knew how to get to their nearest neighbor's house, a mere mile or two down a dirt path. The Rodericks would know what to do, would help him. That's what adults were for, right? All he had to do was survive the night. Outside. With the monsters.