FictFri Flash tale - "Monster" 4-15-16

At the end of the hall next to the last door, there is a picture frame. The frame has not had a picture in it for years but it still sits there as a reminder of what happened. The rusty nail that holds it barely stays in the wall but does not even attempt to keep the frame squared to the ceiling. The frame slants into the wall at a haphazard angle, its bottom corner ripped in bits as the golden fabric covering sways in the still air.

Years ago, it had been mounted properly, set in perfect condition, and had shown a picture of the young Miss Valentine and her suitor Master Terrance Holt. Master and Mistress Vanderbilt were proud of her engagement to the young Master Holt. It was a match made in heaven, everyone said. Everyone that mattered was to attend for the joyous occasion.

The wedding night approached and we prepared the whole household for the event. I made sure that everything was running smoothly with our service to the Vanderbilt family, from making sure that the hors d'oeuvres were ready, to examining the valets to ensure their proper appearance, to last minute touches on the garden. The guests arrived on time and congratulated the family as we served them. Champagne glasses bubbling with white liquid, exotic cigars, and expensive delights were passed around the rooms on silver plates as the suited men and flowing gowned women chatted about the occasion. Master Vanderbilt gathered everyone's attention and asked for the whole group to congregate in the ballroom for the ceremony.

As the numerous amounts of guests chuckled their way towards the ballroom, a scream was heard in the mansion. I maneuvered through the crowd to find out what was going on, telling Master Vanderbilt that I would take care of it. The guards were already trying to secure the guests and locate the disturbance. A second scream came from the family's habitation wing of the mansion and Master Vanderbilt, a few guards, and I hurried up the stairs to find what was happening. We never made it to the top of the stairs.

A creature barreled down the staircase, slashing with magnificent claws at anything that got in its way. I collapsed against the stairs, gazing at the creature which was headed straight for the guests. It was larger than a man but in a tattered white flowing outfit.

Pressing a hand to my throat to try stopping the pounding sensation, I checked on Master Vanderbilt and those near me. All were dead. Their blood soaked their white tuxedo shirts and spilled onto the staircase. I had to find out what kind of monster would do such a thing on a day that should have been a celebration, so I stumbled down the stairs. The stairs warped under my feet and sometimes threatened to swallow me whole, but I had to warn the others. I had to get some out alive.

The world rumbled around me, pulsing a weakening beat with every step I took. Death had come to the mansion, bringing many to the ground in pools of blood. The maids would never get all the red out, I knew. Seeing Mistress Vanderbilt in her lovely blue dress that was ruined with a red gash across her chest, I also knew that the Vanderbilts wouldn't worry about the stain in floor. They couldn't because they were dead.

As the world started to fade around me, I managed to make it to the ballroom door. At the front of the aisle of strewn carcasses stood the monster in the dress that Miss Valentine was to wear. In its arms was the lifeless body of poor Master Holt, his chest ripped open. The creature reached into the dead man's chest and pulled out his heart. I might have been imagining things but I saw tears streaming from the monster's eyes as it devoured the heart.

The world turned black as I left my body behind, the last witness of the creature's massacre. She keeps herself locked in the mansion and none have dared to approach since. She took the photo out of the frame because, one of her first actions as a monster, she had ripped it apart in her passion. She didn't want to become a monster but when she did, she didn't want to remember being a human even if that did mean that she had to cut down all that reminded her of the time that she was Miss Valentine Vanderbilt.









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~yume