Monsters

Monsters exist. They live among us. They smile. They shop. They even laugh. You can barely distinguish them. But you'll have to look. Thoroughly. Pass whatever faces they are wearing.

Unlike in movies or horror novels, real monsters don't have fangs to suck your blood dry. No claws to mutilate the weak. No wings to fly at night. No big yellow eyes that follow you in the dark. Real monsters have something far, far worse: WORDS. And words can be like little poisons in your system, gradually but surely, they will ruin you.

Biting. Pulling kids from under the bed. Sucking people into TV sets. Chasing teenagers through the woods. All the other spine-chilling, skin-crawling scenarios modern day films show are not what these breed of monsters do. The simply ruin you. Slowly but utterly devastate your very core. They will point at you. Call you demeaning names. Spread lies about you. Laugh at you. Undermine you. Mock each and every mistake you make. Knowing that gently, oh so gently they are killing your innocent soul. Bit by bit they disconnect you from yourself. Little by little you grow smaller and unsure of the world. Of what kindness is like. Of what a tender laugh sounds. Of the warmth of an embrace. Of every thing that paradise promises.

And that's how water turns to ice. That's how hearts turn to stones. That's how these monsters breed. That's how you turn into one.