"Stop This Monster!"

It's hiding in the dark / its teeth are razor sharp

There's no escape for me / it wants my soul, it wants my heart

No one can hear me scream / maybe it's just a dream?

Maybe it's inside of me!

STOP THIS MONSTER!

- "Monster," by Skillet

Jackson sat at a table in his mother's basement laboratory. He'd been doing an experiment for school late at night, and something... unexpected... had occurred.

The boy sat perfectly still, staring in bewilderment at the test tubes in front of him. The hot chemicals bubbled and smoked in a peculiar way. Hesitantly, he reached out a gloved hand to brush the smoke away before he inhaled all of it...

… only to find himself face to face with some sort of... monster.

It was enough to make Jackson jump up with a start, but, after he blinked, he realized that the monster was gone. Probably just a figment of his imagination after staying up so late.

Yawning, he headed upstairs, not noticing the strange shadow that followed him up to his room.

As he lay down in bed, though, he became very aware of the unearthly sounds that followed him... as the monster searched for him.

His heart began to beat wildly and he searched for a hiding place.

Jackson jumped into his closet, hoping to hide in there. But, red eyes met his in the darkness, while strong hands grasped for him.

With a shriek, the boy fled, closing the closet door behind him and pushing his desk in front of it, hoping to at least slow the creature down.

He heard pounding and scratching on the walls and door of his closet, and he waited for the door to come flying open. When nothing happened, he sunk back unto his bed, trying to calm his unnerved body down.

Then a figure crawled out from under his bed, throwing him a smirk from blue lips.

Jackson screamed.

Laughing cruelly, the contorted monster chased Jackson around his own bedroom for a few minutes, tormenting the human boy.

Finally moving just fast enough, Jackson opened his bedroom door and escaped, closing the door tightly behind him. He held the knob for another moment, preventing the monster from turning it.

Jackson felt the knob jiggle in his hand as the monster on the other side tried to make it turn. The feeling left a strange tingling sensation in his body that encompassed his skin and worked its way through to the marrow of his bones.

Jackson dodged into the bathroom, having no other options. Carefully, he locked the door behind him and he then began barricading himself in, blocking the door with everything he could find. Wastebasket, laundry hamper, towel rack, plunger... everything.

Just as he was finishing, he backed away from the door... backing up right into the arms of the monster he'd locked outside.

The blue-skinned beast leered at him, clutching him into a death grip. The boy cried out as the creature's strong hands began to claw and tear at him.

Jackson began to kick at the things he had used to block the door, trying to ignore the grip this monster had him in. Pulling his arm from the beast's grasp, he managed to get the door open.

The monster constricted its grip on him. Breathing became difficult, and his vision started getting blurry.

He kicked and struggled, finally escaping the creature's clutches and fleeing out the door. He didn't even bother to close this one behind him, after the failures with the other doors.

Jackson went and hid in a dark corner of the laboratory in the basement, hoping against hope that the monster wouldn't find him there. He tried to soothe his haggard breathing; calm his thumping heart.

Red eyes appeared directly in front of him. The monster made no shadow in the light, and he took no steps to catch up with Jackson; it was always there when he turned around.

Unable to control his fear any longer, Jackson began to tremble, and he became aware of the tears that collected in his eyes as the monster reached for him, pressing a blue hand hard against his chest, as if to make his heart stop beating.

The monster smiled evilly, its teeth showing between its blue lips.

Jackson whimpered quietly, momentarily succumbing to the monster that grabbed at him.

"W-what do you want with me?" Jackson asked, his voice cracking with fear. "Where did you come from, anyway?"

The monster grinned, then reached over to grab the boy's head, forcing him to look down.

Jackson realized very quickly that the monster didn't actually have feet; rather its legs vanished and became a part of his own feet...

… not unlike a shadow.

His eyes grew large and he looked up with horror.

Jackson cried out in pain as the monster's grip constricted again. "Ow! Ow! AHHH! Stop it! STOP HURTING ME!"

Much to his surprise, the monster did stop, a peculiar sneer on its blue face.

Jackson blinked his tears away and looked the monster right in the eye. "You're just my shadow. You're just a little piece of me. You're only in my head, therefor you cannot really do me any harm. I am in control here, not you."

The monster gazed at him in surprise, then slowly removed its hands and backed away, a confused sort of hiss escaping from its lips.

"You're just a piece of me that got out," Jackson realized. Snarling, he reached out and grasped the monster by the throat, pulling it closer to him. "It's time for you to come back to me. It's time to go home, Holt."

The monster stared at him for a moment, then slowly smiled as it gazed fondly at him. "Home...?"

"Yes, Holt," he addressed the creature by name as he held his arms out, wrapping the monster into an intimate hug. "Home."

The monster hummed happily as it collapsed against its master, giving in to the human. It had really just been trying to get back into the body it had been kicked out of the entire time; he had not been trying to hurt the boy.

Jackson understood completely, without any words being spoken between them, and he pressed his lips to the monster's forehead, kissing him. He began to suck on the blue skin, the monster in his arms turning to mist and going into his open mouth.

Jackson swallowed and coughed as his parts realigned themselves, and collapsed on the floor in exhaustion, sleep conquering him.

Jackson shook his head the next morning, trying to clear the confusion. His monstrous soul was back where it belonged: inside him. He wondered how it had gotten out, but he was afraid to ask.

He smiled to himself sardonically; he had his monster side back again, and no one had seen it. He and his monster were safe...… for the moment.

The End... Maybe.