The Worst Kind of Monsters

by Elias Witherow

  And it was all for us.

  I looked behind me at my wife, sunbathing in the glorious heat. She had her sunglasses on so I couldn’t see if she was looking my way, but I gave her a little wave from the water’s edge just the same. I turned back to my son, grateful I had paid the hefty sum to get this exclusive stretch of beach.

  And why not? We certainly could afford it, my recent success in the stock market fueling this celebratory vacation. I wanted my family to live like royalty, and a private beach thirty miles from everything was certainly a step in the right direction.

  I looked back at the house behind me and grinned. It really was incredible. It was painted a soft blue and faced the oceanfront. Massive windows let in the breathtaking views, the modern design a series of hard angles that layered over one another to form a staggering feat of architecture. A two-level deck wrapped itself around the house, a stage to admire the melting evening colors as the sun set over the water. It was perfect.

  In fact, everything was perfect. I scanned the area around us, still grinning, taking in the exclusive isolation my money had gotten us. Money really can buy happiness.

  I looked at my watch and realized it was almost time to start making dinner. I called out to Sean and waved him over. He took another couple of big leaps in the crashing waves and then sprinted over to me, his face split into a big smile.

  I asked him if he was hungry and he said he was “staaaaarving,” so I instructed him to gather his toys and shovels and start packing up for the day. He ran to obey and I walked over to my wife, Rose, and told her I was going to take Sean up to the house and start grilling burgers. She asked if I minded if she stayed a little while longer and I swooped down and kissed her, telling her I didn’t mind at all.

  Sean and I stomped our way up to the house and rinsed our feet in the outside shower. That was something my wife insisted we do before we went inside. I watched as the sand swirled off our toes before I turned the water off, asking Sean if he could take my towel and hang it up to dry on the deck.

  As he bounded up the stairs to comply, I walked to the front of the house to fire up the grill. I intended to burn off any residue before cooking the burgers, but as I rounded the corner of the house, I stopped.

  There was a man standing in the driveway. He was big, maybe six-four, with dirty blond hair that fell to his shoulders. He looked like he was in his late thirties, maybe early forties. He was wearing a brown leather jacket and a white T-shirt underneath. His pants were dirty and stained, the faded jeans looking well worn.

  His sparkling blue eyes met mine.

  He smiled and nodded. “Evening.”

  I took a hesitant step forward. “Can I help you?” I looked around—where had this guy come from? There wasn’t another house for miles. The road leading to our secluded getaway was barren as well. All the stores and gas stations were dozens of miles down the street.

  He pointed at the beach house. “Nice place you have here.”

  I cocked an eyebrow at him. “Thank you. Is there something you need?”

  He smiled slightly, his eyes looking almost sad. He shoved his hands into his coat pockets and looked up into the sky. He didn’t say anything, just stared at the mixing colors that swirled in the evening light.

  I took a step toward him, unease worming its way into my stomach. The man wasn’t acting hostile, but something about him put me on edge.

  “I asked you if there was something you needed,” I restated, my voice firm.

  He looked back at me, his blond hair spilling across his shoulders, “Oh, I’m sorry. Can you tell me what time it is?”

  I didn’t know how to respond to his strange request and so I quickly checked my watch, wondering why the time was so important he had to walk all this way to ask me. I told him it was almost seven.

  He looked up at the sky again. “I’m afraid that’s not long.”

  My unease and caution bubbled up in my throat and I took an aggressive step toward him. “Look, buddy, I don’t know who you are, but you’re on private property right now. I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

  Those bright blue eyes met mine again and I saw…kindness in them. A soft, apologetic look that told me he knew his presence was upsetting me. He pulled his hands out of his pockets and raised them at me, a sign of surrender.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. His voice was soothing, a gentle rumble, a deep cut of smooth silk.

  He stuck his hand out for me to shake. “My name is Weston. I promise I mean you no ill will. I need to tell you something. Something important.”

  What the hell? I thought. After a moment’s pause, I shook his hand, “I’m Dillon.”

  Weston smiled, his white teeth glowing in the setting sun. “Good to meet you, Dillon. I’m…afraid I have some bad news.”

  Here it comes, I thought. I knew I wasn’t being paranoid for no reason.

  Weston continued, “You and your family are in danger here. You need to leave.”

  I stared at the big man for a second before snorting in disbelief. “You’re joking, right? You want us to leave? Do you know how much I paid to get this place? Do you know how long of a drive it was to get here? No, I’m sorry, buddy, but my family and I aren’t going anywhere. Now are you going to explain to me what you’re talking about or do I need to call the police? Because that sort of sounded like a threat.”

  Weston shook his head. “It’s not a threat. I told you, I mean you no harm. I’m here to warn you.”

  I blinked at him. “Warn me about what?”

  His eyes turned dark. “Something terrible is coming.”

  The way he said it made goosebumps pop out on my arms. I shook my head. “I don’t understand. What’s coming?”

  He returned his gaze to the sky. “The Red West.”

  I snorted again. I had had just about enough of this guy. I wasn’t sure if he was crazy or just a weirdo, but either way, it was time to get rid of him.

  “Listen, buddy,” I said, splaying my hands out in front of me, “my family and I are on vacation. We don’t want any trouble. We just want to be left alone to enjoy our time away. OK? You get what I’m saying?”

  He looked sideways at me. “You don’t believe me, do you?” He looked back to the sky. “Of course you don’t. Hell, I wouldn’t believe me. I don’t know if there is anything I can do to get you to leave; there probably isn’t, but I had to try.”

  I pointed down the road. “Please just leave us.”

  Weston sighed. “It’s coming soon. You don’t want to be here when it arrives. I’ve traveled a long way for this. Please, take your family and go.”

  I jerked my finger toward the road. “Go! Now! Please!”

  Weston stared at me for a moment longer and I saw a flash of something behind his eyes. Violence. Wordlessly, he jammed his hands into his coat pockets and turned. I watched him walk down the driveway, feeling my pulse slow. I wasn’t sure what had just transpired, but I felt relief as he reached the road and kept walking.

  I turned back to the beach house.

  What a strange guy, I thought.

  * * *

  I scooped sizzling meat onto a plate, stomach growling as the hot cheese oozed down the sides of the patties. Sean was sitting at the table, clanging his fork against his glass in noisy anticipation. Rose placed a salad down and told him to stop making such a racket.

  “Did you enjoy your quiet time alone?” I asked her, coming to the table and setting the stack of burgers down.

  Rose placed her hand over Sean’s, lowering his fork. “Yes, it was wonderful. I wish I could live on this beach. It looked like there was a storm coming, but hopefully it’ll blow over by morning. I’m looking forward to another perfect day.”

  I took my place at the table. “Ooo, maybe we can turn off the lights and watch the lightning. Wouldn’t that be cool, Sean?”

  Sean shrugged. “I guess. I get to sit with mom, though.”

  I laughed and started preparing a burger for him. “Nope, yo
u have to sit outside!”

  Sean rolled his eyes. “Daaaaaaad, I’d die!”

  Rose plated the salad and gave me a smile. “You just have to run faster than the lightning!”

  The big bay windows lit up as lightning flashed across the sky leaving trails of thick, white afterglow.

  “Whoa!” Sean exclaimed.

  I passed him his burger. “Here, buddy, eat up. Can’t outrun the storm if you don’t have food in you.” As he took it, thunder rumbled overhead—a deep, bellowing growl.

  “Sounds like it’s going to be a big one,” I said.

  Rose speared salad with her fork. “You should have seen the sky on the horizon. It looked nasty.”

  The conversation lulled as we began to eat. I watched Sean as he munched away, his focus entirely on his food. It seemed like just yesterday he had been born.

  It’s scary the way time flies and how one day you look around and wonder what happened. It’s like driving down a road where the surroundings gradually change, bit by tiny bit. As you drive, you don’t even notice that the trees are getting taller, the foliage a little thicker. Before you know it, you’re in a jungle and you don’t even know how you got there.

  I looked at Sean and wondered how much deeper into the jungle I had to drive before he started to resent me. It was bound to happen during those awkward teenage years. I knew I had hated my parents. Maybe Sean would be different. I was hoping I could just skip over that teen angst and get to the part where we’d be friends again.

  I noticed Rose was watching me and I offered her a little smile. She returned it and I knew she understood my thoughts. That was something she had always been able to do. Back when I met her, she would tease me because of it. She had a little game where she would try to guess what I was thinking at random times. We could be on a date, visiting our parents, having sex; it didn’t matter. No activity was safe from her.

  When our relationship was still in the early phases I would sometimes lie and tell her she had guessed correctly. I did it because I wanted to see her laugh and flash that beautiful smile at me. That smile held me captive and was one of the first things I fell in love with.

  Rose was the first woman to make me feel important to her, like I was someone special. She admired me, admired my mind. She looked up to me. She and Sean both did. I was their provider, their protector. I took that role very seriously and always looked out for their well being before my own. Isn’t that what a good father and husband does? Puts the needs of his family before his own?

  As I took another bite of my burger, I vowed I would never let anything bad happen to my family.

  And that’s when someone knocked on the front door.

  Rose looked up from her plate, cocking an eyebrow at me. Thunder rumbled in the distance and I heard the first splatters of rain on the roof.

  “Who’s knocking?” Sean asked around a mouthful of food.

  I stood, pushing my plate away.

  “Are we expecting someone?” Rose asked, looking puzzled.

  “I have a feeling I know who this is,” I said. “There was a man walking around earlier while you were still at the beach. I sent him away, but…” I trailed off. “Look, both of you just stay here.”

  Through the windows I saw a bolt of lightning snake down from the sky and light the dark ocean, a freeze frame of silent violence. I turned my back to it and went to the front door.

  I opened it and felt my stomach sink.

  “I thought I told you to leave,” I hissed.

  Weston loomed in the doorway, his brown leather jacket crunching as he shifted his hands in his pockets.

  “I’m really sorry,” he said, his eyes two liquid blue crystals, “but this is where it’s going to happen. I want to keep you and your family safe if I can.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?!” I asked as thunder boomed from the black. The spatter of rain on the earth uprooted a pleasant smell that filled the night air. It swirled in the rising wind and filled my senses as the prelude to the storm gained intensity.

  Weston shifted his weight, his face urgent. “I know how this sounds, I know how this looks, and I’ll be the first to tell you that you have every right to be suspicious of me. But I’m telling you, I want to help. It’s almost here, it’s too late to run.” He pointed to the sky as more thunder cracked through it. “This is no ordinary storm coming.”

  I blinked at him, disbelief masking my face with its skeptical fingers. “Why can’t you just leave us alone?! Do I need to call the police? Because I’m about to!”

  Weston reached out and gripped my shoulder, a plea in his eyes. “Listen—Dillon, was it? Have you looked out across the ocean? Have you seen what this storm looks like? Please, just go look. You’ll understand. Just look out at the ocean, look to the west.”

  I grabbed the front door, “OK, it looks like I’m calling—”

  Weston stopped me from shutting the door, one big hand on the frame. “Please! If you don’t believe me after you look, I’ll go! I promise! I’m trying to save your family! I’m trying to protect them!”

  I paused, his words striking a chord with me. I gritted my teeth, fighting internally with myself. I guess it couldn’t hurt to look. After all, he said he’d leave afterward.

  “Wait right here,” I growled. I shut the door and stormed back into the house. My family looked to me with questions in their eyes. I waved them away, shaking my head, frustrated and annoyed that our vacation was being interrupted.

  I went to the big bay windows and looked out into the black. I scanned the horizon, muttering under my breath. Everything looked…normal.

  I was about to turn away when I paused, something catching my attention. Far out against the backdrop of black sky and dark ocean, something red and yellow began to flicker in the clouds. I pressed close to the window, cupping my hands around my face so I could see better.

  The red and yellow light danced inside an enormous wall of bubbling, tar-black thunderheads, the veil of ebony smog tumbling from the sky in puffy, bloated waves to meet with the surface of the ocean. Lightning flashed around the mass of gloom, sparking and snaking in and out of the billowing pillar of darkness. Inside the immense vortex, the flares of red and yellow continued, pulsating like some kind of silent heartbeat.

  It was unlike anything I had ever seen before.

  And it filled me with creeping horror.

  I backed away from the window, mouth going dry. The wind picked up and began slamming sheets of rain against the pane as if to get my attention at what was brewing on the horizon.

  “What is it? What’s going on?” Rose asked from behind me, concern in her voice.

  I said nothing. I turned and stared at her blankly, my face a pale mask of fear. Thunder erupted overhead and Sean visibly jumped.

  “W-we might have an issue,” I stuttered, going back to the front door. Rose called out behind me, but I couldn’t deal with her questions right now. I didn’t have any answers to give.

  I flung the door open and Weston was waiting for me.

  “You see now?” he asked quietly, his tone somber. “You see what’s coming?”

  “Why didn’t we hear about this on the news?” I asked, licking my lips. “A storm like this…we should have been warned!”

  Weston shook his head. “Satellites and radar can’t detect this. There was no way of knowing unless you’ve been following it from its inception. This storm…didn’t come from here.”

  “What am I supposed to do? I have to protect my family!” I cried in a low whisper.

  Weston’s eyes shifted in shadow. “Yes…it will. But I can help you, if you’ll let me. I’ve been following this for a long, long time now.”

  “What IS it? What kind of storm is this?” I asked.

  “It’s not the storm you need to fear,” Weston said quietly, “it’s what’s inside the storm that should scare you.” He pointed inside. “May I come in? We don’t have much time.”

  I bit my lip and then waved
him in, closing the door behind us. We walked back into the dining room and Rose and Sean were at the window, mouths agape, staring out at the coming storm. Violent clouds bubbled into each other like infected blisters, expanding and then popping in flashes of red and yellow while lightning cracked around it.

  It was getting closer.

  The rain was relentless now, throwing itself against the house in heaves of anger, the wind screaming in agony as Mother Nature howled. Thunder shook the walls and the lights flickered once, then twice.

  Sean was clutching his mother, his little hands tangled in her clothes in terrified bunches. They both turned around as we entered the room.

  “Dillon, have you seen this? And who is this?” Rose asked.

  Before I could answer, Weston strode forward, pulling his hands from his brown leather jacket. He reached out to my wife and shook her hand.

  “I’m Weston. It’s nice to meet you. Don’t worry, I’m going to try and help you all weather this storm. I know it looks nasty, but I’m going to do my best to get us all through this, OK?”

  He then squatted next to Rose and gave Sean a little fist bump. “Hey there, champ. You doing OK? I know this is probably pretty scary, but it’s going to be all right.” Sean blushed and squirmed against his mom.

  Rose looked up at me, confused as to whom this man was and what he was doing in our house. I just stared at her, trying to find the words, but ended up just shutting my mouth.

  “You look like you’re a pretty tough kid,” Weston was saying, still crouched next to Sean. “Do you think you could do me a favor, bud?”

  Sean grinned awkwardly and shrugged.

  Weston smiled back. “Can you be brave for me tonight?”

  Sean looked at up at Rose and then back at Weston and nodded, “Yeah, I’m a pretty brave kid.”

  Weston laughed and tousled Sean’s hair before standing back up. He loomed over Rose, but there was nothing threatening about his demeanor. For whatever reason, I found myself trusting this man.

  “Good kid you have there,” he said to Rose.