Joseph Decker

The Monsters Inside Us

Everyone has a monster in their life. Some seem to tower over a feeble frame, feeding off your world while others prey in the shadows, thin and deformed as they dash away, glimpses in every mirror so brief you have to blink twice just to be sure your eyes had not mistaken what you had seen. They fall asleep sometimes, for days, weeks, months, growling and snarling restlessly until awakened by a sight or a sound. Or a touch. They wait in silence, waiting for your most private moment, when you're laid so bare and helpless that it's of immense delight with which they viciously force themselves upon you, knocking you flat on your ass over and over until you can’t tell your head from the ground, beating and kicking relentlessly as you struggle to stand until forced to lay down and accept it. Accept that it is all there is, all that there will be, and once it’s done it leaves you shattered all over again, bleeding and begging, giving you just enough time to heal so it can keep clawing at your hope and feed on your every downfall in its vindictive cycle.