You Must Join Me

They were all seated together in the drawing room. She had kept out of sight by staying behind the largest couch in the room. All of them had spoken about a monster that was lurking on the edge of town. Some form of beast that could take the form of anyone it had killed. This thing had hunted anything that dared to enter the forest for one reason or another.

Men hunting. Women gathering flowers. Or one of the few children who was playing hide and seek with his friends. The other children were what alerted the rest of town to the monster being there. But no one had any idea of what they were going to do in town. In the drawing room, the servants spoke together on what was to be done. The child that had been slaughtered was one of their children. She remembered it being the maid’s only son. Her name was Mary Anne. At least, she thought it was Mary Anne. Regardless they spoke about what to do with the creature. Each of them wasn’t entirely certain what they were up against.

So, they tried to guess that it had to be a vampire. As the woods were very dark. They’d be perfect cover for a vampire. Then they remembered that the creature could change its shape to its latest victim. That sent them back to the drawing board as they milled about the room. Her hand was firmly over her mouth as she listened to them speak. Mary Anne asked,”Maybe the thing is something new? Something no one will ever see again?”

“At any rate it needs to be stopped. Before someone else’s child goes into that thing’s maw.”,a man said. One of the gardeners. At least that’s what she was sure of. Either way, there was this heavy feeling in the air. All of them were absolutely thinking what she was thinking behind the couch. ‘We must be the ones’. They all stood in almost perfect silence for twenty or more minutes. She wasn’t sure since the clock was on the other side of the room. And she didn’t want any of them to know that she was behind the couch at all. For fear they would interrogate her about what she had heard. And the fear that she would get a scolding almost overwhelmed her as she sat there. It overwhelmed her enough for her not to speak out. Mary Anne questioned,”And who do we expect to do that, Thomas? What kind of person would be fool enough to go against that?”

“Well…I uh…I…”,Thomas presumably trailed off. Though she couldn’t blame Thomas for doing as such. As it probably dawned on him that he had to be that fool. That he had to be foolish enough to do it. But she had some doubts that he could do it. As Thomas was one of the least violent people she knew. The man was very kind to every creature that ever came through the yard. Or into the house. Even the rare snake that had come into the backyard while she was playing. He just carefully showed her how to handle the tiny creature. Told her about it before taking it somewhere else to live its slithering life. Her eyes went wide as he cleared his throat and answered,”I will. I’ll be the one that goes to find that damnedable creature!”

“I’ll kill it before it can lay another claw on anyone else’s children!”,he declared. Saying that he was sick of living in fear. The others murmured among themselves as she felt the air grow thicker. Making her realize that the others also had some doubts. Thomas demanded,”Well, who’s with me?!”

With that he was met with growing silence. She didn’t dare peek her head up to check if he was staring at the others. Keeping her hand clamped tighter to her mouth as the quiet started to become smothering in its weight. Unsure if she should reveal herself to assist Thomas. Or stay there to avoid being scolded.