Monster, Monster

Lee had a fear of monsters from an early age.

When he was seven, he saw a large creature with knives for fingers standing over his mommy while she slept. He was too frightened to tell her any of this the next morning, so he sat in silence while he ate his breakfast.

When he turned ten, however, he had seen the monster hurt his mom; it struck her across the face with its sharp fingers, cutting her cheek up nice.

Mommy cried for a long time after that.

As Lee got older, he was able to separate make believe from reality, and he saw the monster for what it really was; a drunken, stumbling, angry mess of a person.

Daddy was the monster all along.

Mommy was never the same.

She wanted to take Lee away, so daddy couldn't find them.

But when Lee was seventeen everything changed.

He put a stop to all of it as his dad slept in the reclining chair, three empty beer cans in his lap, and the TV remote dangling from his hand.

A switchblade, which had been given to Lee by his father when he was eleven, was used well.

Daddy never hurt them again after that.