MONSTER HUNTING

Prologue: Predictable Idiot

On a clear Monday morning, a regular office-goer was returning from his home. He took the other lane than the normal one he used because of a strange caution sign up ahead on the road. He was unlucky, because he was the only one traveling to this side of the city. And the poor man had no personal transport for himself. In this generation.

Dane Summer swore to never take another high-class job like his previous one. He was a failure with his polytechnic start-up company, and was forced to be a punctual, regular seat warmer at his new company. But as a mere employee this time. Dane never saw any future ahead of him, until today.

A mirage for a figure was running towards him from the valley-like lane. It was a hilly area, and his legs hurt to walk up this one slope alone. He watched the man's shaking figure through the hot evening air and looked around.

Why was the street so silent? It's almost eerie!

Creeped out of his skin, Dane Summer realized the man running towards him...wasn't 'normal'.

"MONSTERS! MONSTERS, ALL OF THEM!" yelled a man across the street. He had torn clothes hanging like badly knit pieces of fabrics. And his skin was far from being ahealthy and clean. Dane gasped loudly, and he began running in the opposite direction, back down the hill. The man was charging right into him. Dane held his suitcase tightly to his body.

He didn't know what was scarier - the homeless man chasing him, or his boss yelling at him tomorrow if he ever lost those files!

"Who the fuck are you, man!?" Dane screamed at the disturbed man who was running two times faster than he was. Dane tripped on a rock, his ankle sprained badly!

The crazy man plunged on Dane, held his collar, and started screaming at the top of his voice.

"MONSTERS! HAHA! MONSTERS ARE COMING TO EAT ME!!"

"You look like a monster yourself! Get the fuck off!" He pushed the crazy man off of him. Dane was scared beyond his limits today. The stranger was surely homeless, going mental because of hopelessness or hunger. He looked disturbed enough to be called a psycho.

Dane tried to crawl away from the psycho, but the man was giving him a tough fight.

"Fuck off!" Dane was too scared to think of the consequences. The psycho was laughing at him, as if enjoying Dane's helplessness! Dane- as a natural defense- punched his jaw as hard as possible. He thought if he had added another pascal more to his punch, the man's head would've divorced his body, and flown out on the street.

"Man, what the fuck!?" Dane screamed again, panting and trembling with terror. The stranger was bleeding from his lips, his teeth were all red! But he wasn't letting go of Dane.

"I- I have a family, p-please leave me. Argh!" No amount of pushing away was stopping the psycho from mumbling about these monsters nor was he getting off. And of course, he was lying— Dane was living all alone by himself.

The psycho was reaching for his clothes, screaming the same words again and again.

"Monsters are coming to kill me! Haha! They will kill me and eat me alive!" Dane started crying out of fear.

"I want to live, PLEASE!" Dane screamed.

Suddenly, the stranger stopped everything. He sat on Dane, slowly bringing his terrorizing gaze at him.

"You want to live...?" Dane shook his head as yes.

"You will—"

Dane screamed, the blood from his head splattered all over his right arm as the scene disgusted him. He turned over and threw up on the road.

He didn't realize an officer had taken aim and shot the psycho in his head.

"Sorry, man. But he was on the wanted list! L-Let us bring you home." The officer said, handing him a bottle of water. They got inside the car after Dane limped his way toward it.

"What was he screaming about?" The officer asked, talking to someone - may be the higher authority about it.

"About...about monsters. I don't even know—" Dane held his head as he felt a migraine coming up. He took a shaky breath in, trying to calm himself down.

"Monsters, sir. So it's true..." the officer talked on the phone. Their conversation hooked Dane as he turned to face the officer. Looking at Dane growing curious, the officer quickly concluded his emergency report to his senior.

"Ahem..." the officer grew awkward quickly.

"Excuse me sir, but should I know about something here?" Dane asked the officer sternly. He saw a lone, loud ambulance going the other way. It was a government vehicle with a red and blue siren blaring atop.

"Nothing you should know about, sir. Would you tell us your address now?" Dane furrowed his eyebrows. But he needed to go home, first and foremost.

"24th Avenue street." Said Dane, holding his sprained ankle.

The police dropped him by the edge of his driveway as he waved at them with the ice pack in his hand.

"Thank you for this! And thank you for saving me from...whatever that was!" He yelled aloud at the police.

It was all the more creepy here.

Why were none of his neighbors outside?

What's going on?

He remembers an old couple always greeting him on his way back home. They were nowhere to be seen today on this street.

"Strange ass city, New York." He mumbled before inserting the keys to open the door.

As suspected, he groaned as he grew disheartened.

A local street cat he always pets stole his two precious goldfish.

But...wasn't it too much water and blood for two little goldfish?

"Aw man, it reeks here. Fuck!" He's been cursing all day long.

He wouldn't anticipate the turn of events.

He cleaned his room, mourning quietly for his stolen and killed goldfish afterward. He started undressing as he prepared for a warm shower.

While he took his coat off and swatted it to beat the dust away, he saw a small piece of paper flying out.

"What the..." he opened the paper, only to see who must've done it.

It read,

[If you are reading this, I am probably dead. You don't believe in monsters, right? Come to my funeral house at midnight today...]

Dane widened his eyes. How perfectly was it predicted?