Monster Maketh the Man

“Kara?” Beast looked at the child in front of him. “What in the nine hells are you doing here?” Beast looked around to gauge the situation. He was on the ground, there were medical posters all around him. There was a very concerned looking lady standing in the corner with a phone in her hand, Beast could make out the tinny voice of a 911 dispatcher on the other side.

Kara looked at her father. Or was it? Even laying prone he carried himself differently.

“Damnation. I’m dying.” Beast sat up. “Kiddo, it’s going to be alright. We were never supposed to meet. I mean you know your dad, but this side of me you were never supposed to see. You were only supposed to get the real him, me, dammit this is hard. We don’t have time for all of that right now we have to get to a hospital so you can at least see him again.”

“You’re a split? You’re DID?” the lady in the corner stared at Beast, the phone almost ready to drop from her fingers.

“Lady for the love of Loki’s nipples please concentrate on the 911 call please or am I going to have to drive myself. Screw it. Kiddo we still driving the minivan?”

Kara shook her head, “You’re in a SUV now.” She pointed. “Right hand upper jacket pocket, click the lock button twice it will beep at you, you can find it that way.”

“C’mon, I’ll explain as we drive. Hopefully you know where the nearest hospital is. I’m going to need to ask you stuff as well so I can give the hospital the info if I can’t get him back out for triage.”

Kara marveled at how much taller her father seemed. He was already tall to begin with, but he seemed even taller now.

Beast stared down. “No, there wasn’t a physical change I’m still the same dimensions and physical states your father is, I’m just programmed not to feel the pain so I carry myself differently.”

“Can you read minds?” Kara asked looking up at her dad/not dad.

“No, the question was just very plain on your face.” Beast looked around. “And in your scent. You’re gonna have to lead me out kiddo. I’ve never been in this facility. Hell, I don’t know if I’ve ever been to this city. Where are we?”

Kara led the way to the car. “Cedar Crest.”

Beast nodded. “Good at least we haven’t moved far.” Beast started slapping pockets.

Kara laughed a little. “You are him but slightly different. No pocket on your shirt so it’s in the inside pocket of your jacket left hand side. The velcro one not the secret one.”

Beast smiled at the back of Kara’s head. “Knew I was looking for our wallet?”

“You were slapping your pockets like dad does when looking for something. Made sense as you asked what town we’re in that you’d be looking for the wallet to see where we live.”

Beast smiled. “Yeah, you’re definitely our kid. You’re taking this frightenly well. Well, I mean if I could actually be frightened.”

“If you’re not Dad, but still Dad who are you?”

Beast sighed. “That’s a long story. I’ll tell you what I can before we get to the hospital, or the body just gives out altogether. In the back of every mind a monster lurks, chained away in the mind’s dark recesses, kept hidden from the light of day for all eternity. But chains can break.” Beast shook his head. “We figured this out a long time ago. I’m not another personality of your dad, but I am a part of him that can cause a lot of damage should I not be restrained. When you kids were born, we figured out how to put my side to sleep with certain contingencies. One of the biggest body death being imminent. I don’t often feel pain. Your father will pay the consequences for anything I do beyond our normal limits. If we take too long getting to the hospital even my side will shut down as we die.”

“If you’re the monster inside of him, why aren’t you doing bad things and going berserk.?”

“Your father ever tell you that if he was in the middle of a tirade and yelling and screaming and suddenly got very calm, to run?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m why. If that happens either he’s released the chains, or I was pushed to the point the chains break.”

“You said you’ve been asleep all this time, how could you break the chains?”

Beast chuckled. “You ever wonder why your dad is so chill so much of the time? It’s because he feeds the anger, the negative emotions to me. He probably blows his top now and then because he doesn’t want to make me too strong. Your dad likes back-up plans. It really does figure, I mean we are an IT nerd, programming is kinda our thing. Squirrel. He wants to keep me chained. I want to keep me chained, just because I can do the dark things doesn’t mean that I like doing it. I’m rage, not depravity, I do have guilt, and shame.”

Kara looked at the man before her. “Why? You seem like a nice man.”

“The active word in your sentence is seem. In my head I’ve murdered every single person in that building fifteen different ways, except for you.” Beast chuckled. “Even if your father didn’t weave in protections for you, your mother, and your siblings, and… apparently grandchildren… we’re a grampa now too?” Beast shook his head. No time to unpack that now, even if your father didn’t weave in those protections his love protects you by itself.” Beast groaned and sagged to his knees. “Yep, ticker going out… that hurts a lot. If I can feel it, then it’s bad.”

Beast clicked the remote and saw the lights flash and the horn chirp locating the SUV. He pushed himself up and staggered to the car. Thankfully it wasn’t far from the doors. Beast recognized where they were and knew the hospital wasn’t far away. Traffic was light and they made great time, in a matter of minutes they were at… an empty lot where a hospital used to stand. “What the hell? They tore it down?”

“They built a new one it’s been active for about three years now.” Kara pointed west. “It’s two blocks that way.”

Beast sped the direction Kara had pointed. He found the new hospital campus zipped into the first space he could find and staggered as fast as he could through the Emergency room doors. “Heart at…” Beast passed out.

******

Blinding pain. Electricity arced through his heart stopping it, allowing it to restart. “Still in V-Fib” Beast heard a voice yell. “CLEAR!” Lightning tore through his heart again. This is why the chains were released early. Blinding agonizing pain. Pain so intense that even Beast could feel it, so intense Beast was at its mercy. If this is what Beast had woken up to he would have killed every person in the room, hell maybe the whole building before his mind cleared enough to understand what happened. “We’re losing hi…” The world faded back to black.

******

Beast was looking at David.

“Rest now brother. I can handle this part.” David laid his hand on Beast’s shoulder. “I don’t expect you to deal with this part. It’s been a good life.”

David was rocked back by the sudden uppercut. He did not expect the blow. David didn’t even know they could literally fight.

“Yeah, smarty pants neither did I until you put your hand on my shoulder. Who knew two mental constructs could pummel each other. You have a lot to fight for. If you’re not going to try to live, then I will. Maybe it’s time for you to wear some chains.”

******

“NOT YET DEATH MY TIME IS NOT YET NIGH!” Beast screamed as he sat bolt upright on the table. Or at least he tried to scream that, those around him only heard an inhuman scream of pain and defiance as the intubation tube made actual speech an impossibility. The emergency room staff surrounding the body of David Grove jumped and screamed in unison They hadn’t expected the man just declared dead to sit up scream and start ripping out the intubation tube, IVs and leads. The poor young woman that was in the middle of placing the tag on his toe passed out.

******

Three weeks in the hospital, four surgeries, enough medications to cause an insurance carrier to wince and two months in a rehabilitation facility and David Grove was coming home. The actual David Grove, not his darker side. David was back in the in between, the place where he and Beast could talk to one another. Beast was withered and emaciated, almost skeletal. Beast had laid his hand on David’s shoulder this time. “Good thing you’ve fed me well over the years. They love you, no, they love us. Feed me well again brother so should we need, I can protect them if you can’t.”

David looked on his darker half. “Why? Why did you do that?”

“I did it at first for the kid. She wasn’t ready to let us go.” Beast chuckled. “Then during recovery, I got to see them all. None of them were ready to let you go. You convinced me when they were all young to sleep. You were right. All I would have been able to do back then is make them terrified and hate us. You made them love us and cherish us. All those years in the dark, you feeding me, gently weaving the chains, you managed to make me into more than an unthinking monster. I may not feel physical pain like you can, but I’d give anything for your strength of heart. That love, that compassion. That took more out of me than I could have thought. There is power there that I could never wield. The world still needs you brother. I’m weary and I need to rest. Don’t ever doubt your strength.”

******

“Mr. Grove? Hello? I think he’s having another spell.” The orderly behind the wheelchair started to panic.

“You have to forgive a man that had a brush with death some reflection.” David Stood up. “Thinking back on the man he was and given a new lease thinking about the man he should be. Sorry I spaced there; I didn’t mean to scare you, I’m not a monster.”

THE END

Bio: Rich is a lifelong storyteller who spends his 9 to 5 working as a Trainer in the IT Department for a law firm. When not working or building worlds and stories Rich likes to muck about with tons of various hobbies to keep his ADD brain occupied. Some of Rich's previous work can be found in the Podcast Every Photo Tells - https://everyphototells.com/tag/richard-d-asplund-jr/, and even here in the July 2024 issue. This story is inspired by the Writer’s Challenge II prompt 5 – In the back of every mind, a monster lurks- chained in the mind's dark recesses, kept away from the light of day for all eternity... but chains can break.

E-mail: Richard D. Asplund Jr.

Comment on this story in the Aphelion Forum

Return to Aphelion's Index page.