Captured by the Monsters

by R.L. Caulder

I hated being boxed into an image that didn’t fit me. I hated being told that I would be an incredible mother and wife one day, even though I was as single as it got.

And here I was, just forty-eight hours from the shackles falling off and society being unable to control me any longer. Forty-eight hours until my life was my own. Forty-eight hours until I would no longer be eligible to be offered up as a sacrifice to uphold the treaty between The Above and The Below.

“I refuse to be another woman added to the statistic of sacrifices that never return. My name is Serafina Adler, and I’ll be back.”

I pondered if this is what Alice felt when she fell into Wonderland.

“Don’t you dare shrink away from me like I’m going to hurt you.”

Clearing my throat, I explained, “I apologize, but I had assumed you wouldn’t like what you saw and that you wouldn’t want me near you. It is easy for you to imagine us however you wish, with the shadows obscuring much of us, but to see our face takes away that, confirming the monsters we are to your kind.”

In answer, he floated over the edge of the rocks, into the water. Instead of his form disappearing under the liquid like I assumed, the smoky wisps became even more pronounced, dancing beautifully with the undulating water against my bare skin as they wrapped around me.

I was going to right all the wrongs that I could and make the world a better place.

“Sera, I can’t lose you because…I love you. You aren’t just the Queen. You are our everything, gem.”

Now that I thought about it…how were they communicating with them?

It was finally over—actually, it was just beginning, I realized.