Abstract of Real Monsters

What if I told you today that monsters exist? And I'm not talking about the human kind. I'm talking about the unexplained, real monsters that aren't manifested by the human perception trying to piece together what is missing and what is known. The ones that have no logical explanation other than being separate from nature or perhaps what most consider tamed and mundane. Because the unknown has always been the opposite, a wilderness of frightening possibilities where fear keeps us out. It's what keeps us blind. It keeps us safe.

Would you believe me?

Now what if I told you that these monsters live and breathe in a place so similar to ours, one would only have to open a door to see what lies beyond imagination, beyond what is known, what humanity considers reality over fiction. The world we live in, it's only one side to a parallel mirror of boundless doorways reflecting the other side, the far darker place, and that is where monsters live. They exist beyond our perception, hidden from us by the veil of the unfamiliar yet closer than water is to the air... that the unknown and unfamiliar can appear so frighteningly similar to what has always been around you... It's a place that tugs at our psyche, defying all logic, all understanding, everything humanity has ever known while making us terrified for even imagining it. Curiosity is what draws us closer, its what makes us think to question all those what ifs, and why fear is so potent. It's what connects the mirrors. It's why monsters are so close to us. They were here before us, they are still here now, and they will continue to haunt this world long after we are gone.

Don't believe me?

Alright.

Think of it like this, then.

To us, it's the layer of drywall hidden behind the warped wallpaper in your upstairs bathroom where the mirror rests above the sink, or the ever-present shadow that follows your movements under streetlamps at night, fading into darkness only to reappear in the light, a cyclical pattern repeating itself.

Yeah, they're that close. And sometimes even closer until that shadow following you home is no longer just a shadow, and the creaking behind your wall upstairs isn't just the house settling, but something sinister lurking beneath the wallpaper, tapping behind that bathroom mirror.

And what if I told you that these monsters like children?

Would you believe me tomorrow when a boy goes missing without a trace? What of his parents? Would they believe?

What if I told you a monster took him, one without a face?

Would you believe me then, or when more and more children start to disappear?

What if I told you there is a town in Minnesota where children go missing every few years, but no one seems to notice what happens to them. Did they all stop caring? Do they even know what's going on? Maybe they don't remember.

What if I told you that children there not only vanish without a trace but so does the memory of them? Gone, as if they had never even existed in the first place. And by then who's going to get the word out about a town full of missing children? Would you believe me then, or would you dismiss it as nonsense and forget like the people of Redwood Falls did?

And what if I told you there are other towns across the country, across the whole little world of ours that are exactly like Redwood Falls.

No, you still wouldn't believe me then, would you?

It always starts with an open door whenever a child disappears. Nothing too different. Beds neatly made, clothes still hanging in closets and left untouched in drawers, toys put away in their proper places - but some may be missing, a favorite the missing child loves. And then there are other strange things, like objects left in unusual places that do not belong to the child or anyone in the household. But what is truly bizarre is the fact that no one seems to remember the child, and if they did, no one would believe them. Just how nobody believes an odd girl who claims her little sister has gone missing without a trace. The police dismiss her story about a woman resembling their mother roaming around the house late that night, or the red-eyed boy with grey skin she saw earlier from her bedroom window hiding behind the trees. Why would anyone believe such a bizarre story? They don't believe in imaginary monsters, especially from a girl who lies.

Do you believe in monsters?

I do.

Because monsters have always been here, and not all of us are lucky enough not to see them.