Chapter 104

Olivia

“You can’t kill him!” I cried. “The monster is Alvin. I’m sure of it!”

Nathan’s eyes widened, the moonlight casting eerie shadows over his sharp features as he stared at me in disbelief. A heavy silence hung between us for what felt like an eternity before Nathan finally stood and spoke.

“How do you know this, Olivia?” His voice was low, so low it was almost a growl, and his eyes took on a new darkness that I hadn’t seen before.

“I saw him once,” I replied, my words sticking to my tongue as if they were made of thick, unyielding honey. “On my own, when I was walking home from Angela’s party. I know it was him.”

His brow furrowed, disbelief stark in his gaze. “But that...that’s not enough, Olivia,” he murmured. “How do you know it was Alvin?”

“I swear it’s him,” I persisted, desperation creeping into my voice. “It only had three paws. It looked at me once and then ran away. There was a moment, a brief moment, where I swore that it knew me. I said his name, and it froze.”

Nathan shook his head, his lips pressed into a thin line. “No, Olivia,” he said, turning and walking over to the window to peer out as though the ‘monster’ would be waiting for us in the shadows there.

“You don’t know what you saw. It was dark and you were scared. Your eyes played tricks on you in order to rationalize what you really saw: a monster.”

I knew he was skeptical. I knew he had every reason to be. But I was sure of it. Sure of the familiarity in its eyes, the way it moved, the scent that tickled my senses. I stormed over to him then and grabbed him by the arm, turning him to face me.

“I'm sure of it, Nathan,” I repeated, holding his gaze, willing him to believe me. “It’s Alvin. Our friend. Please… You can’t let them kill him.”

After a moment that stretched on for an eternity, Nathan sighed and ran a hand through his tousled hair.

“Alright, Olivia,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. “You get one chance to prove it. Only one. The Council said that I could have until the end of the week to produce proof that the monster doesn’t deserve to die, so if you can prove it to me…”

Relief washed over me in a tidal wave, leaving me breathless. I nodded, my heart pounding against my ribs like a drum in the silence of the night. Without thinking, I pulled Nathan close and held him tightly in my arms.

“Thank you, Nathan,” I murmured, noticing as he stiffened beneath my touch. “I promise I won’t let you down.”

…

And so it was, later that night, Nathan and I found ourselves crouched in the shadowy foliage outside of Alvin's house, concealed by the thick, whispering leaves.

Levi came with us, although he now kept his distance and avoided my gaze at all costs. Nathan only had him come along in case of an emergency.

Angela was with us too, her eyes watchful as they scanned the darkness. I couldn’t bring myself to go on this mission without her, and her nursing skills could come in handy if we needed to subdue Alvin or if anyone got hurt.

“You really think it’s him?” Angela whispered as we crouched in the bushes, looking at Alvin’s dimly lit cottage.

I nodded. “I know it is,” I replied.

Nathan was silent. He had been mostly silent since we left the villa. His face betrayed no emotion, and he wouldn’t meet my gaze.

“And what will you do if you find out that he is the monster?” Angela asked. “The Council could still see him as a threat.”

I shook my head. “I know Alvin,” I whispered. “He doesn’t want to hurt anybody. If we could just talk to him, make him realize the trouble he’s been causing, I’m sure he’ll go to the Council and ask for forgiveness.”

Suddenly, Nathan scoffed. He said nothing, though, no matter how hard I glared at him in the darkness.

It seemed as though Nathan knew more about Alvin than he was letting on, but there was no prying it out of him. It didn’t matter to me, though; because tonight, I would prove him wrong.

Alvin wasn’t a monster. He was our friend and he needed help.

The night air was thick with anticipation. Hours passed as we waited, hidden beneath the shadowy cloak of the night.

Time, however, was not on our side. The monster—or Alvin, as I believed—did not come out.

Nathan finally let out a sigh of frustration, his breath misting in the cool air. He shook his head, disappointment clear in his eyes. “You were wrong, Olivia.”

But just as he pushed himself up to leave, the door to Alvin's house creaked open. Our eyes shot towards the source of the sound, our breaths hitching in our throats as Alvin emerged.

“Look!” I whispered, pointing through the foliage. “He’s coming.”

Alvin stood on his porch for a few moments and looked around warily, his eyes glinting ominously under the moonlight. His face seemed drawn and pale, and his hair was haphazard. His beard was unkempt, and he looked much thinner than I remembered.

For a few moments he just stood there, his head swiveling around before he slipped away into the shadows.

It was then that I saw it, the missing hand, a phantom limb that marred his once perfect form.

Something within me ached at the sight. Alvin, the boy who used to run and play with us, was now a somber shadow of his former self. He was a skeleton, a corpse. He didn’t look at all how I remembered him.

He had looked so sad as he looked around, so lost in his own world that it felt like a punch to my gut.

A single tear trickled down my cheek, catching the moonlight as it fell. The pain in my heart was overwhelming.

This was my old friend, a boy who had grown into a man, a man who was now… a monster.

I knew at that moment that there was no going back. I would do everything in my power to help Alvin. He deserved better than this, and I was determined to give him that, no matter the cost.

Silence filled the night as Alvin disappeared into the darkness. The only proof of his existence was the lingering scent of him in the air and the heaviness in my heart. My gaze shifted back to Nathan, his eyes still locked on the spot where Alvin had disappeared.

His face looked to be in a state of disbelief.

Maybe now he would believe me. Maybe now he would see that the monster we were hunting was not a monster after all, but a friend. A friend who was lost, who needed our help.

No words were exchanged. We knew what we needed to do, and we began to slowly, silently follow Alvin in a single file line, keeping to the shadows as the chilling night air echoed our silent fears and hopes.

The fight was just beginning, and I had a feeling it was going to be a long, arduous journey.

But for Alvin, for my friend, I was ready to face anything. Even the shadows that lurked within my own heart.