(Transformed by) The Lady who Lives in my Nightmares

Ian had no idea what day it was. The world could have already ended for all he knew, though his last slipping tendril of sanity told him that didn’t make sense. He hadn’t slept in so long that it was hard to know one way or another what was happening outside. If Ian fell asleep, he would see the lady again and would feel the way that she wanted him to feel. That was the last thing Ian wanted even if it was the thing that he wanted more than anything else in the entire world.

He’d been going on nighttime walks around the motel to clear his head a little, or maybe he’d taken several walks all on the same night. Either way, Ian wasn’t afraid of the monsters anymore. No, that wasn’t quite right; he was definitely afraid of them, and had developed something of a nervous tick as a result of how jumpy he’d gotten. Ian was just really hoping that one of them would knock him out so that he could sleep without dreaming. Yet, none had come.

Searching the Internet for clues about what was going on, Ian had stumbled across some photos of himself skulking around the motel at night. People were talking about him like he was some kind of cryptid, though fortunately many people seemed to believe that the photos were being faked. Ian sighed and curled up into a ball on the bed. He wasn’t going to be able to go outside any more if people were spotting him.

It didn’t matter any more than anything else did. If the lady wasn’t already on Earth, she would be in a matter of days or hours. He quickly checked his phone for an update on the global lights: a few hours, then. In a few hours, the world ended. There wouldn’t be enough time for everyone to even act on the fact that there was a monster in their midst.

How had he fallen so far? All Ian ever wanted was to stay cooped up safely in his home. There was no reason for any of this to be happening to him of all people? Why didn’t Ian have the luxury of watching the world end as a normal person? Half of the appeal of unfiction horror was that you got to watch the world end from the perspective of an individual who isn’t important to the story going on. Somehow, everything had gotten turned around so that Ian was not only the center of attention, but nobody else was aware of what was happening.

Inevitably, Ian fell asleep again. Of course he did; how was someone supposed to stay awake forever? He was crying when he woke up because he’d seen the lady again and she’d been so disappointed in him for staying away. When she held him tightly in her arms and called him Eloise he felt soothed by the grating sound of her voice. In the dream, she told him when she was coming and it made him cry happy tears to know she would be there soon and that he needed to finish her message to the people.

Ian growled and grabbed the computer, picking it up and slamming it down on the edge of the desk. Then he did it again and again. The hard smack of the laptop as it splintered and broke apart was the most satisfying thing that Ian had ever heard. He let the computer drop to the floor and buried his head in his hands. Why hadn’t he just deleted everything? It would have at least been a meaningful form of resistance if she really did want him to spread knowledge of her to the world.

Lying back down on the bed, Ian closed his eyes and gave up. Everything was over and he’d run out of strength to keep fighting. After all, nothing he did now would make a difference. Ian was the lady’s Saint John, her Dante: a vehicle to predict the horrors that were coming. He would have prayed, but obviously every religion was wrong because no god, good or evil, would tolerate a universe where the lady existed.

Minutes dragged on into hours but Ian refused to move from where he was curled up in bed. There was nowhere to run when the entire planet was going to be overrun by monsters soon, so what was the point in getting out of bed anymore? Ian was a man waiting for the gallows and had been for a while. It had just taken some time for Ian to finally realize how hopeless his situation truly was.

A slam on the door made Ian jump and fall off the bed. It was another monster come to finally take him away! Or perhaps the lady herself already on Earth! His breathing quickened as Ian hid behind the bed, eyes glued firmly on the room door, which was still being blocked by the desk chair.

Someone started shouting through the door at him, and he whined a little at the realization that it was a human voice. Or was it human? Just because the other monsters hadn’t spoken to him didn’t mean that they couldn’t emulate human speech? But if it was a real person, why come for Ian? He curled up tightly into a corner and prayed silently that they would just go away and leave him alone.

The hammering continued, heavy and irregular, until Ian heard the door crack a little. He scrambled toward the bathroom and locked the door behind him, pressing all his weight against it. The room door finally burst open and Ian heard people rush into the room. Who was looking for him?! It was a lot of footsteps and voices, meaning a whole crowd of people! Had someone called in the military?!

Someone jiggled the bathroom doorknob and then cried out to the others, creating a burst of new sound and a rush toward the door. Ian couldn’t stop himself from releasing a loud sob as they started banging and demanding to be let in. He cried out, pleading with them to just let him go, but that only seemed to make them angrier and more determined. Sliding to the ground, Ian bowed his head and started to cry openly.

There was a loud crack and splinters flew, causing Ian to shriek before covering up his head. He felt the door being pushed open, knocking him out of the way so feet and arms could be shoved through the crack in the door. Ian begged, explaining that he just wanted to be left alone, but his attackers were foaming at the mouth as they called him a monster.

The strangers brandished knives, shovels, crowbars, and baseball bats, but as they burst through the door many came at Ian with empty, grasping hands. They moved as a liquid, surrounding him to block out all the air and light as hands grasped his various limbs. Someone hacked at his tail while another person hit in him the head, all of them screaming at him as he flailed and scratched and occasionally drew blood from his attackers. Ian was seeing spots as they grabbed onto his arms and started to pull him out of the bathroom with jeering taunts.

He stopped struggling, letting them drag him out of the room and into the parking lot where an even larger crowd had gathered to gaze at him with and endless sea of eyes and murmurs. What was the point of fighting back when the world was about to end, anyway? The crowd pulled him toward the tree line, and Ian’s chest tightened when he saw that a rope was hanging from the lower branch of a tree.

Ian started screaming and slashing at the people holding onto him. Blood ran, but their frenzied shouting only increased as they started whacking him with their tools again. Closing all of his eyes, Ian whimpered and pleaded with the, to just let him go. Cries that he was a threat to them and their families echoed back.

He was dragged to his feet, though Ian had to little energy left that it was hard for them to keep him upright. The rope was brought over and shoved over his head to a crowd of cheers from the audience. Ian continued to sniffle until they started pulling on the rope, which closed his throat and caused Ian to gag. He struggled even as he started to see spots swirling in his vision and the crowd became a formless mass of eyes, grinning teeth, and waving hands.

He was going to die before the lady found him, and that should have been an immense comfort to Ian. All he could think, though, was that he had to get out of this and survive. Ian didn’t want to die! He’d never wanted to die! And like this?! He deserved the dignity of dying like the miserable, worthless man he was and not the monster that they saw him as! He started choking on his own tongue. This was wrong! He wasn’t supposed to die here! Not like this!

Ian flailed, grabbing at the rope with his hands and trying to claw through it. People rushed forward and stabbed at him with their tools, bruising and cutting and battering Ian. Every part of his body was in pain and he would have cried out if he could make any sound.

The rope started to tear, and Ian felt the faintest spark of hope in his heart as the crowd grew more frantic. With a gurgled cry, he slashed through the ropes and collapsed to the ground, landing face-first and gasping for breath. Instead of swarming him, his attackers gasped and pulled back a little, giving Ian just enough space to spring to his feet and run toward the woods where the crowd was the thinnest.

There were a few moments of confusion before Ian heard an outcry and rush of movement after him. Ian was still seeing spots in the sky, but his vision had recovered enough for him to navigate and outpace his pursuers. The lack of visible light was only a setback for them, and for the first time Ian was genuinely grateful for how thorough the transformation had been.

It was slowly getting brighter, though, and Ian eventually realized that he wasn’t seeing spots in the sky. The night sky was actually swirling with colors! His stomach bottomed out. The global lights were beginning! The lady was coming! It was too late!

He was weak and wanted to collapsed to the ground in despair, but Ian had to keep dodging trees. These people wanted to kill him while a bigger threat out there was about to casually end life as they knew it. Ian had done nothing wrong! He didn’t deserve this!

The sounds behind Ian were fainter now, as if some of the pursuers had given up, but Ian’s steps were irregular and he was losing his balance. His heart was hammering in his chest. Above him, the sky grew more and more luminescent and took on colors that he had never seen in any photo of aurora before. Strange irregular shapes started to appear, but Ian kept his attention ahead of him, determined to escape the humans hunting him before considering anything else.

There was no point in thinking of himself as one of them anymore, because he didn’t look human and they clearly didn’t see him as their equal. Nobody would accept him looking the way that he did now! They didn’t care if he liked his body more now or not! Perhaps it had been a gift that was forced onto him but it was a gift nonetheless!

Whose thought was that? Was that his? Did Ian believe that?

The cries behind him had all but faded and Ian slowed to a walk. He couldn’t imagine going back the way that he used to look or the life that he’d used to have. Ian remembered it being tolerable enough, if a bit meaningless, but if given the chance to go back he wouldn’t accept it. Did that mean that the lady had completely dominated his mind or had Ian always secretly wished that he could be something other than what fate had cursed him to be?

Ian was so busy naval gazing that the wasn’t paying attention to where he was going anymore, not realizing that there was something approaching him until it was just a few yards away. Ian took a sharp breath but was afraid to look up as it stopped right in front of him. It made no sound, but off in the distance Ian could still hear people looking for him.

Something wrapped around Ian, making him tense up. Arms? Was this a hug? Ian furled his brow and looked up, his heart giving up when he saw who the towering figure was. Dozens of eyes were turned towards him from a distinctly inhuman face.

It was her. The lady. She came to him first.

His heart was pounding and his whole body was jittery as memories of the time they’d spent together came flooding back all at once. The warm feeling bubbled up and clashed with the fear that haunted his waking mind whenever he thought of the lady. Was he experiencing anxiety of infatuation? Ian didn’t know.

Nothing that was happening before now mattered anymore. Whatever had been going on the rest of the day, the rest of the week, the rest of the year was over. The great clock of history had stopped and nobody had realized it yet. This world belonged to the lady as much as every other world she’d visited did.

For the first time, Ian heard the lady speak in person and finally truly understood her melodious voice for what it was. She called him Eloise, asking if he wasn’t happier having shed all that everyone expected him to be, if he didn’t appreciate her pets and minions coming to strip him of his weak flesh. Eloise felt tears well up in her eyes as she nodded, struggling not to sob as she agreed.

She confessed that she was happier being something more than human, liked being seen as more of a woman than a man. Eloise loved the lady, who cared for her and cherished her and promised her happiness from the moment they’d first met. How could she have ever doubted her faith in her mistress?

Slow footsteps approached and Eloise turned her head slightly to see the dregs of the crowd that had been following her. They were all staring up at the lady and wearing different expressions of awe. Many of them fell to their knees, some loudly praising the lady while others cursed at God. Some members of the crowd screamed and started clawing out their eyes, humbled by the majesty that they were seeing. Others wailed in grief and despair while a few seemed entirely catatonic.

Eloise watched the humans reacting to her lady’s presence for a few moments before being scooped up into the lady’s arms. The lady turned and started walking away from the enlightened crowd, reminding Eloise that they still had to finish spreading the gospel to the nonbelievers. After all, they had brothers and sisters out there, hidden among the humans as Eloise had been, who still needed to be brought into their happiness now that Earth was part of her kingdom.

They walked in the glow of the cosmic lights, which continued to twist in the sky and would do so ceaselessly for all time to come. A new era was beginning for life on Earth, the lady’s pets and minions ready to spread her influence across the face of the planet. Working together in the lady’s name, they would truly create a world where there were no more monsters.