It's been watching him for hours now.

Sometimes he would catch glimpses of its grotesque reflection on the computer screen, but he didn't dare to turn around.

Rayne didn't know what to do so he just sat there, trembled, and pleaded in his heart for someone to get him out. His pitch-black hair stuck to his forehead from sweat.

His palms were clammy and his breathing was labored.

Then it disappeared.

Rayne was confused. He couldn't have been seeing things. That "thing" had to have been real.

Raynewas on the brink of a total mental collapse.

Rayne looked to his old Dell desktop and began to type with an erratic expression on his face. He tried looking up what he had experienced and the closest thing he could find was some sort of visual hallucination.

Rayne breathed a short sigh of relief. That was probably what he was experiencing, although he was slightly worried about why he had one.

But with that in mind, his heartbeat began to calm down and he closed his eyes.

Then he heard his mother's voice calling him from the kitchen downstairs. With a reassured smile on his face, he got up and walked out of his run-down room.

Just as he reached the corridor outside his room he heard an urgent whisper from the closet to the side of the door leading to his mother's room.

"Don't go down there, honey...I heard it too. That thing isn't me."

Rayne froze on the spot.

His mind was torn in two. One side was telling him to go downstairs and the other was telling him to open the closet.

"Aaahhhhh!", suddenly he heard his mother's terrified scream from downstairs.

On instinct, he began to sprint down the stairs to help her.

"No! Stop! Come back!"

Rayne turned his head around and saw his mother standing by the closet door. Her dark hair is a mess and her bright blue eyes bloodshot from horror.

Although his mind couldn't think anymore, his body reacted automatically and switched his direction so he was now stumbling upstairs.

From behind him, he could hear bestial footsteps galloping towards him at a rapid pace.

As soon as he reached the top, he shoved his mother back into the closet, ran in, and slammed the wooden door behind him.

Soon a body bashed brutally into the door, but it stood firm.

"...let me in honey...Let me in HONEY! LET ME IN HONEY! LET ME IN! LET ME IN! LETMEINLETMEINLETMEIN!"

The thing's voice turned into a deranged monstrous roar as it continued to slam into the door.

"Quickly! Push everything in-front of the door!" Rayne's mother urged.

Together they worked to move all the random boxes in front of the door and then sat down.

His mother pulled him in close, hugged him, and whispered that everything would be all right. With the lullaby of the monster's roars and the warmth of his mother, Rayne slowly fell asleep.

...

Rayne's eyes snapped open.

Even now a cold sweat still covers his body whenever his mind wanders back to that night three years ago. He was just barely 13 at the time.

That was the day the world as he knew it changed.

Rayne leaned back on his chair in the classroom. Everyone was talking with their friends, but he sat alone. The teacher had walked out of the class to talk to a student outside so everyone took it as an opportunity to let loose.

Rayne looked down at his desk. It was covered in words of mockery and derision.

{Monster Boy} {Psycho} {Retard}

The list went on.

He just scowled at the desk and then at the surrounding students. Some just ignored him, while others looked on with pity.

He was used to it, but he still found it irritating.

Three years ago he was still popular and bright. He was always in the center of attention. He was funny, he was smart, and he was athletic. Although he wasn't the most handsome guy, his looks were still pretty good.

Midnight black hair, sharp grey-blue eyes, and a healthy tan complexion all worked together to make his somewhat average appearance able to be considered handsome.

But none of that mattered anymore.

Mrs. Fayad returned to the classroom with Liam and the class slowly quieted down.

"Turn to page 284 of your government textbook and complete questions 1-5", Mrs. Fayad said while sending a firm look at Liam.

Liam just brushed it off and returned to his chair.

Rayne picked up his textbook and used it to cover up that he was on his phone. He began to scroll through his phone till he reached chapter 7 of the book, "An Anthology of Monsters" by Edith Hamilton.

Ever since that day he had begun to close himself off to others and learn all he can about every monster he possibly could.

This distanced him from his friends and he eventually became a social outcast, but he didn't care.

Every single day he trained both his body and mind so that he would be able to protect his mom and himself if it ever happened again.

Eventually, it turned into an obsession, an obsession that was deemed useless by everyone around him since monsters weren't real.

But Rayne knew. Rayne knew very damn well that monsters were real.

Soon after Rayne finished chapter 7, the bell rang and he got up from his desk.

His cold face suddenly lit up with a dazzling smile.

Standing at the doorway was a girl with curly black hair, hazel eyes, and a crooked grin.

Rayne quickly packed his stuff into his fraying navy-blue backpack and started walking towards the girl.

Although Rayne was smiling, the girl could see the tired look in his eyes.

"Are you okay?", she asked tentatively.

"The last time was just two weeks ago," Rayne ran his fingers through his dark hair, "It's getting worse."

"I'm getting worried about you", the girl said with a sad look.

"I like to keep you on your toes, Navia. Constant anxiety does miracles for the complexion," Rayne stated with a cheeky grin.

"I'll be sure to thank you then," she said while rolling her eyes.

"Make sure of it. You look splendid."

Navia immediately punched him in the arm, but Rayne just shrugged it off.

Although she didn't say anything, Navia knew he was faring a lot worse than he was showing.

Together they began to walk towards the cafeteria, while Rayne told Navia about a new monster he just learned about.

Navia didn't believe in monsters as he did, but she found it a cute quirk. Plus she also thought the stories he told her were interesting.

Rayne wanted to tell her everything he knew.

About how monsters were real. About how those strange men had barged in and saved him and his mom from one. About how the government is hiding it from the public. About how unexplainable sightings are increasing.

But he couldn't bring himself to. Although he knew she probably wouldn't change the way she treated him, he couldn't take the risk.

The risk of her thinking he's crazy...the risk of her looking at him with the same ridiculing eyes of everyone else.

While thinking this, Rayne looked out the square windows lining the hallway leading to the cafeteria.

He noticed something a little strange on the horizon.

"Hey, Navia, do you see that," Rayne stopped and asked her with a curious gaze.

"Yeah, I don't know what it is though. It's probably a plane or something," Navia said with a shrug.

Rayne shrugged in response and they kept on walking.

As they walked, Rayne kept taking glances at the thing through the window.

He couldn't help but feel a little anxious.

The thing was too fast and too big. It had an odd shape as well. He knew it was illogical to say that since it's really hard to tell something's size and speed from far away.

But it just didn't sit right with him.

They both soon arrived at the cafeteria's doors and Rayne opened it for both of them.

"Such a gentleman. I feel touched," Navia said slightly sarcastically.

"Anything for my lady," Rayne responded righteously.

The cafeteria was already full and the lunch lines were extremely long.

Rayne felt despair. Today was nacho day. Navia stifled a laugh when she saw his expression.

Rayne resigned himself to his fate and walked to the back of the line. Navia walked to the front of the line and joined a couple of her friends.

Rayne was left speechless.

....

Fifteen minutes later, Rayne had only made it to the middle of the line. Usually, he would be spitting bloody murder in his head, but right now his eyes were glued to his phone.

On the screen, it showed a massive mountain-like figure rampaging around a city. The quality was bad so it was hard to see what was going on, but the video showed some people were on their knees praying, while others fled and hid. Various...various dead, mutilated bodies were strewn on the floor like an ungodly mural.

Looking at this, Rayne remembered the flying thing in the air from earlier.

An unexplainable amount of dread slowly took root in him. He didn't think the video was fake.

He immediately left the line and started to walk towards Navia.

Suddenly, everyone's phones started blaring.

It was an amber alert.