His Childhood Monsters

The Wilsons’ house was old, but it was perfect for them. There was Mr. Wilson, Mrs. Wilson, Becky Wilson, the oldest daughter, and Antonio Wilson, the youngest son. Mr. Wilson wasn’t rich and Mrs. Wilson didn't have a job, but they took good care of Becky. Becky was quite spoiled for a sixteen-year-old girl since her room was filled with jewels and expensive accessories. Mrs. Wilson was trying to get Becky to sell those, but Becky said she would rather die. 

    “We need more bread,” Mr. Wilson grumbled, looking at the empty crumb-filled bag.

    “Hatchet should arrive soon,” Mrs. Wilson replied as she took a sip from her cup of tea. 

    But before Mr. Wilson could speak, Becky came running down the stairs with a box of jewels. She dropped the box on the dining table, which caused Mr. and Mrs. Wilson to jump. 

    “Which one can I wear?” Becky asked quickly. “I have a brunch date soon, so I need to decide-”

    “Now, now,” Mrs. Wilson sighed. “Hatchet didn’t arrive yet, so you can’t leave. He should be arriving soon with a basket of food, so take something before you leave. Probably some jams or-”

    “Where’s Antonio?” Mr. Wilson interrupted. “What’s he doing upstairs?!”

    “Probably drawing,” Becky said as she picked up a golden necklace.
    Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Mrs. Wilson quickly patted her apron, Mr. Wilson organized his tie, and Becky quickly shoved the golden necklace into the box. “Places everyone!” Mr. Wilson whispered. He then opened the door, to reveal a seven-foot inky beast that was dripping black ink around the Wilson’s porch. He had long black claws and white eyes with very small black pupils. He was holding a basket filled with fruits, but they were already dripped in black because of the ink from the beast. On the other hand, he was holding an actual hatchet with a sharp tip. 

    “Hatchet!” Mr. Wilson exclaimed sarcastically. “How are you doing?”

    Hatchet just stared at him with a gleaming smile. He then handed Mr. Wilson the basket of fruit, which started to stink.

    “Smells wonderful!” Mrs. Wilson spoke, pretending to smile. “Thank you-”

    Suddenly, loud thumping footsteps started to come down the stairs to reveal a young boy. It was Mr. Wilson’s son, Antonio Wilson, who was holding a few papers with drawings on them. 
    “Who’s visiting us today?” Antonio spoke cheerfully.
    “Oh boy,” Becky sighed deeply. 

    “Nobody is visiting us,” Mr. Wilson grunted, trying to cover a seven-foot beast.

    Hatchet then growled and pushed Mr. Wilson. As he fell to the ground hard, all of the fruits from the basket tumbled everywhere. “Oh my!” Mrs. Wilson cried, helping up her husband. Hatchet gave his hand out and more ink dripped down onto the ground. 

    “Ugh!” Becky yelled in disgust. “You stink!”

    Hatchet, of course, also pushed Becky.
    “Charms! It’s you! Wanna see the drawings I made?” Antonio asked, showing him papers with colorful scribbles on them. Hatchet took the papers and Mr. Wilson immediately snatched them back. Suddenly, he ripped the drawings. Mrs. Wilson let out a small gasp and Becky stared. Antonio froze. Hatchet’s smile then turned upside down. 

    “W-We’re going to talk, Antonio,” Mrs. Wilson muttered, and pulled him into the dining room. Mr. Wilson and Becky followed them. 

    “Why would you give Hatchet those drawings?!” Mr. Wilson yelled. 

    “It’s not Hatchet!” Antonio cried. “It’s Charms! He loves my drawings, so why can’t I give them to him?”

    Mrs. Wilson and Becky looked at each other strangely. “You mean Hatchet?” Mr. Wilson asked. “That icky beast with overalls?”

    Antonio looked like he was going to cry, but he was holding his tears in. “No! Charms is the fluffy white cloud monster who wears a pink floral hat!”

 Mr. Wilson froze. Mrs. Wilson and Becky looked very puzzled. Who was Charms?

Suddenly, the wooden pole in the middle of the city shook. An alarm went blaring off the speakers. It was so loud that it could shatter every window in a house. The Wilson’s city never received an alarm before. 

“All citizens, please exit your home and walk down to the wooden pole. Thank you.”

“Now what?” Mr. Wilson grumbled. “I already had enough of this.” 

“What about my brunch date?” Becky asked angrily. 

“Be patient,” Mrs. Wilson replied, pulling Antonio to her. “We never received an alarm, so this might be serious.”

Mr. Wilson and Becky headed out the door. Mrs. Wilson looked at Antonio. He had sorrow in his eyes, and his mother could see his hands trembling. 

“You can make new drawings,” Mrs. Wilson said, then looked at the front door. “But why would you give them to a monster? You can show-”

“Charms isn’t a monster,” Antonio sniffled. “He’s a fluffy cloud.”

Mrs. Wilson sighed and took her son’s hand. 

“Let’s just… go and see what your father and sister are doing.”

 Mr. Wilson and Becky were standing outside, waiting impatiently. Other families were walking toward the pole. Suddenly, Mrs. Wilson shuddered. There was something near the wooden pole. It was a monster. Antonio let go of his mother’s hand and ran for it. 

    “Antonio-” Mr. Wilson yelled, but his son didn’t answer. 

    This time, Antonio had a better view of it. It had white eyes with no nose. Its mouth was very long, reaching to the side of its eyes, and it was wearing a white, ripped-up dress. Antonio saw it differently. The monster’s face looked like a clown. The monster was wearing a red jabot and a jack-in-the-box box, with its arms and legs sticking out. 

    Mr. and Mrs. Wilson and Becky hurried over to Antonio and the monster turned its head slowly in the direction of Antonio’s family.  

    “A-Antonio,” Mr. Wilson said sternly but shivering. “Step away from Paleneck-”

    The wooden pole shook again. More monsters then came out of the fog. There were skinny ones, fat ones, monsters without a head or eyes, and some of them looked like a zombie who chewed them apart. Hatchet was even there too. Suddenly, the speakers from the wooden pole played a happy tune and everyone, including the Wilsons, looked up to see what the lady was going to say.

    “Greetings, citizens. You may be wondering why you are all out here.”

    Every family looked at each other. The monsters were quiet as a mouse. 

    “Every monster from this city will be removed. So, who would like to remove these horrible and stinky monsters?”

    Everyone cheered, but Antonio didn’t. He wanted to give more drawings to the monsters. Antonio tried to talk to his mother, but she didn’t listen. She was cheering loudly. 

    “Everyone must participate. You will be assigned sharp weapons that will appear around the wooden pole. There is only a total of fifteen weapons. Please grab what you need and remove every monster from the city. Are you ready?”

    Suddenly, a click sound came from the speaker. Antonio started to see every family staring at each other. They looked horrified. Mrs. Wilson's face turned pale, Becky froze, and Mr. Wilson looked dumbfounded. 

    “Please grab a weapon once the countdown hits zero-”

    But the lady was interrupted by a family running and roaring. They were heading for the weapons. Before the family could even reach them, one of the monsters threw a wooden stake right into the father’s stomach. The mother screamed and the two brothers backed away. A monster with a large mouth jumped high in the air and ate the brothers. Then every family started to run. 

    Mr. Wilson ran almost quicker than a cheetah and grabbed a knife. Paleneck looked at him and immediately ate him. Mrs. Wilson fell backward and Becky left her. Antonio was frozen. 

    Suddenly, the maddest thing happened. A mother grabbed a dagger and pierced another family member, right in the arm. Every citizen froze. Then, she yelled, “MONSTERS!”

    Everyone screamed and pointed at each other. Antonio was just confused. All he could see were the monsters playing with the citizens. Antonio wondered if he could play with them, but he decided not to. He was happy for his family to finally be joyful and the same for everyone else.