Fear
A
monster came
at
sundown each eve,
to
terrorize
us
all.
A
young mother
with a child in her arms,
was
the most fearful
of
our little cluster.
I
was to protect the others,
my stomach
heaved
with doubt
and
dread.
This
was no place for me,
who
had left me commander
of
this crowd?
I
wanted no part of this.
As
the sun descended,
burning
red,
qualm quaked
among
us each.
He
quickly neared.
We
could sense his brutal,
ancient
fury was close at hand
and
smell his angry breath.
The
whole of them flinched and shrank
but
the young mother would
ruin
us all
with
her tears and screams.
I
knew that feeling,
she
feared not for herself
but
for her child,
as
she drew a sobbing breath.
The
Hobgoblin on our heels,
we
like mice,
trapped
in the rotting,
darkened
house.
When
he heard her shrill,
it
curdled his blood
and
made his rage
the
worse.
At
any moment he would
lay
open the door,
demolishing
it to debris.
I
was paralyzed with shock.
I woke right
then
and wondered
who I feared
so much.
Who came at
sunset
each eve,
that made me
quiver
as if the earth
beneath me shook?
I knew full well it was me
in each cowering face,
the woman elected
to protect
and the shrieking
mother with child in fearful embrace.
This is one I haven't seen it before and I'm completely drawn in. At first, I worried you might be going for the "it was all a dream" angle, but you turned that so cleverly on its heels, with this realization that every person/monster in this dream is some reflection of your psychology. I wondered about "Hobgoblin" which throws me for some reason, but there are still so many great moments, in particular the line "the calm quaked/ among us each" and the suspense of whether that worried, wailing mother will reveal the hiding place.
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