All Monsters are Human

I woke up the following morning after having the worst dream. My throat was dry from exhaustion. I rolled over, half expecting the other side of the bed to be empty.

I jumped when I saw Andy lying next to me. He was awake and his blue eyes were observing me with interest. How long had he been awake? I remembered his insomnia and hoped I hadn't disturbed his sleep.

"Hey, sorry if I woke you." I mumbled.

"No, you didn't," He smiled lazily. "Insomnia, remember. Plus you were having a bad dream so I was making sure you were all right."

I vaguely remembered parts of my nightmare. Had he been comforting me the whole time? I shifted nervously, having my doubts regarding Detective Crane and his creepy assistant.

"Will they definitely let my parents go?" I asked.

"Yeah, they will. Wouldn't want to disappoint my parents." He replied, rolling his eyes.
I watched him slip out of bed and disappear into the hallway. I sat up and looked round the room again. Those creepy folders were still on the desk and I was tempted to read them again, but Andy may come back soon.

I leaned across the bed, noticing the photo's on the bedside table. One was of a girl with blonde hair. She was smiling and flashing a peace sign to the camera. She was very pretty. Could this be Juliet?

Underneath the first photo was another. It was of Andy this time. He was obviously a teenager in this photo. His black hair was shorter and a fringe covered his eyes. He was smiling and holding a cat in his arms.

I couldn't help but grin at the photo. I flicked to the next one and frowned. Again I recognised Andy. He was with another guy with long black hair and dark eyes. Standing either side of them was a man and a woman.

The man was tall with greying hair and a beard. The woman was small and blonde. They must be Andy's parents. I could finally see what his parents looked like. They looked normal and kindly.

Laying the photo's on the table I sighed. This gave me some clues into Andy's life before he became the way he was now. The phone by the bed started to ring and I panicked.

Frantically, i searched for Andy. He must be in the bathroom. I picked up the phone. I guessed I didn't need a code to answer it or I hoped I didn't.

"H-hello." I cursed myself for stammering.

"Hello, is Andrew there?" A woman asked.

I bit my lip and felt worry gnawing away at me, "He should be back soon."

"Thank you. And who are you?" Her tone was still friendly.

"I'm a friend." I mumbled, feeling ridiculous.

"That's great. I was hoping he'd find a nice girl." She gushed. I was struck with sudden realisation that i was talking to Andy's mum. she sounded lovely.

The door opened and Andy reappeared. He walked over and took the phone from me. I was worried that he would be angry with me. He smiled and rolled his eyes again.

"Hi, Mom." He sounded neither happy nor sad.

I couldn't hear the conversation on the other side, but judging by his responses I could tell he was becoming annoyed.

"No, Mom. You don't need to-" He sighed.

She must have said something because he rolled his eyes and apologised. She must have known he wasn't being sincere. He said it again, sounding slightly more contrite.

"When are you coming?" He snapped.

His parents must be planning to visit. Would he let me go before then? I doubted it, but I had to hope. He hung up and groaned, sitting on the bed.

"Sorry, I didn't know what to say." I smiled, but it was uneasy.

"It's fine," He murmured, lying across the bed. "My parents will be visiting next week, no doubt you heard that from the conversation."

I nodded and looked away. I would finally get to meet his parents. Were they anything like him? My eyes returned to him and I noticed he had picked up the photo's I had been looking at.

"Did you look at these?" He shifted and sat up, pinning me with a piercing stare.

"Y-yes, I was curious." I looked away. Here it comes. He's going to get angry and he'd been keeping his calm for so long.

A hand touched my face and I was forced to look at him. He smiled and dragged his thumb across my lower lip.

"Don't look so scared. I'm not mad." He removed his hand, instead sitting next to me and pulling me closer.

"This is Juliet." He showed me the picture of the girl again. He sounded forlorn and a part of me felt jealous. She impacted on his life in a big way.

He ignored the photo of himself and the cat, instead settling on the one of himself, the guy and his parents.

"That's my Mom and Dad. The guy next to me is Ashley. He's my best friend." He lowered the photo's and shrugged.

"Will I be here when your parents arrive?" I pulled away.

"Yeah, you're not going anywhere." His statement was said with such finality.

What did I expect? For him to suddenly realise abducting me was wrong and to hand me back to my own family. His look of annoyance rattled me and I decided to stop asking questions.

For the rest of the day I sat and watched tv. Andy disappeared around noon and I was left to my own devices. I was hoping the detective was true to his word.

I turned on the news channels, hoping for some sense of relief. I nearly cried with joy when I saw the headline. A news reporter was standing outside the police station, looking solemn.

"Earlier today the parents of missing college student, Felicity Smith, were released. The police admitted to making an error in their investigations." Her tone was casual and I was almost annoyed by the word 'error.'

As though they thought accusing innocent people of murder was simply an error. The reporter walked towards the station and I noticed Detective Crane. He looked haggered and yet I had no sympathy for him.

"Detective, have the police apologised to the family for this greivous error?" The reporter sounded judgemental now, almost accusing.

"Yes, we have apologised to the family and are continuing to work with them to find Felicity." He grunted, before stalking away.

The news cut to a scene of my parents being driven home and I smiled. They were safe. I had to work on getting free now. The sound of the door unlocking made me stand up. I had to tell Andy they were free.

"Andy, my parents are-" My words died when I saw it was the other detective.

He looked pleased to see me and leered at me. My breathing nearly stopped. How had he got in? He answered my unspoken question by holding up a key.

"Detective Crane has a spare one so I borrowed it. He won't mind, I'm sure." He grinned, advancing towards me.

My lower lip shook and I turned and ran away. I wanted to find a weapon, but settled for locking myself in the bathroom.

Notes