October Prompted Fiction: Random: Edward the Monster: 527 words
Written for skjam's prompt on CGI monsters being more convincing than real monsters.
Halloween was Edward's favourite holiday. It gave him a chance to wander around town as himself, instead of hiding from everyone the way he had to do on a normal day. He always planned out what he was going to do carefully because he knew it would be another year before he could leave the house again. The contact lenses he bought specially for Halloween went into his eyes and he couldn't help smiling at himself. For the first time in his long life he had fiery purple eyes to go with his purple hair. Carefully, he combed his hair around his horns, wincing when he caught one of his horns accidentally, before brushing his fangs. When he felt presentable he left the house.
Children walked past him without even flinching. Edward heard a couple of them muttering about how he didn't look as scary as the monsters they saw in films and once again he was grateful for the creation of CGI monsters. Even he felt like the monsters in films looked more than monsters than he did. Before anything like that was available he hadn't even been able to leave his house on Halloween because he would have terrified people. As times changed he found that it was much more difficult to scare people, so he could leave the house on one day and keep his affairs in proper order for the first time.
The first place on Edward's list of places to visit, as always, was the bank. No one seemed to think anything of him, which was amazing every time it happened. The cashier smiled at him the same way she would smile at anyone else. He transferred money from one account to another, so he had money for the rest of the year, and paid in a couple of cheques from his job. When everything was done he felt like a weight had lifted from his shoulders.
As Edward walked towards the supermarket he felt eyes on him. He glanced around to see who it was, knowing that other monsters also made the most of Halloween and the wonders of CGI monsters. When he saw his old friend Phil he smiled. Phil smiled back, before starting to wander over.
“Good morning, Edward,” Phil said, brushing some of his hair behind his ears.
“Good morning, Phil,” Edward replied, glancing down at Phil's hooves.
Phil smiled. “When compared to a CGI monster these are nothing. These days are wonderful for us in some ways and so difficult in others.”
“It's strange to think that we're now less convincing that things on a screen created by humans who have probably never seen a real monster.”
“That is why we are less convincing. We don't look anything like the monsters that humans create.”
“I have to admit they have a very good imagination.” Edward thought of some of the films he had seen. “I'm grateful for the work they have done because it has made the world much safer for us.”
A child walked past and they went silent, which meant they could hear him say, “Mum, why has that man dressed up as a faun?”
© K A Jones 2011
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Halloween was Edward's favourite holiday. It gave him a chance to wander around town as himself, instead of hiding from everyone the way he had to do on a normal day. He always planned out what he was going to do carefully because he knew it would be another year before he could leave the house again. The contact lenses he bought specially for Halloween went into his eyes and he couldn't help smiling at himself. For the first time in his long life he had fiery purple eyes to go with his purple hair. Carefully, he combed his hair around his horns, wincing when he caught one of his horns accidentally, before brushing his fangs. When he felt presentable he left the house.
Children walked past him without even flinching. Edward heard a couple of them muttering about how he didn't look as scary as the monsters they saw in films and once again he was grateful for the creation of CGI monsters. Even he felt like the monsters in films looked more than monsters than he did. Before anything like that was available he hadn't even been able to leave his house on Halloween because he would have terrified people. As times changed he found that it was much more difficult to scare people, so he could leave the house on one day and keep his affairs in proper order for the first time.
The first place on Edward's list of places to visit, as always, was the bank. No one seemed to think anything of him, which was amazing every time it happened. The cashier smiled at him the same way she would smile at anyone else. He transferred money from one account to another, so he had money for the rest of the year, and paid in a couple of cheques from his job. When everything was done he felt like a weight had lifted from his shoulders.
As Edward walked towards the supermarket he felt eyes on him. He glanced around to see who it was, knowing that other monsters also made the most of Halloween and the wonders of CGI monsters. When he saw his old friend Phil he smiled. Phil smiled back, before starting to wander over.
“Good morning, Edward,” Phil said, brushing some of his hair behind his ears.
“Good morning, Phil,” Edward replied, glancing down at Phil's hooves.
Phil smiled. “When compared to a CGI monster these are nothing. These days are wonderful for us in some ways and so difficult in others.”
“It's strange to think that we're now less convincing that things on a screen created by humans who have probably never seen a real monster.”
“That is why we are less convincing. We don't look anything like the monsters that humans create.”
“I have to admit they have a very good imagination.” Edward thought of some of the films he had seen. “I'm grateful for the work they have done because it has made the world much safer for us.”
A child walked past and they went silent, which meant they could hear him say, “Mum, why has that man dressed up as a faun?”
© K A Jones 2011
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.