The Harsh Lesson

Here's the thing. I know I'm not the only one who sees them. I know this. I've seen proof of it in real life, and I've seen a few other blogs detailing encounters with creatures similar to if not identical to the ones I've seen.

As far as I can tell, though, I'm still the only one who can -feel- them. I know they're coming before they get here. I can sense them. Over the past few months, I've turned the pain that I feel when they're around into an early-warning system of sorts, allowing us to escape a holdout long before they arrive. With practice, I've been able to hone this sense to a level allowing me to pick them out of a crowd, to search for them across distances if needed.

It comes at a price, of course. Using this ability, willful or not, hurts. God, it hurts. I'm pretty sure that, even if I never see those bastards again, I've lowered my life expectancy by at least a decade at this point.

When they do come near enough for me to see them by conventional means, of course, they never see me. I'm invisible, inaudible. It's more than simple invisibility, it's like I don't exist. Like they can't perceive me at all. Like I'm not even there. A feeling I'm almost used to from humans as well.

I knew this and I thought, with all the training I've done, with all the precautions we took, moving from one place to another constantly...I thought we'd be safe. I thought I could keep us safe. I thought I could keep her safe.

I was so wrong. They found us, and I wasn't ready. The pain crippled me, again, and I sat there and I hid and I watched what they did and I FELT WHAT THEY DID TO HER. I felt it in my mind, in my bones, in my SOUL, and I just SAT THERE AND WATCHED.

This...curse, this power I've been given. It was given to me for a reason, and I abused it. I misused it. I hid from the monsters, I hid from the Fear, and I tried to be selfish. For that, I was punished. But punishment is meaningless without a lesson to be learned, and I learned my lesson.

See...I can find them now. I can hide from them forever, but they can't hide from ME.