#13

in Lenas best-selling and acclaimed short story series is:

THE MONSTER by Lena Little

In Slavic mythology, there are creatures called Bies.

Horrifying demons whose name literally means “one who causes fear and terror.” They torment humans by possessing them and driving them to insanity.

As a child, my sisters would tell me the cat I adopted or the stray dog I fed were Bies.

That they would transform in my bedroom and slip inside my body to control my movements. That they would take me deep into the woods to hold me prisoner. That they would feed on my soul bit by bit until I was nothing but an empty husk of my former self.

At twenty-one years old, I still fear the dark, the shadows, and any demon lurking within. I sleep with the lights on, waking up with every creak of the floorboard or every scrape against my window.

All my life, I’ve been afraid of monsters.

And now I’m about to marry one.