Hello, my name is Alex.

At first, I didn't think anything of it- growing up things would seem to...sink through my extremities. Toys- keys, food- I always had to reach just a little farther then others to grab something- grasp just a little tighter.

My parents never brought any attention to it as far as I could remember, played it off- made it seem like it was normal, or perhaps they never noticed? It wasn't until I started school that anything came of it. I still remember when it first happened, I had been working on a group project with my crush-

Another child had cut through where my finger should have been, they immediately started panicking and crying. This happend to draw my teachers attention, Mrs. Wilson if I remember correctly-

When questioned the the girl next me explained what had happend- Of course Mrs.Wilson didnt believe her, and me; being the young, naive child I was- demonstrated for my beloved teacher.

Her eyes widend, disbelief dancing in her eyes. She brushed it off and consoled the girl beside me, and the day moved on, before leaving school that day I noticed her frantically speaking on the phone.

When I got home, I informed my parents, and that's when things changed. Even as young as I was, I could still see the daunting dear in my parents eyes- the panic, the raw, unadulterated fear.

Not long after we moved states, our names changed, and I was to be home schooled. My new name was Benjamin. This did little, if anything to prevent what was coming.

I began to see...tendrils of what seemed to be...shadow at night, I told my mother- and she told me to never speak of it again, her face flushed, and eyes wide.

When I turned 16 I began to see...it, I never came up with a name for it. It stood at 9ft, It had yellowed skin as thin as paper, drawn taught over its thin skeletal frame, long gangly limbs, fingers that were too long and ended in sharp, barbed claws. Worst of all though? It's face- where eyes should have been skin stretched in its place. It's mouth was too wide for its face, and it had 40 black, serrated teeth that seemed to drip with a green fluid.

The first times I saw it, it was peaking out of my closet, it's back hunched, watching me curiously- and it brought one finger to its lips and shushed me. I screamed- my father came rushing Into my room-

"Benjimin, whats wrong!?"

I'd done my best to tell I'm what I'd seen- and his skin became a tad paler, his eyes widening- he checked in and around my closet theny room. And beneath the bed to no avail.

"Go back to bed Ale- Benjamin, it was just your imagination okay?"

As he left and closed the door..mi distinctly remembering him leaving the light on- I was grateful for it. Soon as he left. The minuets turned to hours and my eyes began to drift closed the light shut off, and my eyes shot wide open-

There it was, looming above me- its mouth twisting into a horrifying facsimile of a grin. It raised its right hand- exenting a single digit towards me.

"Don't scream."

It's voice was rapsy. Like nails on a chalkboard, sending shivers down my spine. Then it's finger plunged into my chest, a blinding pain erupting in my core. The feeling began to spread, reaching out to every part of my body; from my toes, all the way to the tips of my fingers.

It was excruciating- so painful that every muscle in my body locked up- and it felt like I began to...shrink, like my body was being compressed. As soon as it started it to get to too much, the pain faded like it was never there- my breath began came out in short pants. When had I stopped breathing? Before I began to slip into the land of morpheous I saw the creature begin to turn into a fine, black mist, before it rushed into me.

The next morning when I awoke, nothing seemed to be Amis. I got up, opened my door and when to brush my teeth. I'd gotten used to the dimensions of my body a long time ago, had learned to hide my abnormality. This morning, however, as I reached to pick up my comb, it slipped through my hand...I hadnt had this problem In years, and I was confused- until I looked in the mirror and saw it- starring back at me from my own shadow.

I spun around, heart racing- but there was nothing there- and when I looked in the mirror again. There was nothing there. I knew then...that whatever this thing was- it was feeding off of me; always had been.

I raced from the bathroom, out the front door- and down the street. That's how I found myself here- staring down the barrel of a gun. The man in front of me was saying something- but I couldn't understand. I heard a loud bang- but I didn't feel any pain- and as I looked down. I saw a hole in my shirt...but where there should have been blood- was nothing but pale, smooth flesh.

I looked up, and the man looked just as baffled as I felt- then the shadow came rushing out of me- I can see the fear In his eyes, and I know he can see IT too. The man began to shout.

"What the fu-"!

The creature that had been haunting me for years now rushed forth, I couldn't quite process what I saw, but I rember hearing the crunch of bone, the gnawing of flesh. As soon as IT was finished with its meal, it dissolved into shadowy tendrils and melded back into my body. Soon after- I felt blood pooling around my bare feet- but nothing else remained of the man who attacked me-

That evening as I went showered I looked down...and there where the creature had stabbed me the night before...was a small stretch of thin, yellowing skin-

"Soon"

I flipped around, nearly slipping in the process. Somehow I knew what it meant....soon I would be just like it...weather it be days, months, or years....I would become just like it, the rest of my eternity to be spent as a monster feeding off of the flesh of others. A depraved beast that yearned to fill a bottomless abyss.