The Beast Read Online Free

out of the question.  I was thankful that my arms, like my chest, had escaped any severe damage.
                  My face was another story. A little purple bruise slashed across my cheek. My eyes were puffy and red. My top lip was half swollen and a sore was forming where I must have bitten it.
                  Reluctantly, I pulled out my little makeup bag and went to work. By six I was dressed and my face was made up. I grabbed the cup of quarters I kept for laundry and reached for the door.
                  I couldn’t open it. My hand hovered ever the lock but I couldn't bring myself to turn it. I had spent the whole day avoiding this moment. I wasn't in such great pain that I needed a hospital. I'd been sore and bruised before, so what kept me frozen there?
                  It was the first time I'd ever been attacked.
                  The man who attacked me wasn't entirely a man. The thing that had saved me wasn't a man at all.
                  So what were they? What was the blonde man with his inhuman speed and steel bar of an arm? What was the beast with its narrow waist and broad curved back?
                  I shook my head, unwilling to think about it. It wasn't real. Things like that weren't real.
                  After a deep breath that made my ribs pop, I unlocked the door and pushed it open. Sunlight greeted me. A pair of the neighbor boys rode scooters on the strip of sidewalk while a trio of girls enjoyed a tea party on the grass.
                  It was all so blissfully normal.
                  I slung the trash into the dumpster and went back for the muddy bedding and wet towels. I shoved them into the trunk before I tried to peel the ticket from my windshield, but it only shredded and came off in little clumps of pulp before I gave up and climbed into my car.
                  Simon's keys sat on the passenger seat where I'd thrown them. What happened to him? Was he okay? Was he there when it all went down?
                  The radio made me jump again and I reached to switch it off until something the host said caught my attention.
                  "These bodies are being found with parts of them eaten and perfect holes in them like it’s cattle mutilation."
                  The female co-host chimed in, "You know; I saw a documentary about cattle mutilation and they actually took video of wild dogs eating cow bellies and they left almost perfect circles like a razor did it. It's the way their jaws are formed, the teeth work like scissors."
                  "I still say its aliens," said the host.
                  They both laughed, and the co-host countered "I still say it's a coyote. Their natural prey is threatened and depleted so they're going after humans. Happens all the time."
                  "Well, either way," said the host. "Stay out of the hills at night and don't go alone. There's safety in numbers. Whatever or whoever is out there is a real threat. After the break we have a doctor who is going to tell you why you should eat your boogers and drink your urine. Not sure I'm ready to try it but the evidence is compelling."
                  The volume faded to a commercial break as the co-host said "You know it sounds gross but it's really interesting. I've got a lot of questions."
                  I turned the radio off and shivered.
                  I waved the neighbor on who had been waiting patiently for me to pull out of the carport and drove out to the gas station in silence. Simon's car wasn't there. Maybe he had a spare key. Or maybe it got towed.
                  Maybe it was never there at all. Maybe I was losing my mind. I looked at the keys on my passenger seat for confirmation that I wasn’t losing it. Still there.
                  I