The most terrifying creatures are reflections of what they project. Those that only torment us but are themselves tormented.
Monsters who move with twisted limbs or stilted walk, who leap in freakish fashion instead of an invincible bound, who seem to have woken after a decade or a century of untold suffering.
Ghosts with sad faces, vengeful child-spooks with haunted eyes, persistent whispers in the afterworld that come from having been hurt in life.
The tragic Frankenstein who was created and then deserted. The werewolf who howls with the pain of every transformation. The Blade bloodsuckers with split gaping maws who seem to have been made as a result of torturous experiment. Zombies with remnants of their slow, diseased deaths - and echoes of their former selves - clinging to their grey skin.
Without this element of tragedy, a monster is not truly complete. Monsters are more than just our darker sides. They are the dimension where we keep our sorrow and anger, anxiety and fear. And when we fail to deal with those fears, the monster finally bursts forth.
We are them and they are us.
The most feared boogeyman is one who has your face.
~
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