The King and I Believe in Monsters

Recently, I started reading “Nightmares and Dreamscapes” by Stephen King. I watched Quicksilver Highway without knowing that one of the stories was based on one featured in the book. I didn't like the movie all that much, so I figured that I should read the book to see how the story was meant to be told. I haven't even gotten halfway through it, and I haven't yet reached the story that was told in the movie, but I already love it. Stephen King has a way with words that can make absolutely anything interesting, and that's why he's the only author whose introductions I actually read. Even though he's only talking about his life and things that drove him to write the stories in the book, it still feels like a story in itself. Mainly what he talks about in this particular introduction is imagination, and the things that he believed in when he was a child. He says that believing leads to imagination, and that imagination is an absolute necessity in life. It is also what lets him create the most amazing stories ever told. As an aspiring writer myself, the things he wrote about were inspiring to me. It made me realize that you can't tell a story without believing. You have to believe in the story you're telling if you want your readers to believe it as well. So I'm here to tell you that I believe in monsters.

Things do go bump in the night; there are things that we cannot see that lurk in the shadows, waiting to pounce when we're at our most vulnerable. Vampires lure us in and then drain our lives, our souls. Werewolves are those who hide behind a false skin; during the day, when they know we're watching, they appear to be normal. But at night, when there's no one around to hear you scream, they turn into animals. Ghosts are those left behind by some unfinished business. They're the ones we're not even aware of until it's too late. Zombies are mindless creatures. They hide behind nothing; they play no games. They're out to get us, and they don't care if we know it. 

You see, monsters are all around us. Whether they're undead creatures brought forth by nature, or an evil curse; whether they're the people in our lives that we allow to control, manipulate, and drain us of everything we have. It doesn't matter how you look at it, monsters are real. They're everywhere, and they're waiting. 

The King and I believe in monsters. Do you?