Click.
 

Your vision became pitch black as white spots danced around for a few seconds due to the camera's blinding flash. You shut your eyes for a brief moment, your toes curling inside your dirty, worn out boots in irritation as you waited for the spots to disappear.
 

"One more. Turn to your left for a side view." 
 

The man behind the camera said, making you give him a hostile stare as daggers shot out of your light brown orbs. Unaffected by your glares, the bored look stayed on his face as he positioned to take another photo for your mugshot.
 

You curled your fingers inward, your nails digging into your palms harshly and leaving crescent like marks on them as you complied. The blinding flash made your head spin and you took a deep breath to try and keep yourself at bay. 
 

The flashes made images that you've tried so hard to forget flash in your mind and even as they left as quickly as they came, you saw each and every one of them clearly. Because they kept playing in your head every single night, every moment, so you know each and every one of these images like the back of your hand.
 

Sweat started forming on your temples and your heart rate increased, the sound almost similiar to a beast pounding on a door to let themselves free. The screams and cries rang in your ears, making you bite the insides of your cheeks and grit your teeth to stop you from screaming and the unmistakeble taste of blood lingering in the back of your mouth.
 

A police officer grabbed your arm in an iron-like grip, making you seethe in pain. Your hand raised to harm the officer but another grabbed your other arm as they cuffed your hands behind your back.
 

"Get going, lady." A gruff looking officer with a moustache pushed you harshly as he chewed on his gum, his eyes violating your privacy as he looked you up and down.
 

That's it.
 

You took a deep breath, your eyes briefly closing as you exhaled. The corners of your lips raised into a sweet smile as you looked at him, your head tilting slightly to the side. Your smile then instantly dropped as you roared, suddenly jumping on the officer who had the audacity to stare at your body so openly, your legs wrapping around his torso as you caught him offguard.
 

Swiftly turning your arms that were behind your back to the front, you wrapped the chain of your handcuffs around his neck mercilessly. 
 

"YOU SON OF A-"
 

"Hel-" He choked, trying to push you off as he started to stumble backwards. He tried to claw you off, anything to make you loosen the tight hold around his neck but you were strong and you didn't yeild easily.
 

His face was starting to get red by now, his eyes bulging out of their sockets as he gasped for air. He tumbled to the ground, you with him as his hands tried to grab the chain around his neck.
 

"You like that, huh? How's that?" Strands of hair that fell out of your bun covered your face slightly as you cackled, tightening your grip.
 

You shivered in satisfaction as the veins around his neck looked like they were going to burst. A harsh blow on your head threw you off for a second, your grip around the poor man loosening. The other police officers present took this as their opportunity to tear you off of the man you were choking.
 

"Get your filthy hands off of me!" You shrieked, kicking your legs as they tried to get ahold of you. The gruff looking police officer you nearly choked to death coughed violently as he held onto the edge of the table for support.
 

"You bxtch!" He seethed, not being able to yell at you due to the pain he was feeling. Breathing heavily, he stood up with the help of his colleagues before spitting on your shoes. 
 

"Take her to her cell!" He roared furiously, wiping his lips as he glared at you, trying to match the one you were giving him. You couldn't help but smirk as you noticed the fear in his eyes.
 

"Till we meet again, darling!" You giggled, blowing him a kiss before you were shoved on the shoulder once again.
 

The prison you were being held in was Blackraven Prison, one of the most famous prisons that held the most ruthless, merciless, murderers. Why were you being held in there, you ask? You shrugged nonchalantly at the thought. I mean, all you did was kill just a few people, right? 
 

They were just a few.
 

The officers that took you to your cell uncuffed you as they not so nicely pushed you in your cell, making you stumble and almost fall to the ground.
 

"HEY!" You shouted, slamming your palms onto the metal bars that separated you and the officers suddenly, making the one closest to you jump.
 

"Didn't your mother ever teach you any manners, honey?" You asked innocently, smiling sweetly and tilting your head before guffawing at their disgusted reactions as they started to leave.
 

"If you'd like, I'll teach you some!" You laughed aloud as you called out, watching their backs disappear.
 

You slumped onto the ground, recalling what happened earlier with the gruff looking officer. You remembered how much your body hummed with excitement as he tried so desperately to get help. Ah, it was wonderful.

But now every inch of your body was saying exhaustment so you laid on the ground, placing your hands underneath your face as you curled into a ball. You may have done something terrible, something so sinful, but inside, you were just a troubled teenager who badly ached for her mother.
 

Sleep was taking over you, and you let it without a fight. Soon, the images you so dreaded, the memories you so badly tried to cover up and lock in the deepest part of your mind started flashing in your head.
 

"Kira!" Your mother's desperate cries of help came from behind the door you were standing in front of.
 

"Mother!" You called back, tears flowing nonstop down your face as you sobbed. Banging on the door until your fists started bleeding, you tried your hardest to open it but to your dismay, he succeeded in locking you out.

 

I'll be there, mother! I promise! Just wait!" Your voice cracked as you threw a wooden chair onto the door, desperately hoping for it to give some kind of sign that it was sort of budging. You didn't know if you were really going to make it to her in time.

 

"YOU !" You yelled a string of profanities, kicking at the door with all your might. Your hands were shaking as you pulled furiously at your hair, imagining the ways he was abusing her.
 

And who was this you were talking about? 
 

It was none other than your step father. That monster.
 

He was abusive, alcoholic, a drug addict, you name it. He locked his helpless wife in her room, coming home just to steal her money and hitting her whenever she wouldn't and put up a fight. Or whenever he felt like it.
 

You grew up hearing her screams, her cries, but you had hoped that somebody, someone was going to hear them and help you. Each day, your little ball of hope got smaller and smaller as no one in your entire neighbourhood gave a damn about your pitiful family. That's when you really lost your faith in humanity.
 

The scene changed and shifted and you were no longer standing in front of your mother's room but you were standing in front of her grave, sobbing. Not a single person came to her funeral, and you were glad that ugly excuse of a father didn't. Because if he did, you don't know what you could've done.
 

A kind soul, your mother was. She often gave her time, her energy, her things to people who needed them the most. And when she needed help, who came?
 

Nobody.
 

She tried to help and save everyone around her but who came to save her? Everyone is selfish. And kindness is a weakness, you thought that day as you stared at her grave. And you weren't going to be like her. The world is a cruel place and you needed a cruel heart to survive. Your fists crumpled, tears streaming down your face as you laughed at how weak your mother was, at how cruel the world was. But it wasn't cruel. Because life is unfair to everybody.
 

You were going to do what you should have done a few years ago. You swore to do what you should have done to prevent her death. And you did.
 

The scene and place shifted once again and you were no longer standing on your mother's grave. You were standing in the kitchen, a pool of blood around you, bloodlust thick in the air.
 

But it wasn't your blood, oh no. There were stains of blood on your clothes as you stared at the lifeless body at your feet.
 

At the lifeless body of the man you once called father.
 

You were gripping the knife you used to stab him tightly in your hand, almost dropping it as your aunt suddenly barged in out of nowhere, the look of horror forming on her face as she looked at her beloved brother's body and the knife in your hand and stitched everything together. 
 

Of course, you couldn't let her say anything. And so she joined her brother. 
 

The scene changed to a few years back, when you were a little girl, all cuddled up in her mother's arms. "I won't let him harm you, my precious flower. It's going to be alright." She hushed your cries, gently rubbing your back as she started to hum to your favourite song, rocking back and forth to calm you down. That was the first time he started abusing her and you got terrified of what you witnessed.
 

You heard sobs and cries and something warm trickled down your face. You opened your eyes, realizing that they were your cries. Your head started pounding terribly, and you shook your head to get rid of all the stars you started seeing. 
 

All you wanted was a normal childhood. All you wanted was to be like one of those children who played with their parents gleefully in the park, whose parents took them out for icecream when they felt terrible and hopeless.
 

All you wanted was to feel safe in your father's arms when you had your first heartache from a boy who dumped you because of your family background, when you didn't make it into the soccer team and when you got a bad grade for Chemistry. 
 

He got what he deserved. He deserved to die.
 

Monsters and demons don't live under your beds or in your closets just like in those stories. These monsters are around us and I lived with one.