James -

I was running. What from? Couldn't tell you. All I knew is that one second, the birds were chattering away around me and my pets were playing on the hay fields, the next, it was silent. I know by now that silence equates to a predator nearby. It got really loud and then I heard the first tree fall off the edge of my hayfield. Trees falling equated to a big predator, which then means fighting off the creature was not going to be helpful. I heard another tree crack and now you're all caught up. I am running to my house, hoping the thing is not chasing me. I got to my house and locked the doors. My parents had not made it back from the town that lies thirty minutes from the farm. I lived with my mom, Calliope, my dad, Joseph, and my four sisters, Ruth, Esther, Mary, and Sarah. Notice a theme? My parents are super Christian. Church every Sunday and Wednesday. Prayers and Bible study every night. We are all homeschooled and we help run the farm. 

I love the farm, though. It helps me escape their overbearing existence. I am the oldest of the five of us and notably, the only male. I carry the heavy stuff; I take the blame for everything; I am the mule of the Candria household. Being a clean eighteen years old, you would think I could leave. My parents forbade me from leaving and I have zero skills that would get me out into the real world. 

With that background in mind, the creature passing my house obliterated every Christian thing my parents taught me. That thing is huge and REALLY ugly. It is at least nine feet tall and is a funny salmon color. The worst part is that he only has one eye. That would be perfectly acceptable except it is in the MIDDLE OF HIS FOREHEAD. My parents told me these creatures were myths created by the devil. They are not supposed to actually exist. As the creature passes, I make a mental note to look that up later during my 30 minutes of phone time. I watched as he trampled my newly planted crops and I felt a pang of sadness. I wondered if this spring will be a waste and we won't have a full harvest this year. Is it a stupid thought in the middle of my panic? Yes. Did it help? Also yes. 

I wait until he sounds like he is completely gone and then take some steps outside. There are huge prints in the ground from where he came from, which only confirms that I saw something unusual. My parents pulled into the drive shortly after. When my dad parks the car, he gets out and starts lecturing me about not being in the field. I just point to the footprint and he looks confused.

"Why are you pointing at the road? What am I supposed to be looking at?" He looked at the ground where I stood pointing with irritation. "James Luke Candria, Get back to the hayfield before I make you scrape Bessie's stall for a week." 

"You don't see the footprint?" I ask in shock. Dad shook his head and pointed to the fields with a look of disdain. I slowly trudged in the direction of the field with disbelief. I know what I saw on the ground, but what did I see pass my house? 

I finish my chores in the field in record time and even scrape Bessie's stall to appease my irritated father. I help Ruth with her homework for an hour, then I get my phone! I search up one-eyed monsters and the first thing that pops up is Greek Cyclops'. I swap over to the images tabs because I am not wasting my time reading about something that does not exist. The images showed one creature that looks EXACTLY like the thing I saw. It is called a cyclops. I am losing my mind…