Write a story featuring monsters inspired by the five stages of grief: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance.
This prompt was found on the subreddit r/writingprompts here: https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/gdbsi1/wp_write_a_story_featuring_monsters_inspired_by/
The procession through the forest was a long and grim one. We all knew what awaited us there. I knew the women holding the coffin behind me, in the middle of the procession, were prepared, but with each step I doubted myself more.
Maybe that’s why they came to us so early on the path to the graveyard.
The first to intercept our path was Denial – a four-legged creature of skin and bone, a pair of long, sharp fangs that gleamed from its taught mouth. I was in the front of the procession, and so I was tasked with answering it.
“She’s not dead,” said Denial.
Its voice was as thin as its body, and it showed no emotion when it spoke.
“Any moment now she will rise out of that coffin,” it said, “just wait.”
I steeled my nerves and took a breath.
“She is dead,” I answered, “I saw them place her to rest. I will lead her through these woods, and we will bury her with her ancestors. She will be at peace. This is good.”
Denial snorted and slinked back into the forest.
We continued on the path for a few more paces. The sun was lower in the sky now; I hoped we would reach the graveyard by the time it touched the lower peaks of the mountains. The sunlight through the trees cast strange, long shadows along the path.
Into those shadows, the hulking, snarling creature Anger appeared. Its fur bristled as it tried to make itself look larger than it really was, and its red eyes bore their way into my own. In a deep, growling tone it said,
“You could have saved her! You should have told her not to eat from that plant! You should have gone with her!”
I flinched as it barked at me, but held my ground. I planted my feet firmly in the dirt.
“Yes,” I answered, “I should have gone with her. But I did not. And so I must live with that… but she will be with her family once her soul is at rest. And one day I will join her.”
Anger glared at me and snapped its jaws as a parting jab, then stomped back into the darkness.
My doubt crept back in as we continued on the path. I knew the answer the creatures would accept, but even as I spoke the words I did not know if I truly believed them. I held on to the knowledge that she would be at rest, even as the next creature intercepted us.
Bargaining was thinner even than Denial. It wore a sickly grin upon its face that revealed sharp teeth; as it spoke, it curled around my legs as if it were a cat.
“Offer me a sacrifice, and I will bring her back,” it said, “all will be as it was. Your son will have his mother, and you will have your wife. All your doubts will be gone.”
I struggled to keep my voice steady, but answered it all the same:
“My doubts may never be gone, but that’s not bad.”
I stared it down and it began to back away from my legs.
“No sacrifice can bring her back,” I said, though even as I spoke I was not sure who I was trying to convince, “and nothing can ever be as it was. My son has lost his mother… but he has his father, and an entire village to care for him. We will be alright, as long as she is at peace.”
Bargaining growled at me, but slinked away all the same, just as Denial had.
I could not stop my hands from shaking, and my legs felt mechanical as we kept walking. The sun was much lower now, and was nearly in my eyes as it broke through the trees.
Depression was the only one that had no form to be seen; instead, it whispered and moved about the procession like a cold wind. Its voice droned long and mournful, with a hint of the same growling, sinister tone of Anger.
“Even if you lay her to rest,” it said, “who will give you peace? Who will give your son his peace?”
I broke. I collapsed, my shoulders and my chest heavy from the effort of answering these creatures. Of convincing myself. I wept. And wept. And wept.
I knew the graveyard was not far now, only a few more paces. The sun was sinking below the mountains now.
I have to get up, I thought.
I have to get up.
I have to get up.
I can’t get up…
I can’t.
I can’t.
I-
A hand reached out and touched my shoulder. I could feel a warm glow coming from the figure, and as I looked up I realized that the chill of Depression had passed.
Acceptance had taken the form of my wife, of her kind eyes staring at me. She offered her hand to me. I took it gladly and rose to my feet. We walked together the last few paces, out of the forest, and into the graveyard.
There we laid her to rest, and Acceptance wrapped her arms around me, only to dissipate as the sun disappeared behind the mountains.
The creatures paid us no mind as we walked by star and moonlight back to the village.
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