He walks the lonely road, completely unsuspecting the monster looking in the shadows. The monster visits him every day, but every day the man believes the next would be different, for everyone has told him so. The monster starts his whispers, “Hey, listen to me. Hey, are you listening? I have a great idea for tonight” It always starts out like this, always the small, intrusive whispers. The man does his best to ignore them and keeps walking, hoping this will be the worst that happens tonight. “Hey, you sad sack of worthlessness, I’m talking to you. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate your haircut? Or that you are utterly stupid?” The insults always come next. The man shuffles through his bag and swallows some pills, a last ditch effort to stop the madness for tonight. “Do you really think those will help you? I can’t be suppressed and you know it". The man does not want to listen so he decides to think happy thoughts to drown out the unpalatable voice. He thinks of his loving wife waiting at home, waiting for him. But the monster always has something to comment on. “You hold her back you know. Imagine all the great things she could do if she didn’t have you as a ball and chain. She only loves you because she feels bad for you, the same way people love dogs with only three legs.” The man, holding back tears now, stops walking and finally caves in to the monster. “Now say it with me,” starts the monster, “I am worthless, a burden to others, and unfit to continue walking this path.” The man repeats what has been prompted and now is fully a slave to the monster’s demands. The monster is his puppet master, and the man a mere puppet. “Now take out what is in your pocket; you know how to use it.” The man looks at his arms. He does not want this, but all of his will has been driven out of his body. He follows the monster’s instructions and does what needed to be done. “Good boy!” mocks the monster. The man’s arms now ache as much as his tired feet. “I just want you to go away, I want to feel good again,” mutters the man. “There’s only one way to accomplish that,” replies the Monster. “There is only one way you will ever get rid of me and you know it. Just dig a little deeper and this can all be over. The man, with tears in his eyes, does what the monster says. He sits down thinking about how no one will miss him if he doesn’t get home, he sits with loneliness in his heart and tears in his eyes, he sits with no one around to help him in this fight. The man doesn’t care about what is going to happen next, he just wants to be free. Before things fade to black, the man knows now that he is finally free.