Story 1: Two Evils

One day there was a creature. A thing that slid around on its stomach like a wretched snake and moved like it was a thing that wasn't of this earth. A terrible thing, it was. It was both indistinguishable at a glance and undeniably distinct in its features, something familiar but unwilling to be recognized. Something that sparked anxiety and apathy if you drew near, unsure if you would lay there catatonically for eternity or shake violently with fear for the rest of your days. This creature is one that can't be named, for its true form's elusive and fleeting, blending at just the moment you thought you saw its truth. It's a master of uncanny camouflage as it sulks down dark paths on the bleakest nights, looking for anything to attach itself to for strength. There are others in this space, colorful creatures that resemble beautiful butterflies or sturdy trees.

They are vastly different in form and character, and yet they care for each other deeply, wanting to spend time with each other and learn and build and explore. Emotions exploded from each and every one of those creatures, unyielding in its triumph over the world through humanity and love, seeping into everything. Everything except the creature. See, this creature was black and white, good and evil, and it used to hide in shame for it knew that it was different. It was dangerous and toxic to everything around it. Whenever the creature slid, a slimy residue was left and it was almost as unappealing as the creature itself. It left an almost-clear, every so slightly dirty mucus that coats surfaces for a minute or two, and if a plant or anything beautiful touched it, it would lose its beauty and become like the creature.

It wouldn't last long, of course. Only a few minutes of agony. Still, those few minutes are enough to make someone keep their distance from everyone for a few days. Of course, humanity always wins in the end and coaxes them back out, leading them to happiness and connection. Things anyone would want. Anything with a soul should crave these things, but the creature does not know them. How can you crave something you can not conceive? The creature in fact loathes these things in its soul, knowing that it will never be able to fully enjoy them. It hates connection and happiness since such fleeting things can only cause more hurt, disdain, or apathy to all parties involved once it ends. The creature has been given a life in the dark, where nothing good lives, and it only rarely goes out to see the magnificent creatures on account of a discolored white patch lazily plastered onto the body of the thing. This almost-white surface seemed to keep the creature docile, yet it gave the creature bursts of energy and hope, almost like an explosion of goodness and emotion, as it slithered about the hellscape it called home.

This shook the creature to its core, feeling like a wild, random thing instead of a steady thing. Not only this, but the white patch seems to work in opposition to the creature's desires if you could even call it that. It would be more appropriate to say that this white patch was trying to assign desires to the creature, dragging it along painfully as the creature begrudgingly followed. The white patch always brings pain, as its goodness and proactivity is a stark juxtaposition to the creature's very existence, to sit in darkness and desire nothing. To expect nothing of the world and be banished to the darkness so as to not be reminded of all the things it could corrode with its dreadfully acidic existence. The creature is even slowly corroding itself away, always going to the beautiful creatures with many names like Bob or Phil to learn or talk, but the creature always ends up messing things up for everyone.

Every word it says has a dangerous poison singed to it, no matter the contents of its speech, and every time it speaks the creature loses someone who was close. Someone who wanted so desperately to share their magnificence with the creature, even if they knew the risks. Even still, those acidic words would singe them so bad that they couldn't bear to be in the creature's presence any longer. Every time it loses someone, that white patch gets a little bit dirtier. The creature now only has black and grey as its colors, and it learned to stay away from the beautiful creatures at all costs. It takes the dark, long roads everywhere to avoid the light, in fear of corrupting what goodness it holds. It's learned how to close its eyes to goodness and always be in darkness, even in the light. It's even learned little nooks and crannies to run into when there are too many wonderous creatures coming near its tainted presence.

It finds solace in the darkness now, finding peace in the certainty of his existence, and the safety of his horrid home. It found solace in it until it found another like it. In the darkness, it found another creature, yet unnamed, lurking where all the nameless learn to lurk. It was fate, they connected and stalked the darkness together, still avoiding the light, until something curious happened. Their spots, which had at first been a disappointing, greyish color, were now white. Fully white. A magnificent, pure white. They still sulked through the darkness until one day they decided to once again revisit the beautiful creatures. At this point, the white patch had grown to cover almost half of their bodies. They both went to the beautiful creatures, still getting corrupted by the goodness of the world, but not nearly as much. It was almost unnoticeable.

As they moved to the center of the town, They saw that they weren't the only ones. Many nameless were going there, and they all crowded around, looking in awe at the splendor of the world of goodness around them. As they sat there, awe-struck, they noticed that all the things that something was missing. Something big. The magnificent creatures that filled the world with goodness were gone. Nowhere to be found. The creatures lay silent, and slid back into the darkness, almost meshing with it. As the creature, now alone, looked at the magnificent world through the shadows, it saw that all the good creatures came out again and filled the area with warmth, except the darkness. The creature's white spot had now faded, turning an ugly dark grey as the creature accepted its existence.

Keeping people who want to love you away or hiding from people who want to be loved, which is the lesser evil?