Leslie Joseph is a Monster

by Chris East

Leslie Joseph sits in her castle.

The castle rests amongst the rocks of a great mountain. It is made of ice, the castle. Grey ice bricks are stacked high to make walls which are translucent and show off the flames glowing inside. Leslie Joseph is inside eating a pile of skin pulled from the carcasses of slaughtered beasts, beasts that dare venture too close to this ice castle.

Leslie Joseph is alone inside the ice castle eating skin when she thinks to herself thoughts about how to become more powerful as a monster and a public figure. The thoughts are stupid and sad.

‘Be mean, always.’ Check.

‘Have a bizarrely sexual outer layer which hides a wizened skeletal underside.’ Check.

‘Wear many layers of eye make-up.’ Definitely.

This exercise makes Leslie Joseph tired and sad. Thinking about herself as a public figure is comforting but also confusing. It is confusing to make attempts to both upset and entice prey at the same time.

She wants beasts to come close to her and her castle, she wants to appear attractive to them. She wants for them to be terrified. She wants for them to be numbed by terror and walk blindly forward towards the castle like they are hypnotized. She wants eventually to be able to eat their skin.

Chris East is from Northampton, England. He works in a theatre Box Office and writes, draws and plays music in order to distract himself.