I was partly inspired by the way Emily Carroll deals with ambiguous endings in her web comics—by having descriptions in the beginning and middle hinting at different conclusions. However, I feel that the ending of my piece is less ambiguous. Although, one could vouch for the beast being an actual creature and/or just a monster-like human.

I was also inspired by Frankenstein. For one thing, I borrowed the image of “dull yellow” eyes from the moment when Frankenstein’s monster awakes. Moreover, in Chapter 5 of Volume I, Victor refers to a section of “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” when he feels like the creature he created is following him. Almost everyone has had that same fear before—especially when they’re walking around dark places. Darkness can be very scary and your imagination can find all sorts of creatures and dangers roaming in it. And sometimes, there really is something in the darkness.