It was a warm July evening when the little girl met the King-Lobster.

She was sitting at her favourite spot on the beach, her bare toes digging into the soft sand. Soon the sun would set, and she would watch the stars, as she did every night. This time, however, something utterly unexpected happened.

It started ordinarily enough; just a small ripple in the waves, barely noticeable. But it grew. And it moved towards her.

But the girl was staring dreamily at the colourful sky, unaware of the thing that was approaching her. It wasn't until the ocean parted in front of her that she noticed, and by then it was already too late.

A giant lobster stood before the girl, ten foot tall, claws spread as if it wanted to embrace her. The dying sun was reflected on the wet scales of the creature, making it glow as if it was on fire - with cold, smooth and unreflecting black eyes it seemed to scrutinise the girl, and an appalling stench of things that'd been lying dead at the bottom of the ocean for far too long entered her nostrils.

She realised that she should be running away, that any sane person would run from this creature - but, with some surprise, she discovered that she wasn't afraid. She didn't even shy away when the lobster's antennae - cold to the touch and both as thick as her arms - caressed her face. She just sat there, marvelling at this astonishing horror which had come from the ocean to show itself to her.

For a moment that seemed like ages, there was a silence, only broken by the soft sounds of the ocean. The girl looked at her creature, unblinking, and the lobster caressed his girl, seemingly lost in the movement, his claws lowered and his black eyes never looking away from her face. It was the girl who broke the silence.

"What's your name?" she asked softly of the monster.

It replied with a series of clicking noises, but underneath she could hear a voice - it was soft and gentle, but also as cold and black as its eyes.

"I am the King-Lobster," it replied. "I have lived for thousands of years, and I shall live many more; I have survived all of the old gods, and all of the old devils; my names are many, and the creatures who fear me by them are thousandfold. I have watched you, yes, for a very long time now, and my query is a simple one. Why do you come here, every night? Why do you face the winds and the tides and the elements, just to sit on this forgotten scrap of sand for hours on end?"

"The answer is as simple as the question," the girl said. By now the sun had disappeared completely, and darkness was setting in. The stars were already starting to shine. "I come here because I like it here. It's quiet, and I don't have to worry about anyone bothering me, not even my parents. But most of all, I love to watch the stars. They're so pretty."

The King-Lobster said nothing.

"Why did you come here?" the girl asked.

"I have told you," the creature replied. "To watch you."

"To watch me?"

"Yes."

"But why? I'm not at all that interesting," she protested, nevertheless feeling slightly flattered that this ancient abomination should come to watch her every day.

"I love you, as you love your stars," said the King-Lobster. "Even a life lasting thousands of years is an empty one without someone to love. I want you to come with me."

For a brief moment, she was silent. "I can't," she told him.

"It is not a request. I will not leave here without you," the monster said, raising his claws again, but the tone of his voice never changing.

"But, surely..."

"I advise you to think well before you speak, my love. Be mindful that I could snap you in half, should I choose to."

The little girl was silent for a long time as she considered this. She was only eleven years old - what could she possibly say to this wonderful monster?

"I think, then, it'd be better if you killed me now," she said at last. "Although I don't think it'll make you happier. You say you love me like I love the stars, but I realise I can never have the stars. I can be nice to them, I can plead with them, I can threaten them, I can even try to destroy them, but it'll do me no good. I still wouldn't be able to call them mine. Not even God with all his might, nor the Devil with all his cunning could convince the stars to fall in love with them, so how could any mere mortal thing, be it a human or a King-Lobster?"

The beast didn't say a word, and for a long, nerve-wrecking time, there was no sound to be heard except for the waves and the agitated tapping of one of its legs in the sand. Then, it seemed to make a decision. One final caress, and the antennae were gone. The King-Lobster lowered its claws and walked backwards into the water, its eight legs throwing up sand as it did so. The last she ever saw of it were its eyes - those dead, emotionless, jet-black eyes - just before they disappeared underwater.

And until this day, the girl still goes to her favourite spot on the beach every night, but to look at the ocean rather than the stars - thinking about the strange monster that once came to visit her, and wondering if she'd only been dreaming when she saw sadness in those black eyes.