Monsters & Fairytales

by Rebecca Suzanne

  I tucked my bangs behind my ears and bent down to listen for a heartbeat against the left side of his chest. I couldn’t hear a thing, not even faint breathing. This was bad. I had to roll him over and try to give him CPR. I didn’t want to ruin his wings any more than they may’ve already been. Looking closely at his back, I tried to find where they were connected to his body, so I could get them flat. They looked awfully uncomfortable.

  I trailed my fingers around the part that connected to his upper back. His skin felt like velvet. It was weird. I rubbed my fingers together and then touched him again. I mean it had looked like velvet, but I never imagined it would feel like it. I got carried away and found myself tracing his chest. Had he always been this handsome? His muscle twitched. I jumped back. There was a slight smile forming on his lips. That’s when I realized he was laughing. His eyes opened to a beautiful maroon color. I looked at him for a second, intrigued, and then they focused back into that crazy violet.

  I jumped up and screamed. He screamed back and flung himself up onto the futon. I was surprised it didn’t break under his weight, nor did he hit his head on the ceiling. He seemed to be well aware of his height and managed to hunch over just enough not to hit anything. I watched him look around the room until his scream faded. He was holding his tail in a manner that made him very much resemble the Cowardly Lion. I was obviously the Wicked Witch to him.

  “Wait.” I stopped my thoughts. “You are afraid of me?”

  “Where am I?” He huffed.

  “My spare bedroom.”

  “My spare bedroom? How did I get here?”

  He was a complete mess. He looked around the room frantically.

  “What do you mean?”

  I stared at him, completely dumbfounded. Then slowly a gasp let out of my open mouth. I held my hand up to cover it. I realized what had happened. He had lost his memory.

  “Sebastian, it’s me, Mirabelle.” I said, more calmly now. The poor guy was more afraid now than I was earlier.

  “We’ve met? Preposterous!”

  “Yes. You were on my ledge and then I was here. And then you were here, and then you left. And now you’re here again.”

  “What?”

  He shook his head and dropped his tail.

  “I know, it was a lot to me, too, but we’ve met before.” I assured him.

  “Tell me, if we met before, how come I don’t remember you?” He asked stepping off the futon.

  He was getting closer to me. I felt slightly intimidated. I looked for the snow globe and picked it up. Instantly he took a step back. Was he intimidated by me again?

  “I sort of hit you over the head with this and I suppose you lost your memory.” I said quietly.

  “You hit me with that?” He shrieked.

  “I didn’t mean to! You charged at me from my closet. I was afraid!” I stuttered.

  He seemed confused as he looked towards the closet then he looked back at me. I bit my bottom lip and shrugged my shoulders in that, ‘I don’t know’ sort of way. He carefully lifted his hand and rubbed the top of his head to examine it for any damage. He looked at his hand then touched a specific spot again.

  “Well, there is no bump, I am in no pain, explain that.”

  “I...I don’t know.”

  This was ludicrous. I shouldn’t have to explain to him that it had happened. If he couldn't remember anything, then that should be proof enough.

  “Or just proof that you poisoned me and are keeping me prisoner! You thought you could fool me, oh Wise Human, but it is I, Sebastian, that has you fooled!”

  He went to run out the door but Spike intercepted him. Sebastian shrieked and jumped back up on the futon. I was certain that if he jumped up on the futon one more time it would definitely collapse under him. I took a deep breath and then faced him with all the poise I had in me. He was going to need to feel like he could trust me.

  “Oh, wise Sebastian, I know that you can read my thoughts. Read the part where we met.” I said.

  I closed my eyes and thought about all of the time he and I had spent together. I saw him everywhere he had been, exactly how he had been. I tried to remember all the words we had exchanged, but for some reason those were fuzzy. They weren’t that important anyways. I made sure to think of when he left and when I hit him on the head. I tried to keep out the parts where it was obvious I was beginning to like him, but my own brain seemed to want to wander on that. When I opened my eyes he had a perplexed expression on his face.

  “Anything?” I asked. Had he seen it?

  “Human, if you knew me at all, you would know that I can only read wants, not thoughts. Your mind's secrets are safe so long as your heart has not touched them.” He rolled his eyes.

  “Fine. I want you to remember. I honestly do.”

  I closed my eyes again and felt it this time. My heart rate went a little faster. I was going to have to let him into that side of me that liked him and feared him. So I thought of how he made me feel the first time his eyes locked with mine. I thought of when he joked with me about how I looked when I came out of the bathroom. I thought of when he was laying there and I realized how attractive he was. This time when I opened my eyes, he was sitting.

  “This, this doesn’t make sense.”

  He sounded discouraged. I didn’t understand why he didn’t want to believe me.

  “But it’s the truth.”

  “I know.” He nodded.

  I felt terrible and awkward. I had just showed a creature that I had completely loathed a few minutes ago that I actually cared for him and all he could do was act like it was the worst thing in the world. I wanted him to leave again.

  “Why do you hate me?” He asked.

  “I don’t.”

  I instantly snapped. I didn’t mean for him to be paying attention to those feelings.

  “You did.”

  “I just, well we didn’t really start off on the right foot, did we, now?”

  “Right foot? Well I don’t remember what foot you stood on.”

  “No…wow, did you forget everything?” I asked him.

  “I have no idea.” He shrugged his shoulders.

  He looked like he was either going to cry or erupt in a rage fit like I had done earlier. I needed to change the subject and try to ease the mood.

  “Why are you here?” I blurted out.

  I remembered the first time he talked to me he told me he was a guardian angel. It had been a lie in the sense that it wasn’t his given name, but he was a protector of the human race. For whatever reason, I was so hung up on that, it didn’t make sense. Maybe without all this influence I could get the truth. And if he thought about what he was supposed to be doing, that could spark something and bring his memory back.

  “To learn about your kind and protect you.”

  It felt good hearing him say he was actually here to protect me. He wasn’t lying about that. The words he chose to soothe me were in my best interest. He was right. Hearing something familiar would cause me to trust him much more easily than having him explain it and deny it. This trusting thing was new to me.

  “You said my mother sent you.”

  “Has she passed on to the other world?”

  He was interested now, as much as I was.

  “Yes, a month ago.” I felt myself choke up. “What would that have to do with anything?”

  “I am with the other side. Maybe I said she sent me because you were in danger?”

  “Well, I know you told me you were protecting me the first time, but what could you possibly be protecting me from now? Are there more burglars?”

  I felt an inkling of fear. In all this commotion had there been people trying to get into my house?

  “Well, then, there you have it.” He grinned interrupting me.

  “There are people out there?” I shrieked.

  “No! Maybe she wanted me to come back and check that you are still safe and okay. I’m not sure. However what really doesn’t make sense is why I’d come to
you in the daylight. We only come at night.”

  I wasn’t sure what his days were like where he came from, but it was night time here. I got up and I walked over to the window to show him it was dark out.

  “You showed me that I first exposed myself to you during the daylight.” He sighed.

  “Oh. Well how come you can only come at night then?”

  “It’s how our breed works. You humans have become accustomed to us that way and it causes the least bit of disturbance in our worlds.”

  “So, you’re like a boogeyman rather than a guardian angel?”

  I tried not to laugh. He was lost. He was so far gone there was no coming back.

  “Yes! That is what you humans call us!”

  He seemed so excited to remember that.

  “But you’re not a boogeyman. You’re not even a guardian angel.”

  “Guardian angel is another word you have given us. It depends on your perception of us. We do not choose them. You are the ones who find comfort in it.”

  “I hardly find them comforting at all. What’s the name you give yourself?” I asked.

  “My people, we are called the Myrians. I am a Maracore to be specific.”

  He bulked his chest out with a sense of pride. I didn’t understand a word of it. The only thing I gathered was that he had been using the plural form of his race the past couple times he mentioned them. I guess the first time he said it my brain tried to write it off as a mess up.

  “We? There are more of you? Please tell me you are the only one who’s coming through my closet.”

  I closed my eyes and crossed my fingers.

  “Yes, I am the only one. We try to make sure that only one of us at a time is in the same area, so things don’t get confusing.”

  “I see. Well I’m glad that you came to me in the daytime. I don’t think things would be this way if you had come at night.”

  “And that’s precisely the point. Fear keeps you away from us. If we just pranced around during the daylight, you’d probably end up venturing into our world. There would be no balance.”

  “Oh.” I said.

  I bit my lip. We were just staring at each other, now. I felt butterflies in my stomach. Not again. Sebastian started fidgeting with his tail. Was he feeling it, too, or just reading my emotions?

  “Were you afraid at all? You said that like you weren’t afraid of me. I mean we don’t try to scare anyone, but we do get a kick out of humans fearing us.” He said with a snort.

  He didn’t feel anything. I was so clueless.

  “No. I was only afraid when you came out of the closet and I hit you over the head.” I sighed.

  “Really?”

  His voice went up a few pitches when he said that. He cocked his head at me the way Spike did when he was confused. This guy must be one of the fresh ones who hadn’t been here that often.

  “Oh, well, I guess the first time I saw you I was completely and utterly terrified. It did sort of paralyze me.” I said.

  “Oh no, that was just the magical power of my eyes.”

  He waved his hand in the air like it was no big deal.

  “I was afraid before I saw your eyes. How could purple scare anybody?”

  “You mean it?”

  His demeanor instantly lit up.

  “Yep.” I nodded my head.

  “Well then.” He smiled.

  He stood up and shook himself like a wet dog. The long pointed tail, the massive feathered wings, the black velvet fur, all of it disappeared. I did a double take on him. If it weren’t for his black hair and facial structure, I wouldn’t have realized it was still him. He was human now. He had on a black polo buttoned up shirt with a red polka dot bow tie. The shirt was tucked in with white suspenders holding up his slightly fitted straight legged jeans. He didn’t have on any shoes, but I imagined that they’d be something along the lines of those old school black and white low tops, or high tops. He was a total attractive nerd. My dream guy.

  The more I stared at him the more I realized his features sort of resembled Danny Zuko from Grease. Maybe if he had a leather jacket on to cover everything else up, he’d pass better. As a matter of fact, with the suspenders and rolled his jeans, he kind of resembled a young Elvis Presley. I liked him better. Well, I liked him as the creature the most, but Elvis in that decade was dreamy.

  “What, what are you doing?” He asked me interrupting my thoughts.

  “Nothing. What are you doing?”

  I crossed my arms and looked away. Please don’t blush, I can’t. It’s bad enough he can read my emotions. Oh, right.

  “Well, there was no point staying in the other form all night if that’s what you’re wondering.” He said, adjusting his pants.

  “Beg your pardon?”

  I jumped up and rushed next to him. All I heard was, ‘all night.’ There was no ‘all night’. He was leaving as soon as possible. There was so much that had to get done. I couldn’t entertain him all night. I had already lost today for moving. I had to pack up this entire house.

  “The exodus is closed right now. I’ll be stuck here until tomorrow night, right when dawn sets in. It’s pretty uncomfortable adjusting my wings and tail for your human furniture. So if I stay in the form it was meant for, things will be more comfortable.”

  Sebastian brushed and smoothed out his clothes some more. It seemed like it was the first time he had been this way and quite frankly that was all he cared about. I certainly cared about more than him right now.

  “Exodus?”

  I had no idea what that word meant, but it sounded bad.

  “You know, oh, what do you humans call it...a portal?”

  “Portal?”

  I looked at him with the most straight, expressionless face possible. He had to be joking. I knew he was a creature from another world, but why on earth would he not be capable of beckoning his portal whenever he needed it? Clearly he needed it now; there was no possible way he could stay with me for 24 hours.

  “Yes. This upsets you? Why?”

  “Sebastian, I have movers coming tomorrow to move the rest of this furniture. I have to get back to my apartment. I think I left my car unlocked!”

  I was hyperventilating.

  “How is my presence a problem in this?” He asked. He was bending down so he was eye level. It was very intimidating.

  “Because it just is.”

  I threw my arms up and leaned back against the futon. I had to stop looking into his eyes. I didn’t like how it was making my insides feel.

  “You do not have to get all upset, Mirabelle Frances.” Sebastian sighed.

  “Okay, Sebastian Boogeyman, Maracore, Shape-Shifter.” I rolled my eyes.

  “Maracore! This is simply camouflage.” He snapped.

  “Camouflage? What do you need to blend in for if you only come at night?” I raised my eyebrow.

  “Coming at night does not mean leaving at night.” He raised his eyebrow back at me.

  “Then why not just come only during the day and do whatever it is you do?” I snorted.

  “Because eventually you would catch on. I told you we need the night to keep the balance.”

  “Right, to scare us.” I made air quotations and rolled my eyes.

  “I told you, we don’t really like scaring you. And well, sometimes it’s more soothing for the humans when we look like them. It helps them carry on in their natural ways easier and thus we learn more. You must admit that you do seem calmer now.”

  He was picking up a weird valley girl attitude. Was he copying me? I watched him shift his weight and cross his arms, it was comical.

  “Well, you should have done your research more. First of all, that outfit is completely out of date. Second of all, I like you better as a boog-Maracore.” I corrected myself.

  “This is not what you humans wear?” He looked down at his clothing.

  “Not anymore.” I smirked.

  “Carlyle! That rat!” Sebastian huffed.

  “Carlyle?�
��

  “Yeah, my brother back in Aegyssus.”

  “I guess it’s… ?” I asked when he trailed off.

  “Yes, Aegyssus.” Sebastian said again.

  “You guess what?” I asked. Was he losing it again?

  “What?” He asked.

  “You said, ‘I guess it’s’? So I’m trying to figure out what you’re guessing.”

  “Oh! No, no, no. I’m not saying a phrase, I’m saying the name of our world. It’s called, Ae-gys-sus.” Sebastian enunciated it for me.

  “Oh!”

  I laughed; my face went a tad bit red. How embarrassing. Sebastian smiled and looked away. Was he embarrassed, too?

  “So, you guys study us? Your brother, is he a...like you?”

  I somehow couldn’t ever get his breed right. I was still a bit unsure of what it all meant to be honest.

  “My brother is a Myrian like me, yes.” He filled in the blanks for me.

  “Right.”

  I sighed. We stared at each other blankly again.

  “What’s a Maracore then?” I said after a few moments. How come he wouldn’t have just said that earlier? And then I remembered the whole soothing part.

  “Well, it’s my job title.”

  “And what’s the job description?”

  I sucked my lips in and raised my voice a little.

  “Learning and protecting the human race.”

  “Ugh. So are any of you more so the guardian angels?” I asked again.

  I didn’t know why I was so obsessed with finding out. I think it may’ve had something to do with him mentioning he was with my mother. Maybe a guardian angel could bring me to her, as well, or her to me.

  “Yes, it would be us. I told you this. I wish you would listen to me rather than try to misconstrue my words to suit what you believe something is.”

  “Fine. I guess it just doesn’t make sense why that was the first thing you said to me, but now you’re telling me you’re some sort of a peddler. It seems if you wanted to calm me you wouldn’t have made it seem like you there for a greater cause.”