“Oh. Thanks. I must have dropped them.”
“You didn’t. S or D stole them from you. They’re quite resourceful, you know.”
“What would they need my keys for?” Roger blinked, confused.
“They wouldn’t. I would. To steal this.” He gently added the stone pestle to the keys on the desk.
Roger just stared. “What… How…”
“I’m giving it back now but it doesn’t matter, does it?”
Roger looked at him, horrified. “Will… Babe, what have you done?”
“I think it’s pretty obvious. Now I’m a monster too.”
“No. No way. We need to fix it. We have to uncurse you. Jonathan!” Roger hollered into the air.
“I don’t want to be uncursed,” Will said.
“But you have to! God, you’re stupid! You’re Australian, you asshole! You start to change into a bunyip and that’s a dangerous, carnivorous predator! How do you think you will see a giant rabbit?”
Will got a bit nervous. “Well… they say a jackalope is a killer rabbit…”
Roger was more than upset, he was near hysteria. He suddenly clutched his chest and wheezed: “It’s here… Don’t dare to change now!”
He was struggling for his breath but after a while his breath went completely out.
“I’m… I’m not changing… It’s like I can’t change,” he said, puzzled, when he remembered how to breathe. “Oh, no. The curse has passed onto you!” he yelled.
“Huh?” was all Will managed to say.
“Oh, Will, babe, what have you done?” Roger lamented. “It’s not fair! Don’t worry, honey, I’m not leaving you… Not this time. You’ll see, we’ll find a cure. Everything’s going to be alright!”
“Uh… Roger…” Will interrupted him. “I don’t feel like I can change, either.”
“What?” Roger eyed him. “How do you mean it?”
“I mean, I feel the same. Not like turning into a jackalope or bunyip or anything else.”
“He won’t change,” Jonathan appeared suddenly and they both jumped, startled. The ghost came closer, carefully watching Will.
“What do you mean?” Roger chirped.
“I mean… The curse has not affected him,” Jonathan said in awe.
“It’s gone from me so it had to go somewhere,” Roger blurted out.
Jonathan smiled. “It has gone to where it belongs. Will took the pestle not because he wanted it. He wanted to help you. It was so unselfish the pestle lifted the curse. Or maybe it just couldn’t process it and short-circuited or something. All I know, the curse is gone. And… I can leave now!” he added, beaming.
“Really?” Roger couldn’t believe it. It was too good to be true.
“Really,” Jonathan confirmed. “Well… Goodbye, Roger. This ghostly gig was much shorter and easier than I expected. I’m sorry I got you into this but, hey, you had also someone to get you out of it. Keep this guy,” he whispered and then he was gone.
Will and Roger looked at each other.
“So…” Roger cleared his throat. “This is it? Just… so?”
“I don’t feel like a bunyip so… yeah, I guess.”
Roger let out a short, breathless laugh. “What are we going to do now?”
“Bring me Solo,” the raven suggested. It was perching on the desk and looked positively pissed off for losing its ghostly companion.
“Maybe tomorrow, mate,” Will grinned and suddenly he was in Roger’s arms, his mouth locked with Roger’s.
“You’re insane,” Roger panted when he had to end their kiss to catch his breath.
Will held him closer. “You made me.”
“Sorry.”
“I’m glad you did.”
Roger nuzzled his cheek. “Do you think we can just go on as if nothing happened? After three years?”
“Hardly. But I want to give it a try. And if it won’t work, I know where to go and what to do to turn into a bunyip and eat you.”
“If I screw up again, I’ll let you, I promise.”
“Shut up already,” the raven said disgustedly and vanished into thin air.
The End
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I’ll tell you a secret, Jackalope Page 3