Monsters & Fairytales

by Rebecca Suzanne

  Finally, on the third level stairs, I unhooked my keys from my belt loop. We had made it. It was over. The day could finally end. I was safe.

  One step further up and I realized I had spoken too soon. Great, I clearly didn’t give life enough justice. That, or life didn’t give me enough breaks. Either way it seemed today was just going to be that day. My front door was half way open. Not only was Joe a creepy stranger, but he was a burglar. No, he was my burglar. I just ran into the guy that had robbed me, told him my address, and accepted a date from him. I was the dumbest person in the world. This was terrible. I just wanted to melt into the floor and disappear like the Wicked Witch of the West. Wizard of Oz is such a fantastic movie. Oh right, burglary just happened.

  I nudged the door completely open and very carefully urged Spike in. I really didn’t want to make too much noise, in case Joe hadn’t robbed me and someone else was still here. Spike wasn’t growling or showing any signs of guard dog status though. Matter of fact he didn’t seem to be on alert around Joe, either. Wouldn’t he have known?

  A noise from my house echoed out into the hall; it came from my bedroom. Of course it did. It sounded like a window latch. My heart froze. Joe wasn’t my burglar, or he wasn’t alone. Someone was definitely still here. Had he been trying to stall me so his friend could escape out of my window? Why would he try to take me to my apartment? Was he hoping I’d say no? There’s no way, he was far too pretty to be a burglar. It just wasn’t possible. He was my knight in shining armor. He had to be.

  Ugh, I shouldn’t have listened to my gut. It always led me into terrible situations. If I had just let him walk me up the stairs...this is where I could really use his rescuing right now. He was never going to break my heart, it was always going to be me. So here I was, yet again, alone. I mean I had Spike, my ferocious American Bulldog who wasn’t barking at the burglar in my house, but ultimately alone. I was so melodramatic.

  Regardless, none of this made any sense. Something wasn’t right. I held my breath and just listened. Finally, I heard Spike’s low growl. He was playing it smart. I should’ve known better than to have doubted him.

  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I felt my rage set in. It was as if every second that went by, my body reminded itself to fight. Not just for me, but for Spike, too. I still had him and he still had me. He was my hero. I wasn’t going to let someone take our new home away from us. Nope. Not today.

  Slowly I stepped out of my shoes and propped them in the doorway. They held it open so it wouldn’t move anymore that it already had. I couldn’t afford noise right now. I slid off Spike’s collar and set the leash down. Spike would do best with complete freedom. He trusted me and obeyed me perfectly, I hoped. There was no time to waste, now.

  Carefully, we crept inside the house as quietly as possible. On the counter there was a box labeled, ‘coffee table’. Inside I grabbed the biggest snow globe I could find. I left the wrapping on it; I would hate to get blood on it. Then carefully, I took a step towards the hall. My bare feet stepped in a small puddle. Looking down I noticed my socks had been dripping behind me. I was lucky I had fallen into the fountain; this was all meant to be. Socks and shoes would have made noise, but my bare feet kept me safe and sturdy. I was ready for this. With a tighter grip on the snow globe, I began my search of the apartment.

  The silence started getting to me. My heart rate was accelerating and I was getting a bit light headed. I crept up to the first empty room and stopped. I forced myself to calm and carefully closed the door as quietly as possible. There was nothing in it, and really no access to it. I figured I was either trapping the burglar or saving myself. Either way, I doubted someone would be waiting in an empty room for me.

  My breathing started getting shorter when I approached the door to my bedroom. I did my best to keep quiet. When I reached my door, I stopped to assess the situation. It was cracked enough to look in, but not enough to walk through. Not to mention I wouldn’t be able to see behind the door first. I had to think of a better way.

  My heart was pounding in my ears. It was the only sound I could hear at this point. Nothing else was moving. My attempt at calming down to hear the intruder had failed. I needed another way. Then I thought of it.

  Carefully, I bent down and angled my head so the hardwood floor was reflecting the contents back of the room to me. There didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary. I checked and double-checked for a human figure or some sort of a weapon. Everything was placed correctly. Even behind the door was safe.

  Satisfied with my findings, I still knew that I couldn’t trust them entirely. There were still shadows far from the door I’d have to go check. This is when I needed my phone. No immediate danger, but enough to call someone now. I did my part. No, finish it, Mirabelle. Push the door all the way open and prove you are not afraid.

  I pushed the door open and went a bit further in to check my closet and bathroom. The pounding in my ears was making me shake. I felt like I was going to drop the globe. It was absolutely frightening. Spike was at my side, slightly in front of me. He was looking around as I kept stopping to check necessary places; like under the bed. I figured that’d be the most obvious place for someone to go even if I did have a retro hotel styled bed; I was still incredibly relieved there was no one there.

  I stood up and breathed. My face felt hot. All the blood had rushed to it. I needed to just calm down. I looked down the hall towards my bathroom and debated my next move. I really didn’t want to end up cornered down there. It’s not like anyone could fit through the window in the shower, and they definitely wouldn’t be able to mask their shadow in the tiny powder room. So I mentally marked that area as clear.

  Stepping back from that path, I crept up next to my closet. I realized that I had been standing in its view for quite some time now, but someone could be waiting for me to get close to it. A shiver went down my spine; I hated this and everything about it. Dark closets were scary even if there hadn’t been a noise indicating someone might’ve broken in. Of course, the shiver could have just been from the open window letting the wind dance on my damp clothes. I was going to be sick at this rate. Then it hit me. My entire body went from fear, back to rage. That damned fire escape. Of course my window was open. Of course it was the one in my bedroom near the ladder. I should have known that just because there was a lockable door to this building did not mean this place was safe. All someone needed was a truck and they were up on the fire escape, free to enter anyone’s apartment they pleased. Even if it did face part of the park and a busy road, that wouldn’t stop someone determined enough to break in.

  I rushed over to see if I could find someone. Maybe even the ladder would still be down. It would be great to find some sort of sign that I hadn’t just been parading around my empty apartment like a ninja for nothing.

  That’s when I saw the corner outside that Spike and I had just been at only twenty minutes ago, I felt sick. Spike had been trying to warn me. I looked at my dog and wasn’t surprised that he was in attack stance. He was ready to kill for his owner: me.

  “Oh...my...god...” I whispered.

  I just couldn’t believe what I was staring at. How couldn’t I have seen it before? I did everything I could to slowly step back into the room unnoticed. I felt awful for not heeding Spike’s warning earlier. We could’ve avoided this entirely. Instead, I was standing in my windowsill, staring at that ledge where I had dismissed something for birds, and into the back of a giant beast. It was staring off at the park. Could it be a fake? No, I could see his massive wings moving up and down with his breathing. The feathers were his?

  He was propped up on his feet, bent down like he was ready for takeoff or impersonating a stone gargoyle. I didn’t want to find out which one, I had to get away. I used the red comforter on my bed to guide me backwards safely into the apartment again. I forgot about the difference from the ledge to the floor inside and I stumbled. I caught myself on my bed then shot up to see if the beast had noticed. />
  Of course he had noticed. The beast’s head shot around. He crawled off the edge like a giant cat stalking its prey. I stopped moving. I was frozen. I knew he wasn’t a tyrannosaurus, but I sort of hoped he couldn’t see me if I wasn’t moving. He was still getting closer. It wasn’t working, I was an idiot. I needed to run, or scream.

  His claws clinked on the wrought iron below him, making me flinch with every hit. Then he was standing up in front of me. I watched him nearly double in size. I felt complete utter terror. I wanted to die. I was frozen inside my head, screaming. Joe, please, help me. Anyone. Someone had to see this.

  His face went level with mine and all I saw were his violet eyes dilate and turn an odd shade of maroon. Then, I was falling on my face as my surroundings started losing focus. Everything was in slow motion. I could feel the pull of unconsciousness creep into my head... I should have just gone to the hospital.

  You’ve got

  to be kidding me.

  ((the day after yesterday))

  Another morning on the air mattress, lovely. To be honest though, I was actually starting to prefer it. Before, when I had my bed in here, it was at the perfect height for those amazing rays of sunlight to hit me in the face every morning. They would force me out of subconscious well before I wanted to, and give me a smile when all I wanted was to hate the morning.

  Now I could sleep the day away in morbid darkness. Nothing was tugging and poking on my eyelids, nothing was forcing me to acknowledge another day had carried on without my consent. I was safe in the sadness of my dreams. They were all I really knew lately. And quite frankly, I enjoyed the escape from reality. Pain and heartache, it was nicer there. I’d rather hurt seeing her face than go on happy, never getting to see it again.

  A wet nose brushed against my forehead. Spike. I must’ve slept past 4:00 again. He was the only call reality had left me. He was what I was living for. Typically he stayed sleeping next to me, but I was steadily sleeping later, (from staying up later) so now he had to do what the sun could no longer accomplish.

  I felt his paws push down on the edge of the mattress. It took up the empty air space my body had been on and forced me into an uncomfortable position. As much as I wanted to be angry at him, it wasn’t fair. His impatience was completely justified. Especially since today was the day I had promised him change.

  Of course, every day since she passed away I had told him I would be different and make up for the love we had lost. And each day I was just getting worse. I opened my eyes and saw him staring at me. His face made my heart melt. I owed him this. Today I was going to pull through and take him to the park like I had promised. We were going to meet the new neighbors finally, and hopefully make some friends. My eyes were really heavy though, and my heart was aching still, maybe tomorrow.

  The bed moved again. I had dozed off for a second.

  “Alright! I’m up!”

  I threw the covers off. My body shook at the drop in temperature from my ball of heat I had created under the blankets versus the open room. Spike took a few steps back and looked at the door. He really wanted out of the room. I rolled over. I was awake now. I rubbed my eyes and yawned. It hurt to stretch. I felt very weak. How long had I been sleeping? Days? Knocking empty water bottles over on the floor, I found my glasses.

  “Whoa.” I said aloud.

  When I opened my eyes, everything was still blurry. I squeezed them closed again as quickly as possible. I couldn’t have slept that long. My eyes were hurting, though. It was as if I hadn’t used them in weeks. Not that I’d really know what that would feel like, but I imagined this was pretty close. What time was it anyway?

  With another few blinks, the fuzziness went away. I sat up and got a head rush. I rubbed my temples then threw my legs in front of me. I felt funny. I was sitting on something. I reached under me and grabbed my socks. They were in my pockets. That’s strange. Why would I even have pockets in my pajamas? The more I looked, I saw I was wearing jean shorts. What else was going on in this place?

  Setting my socks down, I stood up and surveyed the room. My bandana was on the pillow. It had a teal streak on it. I touched my hair; did I really fall asleep with the bandana on? How did my hair bleed? Did I sweat in this outfit last night? That’s insane. I couldn’t have even slept in it.

  I remembered picking out these clothes before I went to sleep. I remembered trying them on, but I had taken everything back off. I put on pajamas. I know I had been excited about meeting the neighbors, but I couldn’t have been that excited.

  Picking up my glasses from the desk, the sweat pants I usually wore to bed were laying on the floor. This was seriously strange. However, I didn’t want to wear jean shorts all day after sleeping in them, so I changed into the sweat pants and stretched my legs. I noticed my hair tie and some bobby pins were lying next to where my glasses had been. I froze mid-stretch. Everything that I would have worn to bed was laid out as if I had never touched it last night. Sighing, I grabbed the hair tie and put my hair back into a messy bun. My bangs slowly fell down and tickled my nose. Using the bobby pins, I secured them off above my left ear.

  Smoothing out the bumps, I pulled the bun tight and then turned and smiled at Spike. He was staring at me. His tail was wagging full force. He knew what my getting ready meant. I was going to let him outside. I opened my bedroom door and he dashed out. He kept circling back, hoping I was going in the correct direction. He was so adorable, my beautiful puppy. I patted his head as he passed by again. He galloped off and around the hall to the sliding glass door. I checked the clock before following him. It was just past seven-thirty. What was going on here? How was I up this early?

  I looked at Spike waiting by the door; he kept looking at my hands then looking at the handle. He seemed not to notice things were a bit off this morning. It only made it weirder for me. Well, the day had started, no use worrying now. I unlocked the door but before it was even wide enough, Spike forced himself through. It about knocked me over. The door was completely open now at least. I don’t know how this dog wasn’t covered in broken bones and bruises. Can dogs bruise?

  The wind hit me in the face like a brick. It was warming up. Time just kept flying by. Spring was nearing. I hated it. I wished that winter would repeat itself. Having a miserable, crappy, cold season just seemed fitting. Not this beautiful, life giving, all awakening season that was coming up.

  Spike went zooming across the backyard stretching his legs. I laughed silently to myself. It was good seeing him happy, even if it were before noon. So much has happened this past month; he deserved some time to be a dog.

  Suddenly, both of us stopped in a second. There was a creak from a door somewhere. Why would the neighbors ruin this beautiful moment for us? I whistled to hurry him up and remind him what he was doing out there. I would have just left him alone out here and gone back inside, but if I did that then he’d jump into the lake after the ducks.

  Crazy dog, I was in no shape to be standing outside like this. Whoever opened their door was going to see me. Once they realized I was standing outside, they’ll do whatever it takes to strike up a conversation. It’ll all be just a part of their plan to ask about my mother, Rida, since none of them went to her funeral. Then, out of courtesy, they’ll ask about me as if I wasn’t capable of being okay. Well, I was okay. I was fine. I just didn’t want to talk about it. I was okay never talking to another human being ever again.

  I whistled again and reluctantly Spike came trotting back up. He stopped when he reached the patio. I heard another creak. Where was this person? Spike’s fur started to stand up and I could hear his low growl. Goose bumps flourished up my arms and neck when I realized he was backing up from me. I started to feel sick. I was very much aware now that someone was standing behind me, inside my house.

  With every fiber of my being, I threw myself out of the house and shot around to face the intruder. My arms instantly wrapped around Spike’s neck. They were ready to unleash him at any second. He moved his legs into prote
ct mode.

  “Who are you?” I hissed.

  “Please, do not be afraid. I am not here to harm you.”

  There was just a voice, no person.

  “That didn’t answer my question. Why are you hiding?” I raised my voice.

  Suddenly, having my neighbors come outside didn’t seem like such a bad idea after all. Yes, I could carry a conversation with them today. Please come out. Come see the panic I am in and help me. That would be really swell, yes.

  “I do not wish to frighten you.”

  “Oh that’s real convincing. Glad you didn’t just sneak up behind me in my own house, then.”

  “Mirabelle, please. You must understand that you brought me back. You seem to be incapable of forgetting me. I can’t be away from you if you can’t forget me.”

  “Forget you? I don’t even know you! How do you know my name?” I asked lowering my voice; I wanted to talk to him now.

  He intrigued me. I couldn’t decide if he was lying or not. I mean, how else would he know my name? Was he just trying to scare me? If I could just see his face, maybe that would help the situation. Spike was already trying to get closer so I took a step forward, only one, though. I had to plant my feet again to stop Spike from rushing forward. He wanted to kill this intruder. I hoped the sight of Spike’s eagerness made whoever it was terrified.

  The sun was out of my eyes at this point. I could see into the house more clearly. With the clarity came fear. I was terrified. There was a beast staring at me. He had massive wings curled behind his shoulders, legs of a dog, and violet eyes. I knew those eyes. There was something different about them, I couldn’t quite pinpoint it.

  I felt a flush inside my body that echoed up and out of my head. I saw it, those eyes had changed to a blood-like maroon It had been in my apartment. That meant he wasn’t lying! What was going on here? I hadn’t been to my apartment yet, had I? My head hurt. This thing, this beast was an intruder. He had attacked me at my apartment and now he brought me here to cut me up and eat me. I took a step back. Spike was reluctant. He didn’t want to kill him, he wanted to greet him. Spike, no, he’s evil!