Monsters & Fairytales

by Rebecca Suzanne

  “Joe!” I screamed to him.

  I stood up and wrapped a towel around me. I stumbled down the hall trying to make it to him and be in his arms. I was safe there.

  “Joe.” I whispered when he met me in the hallway.

  I threw myself into his chest. He wrapped his free arm very tightly around me.

  “Mira, what happened?”

  He was shaken up at the site of me in so much distress.

  “Sebastian. I saw him.” I said.

  “He’s here?! Where?!”

  Joe let me go and threw down Spike’s leash. He ran into the bathroom, panting heavily. He looked everywhere in my bedroom; he even stuck his head out on the balcony.

  “I don’t see any sign of him.” Joe said walking back up to me.

  “I think I saw him here…” I pointed to my head.

  “Oh, Mira.” He hugged me again. “It’s okay. You’re safe, now.”

  He kissed my head and then squeezed me against him.

  “How can I be safe from something that’s in my head?” I whispered.

  “Because I’m here. We heard you from downstairs and I came as soon as I could.”

  “Thank you. And sorry for getting your clothes soaked for the second time since I’ve met you.” I joked. “It’s only been two times, right?”

  I could feel him smile and hug me tighter.

  “Yes, this is only the second time. It’s okay.”

  I was suddenly aware that I was naked. My eyes shot open.

  “How about getting some food in our bellies?” He asked rubbing my back.

  “Okay, while you look for food, I’m going to get dressed.” I said stepped back from him. Then I remembered the cut on my leg. “Oh, can you look at this?”

  I pulled my towel up a bit and turned to the side. He bent down and looked at it.

  “That’s a pretty nasty cut, Mirabelle. When did that happen?”

  “I can’t remember. That’s the point. I was hoping you could tell me.”

  “I have absolutely no idea. I’ve never seen you this undressed before.” He winked at me.

  My face went beet red. It was horrendous. I faked a laugh and started stepping backwards.

  “Right, okay, well, thanks for checking it out.” I stuttered, pointing at him.

  I turned around and shuffled towards my bathroom. I looked in the mirror and took a deep breath. I was crazy, everything was fine. I'd just ruined a perfectly good bath for nothing. I didn’t feel calmer nor cleaner. What a waste. I had more important things to worry about, anyway; like which pajamas should I wear around Joe?

  I wasn’t sure that I had anything that matched enough. I was thinking too much again. I just needed a regular spaghetti strap shirt and some shorts. I had plenty of those. He’d probably look at me weird if I walked out in a complete matching outfit. He’d probably get the wrong impression. What kind of impression did I want to make? Thinking too much again. He’s waiting on me.

  “Welcome back.”

  He stood up out of the refrigerator and kissed my cheek.

  “Thanks. Find anything?” I asked.

  “We got chicken, pizza, vegetables, waffles, and it looks like some questionable sausage.”

  He laughed, pulling out a terribly frozen package of sausages.

  “My mother cooked them for breakfast. I never cared much for them.” I smiled.

  My heart hiccupped. I felt myself crying again. Did I have more tears to spare today? Honestly? Joe lunged over and held me again. Every time, he was there for me. Every time.

  “When does it stop hurting?” I asked through my sobs.

  “Never.”

  He laughed through his own tears. He had lost his mother, too. I was remembering it. Oh, my gosh.

  “Joe!” I sat up.

  “What?!”

  He looked at me with his eyes all red. I loved that about him, that he was capable of crying, too.

  “You! Your mother, she passed to cancer. We were at that coffee shop! You! Oh, Joe!” I smiled.

  I pulled him close and kissed him the way that felt right. I remembered everything. He had always been there. He was always good to me and making me feel good. He was falling in love with me and I was completely lost in him. Oh, it was such a good feeling.

  “Well, hello to you, too!” He said when I stopped kissing him.

  “Not yet.” I hushed him.

  I yanked him back and finished kissing him. My entire body melted.

  “I missed you.”

  He grinned, leaning his forehead against mine.

  “I missed you, too.” I laughed.

  “Where were we?”

  He had a smile from ear to ear. He was as happy as I was. Well, maybe I was a bit more.

  “Delving in this moment. I can’t believe I can finally remember you. It’s so exciting.”

  I squeezed my fingers around his and just stared into his eyes. He had the most beautiful blue eyes. I'd never noticed it before, but they were almost violet. That actress, Elizabeth Taylor, had had violet eyes. I wondered if they are related in some way? He blinked and looked away.

  “I agree. Do you remember only just what you said? Or do you remember everything else, too?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Sebastian?” He whispered the name as if it were poison.

  “No. Just you.” I thought about it for a second just to make sure.

  “Well, that still makes me happy.” He kissed me. “Now, where were we?”

  “Food.”

  I pointed to the fridge. He was acting weird. Did he want me to remember Sebastian? What was the significance there?

  “Right.” He said.

  He walked back over to the fridge and dug around a bit more. Soon enough, he was off to the pantry. I guess nothing interested him in the fridge. I was sort of counting on a cooked meal, not a snack. My stomach grumbled. I looked down at it. It felt so empty.

  “Ah!”

  Joe screamed and I jumped. I fell off the counter and then jumped back up on it. “What is it?!”

  I picked my feet up. Was it a roach? It was a roach. It had to be a roach.

  “Nothing. Nothing.” He said.

  “Joe?!”

  I leaned forward to look around him and into the pantry.

  “I think...I saw a mouse.” He said with heavy breaths.

  “Ew! No you didn’t.”

  I carefully slid off the counter and walked over to the pantry. I wasn’t necessarily afraid, but if it were a big enough mouse to scare him, maybe I should protect myself. So I stuck my hands under his and used his body as a shield. Right before my hand touched the handle, he stopped me.

  “Mirabelle no, I’m begging you. It was quite the traumatic experience.” He exclaimed.

  He was completely serious. I laughed, trying to get towards the handle again. He was laughing, too, but completely resisting. He was pretty strong. I tried to lunge under his arm, but the next thing I knew he was picking me up and I was over his shoulder.

  He carried me to the living room as I kicked and screamed playfully. Spike was barking, jumping up, trying to save me. He dropped me on the couch and I instantly sprung back up. He jumped off the couch and chased me down. Then he and I were back falling over the side of the couch. Joe landed on top of me. He caught himself so we wouldn’t hit each other’s heads.

  I watched him kiss me. My entire insides went crazy. He made me crazy. I wanted to feel that way forever. I remembered being in love with him. I was so happy with him.

  “What are you thinking?” He asked, rubbing the side of my face.

  “I’m thinking ‘How did I get so lucky’?” I smiled.

  “What do you mean?”

  “To have you here, making me feel this way, well, that can only be explained by luck.”

  “Don’t say that.” He was serious. “You are such a wonderful person. You get everything you deserve. If I bring you happiness, it’s only because you deserve it. There’s no such thing as luck.”
He winked.

  “See what I mean!” I laughed.

  “Mirabelle.”

  He put his finger to my lips to hush my laughter.

  “Yes?”

  “I am in love with you. We’ve only known each other like a day, but it has by far been enough to have me wrapped around your fingers. I want every second with you. I want to get to know you by being with you. I want you to be my everything.” He smiled.

  I didn’t know what to say. I was completely taken aback by all of it. I felt exactly the same way. I just, I never thought he’d feel that way for me. It was beautiful. Because I couldn’t speak any words, I pulled his face closer and I kissed him.

  “I’ll take that as a yes?” He laughed.

  “Yes.” I laughed, too.

  He scooped me up and wrapped my legs around his waist. He twirled me around in the living room, laughing out loud. I was laughing. I was so happy. I looked down to him.

  “Thank you.”

  I kissed him.

  “Thank you.”

  He kissed me back.

  “Sleep now?” I asked.

  “Yes.”

  He slowly lowered me back down.

  My stomach growled again, but I covered it up by walking towards the bedroom faster than him. He’d stayed behind anyway to make sure everything was locked up and all the lights were turned off. I was impressed.

  I patted my leg and Spike came trotting after me. He curled up at the foot of the bed facing the door way. I was glad he didn’t expect to sleep in the bed with me. I had a feeling it was going to be quite crowded.

  Pulling the covers down, I climbed in. I’d missed my bed. It felt like it had been weeks since I had slept on it, thanks to that air mattress. I hoped I never had to sleep on that thing again. It was awful.

  Fluffing the pillows, sleep crept up quickly. I tried to keep my eyes open while waiting on Joe, but they were too heavy. I was exhausted with everything, especially all the crying and emotional stress. What a day.

  Slowly, my eyes were closing and my head was nodding. What was taking him so long? Maybe he was getting his own pajamas from upstairs? That had to be it. Why wouldn’t he say something, though?

  I tried to focus on something to stay awake. I closed my eyes and thought of Joe. My body seemed to double over and I felt something funny. It was like someone else was in the room with me. Cautiously opening my eyes, I saw someone staring back. I tried to scream, but I couldn’t move.

  “Mirabelle.” The voice was like an echo.

  “Sebastian?”

  I heard myself whisper even though my mouth never moved. My voice echoed like his had done.

  “Yes! You remember me.” He whispered out loud.

  “No, I don’t! I don’t know any Sebastian’s! You tried to talk to me earlier, I’m not stupid. I can remember that.”

  I was being snotty. I hated him. I didn’t even know him and I hated him. I felt pain. Was he it?

  “Yes, you do, Mirabelle. You just don’t want to admit it. You have forced it out of your mind, but not your heart. I can’t let go of you.” He was pleading. His voice was going in and out.

  “My heart? The only person in my heart is Joe!” I screamed.

  “Joe, he’s a fraud. Mirabelle, what you think you two have is nothing compared to what we did have. Why else do you think I am capable of coming back to you like this?” He sighed.

  “What do you want?” I asked. I was sick of this game.

  “I need you to accept it. You’re fading. We need you. Please, if you accept you love me back, it’ll fix this.” He said.

  “Fix what?” I asked.

  “Trust me.”

  “What for?”

  “What else is there?” He said.

  He had said that before, too. What was the significance of that? Suddenly, he was walking towards me. He was a huge beast. I wasn’t that terrified. He bent down and kissed my cheek. My body went flying up.

  “Ow!” Joe yelled. I blinked and saw him standing over me holding his forehead.

  “Joe?”

  I looked at him curiously, then looked around the room for Sebastian. He wasn’t there. I had fallen asleep. It was just a dream.

  “Yes!” He said. He was in a lot of pain.

  “Oh, my, I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”

  I moved his hands. His eyes were watering.

  “Yes, I’ll be fine. Are you okay? You’re the one with the concussion and you just hit your head again.”

  He shook off the pain and put his hand out towards me.

  “Yeah, it doesn’t even hurt.” I realized.

  “Good. Sorry I took so long; I just wanted to get some extra clothes and stuff.”

  He tugged on his pajama pants. That’s all he had; no shirt, just pants. I forgot my bad dream.

  “That’s alright.” I smiled.

  “Ready for bed?” He asked. I nodded my head.

  He sat down next to me and flicked the switch. When darkness hit, I thought I saw something. It looked like the figure that had claimed to be Sebastian. I blinked a few times and it was gone. I could still see him in my head, though, standing there.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Joe looked at where I was staring.

  “Oh nothing...just zoned out there for a second.”

  I forced myself to look away. He wasn’t buying it.

  “Hmm, okay.”

  He laid down and turned towards me. I scooted into him and got comfortable. He put his arm around my side and rubbed my back. I lifted my head to get a goodnight kiss from him. He gave it very willingly and smiled.

  “You still awake?” Joe asked after a couple seconds. Of course I was still awake.

  “Yes.” I yawned.

  “Nevermind.” He whispered, defeated by my yawn.

  “No, no. Tell me!” I laughed.

  “Okay.”

  He scooted up some. He cleared his throat and then looked at me.

  “What?!” I urged him on. He laughed a little.

  “Since you remember me now, I want to keep talking to you and getting to know you.” He said.

  “Oh, okay.”

  I forced a smiled. Inside I was dying. Now, Joe? Why now?

  “Tell me what your dreams are.”

  “Dreams are for kids, and even then, I wasn’t a believer.”

  I rolled over and scooted myself up next to him on my arm. This conversation could take a while. I’d hate to fall asleep on him. Well, I mean I would have loved to fall asleep on him, but not while he was trying to get to know me better.

  “Really? No dreams or goals?” He confirmed.

  “Nope. I got everything I ever wanted without ever wanting it. Even though it was consistently taken away from me…I like things better that way.”

  “I can respect that.” He nodded his head.

  “What about you?” I asked. I was thankful he hadn’t pushed that point further.

  “I want to see my dad happy. Ever since my mom passed, he’s just been different.”

  “For years? Have you tried to say anything to him?”

  “He won’t talk to me. He won’t acknowledge her being gone. He feels once we pass out of this body, that that is it. I can’t get him to accept she had a life.”

  “Do you have anywhere to see her?”

  I thought of my house. If I were still living there, things wouldn’t be so hard. I felt like if I had that to hold on to, I would still have her in some way. Having her belongings did help, too. Joe certainly didn’t have any of that in his house.

  “Yes. My dad still owns the house.”

  “Oh? Where at?”

  “Do you know where Princeton Park is?”

  “Over by the old bridge?”

  “That’s the one.”

  “Oh wow, I didn’t even realize there were any houses over there.” I said.

  I thought of the overgrown forest out there. There were some old trails, but nothing indicating civilization. It was at least 40 minutes from the near
est main road.

  “Yeah. He likes it out there in the middle of vegetation. He’s really big on nature.”

  “He’s big on nature but he doesn’t believe in life after death?”

  “Oh no, he does. He thinks that after death, you go on to do something different. So your past life doesn’t matter anymore. She doesn’t know we exist.”

  “What a terrible way to think.”

  “I know. That’s what I want to help him with. I think he only says that to avoid the pain. But if he just accepted it...”

  “Joe, you can’t force your dad to accept it. It’s been so long. He’s going to deal with it the way he deals with it. All he needs from you is acceptance of that. If you give him what he wants, and treats it the way he needs it, then he can move on.”

  “I guess you’re right. I just hate seeing him so unhappy.”

  “Maybe he’s unhappy because he feels alone.”

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

  “But you telling him what he should do to feel better, when he has it in his head what will work, isn’t helping. I’m serious; you should just ask him what he wants. I bet he has a lot to say.”

  “I’ve-I’ve never tried that.” He admitted. He was sad.

  “Don’t be so hard on yourself. It’s okay. You lost her, too.”

  “I know. How are you so wise on this subject?”

  “I guess I just want the same thing.” I mumbled.

  “I’m here for you.” He promised.

  “I know.”

  “There’s really nothing you want?”

  “I want my house back.” I blurted out.

  “Why’d you sell it then?”

  “Because I’m a coward.”

  “Whoa, hey, what’s wrong? Talk to me.” He begged.

  “I signed over my mothers’ house after she passed away.”

  “My question still stands of why”

  “I know. It’s just a long story. But, okay. I sold it because the bank insisted I wouldn’t be able to afford it. See, what really happened, is that the property value went up. They knew that they could get more for the house than I realized. So I signed the mortgage over to them to be able to not go into debt. Once I did that, they gave me the account to my trust fund both of my parents had left for me. I have a total of $873,000.36 in various bank accounts. That was more than enough to save our house, but I just did nothing.”