Chapter 4: Useless Not to Fight: Fighting to Not Be Useless
"Nothing, nothing!" The desperate girl squawked. Papers fluttered from the desk, disturbed from Mabrey's nervous splutter. "There's nothing about weaknesses or ways to stop them, only ways to infuriate them more!" Mabrey was close to banging her head on the desk. She very well could, since she was alone in her apartment and no one would observe the maddened state she was in. Tales about traditional goblins, English brownies, hobgoblins, redcaps, imps, ghouls, fairies, domovois, kallikantzarois, none of them helped Mabrey an ounce.
"First of all," Mabrey complained, "None of the descriptions matched the goblin I saw." Indeed, she was correct. The explanations always delved into the appearances of short creatures with large floppy ears and hunched backs like an old man's. That was when the descriptions branched. Some would say that goblins could transform into any living object, such as vegetation, animals, or elements. The other path stated that goblins were planted firmly in appearing as short ugly humans.
"Second of all, what I've read either has goblins as extremely helpful houseguests, or slighted, angry spirits." Mabrey gulped, wondering if Marak would curse her with the rumored fatal disease or eternal bad luck if she managed to slip out of his grasp. A dreadful headache clutched at her brain once those thoughts crept into her. She grit her teeth and kept scanning her books and the internet to find any kind of clue on how to avoid this terrible fate set upon her.
"Well, I could make him count to three, because three is apparently a holy number." She chuckled hopelessly. It had been a week of non-stop searching and constant worrying about bringing Marak to his knees so he could never bother her again. Mabrey's eyes were aching from staying up, and she absolutely knew that she did dreadful on the chemistry test she finished a few days ago.
He's already invading my life…Mabrey dreamily thought. Her head was now peacefully sitting on the desk, using the pictures of creatures that looked nothing like Marak as pillows. I'll kill him if I fail that test. And Mabrey fell into the world of sleeping.
In that world, she was in a dimly lit hotel room with one bed and gaudy wallpaper. A meager painting of a pink flower above the bed was the only accessory that brightened up the room. Mabrey wondered why she was dreaming of a hotel room, desperately raking her brains to remember any past memories shared with her deceased parents concerning a similar room. The search brought no conclusion except Mabrey was simply dreaming of a hotel room, and that was that.
"Mabrey?" Someone asked from behind her. Mabrey almost flew out of her dreamlike skin.
"Even in my dreams, you have to go scaring me from behind." She fussed. Mabrey didn't bother to turn around like before. She only had to blink for Marak to show up in front of her. "Why do you have to be in my dreams? It's an invasion of my privacy."
"Little cat, I believe it is I who should be asking that question." Mabrey was about to retort when she realized that she was in her pajamas, which consisted of a grey tank top and high cut blue shorts. The blush on her face darkened even more when she actually took a better look at Marak who currently lacked a shirt and wore only black silk pajama pants. The jump from only witnessing the man in winter attire to pajamas was not the only reason Mabrey was unsettled, it was the fact that she actually liked what she saw.
"I-I…I really think I should be going." Mabrey squeaked. Her heart was pounding so loud, she thought the thing would start its own drum line. Mabrey turned around and squeezed her eyes shut. Then she opened them. The hotel room was still there. Damn.
"You silly little thing. I had no clue you would become so flustered. If I knew you could be mollified this easy, I would have taken my shirt off for you from the beginning." Movements of springs on the bed released the warning note that Marak had stood and was starting to advance on her. Dream or no dream, Mabrey was not going to take this any longer. She swirled around with an expression of determination on her face.
"You stay back."
"I was only going to…"
"No, I can't trust you as far as I can throw you." This statement really did have an enormous impact, for as much as it was used, Mabrey was sure that she couldn't even pick the goblin up, proving that she did not trust him at all. "Now," Mabrey struggled to sound tough here, "I'm going to get rid of you once and for all. But first, how many times have we met each other?" Marak seemed like he was already to die anyway from all the laughter he was suppressing.
"Three times, including tonight." No foaming at the mouth. No gasping for his last breath. No falling to the floor, still and unmoving. Mabrey's shoulders sagged. She didn't think that would work, and in the back of her mind, she hoped that it wouldn't. But that didn't mean she liked him. No, it just meant that she merely did not want to be the cause of the Goblin King's death. That would only create more problems. The real trick was to repel Marak, or get him off her track. Mabrey was so busy thinking that she did not notice Marak inching closer to her.
"Now, how are you going to get rid of me once and for all, little cat?" Marak was almost glowing. He loved teasing her. "Or, was the whole three business supposed to work? I bid you good luck on doing any better, if that is the case." Then, to Mabrey's astonishment, he bent his face to hers. This startled Mabrey to the point where she could not move, even if she wanted to. All of her focus was directed on Marak's lips. They were smooth and slightly parted, revealing sharp fangs. When those lips were too close, Mabrey closed her eyes, readying herself for that one moment where distance would not be the matter any longer. Seconds seeped on and on until Mabrey had enough of waiting and opened her eyes. Marak was standing again, observing.
"Thought I was going to kiss you? Really now, Mabrey, why would I do such a thing before we are even wed? Impatient, aren't we?" Sweet laughter encased the room, dancing in the corners and around Mabrey's ears.
"You complete jerk! You put some spell on me! When I find out what keeps you away I'll make sure you never do that again!" Mabrey shouted. She blinked, and she was in the chair next to her desk. The bells that were Marak's laughter still hung in the air about her. "He did it again!" She hissed. "I swear, that man…I mean goblin…grah! This is it, I know what I have to do now, if he's this determined." She got up from her clustered desk and got to work.
Mabrey gathered her belongings around, formulating a plan. If she wanted to leave without anyone suspecting her of leaving, she would have to make a run for it during a school day with only a backpack. She always went to school with an oversized backpack and nothing else. Said backpack being larger would not be too suspicious, especially after a test. Mabrey grumbled as she stuffed instant food and precious items into her pack.
"Good thing they sell large backpacks." She mumbled when she finished. Before she hid the backpack for the morning, she placed inside one last memento that she absolutely could not leave behind. The picture of her parents and her in Florida: happy.
"For you. Mom. Dad." And then Mabrey slipped into bed, determined to sleep the deepest, and dreamless, sleep she ever had.
Author's Note: Two reviews per chapter is all I need! XD Maybe even three…*le gasp* I love feedback. : )