In case you were wondering, Susan was incredibly happy to meet Kepala.
She was sat in the common room when we returned; as soon as the door opened she looked to us and her eyes found her and she basically exploded with excitement. She jumped up and smiled and introduced herself and Kepala immediately reciprocated; they got along like they had been friends for life. She'd been the same way with Cockroach on the boat; he'd asked a million questions and she gave as elaborate answers as she could. Her English wasn't perfect and she didn't know a lot of the words he used until he broke them down into simpler terms, but she was willing to learn and listen. Miraculously, she took ninety-nine percent of the attention off me – the one percent is Darcy in what I'm going to continue to assume is an attempt at flirting.
A few words about Kepala: she's incredibly intelligent and capable of comprehending a lot of what Cockroach says (after he breaks down words she doesn't understand); she refuses to take shit from anybody at all, which is understandable as her name, translated in her language, means Leader; after learning of the swear jar and its purpose, she now explicitly swears in Indonesian; she is extremely, extremely observant.
A week into her presence, questions that revolved around me began to resurface, which meant my cycle of only entering the common room when I needed food or something to distract me from hours of silence resumed immediately. Kepala picked up on this almost as soon as it started, and she wasted no time in following me back to where I usually sat and stared at a wall for hours on end.
"I have to ask why you refuse to answer their questions?" she asked me once we were out of the common room, and while the urge to roll my eyes was strong, I was kind of afraid she would snap me in half, so I refrained.
"I don't want to explain anything." I told her simply, and she nodded.
"I understand that, but why?" she persisted, and I sighed.
"It's just, really complicated." I said, "It would take a million years to explain and I don't really have the time or energy to tell everyone my whole life story."
"But you have enough to stare at a wall for hours?" she asked, and I bit my lip.
"Kepala, I really appreciate what you're trying to do, but I can promise you that as long as I'm trapped here, I will not tell anyone anything about me, willingly." I told her, and she looked confused.
"What do you mean trapped?" she asked, "I came here willingly, did you not?"
I let out a very brisk laugh, "Basically the exact opposite. I got caught in New York of all places, thirty minutes to show time."
"Caught? Were you hiding?" she asks, and I nod softly.
"Kind of, I guess," I say, "I've been the way I am for years. I was only seven when…it happened. Look, I really don't like talking about it, Kepala."
"I understand. But, I am confused; you look very similar to the people who often come near the island on ships. What makes you so abnormal?" she asks, and I shrug.
"It's an internal thing, I guess. I mean everyone already knows I can regenerate in less time than it takes to hurt me, so I guess what's why," there are many other things, for example: the fact that I can hardly see anything, but it's not that noticeable.
"You…regenerate?" she asks, and I take a deep breath.
"How do I explain this..?" I mused, "I guess…I get hurt right? And it only takes me a few seconds to heal. Like, if you broke my finger, and as soon as you did I started walking back to the common room, before I got there it would already be better."
"Interesting. But there is nothing else that makes you abnormal?" there are tons of things that make me abnormal, they're just not on the surface therefor irrelevant; besides, I got rid of the physical evidence years ago, so it shouldn't even matter.
"Not really anything else, I guess." I lied, and she frowned.
"Then why are you here?" she asked, and I shrugged.
"Ask Monger. I guess fast healing is a reason to lock someone up for their entire life." I said, turning away and starting back to where I slept.
"But you're not here your whole life." She said, and I turned to look at her.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"You came to look at the island." She says, and I sigh.
"No, those are just shitty missions that they send us on because they don't want to risk actual people's lives." I said bitterly.
"Susan says they also leave for special events. Holidays and the like."
…
Coincidentally, my birthday was only four days away.
I hadn't planned on mentioning anything at all, just sitting in silence all day and thinking "Today is my birthday and I'm sitting in a government facility wearing a blood stained stage outfit and heels on the verge of breaking." I was planning on just being bitter and incredibly spiteful, which wasn't too out of the ordinary.
Upon the information given to me by Kepala, I brought it up the night before.
That's how we ended up Butterflyosaurus on our way to Manchester.
And that's how I ended up happily leading the way down the street to my neighborhood.
My heels hadn't felt this comfortable in weeks; the promise of finally getting to take them off in exchange for some actual shoes that weren't built simply for prancing around on stage for an hour and a half fueled every aspect of my will to take another step on my blister ridden feet. I was actually smiling; I don't think any of them had seen me smile before now if it wasn't full of sarcasm and bitterness.
I turned on the street to a familiar sight; a complete mess of brown hair yanked into a bun was the only thing I could distinguish from where I turned on the street and she sat on the porch at the far house, but it was enough for me.
I don't know how she managed not to notice a giantess walking down the street until I cupped my hands around my mouth and shouted "HEY POINT DEXTER" but the moment she looked up from her book she was moving. She stood, the book fell from her lap and she bolted down the porch steps and down the street towards us; her figure became less and less blurry as she neared but by the time she got to me I still couldn't see her very well.
She was barley an arm's length away before she jumped on me, which I was barely able to reciprocate because of the angle she chose to hug me at. I had planned on saying but she started before I could, "Holy shit, Vanity, I don't think you understand how bad that scared me," she pulled herself off of me, "Like, literally, next time you decide to fall from a catwalk warn me. Or warn, like, everybody with a camera. Do you realize how many videos there are of you on the internet right now? You must've seen at least one of them by now. Everyone thinks you're dead – I thought you were dead. I'm pretty sure anybody who is into the fifties aesthetic thought you were dead – which I guess isn't a lot of people but you did almost sell out Madison Square Garden. Why is there blood on you? Who – who're your friends?"
The people standing behind me finally managed to draw her attention, until she looked up to see Susan and eventually Butterflyosaurus. I smiled weakly at her, taking a quick glance at all of them, "I don't know about friends – friends is a strong word. Susan's my friend. Kepala's my friend. The rest of them are on the waiting list." I moved to stand next to her, facing the monsters behind me, "This is my cousin, Natalie. She's an astrophysicist – she's very cool." She laughed once, pulling a stand of her dark hair around and wrapping it around her finger.
"Cool isn't really the right word, I don't think." She said shyly, looking down at her feet, "Uhm – it's nice to meet all of you. Even the ones on the…waiting list." She dropped the strand of hair, looking back to me, "So do you care to explain where you've been?" she asks.
"Hm. Lots of places." I shrugged, turning to start walking towards her house, "I was actually on the other side of town not too long ago. And Indonesia. Very exciting. As for the blood – can I borrow something to wear? As much as I adore poodle skirts I kind of miss my legs. And being able to feel my feet." She followed my pace, nodding.
"Yeah, sure, although, I don't know how much I have that you'll like." Natalie said, trying to keep up with my long strides.
"You have at least one pair of high waist jeans right?" she nodded, "Then I should be fine."
…
After a quick costume change – heels traded for converse, skirt traded for high waist jeans, and button up blouse traded for a different button up blouse – and a face wash plus a fresh layer of mascara (there's never a reason not to try and look cute, kids) I made my way into the backyard, where Natalie had seated the rest of the monsters so everyone could be included in the conversation. Aside from Butterflyosaurus, who had to stay on the outskirts of town less they crush a household or car or person.
As I opened the door, I caught part of the conversation: "…o you know what makes Vanity a monster?" "…Aha…Uhm…I'm not sure what that means."
I closed the sliding door, "It doesn't mean anything." I said, sitting down next to Natalie, "This lively bunch seems to think there's something so wrong with me I need to be contained."
Natalie almost laughed, "Why would you all think that?" she asked, turning to look at them, "Vanity can be excitable, I guess, but even that's a rare occurrence. What on Earth do you think is wrong with her?"
"We don't know really, we don't really ask questions about what makes them a monster, but something must've determined she was, and we trust Monger." Susan said, "…Partially."
"You heal quickly." Kepala said suddenly, and I looked over to her quickly.
"…Yes, that's it. I heal." I said bitterly, rolling a stray pebble under my shoe, "…Natalie, do you have any gum in the house?"
"Hm? Oh, I have some mint stuff, but I don't have any of that citrus kind you like." She said, looking over to me, and I stood, making my way to the door.
"I might go get some." I said bluntly.
"Oh, okay. Your wallet's in there in the dresser, so is your phone. It should be fully charged. They brought your stuff back over from New York and tried to give it to your parents but they didn't seem very interested, so I told them they could bring it over here." She explained, and I huffed.
"What a surprise." I muttered to myself.
"Are you getting Trident? Because if so would you mind getting me one too?" I heard Darcy ask from where he was sitting in the grass, and I turned to look at him as I slid the door open; he seemed to shrink under my gaze.
I stepped inside the house and closed the door.
...
As I walked down the street, the setting sun made it slightly easier to see my phone screen as it powered on. When the lock screen finally showed itself, my fingers quickly hit the screen trying to unlock it – as soon as Google was open I did something I can't admit to doing before. The moment my name was typed, the four most popular searches fell underneath it.
Dead.
Jumps off catwalk.
Madison Square Garden 2015.
Suicide.
I stopped walking, staring at the options in front of me – people really did think I was dead. They had no idea I'd been chased, I'd been shot, there was a reason I fell of that catwalk. I didn't kill myself; why would I willingly throw myself off a catwalk thirty minutes to show time in Madison Square Garden?
Because the government wouldn't tell people they had to capture me and lock me up.
I wanted to throw my phone on the ground; I wanted to smash it into a billion pieces, as if that would make all of this go away. I turned my phone off, walking forward angrily, but found myself turning it back on within a few seconds. I erased my search; I didn't want to read about my own death. I don't want to know how the world would remember me, because I knew nothing would stop me from getting on Twitter and proving everyone wrong.
I couldn't help myself though; as I pushed open the door to the convenience store my eyes were glued to my timeline – tweets ranging from tears to rejoice over the fact that I was gone. Nothing about the legacy I left – or didn't leave. I guess that makes enough sense though, nobody really gets on Twitter to discuss the logistics of an indie stars death.
I shoved my phone in my pocket, glancing around the small neighborhood shop, paranoia suddenly hitting me in the back of the head. Nobody in the shop except a greasy counter boy – he didn't really look like the kind of person who would appreciate the fifties aesthetic anyways. I scanned the shelves for what I was looking for, before grabbing and tossing two packs of Trident gum onto the counter.
…
We haven't checked up on Koroleva in a while, but rest assured she was checking up on us.
Let's see what she's up to, shall we?
Koroleva had just completed the very important task of using a drone to drug and sedate a five hundred foot tall butterfly. At that very moment in time, the entirety of her ship looked exactly like the dusk sky that surrounded it. And she was about to make a very important phone call.
…
As I made my way back to Natalie's house, my phone rang, cutting me out of my thoughts; I reached into my pocket and pulled it out, Natalie's contact photo meeting me. I slid the green button to the side, holding the phone to my ear.
"Hey." I said quietly.
"When you get home, come into the backyard!" Natalie responded cheerfully, no hello or greeting of any kind included.
"Uhm, okay?" I said, and she laughed.
"It is your birthday after all; I have a surprise for you! I know it will really lift you off your feet!" her happy tone was unbroken.
"You mean knock me off my feet?" I asked, walking up the porch steps.
"Yes, something like that!" she said quickly.
"Oka—"
"Hurry now! You're almost home, right?!" she cut me off, and I closed the front door.
"Just got inside. Calm down – hey, tell Darcy I got him his gum, or whatever." I told her.
"Hurry! I have your surprise ready! Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!" her voice continued into the speaker; it didn't stop. I pulled my phone away from my ear, pulling a pack of gum out of my pocket and opening it, popping a piece into my mouth and closing it again; this pack could be Darcy's.
I rounded the corner, pulling open the sliding door and taking a step onto the porch, "Okay, I'm here, what's up?" I asked, and Natalie looked to me, and Susan stopped talking.
"…What?" Natalie asked, half a laugh engraved in her words.
"Did you get me my gum?" Darcy asked, and I looked at him confused, before turning my gaze back to Natalie.
"I told you to tell him I got him his pack." I said, tossing the gum in Darcy's direction without looking away from Natalie.
"I'm…sorry, I'm still confused." She smiled, "When did we talk after you left?"
"Quite bullshitting me, Natalie, you just called me—" I froze as I was suddenly aware of the noise still coming from the phone in my hand.
"My phone's in the house it…dies right before you got here…" I heard Natalie say as I lifted my phone from my side to my ear.
"…urry! Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!" I heard, the same cheerful tone playing from the speakers. I threw my phone away; it landed in the middle of the yard, and the moment it hit the ground the screen went dark, but the speakers exploded, "IT'S TIME!" the cheerful tone using Natalie's voice shrieked at full volume, not even seconds before the most unthinkable thing happened.
A bright light surrounded me suddenly; I yelled loudly, my hands darting to my face to cover my already tightly shut eyes. My entire head pulsed, the pain from the light hitting me, sending me stumbling back.
Or, it tried to.
The first step I took backwards didn't make it onto the ground; as I lifted one foot the other followed, but not voluntarily. I opened my eyes to try and figure out what the fuck was happening, but all I could see was the light, and all I could hear was the blood pulsing in my ears and the shouts of everyone in the yard, which suddenly sounded below me rather than in front of me.
Suddenly, the light ceased, it went dark, and I could see for a split second: my feet were off the ground, my hair was in the air, and below me a hole where I could see the yard, the people standing in it tiny from where I was, light surrounding them as well.
The hole closed, my hair, fell, and I did too.
I hit the ground hard, but it shaped itself around me – any harder and I might've fallen through.
I heard her then.
Koroleva.
It was our first official meeting.
She was cackling; she was near me; she was coming closer; she leaned down, her mouth next to my ear; she whispered, "It's time!"
I fell into the dark world of unconsciousness.