"Heeeeey," Came the eerily familiar voice of a man. "girls, I wondered where y'were!"
The sisters looked up in horror and confusion as the man had stepped out onto the porch. "You son of'a'bitch!" Mercy spat standing protectively in front of Anne. "I'll have you know I just called the police'n they'll be here any minute, so y'better just. . . go home!" She looked him up and down.
He lifted up his hands and shook his head. "Woooah, calm down little girl! I didn't steal nothin'."
"Breakin' and enterin' is still a crime!" Anne squeaked from behind Mercy. Her hands gripped into the fabric of her shirt, her body almost pressed against Mercy's back.
Jacob shrugged. "I know you got him." He accused, glaring. "No use hidi'em. Couldn't find nothin' in your house, but-" Before he could take more then two steps towards them, he suddenly yelled and fell forward. The girls stumbled back and almost tripped moving to avoid being fallen onto.
"What the fuck?" He cursed loudly, having face planted. His nose ached painfully and he felt as if he had hit his elbow on the corner of a desk. He found he couldn't stand up. There was an intense pressure on his body; it was like he was being held down. "I can't get up!"
"Whadda we do?" Anne yelped.
"Jus'- jus' wait for the police to get here." Mercy replied, frozen in place staring down at the man on their porch.
Jacob tried to struggle free, thrashing. "What the hell is on m'back?" He yelled, twisting his neck painfully. He couldn't see anything upon him. However, he could make out from the pressure he was being pressed down by several pairs of hands. Or was it feet?
"There's nothin' on your back, Mr. Barrow." Mercy said, as if to confirm his thoughts.
"I can see that!" He spat. Everyone was quiet. He suddenly smiled and added "Or maybe it's what I can't see." The lanky man reached around awkwardly with his arms and gripped onto something- what he assumed must either be wrists or ankles to what was forcing him down.
Immediately, the pressure from the two points was removed, painfully twisting his arms into the air. He grunted, yanking and yanked back upon in return. The man gave it Hell; he kicked his feet so that they bucked into the offending creature's back. The force upon Jacob lessened as it became distracted, allowing him a moment of relief to twist his body and fling it off. A frustrated yelp was emitted from seemingly nowhere as its source lost balance and found itself crashing into the house wall.
"Ahhh! Randall!" Anne whined, looking very pitiful.
"I knew it!" Laughed Jacob madly.
Scornfully glaring and painted a muddy white upon the wall was a much more visible Randall Boggs. He wasn't pleased in the slightest.
"Alright," Mercy began lowly "now you know the truth. You ain't gonna hurt him, n'he ain't gonna hurt you!" She was shaking violently by now, glancing down the road every few seconds. "Randall?" She asked, much less confident.
Randall bared his pointed teeth at Jacob, having not stopped staring him down yet.
Their neighbor had by now helped himself to stand upon his legs. He wiped at his face and looked over the monster, who had changed back to his natural purples and blues. "My, yous sure a fine gator!" He reached his hand up under his filthy shirt and pulled out a revolver (what a thing to bring on a 'gator' hunt). He pointed it straight at Randall's head.
"Oh my God!" Anne yelled. "No don't hurt him!" She pushed past her sister and started for Jacob, but was pulled back back by Mercy, who had grabbed her shirt. "Let me go! He can't hurt Randall! Randall!"
Mercy was on edge. "Jacob! He ain't no gator, n'if you dun't put down that gun then someone's gonna be hurt!" She struggled to hold back her sister by her collar. "You can be sued for killin' a owned animal not on yer property." Her voice betrayed her face; while speaking calm and collected, her expression was contorted with worry.
"Gator ain't no pet!" Jacob replied. "Purple one with arms n'a face like that- bet they'd pay me good money fer it's return. What's'it? Escaped circus freak?"
Randall growled, pressed against the wall. "Look in the mirror, buddy!"
Jacob's cool was almost shaken. He seemed disturbed by the fact he had just been addressed by his prey. "What. . ."
Mercy could hold on no more. Jacob was slammed into by a little girl banging upon his sides and chest with little powerless fists. She was screaming at him, though he couldn't make out the words. His gun wavered and his mind distracted, giving a few seconds of an opening. He was readying to shove Anne away when his hand began to sting harshly- he lashed his head about and his gun was flying far back into the girls' yard. "My gun!
"Get'em!" Mercy shouted. "Get'em Randall!"
The monster happily obeyed and tackled Jacob Barrow; the two were flung backwards and painfully rolled from the porch steps into the yard. They struggled but Randall had the upper hand. To be more precise, he had eight upper hands. Jacob was soon unable to fight back; his arms pinned harshly behind his back, his legs crossed together by two sets of Randall's limbs (also including his tail) and head pressed into the grass. He tried to thrash and roll, yelling profanities in anger. "I'll kill you! I'll kill all'a you!"
Anne stood on the porch, panting and fists balled at her sides. "Serves ya right!" She hissed, spitting at him.
In the near distance the howl of sirens could be heard. Heads turned as two police cars came down the road and turned into the girls' drive. Mercy looked down at Jacob, about to order Randall to disappear, but he had already vanished. It was obvious he hadn't moved, however, as their neighbor was still writhing on the ground, unable to get up.
"Oh thank goodness!" Anne sighed, hands on her cheeks. She scampered behind Mercy as the older sister walked briskly to one of the police men who had gotten out of the car. Two of them apprehended Jacob (who suddenly felt the absence of Randall upon his back) and escorted him into one of the cars. He was handcuffed and one of them was aggravatingly repeating what must have been his rights.
"He didn't hurt ya, did he mam?" Asked a tall chubby officer, looking down at Mercy. His voice had true concern seeping in every syllable.
"Nuh-uh, but he tried'ta!" Anne said, one hand gripping Mercy's shirt.
"He pulled'a gun on us." Mercy pointed to the lone revolver laying in the grass, where Randall had flung it into the yard. "He said he was gonna kill us, but I was able ta get th'gun away."
"Well don't you two ladies worry, we contacted your father already n'he should be here shortly. We'll escort this man to the station." The tall chubby man said, smiling with a nod.
Anne grinned back up at him. "Oh thank you, mister officer!"
Mercy messed up her sisters short black hair. "If you hadn't gotten here like ya did, we might'a done been shot!"
He nodded again and went to speak to one of his colleges. The sound of Mr. Barrow raving about purple monsters and 'you're all just crazy, they're lying to you' could be heard even with the windows up in the police car.
One of the officers retrieved the gun from the ground and placed it into a bag as evidence. This was likely going to go to court, not that Mercy had an complaints about this. Who was going to believe the man when he claimed he came after a purple alligator with 'ten' arms? Mercy almost laughed at the thought.
The night was quiet. Crickets chirped loudly and fireflies could be seen dotted about if one were to glace outside. The girls were having a pretend slumber party after having such an exciting day. Anne would be sleeping in Mercy's room along with Randall. There was a big blanket spread over the expanse of the floor, with a couple of large plump pillows for resting on. Another blanket topped the other, so that they could not get cold in the night.
When their father had arrived, he seemed in a panic. "OhmyGodohmyGod girls are you okay? Are you hurt? Do I need ta take you to th'hospital?" He had said a-mile-a-minute, grabbing Anne's face and looking it over before having repeated the process with Mercy.
"We're fine! Daddy, don't worry we're fine!" Mercy had quickly assured him.
He had let them eat from the ice cream carton that night, and let Anne watch whatever she wished until she was bored with television. The doors were locked and curtains closed when he went to bed, and he slept with a gun next to the nightstand that night.
Now Mercy, Anne, and Randall all sat on their little pallet whispering about anything and everything, far from feeling sleepy. "Ya'think he'll plead insanity?" Anne asked, looking back and forth between the two.
"If he don't he'll have life in jail, I bet'cha!" Mercy replied. She was leaned back against a bed post, body pressed tightly beside Randall's. He lay curled with his head in her lap, and she petted him gently.
"I hope he does." Randall growled. "I'm sore all over from holding that bastard down." His voice whined.
"Well, we're mighty grateful, Randy!" Anne smiled at him, leaning over her legs so she could be at eye level with him. It was uncomfortable, so she quickly moved forward, pecked him on top of the head, and situated herself back upon her legs. "Thank you! I woulda' done beat him up real bad, if'n ya hadn't!" She gave a stern nod.
The monster squirmed a little and placed two of his hands over his face, trying to hide it. "Bleck." He said, though he appeared more embarrassed than disgusted.
"Awww, Randall, you look good in pink!" Mercy giggled down at him, continuing to stroke his back.
"Shuddup" He grumbled, now aware that his face had become a light shade of rose. He forced it to turn purple again and peeked up at Mercy, who was smirking down at him. "Stop lookin' at me like that." He slurred, lowly.
Her smirked widened. "Like what?"
"Like that!" He removed his hands, and lifted his head up.
Mercy laughed. "Or what, y'gonna bite me, mister monster?"
Anne wiggled. "Ohhh, no bitin', or I'll bop ya on th'head!"
The two ignored the raven haired girl. "Yeah, that's it, or I'll bite you."
There was a moment of hesitation, where the older sister and the monster stared each other down. Randall let himself grin widely to show off his teeth, and playfully growled at the human. "Don't test me!" He warned, trying not to seem too serious.
"I dare'ya!" Mercy leaned forward so her face was closer, trying to be intimating though her smile made that hard.
"I warned you." Randall snapped his teeth and took her arm, much to Mercy's dismay, and swiftly placed it into his mouth, applying light pressure. It felt like a puppy who was teething; not painful but not pleasant.
"Eep!" Mercy squeaked, flexing her hand.
Anne crossed her arms. "Bad Randall!" She said, and slapped his wrist. "Bad!"
Randall laughed, the sound muffled from Mercy's gown sleeve. "No." He tried to say.
"Grrr," Mercy pretend to growl. "let go of me."
"No!" He said again, ignoring Anne now pulling upon his tail.
Mercy glared at him for a second, tugging gently on her arm. "You're a bad dog, Randall. Bad dogs gotta be punished, y'know." She said eerily.
His fronds flattened slightly. "Wh-ya-gonna-do-bout-eh?" He replied, muffled.
Rather than answer him with words, Mercy leaned forward and licked Randall almost between his eyes, causing him to panic and spit her arm out, lowering his head automatically and whipping his head with the blanket. "Ewwww, Mercy! Whhhhy!"
She laughed proudly.
"Serves ya right!" Anne said, laughing with her sister.
When his head popped back up, he was scowling at Mercy as if he were ready to really bite her. He would never do such a thing, though, and remained scowling instead. It was then he realized Anne had climbed upon his back and was straddling him like a horse. He looked back at her and rolled his eyes. "Get off me, you lil'munchkin."
Anne stuck her tongue out at him.
He turned himself back to Anne, who was staring at him. "What? You aren't gonna lick me again, right?" He asked softly, somewhat scared.
She shrugged. "Nah." The human placed her hand on top of his head and stroked his fronds back, watching them bounce back up in place again with amusement. He let himself purr. "Jacob Barrow really could have hurt us today," She changed the topic back to earlier "if it wasn't for you."
"I wouldn't let him hurt you. Either of you." Randall smiled. "You've done a lot for me. I'm not going to go let you get shot."
Mercy tilted her head to the side. "That's all? You're just re-paying us?"
Randall suddenly seemed a little confused. "What?" He asked, before realizing what she meant. "Oh no, Mercy, of course not! I mean, you're- well, you two are the best humans I ever met." He paused. "No wait, well you're the only humans I ever really got to know, but you're good humans, and I like you a whole lot!" He was starting to ramble, so he decided to end it before he really started to ramble. "I mean to say, I don't want you to be hurt."
She shook her head in amusement at him. "I don't think I want you to ever go away, Randall."
It dawned on him. Randall glanced down then met her eyes again. It felt like a weight was lifted off his shoulders when he came to the realization. "I don't want to leave, either."
He felt utter bliss; the monster was finally able to let go of his desire for revenge. In its place, Mercy occupied his mind. She and her soft face and smooth hair. Her ability to make one feel. Were it weeks ago, Randall would be ashamed of this emotion. But now, he felt at ease.
He was taken back when she leaned towards him and kissed him on the nose sweetly. Again, he found his face burning a bright pink, but this time he didn't force it away. He laughed awkwardly and looked away.
"I think she's fallen asleep." Mercy said, slightly above a whisper. She nodded towards Anne.
Randall turned his head and looked down at the figure. Anne was laying on her stomach, arms and legs over either side of Randall's body. Her cheek was squished up against his scales, and her eyes were closed. He watched the slow rise and fall of her breathing. "So she is."
"Think it's 'bout time we hit the hay, too." She kicked back the covers so they would be able to slide under, before rising to her feet. The human walked to turn off her lamp before coming back to the blanket and setting down. There was enough light from the window to be able to see around.
Randall had gently removed Anne and sat her to the left of him, so that he would be in the middle. He did not desire to sleep under the covers, so instead he created a little depression (much like a kneading cat) to curl into to.
"G'night, Randall." Mercy yawned, making herself comfortable under the blanket. She nuzzled her pillow, back facing Randall.
The monster found himself forsaking his nest, moving to curl around the human girl instead. Her back warmed his stomach as she didn't seem to protest. Rather she rose a hand in the dark of the room, and patted his head before letting it flop tiredly back down. He grinned and nuzzled his face into her long hair, arms laying over her form gently and tail almost twisting into a knot.
Everything was going to be just fine.
I'm no good with action scenes. Suppose this could count as practice- practice means progress! There should be maybe one or two more chapters.
Thank you to those who have read this far, I always enjoy reading your reviews!