The Separate
The city had lit up like a carnival, a theme park. Deafening shades of pink, purple and lime green dazzled my eyes as I strolled through the park, hands in trench coat pockets. School had finished early that afternoon, as a special treat from the principal. Since I lived on the other side of the city, well, I had to find my own way home.
I had spent a good four hours walking, catching the bus, getting thrown off the bus, walking some more, and being chased out of the next bus line by a group of angry young mothers. I was exhausted.
Ah, I thought as I crossed the crowded street. The local McDonald's. A haven for renegade school kids, a hell-hole for oppressive parents. I could have sworn it was now my stomach's queue to object. I was a forced vegetarian - but what could I have done? It felt as though I was near starvation, and not even my stomach cared what it wanted, as long as it got it now.
I thrust the door open only to find the restaurant empty. I quickly shrugged it off though, as my stomach rose to another dramatic crescendo.
A tall, lanky guy built like a toothpick was hunched over the cash register, brooding.
"C'n I've a Happy Meal?" I asked, placing my hands on the counter to support my weight for just a moment or two, to help get my breath back.
My attendant stared at me suspiciously. I raised an eyebrow, wondering what I had said wrong. I thought I had offended him, the way his mouth had formed a thin line, the way he seemed to concentrate on me, but not exactly. It appeared he was half-emerged in a daydream. If it was a daydream, it didn't look like he was having a very good one.
"What type of Happy Meal?" He asked carefully.
"There's only one... isn't there?" My nose creased slightly, and my eyes darted up quickly to check the menu board again.
"Well, yes but.."
"-but what?"
"-but..."
"-but what?"
As I waited for my answer, I became slowly aware of another lurking somewhere in the depths of the kitchen, watching. I didn't have time to turn my head and have a closer look, as a male shriek brought me back to the immediate reality.
He was wincing in pain, wrenching at his right ear. "Get it out...!" He moaned, eyes bulging.
I stared at him blankly. "Beg your pardon...?"
"Evil!" He howled, clawing at his ear out of what seemed like desperation.
"Uh..." Eyes wide, I looked wildly around for the person I had suspected was still around, panicking too. I didn't have to look very far as the man hastily left the kitchen to be at his colleague's side.
"I'm so sorry about this, miss. He's prone to anxiety attacks." He apologized deeply, and as he stooped down to help the kid up I caught a glimpse of his name-tag. Joshua Carter, Manager.
"It's ok.." I mouthed, far too busy gaping at the awkward scene to try and find my voice.
"No, really. I insist. He's been acting up of late. It was my fault for hiring him in the first place. Found him at a Sharing meeting, funnily enough."
"Sharing...?" I croaked. There it was.
"Yeah." He smiled a strange sort of smile, despite everything. "You should go and have a look. In fact, there's one going on down the road. There by Brooklyn Street in the old warehouse. Why don't you-"
"-RUN! THEY'RE GOING TO INFEST YOU ALL! TELL THE WORLD! THE YE-" The attendant bellowed, blood now flowing freely.
"Hold it right there, son. Thompson! " Whatever had made me think this manager was one of the nicest strangers I'd met in ages vanquished upon seeing his wrathful expression.
A tall, lanky junior assistant strode out to investigate. I blinked, stunned, confused, and in a state of utter disbelief. What on earth was going on...?
He leant in to whisper something in the manager's ear. The manager nodded, beady eyes keeping a close eye on me.
"I-I'm afraid you're going to come with us, miss." Carter announced shortly, as the Junior Assistant snared the attendant by the shoulders and wrestled him away, trying to keep the man as quiet as possible.
My jaw dropped. "You're what?" My mind was currently screaming 'Run!'
"See this little drink here.. I'm going to have to get you to.." Carter trailed off and bent to scramble around underneath the counter, looking for something.
I swore under my breath. Not being the stupid one everyone made me out to be and heeding my instincts, I made a move for the door.
"WAIT!" He roared, and out of the corner of my eye I could see him stumble back out of the little hole he'd dug himself under the counter.
That gave me just enough time. I was out of there. Fast. Crashing out the door, I weaved my way through a thinly spread crowd of pedestrians.
"There she is!" "Get her!" Behind me, the sounds of the hysteric McDonald's staff grew louder, and honest, I almost wet myself.
I careered around the nearest corner and ran as fast as my long legs could carry me. The road seemed to go on forever, the heat of the day was merely a ghost of it's former self yet it still managed to play tricks on my mind, disproportioning everything to the point of delirium.
It was what seemed like hours before I leapt over the rusty old gate and skidded to a halt in front of my house. A muffled thhht from indoors made me wonder. What was dad up to this time? I'd just about pictured the look on my elder's face when an unearthly noise followed.
"What now.." I moaned, and made my way into the house as quickly as possible between breaths. I had a bad feeling about this...
I threw my backpack carelessly aside and entered the lounge room. Someone was screaming. I craned my neck to try and see what was going on. What was happening?! The thought never occurred to me, that it was my house.
and made out the backs of four people, teenagers maybe.
Teenagers they were; I heard one of them crack a fart joke. I would have rolled my eyes, really I would have. But this was the wrong time and place.
"E-excuse me...?" I cleared my throat, and stepped forward into the soft flickering light the television in the next room gave off.
They mustn't have heard me, as there came no reply. Not even the slightest hint they had noticed my entrance.
"What? It's true. I've never woken up to such a poxy smell. Except maybe for this one time when Jake-"
"Shut up, Marco."
"Ok ok... you're the one that dragged me here, oh high-and-mighty one..."
My attention wavered for a slightest instant, as a sudden movement caught my eye between the pair's heads.
I held my hands over my mouth to prevent me from gasping too loudly.
Writhing on the carpet (it was brand new, I might add) in the centre of the circle was a long thick cylindrical figure. A thin layer of sweat or something - some sort of bodily fluid coated the sickly green skin, and glittered in the winking light. Green skin?
"What the living bejesus is THAT?!" I blurted, pointing a shaky finger towards the exposed bundle of green flesh, as that's what it was. Nothing more than a bundle. There didn't seem to be any evidence of a skeletal structure in the thing whatsoever.
Four sets of eyes whipped around to discover the owner of the new voice.
"Oh no..." I heard someone murmur anxiously.
"What's going on?!" I asked, my voice cracking as I spoke. I wasn't traumatised, no...
As four voices began to speak at once, my heart sank. This was not good. "Please..." I began at length, surely they must have understood my position.
"Get out of here. NOW!" The pale boy cried, bounding to his feet and shooing me away from the scene. Evidently, they didn't.
"But-" I started, backing away as slowly as I could. If there was someone hurt, I don't think I could have ever lived with my guilt.
"Just go. You've done enough damage for one night." He said firmly.
"What have I done?!"
But the boy wasn't listening. He had turned, and delved into a conversation of hissed whispers with the black girl in front of him.
"Screw this." I muttered, and snatched my schoolbag up. I stalked out of the room with little more than a suppressed cough. I could feel my eyes beginning to water. This was insane, not to mention unfair. The stresses of the day that seemed so insignificant at the time began to weigh up considerably. My head hurted worse than all my sad and sorry limbs put together.
The pathway weaved in and out of the fairly respectable front lawn. My front lawn, I thought bitterly. Where were my parents? Had they gone to this Sharing the guy at McDonald's was talking about?
An un-chirpish chirp rattled my concentration. I reluctantly looked up. A hawk. Here? I tilted my head skyward and stared intently at the magnificent creature in the elderly tree. It's glossy coat and plump figure meant it probably wasn't, or hadn't been for a while at least, a wild bird. I couldn't make out it's colour or any special markings, so there was room for debate as to it's true identity. It didn't seem to mind my watching, in fact, it returned my gaze with utmost interest. Intelligent beast, I thought.
"Hallo." I spoke at the hawk, adjusting the backpack I bore carefully; my back felt like snapping in two. The slit-like pupils of the bird shifted from me, to something in the bushes before me. I followed it's gaze.
Touch it.
I glanced about, frowning. I must be going mad ... I thought wearily, and I raised a hand to my head.
Touch. The. Rat. In. Front. Of. You.
Why, why was I doing this? This was inane... inane, and insane. I was insane. But I did it. I did what the voice in the back of my brain told me to do, and bent down to pick up the injured field mouse.
I sighed, stroking the soft, delicate fur of the pint-sized creature. How surprisingly relaxing it was. The mouse seemed to calm down too, it's rapid heartbeat curbing. But... now what? What was the point of this?
I looked up at the hawk. It must have had it's eye on the poor mouse for quite a while, as it was eyeing the animal closely. Certain it was to become trifling road kill on the side of the path by the morning, I felt idly sorry for the mousie. It was small, defenceless, with nothing but it's cuteness, it's fuzzy cinnamon hair, it's gracefully thin tail...
"Whoa..." I murmured, feeling all but dizzy as the ground trembled, and rose up to meet me. The stomach-turning sounds of bones cracking, bending, shifting in my body could not only be heard, but felt. By me. I found that if I closed my eyes, the pain lifted a little. But the pain left as quickly as it had arrived.
Now I felt... I felt alive. More alive than I had ever felt in my entire life. I was no longer tired, weary, thick-skinned. My breaths became faster, short and sharp.
The hawk above let out a squawk of surprise, and ruffled it's feathers.
Run! Run! Have to move, escape!
I flailed helplessly in the sea of ... whatever it was, it wasn't natural. The more I squirmed, the better I could feel the loose, leathery sort of material against my skin. It was a tough struggle, getting my way out of there, but soon enough, I landed flat on my stomach on the cold, dust riddled concrete. And whoa... the smells. I didn't have to sniff properly to be able to recognise the foul odours impregnated in the floor. I must admit though, my proximity with the ground was a debatable issue.
I hauled myself up. Curious, 'up' was a lot less 'up' than I had imagined. I was on all fours, in the most awkward of ways. I strained to see. My eyes, they felt like popping out of their sockets. Everything was... was...
Fading. The environment around me, dark as it was, seemed to give way to a malevolent obscurity as a toddled just that little bit further down the sidewalk.
My name was Monica. I was tall, of Japanese decent, considered beautiful and extremely smart by most. I wouldn't have told you anything else about me, no matter how much I would have wanted to. I was far too late.
I'm sorry.
I was a mouse.