I stood outside the bathroom, wringing my clothes onto the padded carpet below me, as I heard Ariel splash around and talk to B.E.N. The air was soft and humid; I had to turn people away when they got lost.

But when I had called her 'thing', she really didn't take it lightly. She had the hollow, haunted look on her face, the same my mother seen in my eyes when my father left me years ago.

I thumped my head with my palm, irritated that I said such a horrid thing, especially in front of her.

"...Is he always that...mean?" I heard her hurt voice through the heavy wooden door. I raised my brows and leaned against the door softly, careful for it not to creak. But it felt wrong to listen, but I had to, my breath hung on her every word.

"Jimmy is Jimmy," B.E.N, you stupid robot. "He is a good boy, but he has a few short circuits!" He did that manic laugh of his, I felt like bursting in and pulling his mind out the back of his head. "But..." B.E.N sounded hoarse for a second, I could imagine him bowing his head in thought. "He hasn't always been this nice. Before, he really did have an anger problem. He's changed, dramatically. He's much kinder than he was before."

I titled my head at them words, my heart felt heavy and rough. A big sack of useless muscle.

Could I have really been that mean?

I walked away from the door and down the stairs into the steaming kitchen. The hot air hurt my skin and the smell of poisonous Kelburg berries was enough to knock me out.

"Jim, help me here, please." She said it as a command, so did as she told me to do, since I felt utterly useless. I picked up a plate of roasted Humbug chops, lathered in Maet sauce. It smelt rotten, so I guessed this dish was for some beefy alien.

I followed my mother who had three dishes on each arm; all the smells mixing together in one bomb of stank. In the dining area, it smelt of Purp juice, children sick and alien breath.

The lights dim in some areas for certain aliens, even robots from sensitive parts of metal. Children ran around tables, laughing and holding little mechanical toys, one even knocked me and I nearly tipped my large plate over a breed of alien like Doc. Thankfully, my quick flexibility came into play.

"Table 12." She spoke to me like a co-worker and not a son, lately; it's been like that for a while now. And it was really starting to show in both of us, because of that old fury look in her eyes, every time she looks at me, and the old pout that was constantly playing on my lips.

"Right." I murmured lifelessly, and she looked back on me, with an uncertain look on her face. I roamed to the table at the back, sucking my whole body in when kids ran past, leaning in odd and even impossible angles from large aliens to manoeuvre between tables.

And I was right, the dish I held in both hands was for a grubby, heavy looking alien known as the Heliosa breed. Like a wolf crossed between a man, a very large man, a giant. His back was bent strongly since he didn't fit quite perfectly in his seat, and his legs stretched to the other end of the table, under the chair opposite him. He had long straight brown hair, I wouldn't have realised he was Heliosa if it was not for his length and snout that peered from his curtain of hair. A large black pirate hat and dark cloak with an embroidered badge on with an alien skull that looked deadly.

I placed his plate down, trying not to breathe in the smell he gave off, which could literally singe my nose hairs.

"Enjoy your meal." I tried to sound cheerful, but my regular manner was playing up again.

"Hold a sec, boy!" The snarl from behind me slithered, like his head sized claws that locked on my upper arm and he twisted so I had to turn uncomfortably.

The noise behind me was still going on, so I'm guessing no one was seeing what was happening.

I kept my breathing steady as the alien looked me in the eyes. His were beaded, no colour but black and in shadow that was menacing. He was snarling, a low sound, making his dog flaps on his mouth curl up and bare his line of glistening teeth, all cloaked in saliva. I held my chin up as his fist clenched into my shirt, making my feet lift from the ground.

"I didn't want the Maet sauce." His snarl made his floppy tongue spittle over my face; the stench was wet dog and something else.

"I'm sorry, sir," I shouldn't be handling this the way it was going, he was assaulting me, and my rage was getting worse. My nose flaring and muscles tensing like lightening striking the ground, my eyes darting here and there, my brain ticking a way to find solutions, object as a weapon, or just not thinking at all.

"You made a mistake, boy," The dog dropped me and turned, grabbed the hefty plate and shoved it into my hands. "Fix me another one, and be quick about it."

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave." I set the plate back down on his table, being in direct line of path as him. A few aliens and people were sneaking glances, catching on what was happening. "You have assaulted a member of staff, and that is not tolerated."

"You're treading on thin ice, boy." He said it like I disgusted him, and I didn't faze from his insulting words. "Now don't rile me up today, or it will not be pretty."

He sauntered up to me and held a huge paw to my chest, claws clipping at my shirt, and he used impressive force and pushed me back so hard I crashed into the side of the bay window.

I heard the low crack of glass, low but noticeable to the diners around us, and they gasped in shock and stared at me.

I wasn't as hurt, but the window had taken a battering just now. I moved away from it and turned to see the blinds had broken along with the window, and the regular settings failed and all everyone could really see was the sun pouring inside.

I stared at the dog; he was no wolf, too pathetic to even be acknowledged as an alien. "Well," I whispered to myself. "This is really not going to be pretty."

With that, I moved wicked fast. Running with speed and force as I leaped on the table edge, and before it tipped, used the momentum to jump and side kick Mr. Dog in the face. I watched him fall to the ground, wielding his snout, licking his lips. And more shocked, deep breaths were heard, and the low growl like thunder from the mutt.

I landed on me feet by his side, which was a bad idea. As soon as my body hit the ground, the dog swiped his back leg under mine, making me crash to the floor next to him. Before I used my arms to propel myself up, he skimmed over me and caught my face, spinning me on the floor.

The pain was bearable as he dragged me up and head butted me, shoved me on the table and held me down with his claw. The diners were screaming and running and ditching food on the floor, the sound of dishes breaking and shrieks were all in slow motion, as the mutt loomed over me, a bright light coming in from the window, and funnily enough, his face was still in shadow from his long dark hair. I heard a metallic sound, like a sword being drawn from a tight sheath. And I was right.

His arm drew high, his claws by his face, wielding a long and beautiful, well looked after sword, and the sun glinted off the blade, and I couldn't see well. But I did see the sword coming down...And just...

A piercing, blinding pain enveloped in my shoulder, the searing ache caused my back to arch whilst noticing I'm pinned to the table with the sword. But something is off; I can't feel the pressure of Mr. Dog. More girlish screams coming from others that I didn't really pay attention, too, I just reached for the blade that was through my whole shoulder.

I reached for the handle, but there was only blade, so wrapped my hand around the blade, and felt the sting as I tried to move it out of my shoulder. It was no use, it wasn't moving, and my hand was getting sliced, as well as my muscle in my shoulder.

Then the table tipped, and in this light, I couldn't make out who it was standing over my body. Then the features were shadowed and I seen my mother grab the handle, her face plastered with worry.

I winced as she began to move it slowly, the feel of the smooth edges of the sword slice more of my insides. I arched my back again, and I heard her voice crack. "What do I do, Jim?" She screeched, her voice shattering with fear, I could almost taste it.

"Fast!" I grunted, getting it out fast as it was painful to even breathe. "Pull it out, quick!" I opened my eyes a brief moment to see her eyes gleam with fresh tears, dripping from the curve of her cheekbones.

Out of impulse, she rived the sword that pinned me to the table out; I felt blood splatter onto my face and possibly up the wall. I screamed in pain, the soreness like electricity up and down the left side of my body.

I smelt my mum before she reached down and picked up my numb body, smelt like her good-day perfume, which is now cursed to terrible-day, and a little bit of sweat aligned with food. I felt her arms encircle me and carry me away as I carelessly fell asleep.

I sat in the bowl of water that nourished my skin and tail, the replenish feeling soaring my nerves and energy, which bubbled like the underwater volcanic tubes. This B.E.N sat opposite me, on the floor, his knees under him in an odd way, since they rotated under him. His eyes, a large, solid blue were connected to mine as we chatted, should I say?

After Jim called me 'thing', I had bowed my head and told him to leave, quietly, and B.E.N felt my anger, because he also agreed, and Jim left without a word, silently shutting the door behind him.

"I shouldn't have been so crude." I sat at the bottom of the bowl, rested my head in my hands, my stringy hair curtaining my face. "I should apologise-"

"No," B.E.N pointed out in his high voice. "Jim doesn't really care for apologies, he'll just dismiss is and still be mad or upset. It's Jimmy." The metal man shrugged with his metal thin shoulders that were also circular, which I guess is for movement.

"Is he always that..."I tried not to think of such a horrible word. "Mean?" I asked, flopping my hands back into the water, sloshing it around through my fingers.

"Jimmy is Jimmy," B.E.N chirped, and I could tell he thought highly of Jim. "He is a good boy, but he has a few short circuits!" He twirled his seaweed thin fingers in loops near his head, indicating Jim were crazy, I smiled at that, then felt my eyes narrow at B.E.N as he went deep into though. "But..." B.E.N bowed his head, his lower jaw opening and closing, thinking is he should say to me what he was thinking. "He hasn't always been this nice. Before, he really did have an anger problem. He's changed, dramatically." B.E.N then looked up at me, with a sad smile on his metal face. Even made of metal, he could give emotional expression perfectly. "He's much kinder than he was before."

"Oh," I said softly. I heard a hollow creak at the door but didn't dare look over, because I knew it was Jim moving away from the door. "Did he do something wrong?"

B.E.N looked up at me and towards the door, listened for a while and back at me. His eyes went a different shade of blue as he nestled closer to me. "I shouldn't say this," He backed up, and then came up close again. "Sarah told me-"

"Who's Sarah?"

"Jimmy's mother." That beautiful, strong woman by Jim's side, his mother, was called Sarah, it's appealed to her greatly, a powerful name. "She told me that when Jim was a little younger that his dad wasn't around much, too often," B.E.N sounded sad, a gooey, black liquid leaked from his circle blue eye. "Oh, look, getting teary just talking about it!" He wiped at his eye, which I realised was his tears! "Sarah was losing her will when Jim would get upset about his dad," I felt a sting in my eyes and a distant image of my mother flicker to mind. "And when Jim was 11, his father packed up his things and left them all alone, Sarah said that her husband had had enough of everything, and without telling his only son, just left one morning when Jim was sound asleep. She said she saw him from the window running to his dad, running and running, skidding and falling over the narrow path to reach his father. But it was too late, apparently when Jim finally made it, his dad took off." B.E.N wiped at his eyes a little more and bowed his head. "Sarah said he was never the same, since."

I took in a deep breath and felt myself crying, an ache in my chest and burn in my face and heart, a throb only relatively the same as to my mother's death. I sobbed a little until B.E.N kept talking again, and I listened more intently.

"He took a turn for the worse," B.E.N looked up at me. "He got kicked out of school, had a thing for stealing and just went rebel against the law." B.E.N made funny gestures along with his words, but my mind was still set on Jim's father. His dad was never there for him, his father just up and left? At least my mother didn't have a choice, Jim's dad did.

"What's school?" I had a feeling school was Education, which is what me and kids had at home.

"A form of education about math, English and more classes that are useful and can determine the child's future." B.E.N's sloppy state was gone, and with that, I heard a thunder of screams erupt below, I even felt the vibration of sound under me onto the bowl.

"What's that?" I asked, curious.

B.E.N looked scared, glanced at me and screamed, "Something is wrong, I'll be right back!" And with that, he was out of the door.

I looked around and felt useless and agitated with what could be happening, and for some reason, believed Jim was in some sort of trouble. With that in mind, I climbed out of the bowl and crawled like a monster out of the white room, and down the hall, where someone was running into another room and slamming the wooden door.

Stunned for a second that someone could've spotted me scared me just the slightest, but the fear for Jim was strangely greater. Along with more shrieking screams, I dragged myself, with the help of my tail, towards the top of the stairs, where the sound of more screams where deafening. Then I seen Sarah's beautiful face appear at the bottom, but she looked so distressed and fear worked every muscle in her face.

And she was carrying someone, and that someone was her son, Jim, and blood poured from his left shoulder. My mouth dropped open.