First, he was aware of sounds. There was soft music, a low rumbling that could have been a animal's purr, a machine moving in a room nearby, and a faint sound that might have been fabric moving. Next came his sense of touch. He was warm, very warm. The heat surrounded him on all sides except his head and sank into his bones, making all his aches fade away. He was definitely still injured, and he felt more weak than he had yesterday. But the heat was a welcome blessing. It was like being back home, in his self heating bed, standard for most reptiles. As he slowly gained more consciousness he became acutely aware that he was not home. The sound of a purring animal unnerved him and he remembered that he was in the human world, and he had been following a human clothed in black. He had pushed her away from a car. I was unconscious. The humans saw me! I wasn't blended! Where am I?
He opened his eyes and tried to sit up. He was on his belly, so he raised his head and first pair of arms up, propping himself on the second pair. He looked around, startled and afraid of where he might be.
"Easy there big guy. You're alright." There came a soothing voice. Randall turned his head. A human with long black hair was leaning forward in a chair next to where he was laying. "It's okay. You're safe." It was a female's voice, and there was something familiar about it.
"Where am I, and who are you?" He demanded. "Why did you bring me here?" He was actively trying to sound as threatening as he could. The human moved back, slightly.
"So you can talk, it wasn't my imagination." She sounded breathless. "My name is Faye. You are at my house. I live alone and I brought you here to hide until I figured something else out. I'm the one that you pushed away from that car. Thank you for that." She paused.
"Shadow." He didn't even realize that he had said it out loud. "But how, why?" It dawned on him that she had saved him, and he had been at the mercy of a human. It embarrassed him as much as it angered him. "I have to go." He growled, and tried to get up, only to feel pain in his head and collapse back onto the surface that he had been laying on. He noticed that it was a bed.
"Hey whoa. It's okay. You're safe. Don't try to get up again, please. You hit your head and it knocked you out. I think you have a concussion. You know what that means, right?" She looked at him questioningly.
"Of course I know what that means. I..." Randall remembered that it meant that he shouldn't move for at least a day or more, until he got his strength back. "How do I know I can trust you, human?" He spat the word at her. "So far, all your kind have done is injure me."
"Is that what happened to you?" She sounded concerned. "I'm so sorry. I saw the cuts when I got you here, and didn't know where they came from. But I put some ointment on them so they should heal a bit faster now. And I bandaged the one on your head. But as for trusting me, I don't know. You saved me from the car, I felt like I had to repay you, keep you safe." Her kindness surprised him, but then he remembered the lizard that she helped when he had first seen her.
"You're the one that moved the lizard near the art store. Why do you help things that aren't even your species. Any other human would kill me. They already tried." Randall sounded very angry. He wouldn't even admit to himself that he was afraid. He had never meant to actually come in contact with this human, and here she was, hovering over him as he lay helpless.
"How did you know about that lizard?" She looked confused. "Never mind. Let me answer you. Give me a second." Faye sat back from leaning, and picked up a small square of fabric and two sticks off the floor. She set them on the table next to her and Randall guessed that this was where the rustling sound had been coming from. He still needed to know about the unnerving purring sound.
"while you're thinking, is there another animal in here?"
"Oh, yes." He voice was a little shaky, probably from being nervous around a monster. Good. "I have a pet cat. She's under the bed. Do you want me to move her?"
"No, it's fine. I just wanted to know." He was relieved that it was something as simple as a pet. He watched as Shadow remained still for several moments before speaking, keeping her eyes on him the whole time. Just as Randall was about to say something to keep from being unnerved, she drew a breath to answer.
"I understand that you've been hurt. I don't know where you came from. You know what humans are, but I'm guessing you haven't spent much time, if any near them. Your first impression of my race must have been horrible. And I can't imagine what you're feeling right now. But I need you to accept something, as hard as it might be. Not all humans are bad. We all have the potential to be, but some choose to behave differently than others. I helped the lizard because I wanted to. I like helping things. I am trying to help you for both that reason, and the fact that you saved me first. So now I am honor bound to make sure you're okay before I let you leave here. I want to help you, and get you well, but I can't do that if you fight me the whole time because you have a grudge against my species.
If you put yourself in my shoes, I don't even know what you are. I'm taking a leap of faith by trusting that you won't do something like get up and eat me in the middle night." Randall was about to make a defensive remark, but she put her hands up in a surrendering gesture. "What I'm saying is that we are both unknown to the other, and rather than cling to any suspicions we might have, let's try to be civilized and give the other one the benefit of the doubt until given reason to make a judgment." She paused. "Does that sound fair to you?" She made a face that Randall could not quite discern with his vision in the state it was, but her voice had a note of pleading to it, so he guessed that her expression matched.
He found that he was more calm now, so he took his turn thinking of what his answer would be. She is well spoken, I'll give her that. But is it just pretty words, or does she mean it? If she's lying, how can I tell? Can humans be honorable, like she claims? If I knew anything about their mannerisms, I could tell if she's bluffing or not, but I don't. This is so frustrating! Wait. I do know one facet of human nature very well. She said she's taking a leap of faith right? That she is afraid that I might eat her, as if I'd want to. Ich! But I'll be able to tell if she's telling the truth about being afraid or not. And if she is afraid of me, than she'll be less likely to try to betray me as long as I keep an I on her. It's settled.
"I have one question for you, human. Come closer." He sat up all the way, so he would be at eye level with her. She still sat on the chair, and he saw her looking towards the door of the room. "I mean it, human, I..." He realized he wouldn't make progress if he lost his temper, and decided to try a softer approach, though it hurt his pride to do so. "I only want to see you. I don't like to admit it but my eyes aren't very good, and I need you to get closer so I can read your face when I ask you this." The touch of honesty worked, even if he didn't like it, and Faye slowly rose from the chair and knelt next to the bed, with her face just an inch below his, but still a good two feet away.
"Is this close enough?" She asked. He squinted, but it was still fuzzy.
"No, just a bit more. Please." It was making Randall very nervous to have a human this close to him. He was sure that it was leaking into his voice, but he had to see. She leaned in, closing the distance until he could make out the features of her face in perfect detail and he didn't have to squint to hard. "Stop" He held up a hand. "That's close enough."
"Then what do you want to ask me?"
Randall drew a breath and looked into alien eyes. "I need an honest answer to this, no matter what you think my reaction will be." He paused. "Are you afraid of me, human?"
He saw her eyes widen. They were an admittedly striking shade of blue. They reminded Randall of crystal or maybe ice. She looked down, and her pale, maple-wood colored skin turned pink on the sides of her face, below her eyes. The slender, dark patches of fur that served as eyebrows furrowed, meaning that she was thinking. She met his gaze again and bit her lower lip, which was a medium shade of brownish pink. She was nervous or maybe wasn't sure what to say, either one, but was she afraid? Answer me. He thought. Then she looked down again and her eyebrows slanted up, and her mouth opened just a bit. She looked unsure, like she was acutely aware that he was judging her reaction and was trying to hide something. I knew she was lying. He was about to try to escape with or without a concussion, but then her expression changed again. It was a look that, on a monster, would resemble defeat or resignation. She looked at him this time with a mix of emotions that he couldn't quite read.
"Yes. I don't want to be, and it's not fair to you, but yes. I'm afraid of you." She looked like she wanted to back away very quickly, but she remained, letting him study her face. There it is! Randall could see that she was, indeed telling the truth. She was afraid of him. It actually surprised him. He wondered if she could see the fear in his eyes, but he doubted it. He must have made some sort of readable expression that Faye took to mean something she needed to defend herself against. She moved back just a little before stopping herself, and spoke again. Her tone was apologetic.
"I mean no insult. It's a part of human nature that I can't control, the fear of the unknown. You scare me only because I don't know anything about you. But I'm willing to try and over come that and give you my trust so that I can learn about you, and then maybe I won't be afraid. But I need you to be on the same page, or I can't do it." Her eyes begged him to understand, and she looked just as helpless as he felt. He decided to give it a try. If she kills me anyway, then it will make no difference if I trust her or not. At least this way, there might be a chance.
"Fine, human. I won't fight you. But you should know that I am capable of defending myself, even when injured. You shouldn't be afraid because I'm 'unknown'. You should be afraid because I could constrict the life out of you without even trying." Her breath caught, audibly, and her eyes told him she was starting to rethink things. He quickly took it back. "I'm not going to do that, though. Not unless you give me reason to, understand? I said I'm not going to fight and I won't. You just need to know what you're dealing with."
"You're trying to scare me enough that I won't want the betray you." She said it in a very matter-of-fact way. He was surprised that she had called his bluff so easily. He would just have to convince her another way. "I get it. You don't have to trust me completely. That's what getting to know people is for. I appreciate your effort. Thank you."
That was unexpected. Randall calmed down and figured that they had somehow come to a truce. "Fine then." He said, begrudgingly. Where did this human get these ideas? Monsters don't talk like that. But everything she says makes sense. How? I'm going to have to study this thing.
"Yay." She smiled genuinely. "I'm going to get the other blanket out of the dryer. I'll be right back. Do you need anything? Water?"
He didn't like the idea of accepting anything she touched and consuming it, but he remembered that they were not actually toxic. Still, he had absorbed plenty of water back in the swamp and wouldn't need another drink until tomorrow. "I'm fine." He said. She stood in front of him and tilted her head to the side a few degrees. "Thanks." He couldn't read her face very well any more, but it looked like she gave him a pitying look, for what reason he couldn't tell. She left the room.
Randall rolled onto his back and sat up against the pillow behind him to look around. The room was small and painted a cool, grey color. There were several images hanging on the walls that held no context for him, but they did look interesting and at least weren't ugly. The furniture looked similar to what existed in the monster world. There was a dresser, a table, a lamp, and two floor to ceiling bookshelves with a soft lump the size of a blob-monster in front of them that looked like it would be comfortable to curl up in. The bed he was on was too short for him to stretch out on, but that would be expected, since she wasn't even close to half his length. He would just have to stay curled up.
He also noticed smells. The purring from when he woke up was explained when he sensed a feline odor coming from beneath him. So she was telling the truth about that too. The bedding smelled like artificial scents resembling some kind of flower. There was also a smoky scent that he couldn't place at all. It was very pleasant whatever it was, and soothing. How smoke can be soothing, I may never know. Faye came back into the room holding a large bundle that was radiating heat and Randall noticed that the blanket that had been covering him was much cooler than it had been when he first woke.
"Is that for me?" He asked, imagining the heat enveloping him.
"Yep." She said cheerfully. "Just let me take this one off the top and I'll trade you." She pulled the blanket away, and for a moment Randall felt his temperature start to drop. Then all was well again, and the space around him glowed in his heat vision, if you could call it vision. He settled into his spot and began to relax, just a little bit.
"How are you heating the blankets? They cool down after a while, so it's not a power source is it?"
"Well, they do make electric blankets that can heat themselves, but I don't own one. I've been alternating these two for the past two hours, one in the laundry dryer, the fresh one in here. The dryer uses heat to dry clothes, so it can also be used to heat already dry clothes. You learn that one if you ever spend a winter in the country without propane."
Randall wasn't sure what country she meant, or what propane was, but he had a more pressing question in his mind that took precedence. "Human, I have to ask, how did you know that I needed an external heat source?" It was itching his mind because he had no guess.
"Well, you're obviously reptilian, whatever you are, and I know that reptiles can't heat themselves internally. You were freezing cold when I got you here. The bike doesn't exactly have a heater on it. So I tried to get your temperature up as fast as I could. To answer your question better, I've never met a talking reptile before, but I did have a pet snake in high school. I studied reptilian immune systems and metabolics so I could take better care of her. Let me put this one back in the dryer and we'll talk some more in a minute." She left and was back again after some clanging sounds in the other room. "Where were we? Oh! Before anything else, I've got two questions for you. One, I told my name, it's Faye. It means fairy. But what's your name? And what did you call me when you woke up? You sort of whispered it."
Randall was embarrassed to find that he had said her nickname out loud, but he knew that keeping communications open with this creature was more important than his pride. He could get away with snapping and yelling at monsters like Fungus, because they wouldn't talk back to him. He was feared and respected back home. But he had to remind himself that he didn't know how the human would react if he yelled at her too much. He had to try and control his temper, possibly for his own safety. He took a deep breath, and collected himself.
"My name is Randall Boggs, and I'm not from this world." He paused to gauge her reaction. The human remained expressionless, except for a 'continue speaking' posture with her head inclined. "As for what I said when I woke up, I started following you after you left the art store. I was basking in the same place that the lizard was, and remembered your voice when you came out. It's pretty distinctive, kind of musical, in comparison to most of the voices around here." He hoped that she didn't read too much into the statement. He hadn't meant to complement her. "The only way I could recognize you from a distance was the fact that you appear to be solid black from behind, your hair blends in with your clothes and you look like a three-dimensional shadow..."
"Shadow!" She smiled. "Is that what you called me?" She giggled then. Her laugh was light, airy, and just as musical as her speaking voice. "I kind of like it. Shadow..." She said it with an edge to the sound and leaned to the side while she moved her hands back and forth on a flat plane near her chest. Randall guessed this was some sort of meaningful or cultural gesture and it probably had some kind of connotation to it, but it was lost on him. He did notice that she had interrupted him, and laughed. I don't think I like that.
"Yes." He said bluntly. "I called you Shadow. I was going to say, before you interrupted, that I'm not sure that I'm going to keep using it. I'll call you Faye, since that's your name. Happy?" He glared at her.
"I'm sorry if I offended you. Really." She looked crest-fallen. "I just think it's a cute name." She looked at him as if expecting a reply. He gave none, except a short, low frequency growl. "Look, you can call me whatever you want as long as it's not just, 'human'. Okay? I think Shadow works fine. Do you want me to call you Randall? Or do I get to pick a nickname too?"
She's trying so hard to get on my good side. That's obvious. I just wish I could trust that it's genuine. No. It doesn't matter, Randall. Your brain must to really fucked up. You've been in a daze all this time. Did you forget already? You don't need to be her friend. You need to get well so you can get home and fix everything, destroy that blue idiot and get the machine fixed. Just humor the thing and make her think you're her friend until you can escape.
"Shadow it is, and call me what you want, but Randy and Lizard Boy are off the table." Those two names still hurt him to this day.
"Would 'Scales' be offensive?" She asked sheepishly. Randall chuckled despite himself.
"That works, hu... Shadow." He squinted, and saw that Faye was smiling.
"Good. So, can I ask you a question?"
"You just did." He chuckled again. He was feeling better now that he had a goal.
She giggled in response. "I was wondering. You seem to know what humans are. But I've never heard of anything like you before. You said that you're not from this world, so how do you know about humans, and what exactly are you?"
Randall didn't speak for a few moments. He needed to calculate this answer. If humans don't believe in monsters, then they somehow don't know about scaring, which seems absurd, but it does follow. If she doesn't know about monsters and scaring, then she probably won't like it if I tell her about it now. She might even throw me out, and it's cold out there. Maybe I'll tell her as much truth as I can, but give her an abridged version. It'll be easier than making something up. Okay.
"In the simplest of terms? I'm a monster. From what you said yesterday when you saw that flier, I can tell that the word, monster has a really dark connotation here. But that's what my kind call themselves. There are no humans where I come from, the monster world, just like there are no monsters in the human world. But where I come from, the word human has the same feeling attached to it that monster does here. That's why I find it hard to trust you." It was all true, for the most part.
"Wow. So how did you get here? How do you speak the same language as me? How do monsters live? Is it similar to the way humans live, or completely different? How did stories of humans and monsters get across the worlds to make fear in either race? What do the other monsters look like? Are there different kinds? Are they are reptiles like you? What do monsters believe about humans that make us so scary? Do you want to share legends? Maybe that's a bad idea. But I've got some great monster stories. Do you think our idea of monster is related to the inhabitants of your world? Or is it coincidence? Do you..."
"Shadow, calm down." Randall threw up all four of his arms to get her attention. She hushed. "Gees I didn't think you'd be that excited about it. Look I've got a few questions for you too. Mostly involving where I am, how I got here, and what happened in the city, among other things. So how about this. You ask me one, I'll answer the best I can and then I'll ask you one. Fair?" He shivered as he opened his hands in a welcoming gesture.
"Fair, but let me trade your blankets again." She got up and brought in the new, hot blanket, and Randall almost purred when she gave it to him. He decided on his first question when she got back from loading the cold one.
"What temperature is it in here? The air feels colder than it should indoors."
"Are you cold? It's 65 degrees. I thought about turning the air up, but I decided not unless it's absolutely necessary. My heater is electricity powered, but this is an old house. I can barely afford this temperature on an artist's earnings. I'll turn it up if you need me too. I don't want to be stingy. But then I run the risk of not being able to afford food. If I can find my heating pad, that should make things easier. Do you think you can last like this until I do?"
"Your what?"
"Well, I don't own an electric blanket, but I do have a cloth pad big enough to make a difference if I put it under the blankets with you. Now that you're up and I don't have to keep such a close eye on you, I can keep looking for it."
"If you don't mind me asking, what does an endothermic creature need with a heating pad?"
"The extra heat helps with muscle soreness. Makes cramps and aches go away."
"Oh, okay, got it."
"That was your first question. Now for mine. Can you tell me how you got into this world?" She listened as she rummaged through the room, looking for the heating pad.
Randall thought about the best way to answer. Explaining his job, his plan, and the doors of closets was going to be tough without mentioning what his job was or the fact that human children were involved.
"First, I guess the most important thing is that there are portals in the shape of doors that allow travel from the monster world to yours. There is a door in our world that matches a door in yours. When activated, a monster can go through. But they only work from the monster side. Humans open the doors in your world, and they are just normal doors that go to wherever that door leads in your world..."
Shadow spoke before he could continue. "Doors, like everyday, man made doors? And you have counterparts in your world that match them? That's weird. Why would monsters have portals to our world if they are afraid of us?"
"Would you listen and not interrupt?" Randall snapped. This was the second time that this silly human had interrupted him, and it was getting on his nerves. He immediately regretted his outburst when she gave him a look as if he had physically hit her. "Look, I'm sorry for yelling. Just... I'm getting there. Don't waste another question until it's your turn again. Okay?"
"Yes. I'm sorry for interrupting." She looked so hurt. It almost made Randall angrier, but he decided to ignore it. I have to be careful. She may have acted wounded this time, but wounded animal can be vicious. Don't do that again, Randall, whatever you do.
"Anyway, only the bravest, most highly trained monsters go through them, and they only stay minutes before they go back. There is a really valuable resource that exists in your world and doesn't exist in ours. The monster activates the door, goes through, takes the resource, and goes back as quickly as possible. I can't tell you what this resource is, but it's essential to our survival. We've been gathering it for over four hundred years, and the process is so carefully monitored that there has never been a human security breach.
"I was one of the monsters trained to do this job. I was actually one of the best. I was in the running to break the all time highest number collected. But I was also working on something, a machine that would revolutionize the industry and make it so that risking safety and security by going through the doors would be a thing of the past. I was this close, this close," he held his fingers almost together in the air in front of him, "to finishing my work and making history.
"But I had a rival, this big blue moron who only thought about doing what the higher ups told him to. He wanted the glory of breaking the record for himself. He got in my way, accused me of cheating, sabotaged my machine, and destroyed my work. He didn't even know what I was planning, didn't stop to ask. He just tore it up to spite me. I wanted to kill him. I still do. Anyway, he stole the one, last thing that I needed to finish my machine. And when I tried to get it back, he and his geeky green mascot trough me through one of the doors and deactivated the portal on the other side before I could get back through. Now I'm trapped. I can't get back through until I can find a way to get to an active portal. But I don't know how I'm going to do that. No monster that's ever been banished has ever gone back. Whether that's because they just couldn't find a way or because they got killed, no one knows. That's my answer. That's how I got here. Do you understand?"
"Yes, I do. I don't know what to say except that I've got a lot more questions now. But it's your turn to ask, so I'll wait."
Randall was almost glad that she didn't give him pity or make some comment when he told her he was stranded. He wouldn't have liked it. He was about to ask his next question, but he realized that recounting his banishment, even in watered down terms, had taken a toll on him. He suddenly felt uneasy and tired at the same time. He yawned and then growled, trying to snap out of it.
"Don't fight it, Scales. If you're tired, then we can pick back up in the morning. I found the pad. Let me plug it in here... and there we go. This goes under here, put it where you're going to get the best benefit. There you go. Now, I'll go get the other blanket and put it on top of this one so you'll be better insulated." Without another word, she walked away. Randall couldn't help but notice that her movement was oddly graceful for a creature with only two legs. How do bipeds do it? He thought, amused by his own mental ramblings. Shadow came back, gave him the blanket and offered water another time. Randall refused. He would have protested being put to bed in that manner, but he was too tired to argue. His head was throbbing and all he wanted to do was drift away. She told him good night and flipped the light switch on the way out. Tucked into bed by a human. What's my life coming to? And he fell into a heavy sleep.