My Sudden Monster Convergence

Sitting at the table, I breathed in the smell. Savoring the nutty aroma of meat and fried eggs, the potatoes were boiled and seasoned in garlic and the veggies were perfect! It smelled so good, I half thought I was already eating the food> I really couldn't hold back the drool that built up. Even Grandpa was staring down the food like a dog about to have a big juicy steak, his eyes were so wide I thought they'd pop outta his head.

The food sat on large dishes in the middle of the table. The main dish looked like a giant omelet as big as a man’s torso. It was a crispy golden color, thickly sliced and was where the smell of meat was coming from. Next to it was a bowl filled with avaloo mashed with diced tomatoes and onions. Another plate was filled with roasted potatoes that smelled lightly seasoned and were cut into thick cubes. There was even a huge bowl of salad made with corn, cucumber, lettuce, a pink onion and shredded carrots.

 I was ready to dig in but I realized no one jumped at the food just yet. Even my grandfather who was half drooling over it, only stared. My mother was busy pulling out what looked like a fat candle as big as an extra large soda cup, she wiped it with a cloth. Her eyes looked heavy as she cleaned the candle, each wipe was done slowly as if it would shatter if she wasn't careful. Once she was done cleaning it, she held it close to her chest like a childhood pet, almost hugging it. Bringing it over to a counter that had a white gold trimmed cloth with what looked like a fiber rope printed on it. She placed the candle on a thick gold plate with the words, ‘Never far from loving arms’ carved into the side, the candle slotted into a hole in the middle of the plate.

Mom stepped back with a small smile on her face, her eyes on the other hand looked far away in another thought. Grandpa took a deep breath as he held his eyes shut and Cole looked away, staring at the floor.

It was then that I realized there was an empty space next to Grandpa. No extra chair or table. Just an empty spot at the long table.

At that moment I felt a cold air wash over my arms and up into my head. Like an icy chill from a cold lake. I did the only thing I could do, take a breath, sucking the cold down into my gut. It looks like I wouldn’t be getting the full reunion I was hoping for.

“Thank you.” Mom whispered. She slowly placed her hands on the gold plate for a moment, after a few seconds the plate glowed a warm orange. The glowing spread to the candle, revealing swirling fern patterns, a steaming hot coffee mug, stars that shifted shape and what looked like watermelon slices. It was all lined up into a neat column framed by the ferns on either side. The wick of the candle lit, giving a soft yellow glow not too different from a warm fireplace. 

Eating the food afterwards… it didn’t taste as great as it should’ve. Garlic, salt, herbs i think. Or was it chili and dry? The omlet had meat in it, and that avaloo stuff was sorta spicy…..I think. Uh, food was nice to, uh have….. after that long drive. A-and the other stuff I did. Yeah, just good old food…….hmm…..Uh did I do something during dinner? Nope. Nothing but eat……

Oh, yeah. I spent most of my time pulling our luggage into everyone’s rooms. Mom can sure pack a lot of things for  a two day trip. Over top…. Then I just cleaned my room a little. Well it was already clean, I mostly reorganized things. Moving a shelf near the door farther back, putting boxes under the bed or in the closet and putting the things on the desk into its drawers. This room was the largest space but if I didn’t clear the things then my tail, wings or arms might just knock stuff over. Plus I redid my bedsheets, though I couldn’t really get them nice and crisp no matter how many times I set them up.

It’s mostly that I’d rather not make a mess, not in this house. Gotta keep things clean and organiz-  But. I, I already made a mess outside….. I grabbed my arm, squeezing it, feeling the pressure I easily put through it. I squeezed harder, feeling more.

Ok. good.

Taking a deep breath, I looked up at the ceiling. “Hey…I know it was probably overreaching when I thought… I’d see you again.” I looked around the room and shrugged with my hands. “But, I guess I thought I’d see you, hear your voice. Heh, maybe talk you out of pranking Grandpa for forgetting to air out his workshop again. Maybe just talk about those tv shows you pretend- I mean totally hate.” I let out a slow sigh at that.

Grandma always hated Dr. Gray and Murder was seen. Completely hated them, had the complete series on DVD and asked Cole to make a digital copy of them. In case she lost them or someone stole them. Knew all the characters and actors that played them too. Yup, totally hated those shows.

“You’d complain how so many people died in Hopper Cove. Two hundred eighty nine. Heh, that’s probably the whole town. Then you’d proudly shout as that writer figured out the killer and their motives. It was almost like you solved it yourself.” I chuckled to myself. “But uh, you’re gone. Yeah I’m technically your grandson….and not. But maybe we could’ve gotten along? I think we would’ve.” I slowly breathed in the cool air, trying to taste anything that could be in it, feeling it fill and expand my lungs and to………….make things easier.

I thought of how we could’ve done some gardening, spitting watermelon seeds at the sidewalk or even learning something weird about mom through Grandma’s photo albums. She’d always point to a normal family photo talking about how mom melted pans in the oven trying to cook cookies.

“Guess those plans are off the table.” I sighed before turning to leave the room. I’ll rest after I check out more of the house.

Walking down the hall from my room, I saw hanging photos, some familiar. Like one of Cole lifting his buggy with his hands and Grandpa secretly holding it up from behind. Seeing five year old Cole’s face beaming a huge smile was always adorable. Another photo of- well it's more a finger painting of Grandpa falling backwards into a lake. He had darker hair and kinda looked like me before I became this. His face full of surprise mid fall was Grandma’s favorite memory. She always said that was the day she knew she had a keeper but she never said why, just smiled and giggled, before running off to kiss him.

Then there were pictures I didn’t recognize. One was of mom and Amanda running in a group of other girls. Mom sporting a ponytail and Amanda with weird V pointing pigtails on the back of her head, wearing light blue jerseys. They looked maybe twelve or ten and weren’t that much different in height. Another was of Grandpa standing with a weird lizard man who looked kinda pissed, they were shaking hands. And a dark wooden sculpture of a weird figure, it had pointed ears like an elf except the ears were pointed all around like a five pointed star on top of another star. The sculpture looked a good five feet taller than my Grandpa and was narrow in the waist and a gaping hole in its chest. It kinda reminded me of what a cryptozoologist might've taken a picture of, calling it, the weird stretched taffy man or the frog man of the bog.

Honestly it didn't matter to me, I knew there were sprites in the woods and monster races existed so it was probably a bad picture taken in poor taste and interpreted as a cryptid. I slowly backed away, not because it looked like a mor or anything. Nope! I just don’t want to damage the really important picture. Without wasting time, I quickly walked down the hall, ignoring any building feelings.

Going, going and then…. Is that what I think it is? I came up to a wall with a window that was sticking out, it looked like a sliding door. Didn't matter, pulled a handle, it slid open and I stepped outside and closed it behind me with a soft click. 

“Ughh.” I shivered at the chilly air, shaking my shoulders. I take boiling hot showers, barely feel the heat but I feel this cold? I poked an orange scale on my arm feeling it, smooth, hard maybe dense but stuck on like a healthy tooth. It was weird. Maybe not tree man levels of discomfort, they weren’t pieces of flesh turning into hard growths and they just felt natural? I really wasn’t sure how the scales affected this temperature sensation.

Whatever. I ignored my body’s mystery instead looking at the open courtyard in front of me. It had a dark brown wood pathway going around the sides of the house, I could even see other sliding doors on each of the enclosing walls. In the middle was those twin trees holding each other up with their branches, maybe conjoined twins was a better term? The twin trees met again at the middle, forming a large trunk that took up most of the grassy courtyard. Almost as wide a redwood, maybe big enough for a small home even. The strawberry pink on the twins was more milky in color and the dark chocolate like stripes were in odd spirals, waves, circles and curved lines. Just like certain tiles, I could even pick out wavy and somewhat cartoonish faces here and there.

I walked over to the tree and just stared at it, the branches above had woven dolls and weaved figures of…. Of……..of……………of

The bark of the tree was warm, it felt like a

….of…of

The bark of the tree smelled nice, like a nice 

.of……..of…..of

“You really shouldn’t look up there.” Grandpa called to me.

Turning around I saw him walking up to me. “At least not from this angle. Come over here and then you can see it better.” He led me over back to the wooden sidewalk and sat down. I sat down and we looked up at the tree. From there I could see the figures more clearly, they were of minotaurs, humans, harpies, even what looked like a centaur. They were tied with rope, vines and many times the figures were tied together.

“They’re luck, love, passion and kindness charms.” Grandpa began. “They work like those rocks we buried or even that mana organ everyone has. Sucking in ambient mana both neutral, aether, even mana from other races. Charms, you can’t look at them from certain angles. Probably something to do with the large amount of mana they’ve collected and slowly release. Your Grandma was better at this. Knew more about magic than I ever could…. Probably where your mother gets her magical wit from.”

I only sighed at the mention of my Grandmother and mother was still an annoying topic for me. But whatever, at least I’ve learned more about magic than I ever did with Jaque. Maybe I can get my Grandfather to be my teacher? He knows a few things about it and I could get closer to him too. Then- 

“Sorry about that. I’ll talk to her and figure something out.” Grandpa offered.

“Uh-yeah, that might be for the best.” I looked down at the floor. “Thank you.” I offered a small smile but it wasn’t that hopeful things would change. At least not right away. Changing is never simple.

“Here.” Grandpa offered me a closed hand, once he placed it my hand my eyes widened. It was a small blue cotton head of Mr. Chu, the mouse mascot of Critter Ranch, a game that didn't do too well but that didn't matter. 

“This-I, No. I can’t possibly take this! She’d want you to have it! I won’t take it. You need it more! She said so!” I argued. It was wrong! No way will I steal from her.

“No. She wanted me to decide and I want you to have it.” He gave me a firm look, one that said he wasn’t changing his mind. “Besides, a charm works best when held with love.”

I lowered my shoulders at that. I could argue more, point out how important it was but in the past Grandpa would just hide whatever he was giving in our things. Or get mom to give tough love. He never played fair when it came to these situations. “Fine.” I grumbled, trying to swallow my anger, failing as my voice was a dead giveaway. 

He raised an eyebrow at that. “You’ve really grown….” He stared at me like I was some sort of porcupine dinosaur hybrid.

“Well you wouldn’t have it any other way.” I muttered in annoyance.

A smile broke across his face after that. “Good. hold on to that and remember her, remember her kindness.” He said as he patted my shoulder as if emotions weren’t happening. “Now I want you to go to bed early tonight. Those plants will be loud tomorrow.” He warned before quickly getting up and walking into the house.

I looked back at Mr. Chu. He looked up at me with that cocky smirk of his. My hands trembled as I held the charm. I wasn’t going to have her here but…… My vision grew blurry as I felt cold. She was-is important to me. There was so much water sitting in my eyes, a single blink would create a downpour. I wanted to hold back, to smile and act like nothing was wrong. She was gone before, I cried already it’s the past. Move on.

 but everything wasn’t ok. My wings cradled my shoulders and my tail pressed against my left leg. Before I knew it, tears were raging down my cheeks. I brought the memory of her close to my chest. It was just an object, metal and paint. A memento.

 but to me.

To me it was as warm as a blazing fire. Not even the cold biting air was enough to freeze my heart. I hugged the hand holding it. I couldn’t hold back any of the sobs, I couldn’t hide the emotions. They poured out of me like a breaking egg, spilling everywhere into a sloppy mess. Anyone could easily walk by hear me, see me crumpled on the floor. My only response to anything was just to hide behind my wings, crying more.

Just feeling the tears spill out of me.