Rose and the monster, p.11
Rose and the Monster, page 11
I wiped some more mascara from my eyes, which were now watering uncontrollably because of the makeup. My napkin was destroyed, but the tears kept flowing.
“Jenkens, would you get Rose another napkin.” Immediately Jenkens was moving to the same door that Mrs. Jenkens kept coming in and out of.
“Thank you,” I said. It was quite embarrassing, and I bet that Lilly would be furious that I had destroyed all of her work.
“They dolled you up for me didn’t they?” He whispered like he had been waiting for Jenkens to leave. He sounded so human, and a lot younger than I thought he was.
I pointed at my face, “This was Lilly for an hour.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for this to be an event.” He was still whispering.
“It was pretty important to them, and I’m not complaining.” It was becoming easier to talk to him as we whispered across the table, even though he was probably eight feet away from me.
“If we do this again, we may have to nix the hour of makeup if you’re going to cry it off.” His teasing was back, and I caught myself smiling. Maybe eating in the dark was better.
“It’s definitely more than I ever wear.” I was trying to get away from the fact that I was still weeping black and extremely embarrassed. Even if he was a monster, this was not the impression I wanted to make.
“I can see why. Why waste time and money when it ends up in a napkin?”
“Would you stop? You’re making it worse.” I attempted to blink out the pain, but tears were still coming down my cheeks.
“It’s like you can see me or something. Is it not dark enough in here for you?” He asked.
I leaned forward and peered into the dark. A thought struck me, and I blew out the candle in front of me. The room went completely black except for the lights coming through the doors on my side. It actually helped me see him a little better, and I was instantly afraid again. It looked like his chair was too small for his massive size, and I could see him staring at me. I wasn’t sure how he would respond, but Jenkens walked in.
“I’m terribly sorry.” He said handing me another napkin and immediately striking a match. Light quickly spread through the room as he lit my candle.
I dabbed my eyes and finally stopped crying, but I wasn’t sure what to say after my candle escapade.
“Are you through?” His tone was still playful, which was a relief.
“It’s not like I’m trying to weep here.” This was so strange and, to my amazement, kind of fun. I didn’t want to be afraid of him and quickly found my fears of seeing him in the dark gone.
“Why even wear makeup?” I could hear him smiling again.
I shook my head. “Because apparently you’re important.” To my amazement, I found myself wanting to see him again through the candle and the dark. The staff obviously loved him and thought him to be extremely important, but I wasn’t sure why.
“I’m really not.” His tone turned from playful to sad.
“Since I’ve only been here a day, I’m taking your staff’s word for it.”
“And what do they say about me?” For being a monster, he was good with conversation and words. Like it was easy for him.
My first thought was to say, “Well, that you’re haunted by a girl named Amy.” But, I remembered my promise to Mrs. Jenkens. “That you like pudding.”
“That is probably my best quality.”
Mrs. Jenkens came in, but saw that our plates were virtually untouched and left immediately.
“Do you mind if I ask why you were heading to the mountains?” He was still speaking in a soft voice, but the teasing was all gone.
“I was going to my father’s wedding… He’s getting remarried.” I had nearly forgotten about the wedding. I counted in my head. Today was Thursday so the wedding was in two days. I was not going to make it, but then again, I doubted many guests would in these conditions.
I was getting past the growl in Andrew’s voice at least. I guessed it to be that he seemed nice, which was helping me to stay calm, but I couldn’t stop wondering what he was. Who was sitting at the other end of the table? And why did I like him?
“Congratulations?” He asked. “Is that a happy thing?”
“I think it’s a good move. Her kids need a good dad.” I felt very proud of myself that I half believed what I had said.
He sounded surprised. “You’re taking it well.”
“I’ve had a couple of days to think about it.” I looked up, but only saw the glint of his eyes looking back. I wondered if he was in as much pain tonight as he was last night.
“I’m sorry you’re going to miss it then. It would have been easier for you to get stuck here in the summer. You could have gone swimming to pass the time, and it would have been easy on your ankle.”
He had a pool. Of course he did. “I probably wouldn’t have gotten stuck here had it been summer.” It was quiet, and I debated on if that was rude of me. “I’m kind of glad it’s winter. I like watching the snow. Swimming is fun, but I sunburn very easily, especially in the mountains.” By the look of my arms, it was pretty obvious that the sun and I don’t get along well.
“You’ll have to go see it when there isn’t as much snow. My father built a cover for it because my mother kept burning.” I must have raised my eyebrows at that, because he laughed. “He loved spoiling her.”
“Where do they live?” I heard Mrs. Jenkens roll by the door again, but I still wasn’t done eating.
His shadow moved uncomfortably. “They… passed. In an accident.”
I accidently dropped my fork. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to bring that up.”
“No…It was a while ago. It was too windy for them to be flying, and the pilot told them it was fine. It was a bad situation.” He was once again sad, and I had brought it up.
“That’s really awful.” I took another bite, but my stomach was now in my shoes. He seemed to have been having fun, and I muffed it.
“Are you finished eating?”
I had just taken my last bite when he asked, which made me think he was waiting on me too. I nodded since my mouth was full. I felt like such an idiot. I should have stopped when I heard Mrs. Jenkens come by the second time.
“Good, because I think there is pudding for desert.” He was changing the subject back to the food, and I was grateful. For all of my awkwardness, he was reading me pretty well.
“I hope so. That would be fantastic.” As I spoke, Mrs. Jenkens rolled in, and our plates floated toward her still rolling cart. She exchanged them with beautiful bowls of pudding that were decorated with fruit.
As she began rolling back toward the door with the empty plates, Mr. Andel called after her. “That will be all for us tonight Mrs. Jenkens. You and Mr. Jenkens can have your evening now. If we need anything, we will call.” It sounded very posh for him to say, but I think Mrs. Jenkens and I were both confused.
“I don’t mind coming back, sir.” Her voice rang with uncertainty.
“I promise, we’re fine. Thank you, Jenkens.” His reassuring sounded like it meant more than what he was saying.
As the two of them left the room, I started getting anxious. This was not part of what they told me, but I don’t think they expected it either. Mrs. Jenkens sure seemed surprised.
“The Jenkens took the place of ‘parents’ when mine passed, and have always been extremely good to me.” He said after they were gone.
“They are wonderful people.” The pudding was amazing, and while being with him unsupervised was odd, I was enjoying dessert more than I would admit. I kept having to remind myself that there was another person in the room. What did the spoon put into this stuff?
“I’m glad they were here to soften the blow of your stay.” He commented.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better place to have gotten stuck.” I wanted to say more, but that was the best compliment I could muster.
“You’ve obviously overlooked the fact that that you’re the only human here.” There seemed to be something angry in his statement. It was bitter, really, but was masked in his attempt to keep his voice soft.
“It did take me a lot of yesterday to get there, but you are all human. You just look a little different.”
He was silent for a moment. “You believe that?”
I nodded. “After hurting Lilly’s feelings more than once, that’s the conclusion I’ve come to.” I wasn’t going to tell him that it was my conclusion for the staff, but he was still a monster to me. For some reason, I couldn’t see him as human. Maybe it was because I had been around them more though.
After my pudding yesterday, I did not scrape my bowl nearly as well this evening. I stood and picked up my bowl, and without thinking, I started toward Andrew to get his. It was automatic as I was rethinking our conversation, but as I got to the other end of the table, I realized my mistake. I had forgotten my crutch and pain now shot through my ankle. I clanked down my bowl on the table as I steadied myself. In doing so I looked up.
Since we were both in the dark, and I was substantially closer, I saw his face for the first time. If you mixed the features of a wolf and a bear, you might come close to his face, but it was now filled with the same fear that I was feeling. He looked more terrified of me seeing him than I was of what he looked like. Maybe it was the pudding, but I was much less afraid than I had expected myself to be this close. He was terrifying, but there was something about him. Something that made it thrilling to be this close to him. As I stared, he started to pull away.
“No.” I put my hand on his arm. It felt like I was touching an animal. “It’s my ankle. For a minute, I had forgotten I was lame.”
He turned back toward me and looked at my hand, which was still on his arm. I removed it quickly not knowing what he was thinking. A wash of sadness appeared to take over the emotion on his face. It was the same sadness that I could hear in his voice, but he was an animal. He was a monster. Scrawny and hairy, and I could see his teeth glimmering in the candlelight.
“That was the first time someone has touched me in seven years.” He was whispering and looked up at me as a strange expression crossed his face.
I had no idea what to do now and was freaking out on the inside. “Well, you carried me up the stairs, so it’s not the first time.” I was trying to stay calm. I was afraid of offending him at this close proximity, but every thought I had of attempting to get away from him would appear rude.
He shook his furry head, “That’s different.”
The pain in my foot was tremendous, but added to the sight of Andrew, crying felt like an extremely viable option at this point. I know he had been joking earlier, but he looked like he could eat me. It was exciting at first, but now I wanted to get away.
My crutch seemed like a valid excuse, so I started making my way back to where it was leaning against the wall. I heard Andrew get up. I thought about looking back at him to see what he was doing, but I kept on my course, praying he wasn’t going to eat me. In a moment, he had crossed around me and was bringing me my crutch. He was much faster than I had assumed him to be, which bothered me a little.
Now that he was in the light and I was in the shadow, the light provided me a clearer picture of the horror of his face. He was even thinner than I had thought, especially for my conception of a monster, and his teeth glinted in the light. As I stared up into his sad eyes, I found myself pitying him. As afraid of him as I was, he was terrifying, but didn’t look mean.
“Thank you.” The crutch was an instant relief. “I feel useless with this ankle.”
“At least you will get better, I have to look like this.” His mouth actually moved when he spoke. For some reason, I had almost expected it to be the same telepathic nonsense that the other furniture used, but he appeared to actually speak.
I wanted so much to ask him questions, but I knew that I would start talking about Amy, and I had promised the spoon. We stood there a bit awkwardly for a minute, and I wobbled on my crutch. I had no idea what to say now that I could see him.
“Would you like to sit down?” He sounded as though standing there was painful for him too.
I nodded but was not sure if he had meant in the dining room, or if he wanted to sit in another room. He crossed behind me, but instead of sitting, he picked up the bowls from the table.
“I’ll get these to the kitchen and meet you in the sitting room…” He suddenly appeared less sure of himself. “If that’s ok?” He was positively atrocious to look at, but he did seem almost sweet. A single dinner was not the best judge of character, especially when he was obviously trying to put his best foot forward, but I was a little impressed with his manners.
I nodded, and he quickly disappeared out the door. As soon as he left, I took a deep breath. I was still alive. This was scary, but better than I had imagined so far. We were going to sit, which made me hope that he would bring up Amy without me having to ask. I was nervous about sitting with him in a lit room. He was ok in the dark because, besides his voice, he sounded like a normal person. In the light, I wasn’t sure if I could get past his face… or his fur… or his teeth… or his size... I closed my eyes. I was fine, and this was going to be good.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
As I sat down in front of the fire, the lights outside showed that the snow had slowed to flurries. The slippers had kept my feet warm, but my toes were smothering this close to the fireplace. I popped the shoes off with my toes and flipped them onto the floor right as Andrew walked into the room.
“That takes talent.” He opted for the chair beside me where he was facing the window as well. It made sense, but it felt strange that he didn’t sit opposite me. Maybe he didn’t want me to have to look at him.
“It’s still snowing.” I hated to point out the obvious, but I was trying to get conversation going again.
“It was always a mystery to me how something could look that delicate, but if you touch it, you freeze.” He sounded out of breath.
Yay, stuff to talk about. I was really trying to get my questions about Amy out of my head. “Mmm. You would think falling into a pile of snow would be like falling on a huge pillow, but instead it’s just a good way to get frostbite.” I saw him smile out of the corner of my eye, but it was probably closer to showing more of his teeth than what you would think of as smiling.
“Growing up here, we planned on spending most of the winter in the house, which made me hate the snow when I was younger.”
“That explains your ample game room.” I really hoped that he would mention his younger sister’s name. If it was Amy, that would explain something things anyway.
“You saw that?” He didn’t really sound surprised.
“I played crazy eights with the staff last night.”
“Crazy eights, I don’t even know if I remember how to play… Wait, right the eights are wild…” He made himself laugh. “Hence the crazy eights.”
“Were you blonde before?” As soon as the words left my mouth I panicked. I had no idea what to do besides press myself against the back of my chair and turn as red as a tomato.
He said nothing for a while, and I sat there sweating in my dress. I had already shed my slippers so there was nothing else to do to try to cool me off.
“I’m sorry.” I whispered an eternity later. He hadn’t said anything, and I was too afraid to look at him.
“Miss Rose.” I dared to turn toward him as he spoke. “I am not.”
Afraid of saying something else that would offend him, I reverted to staring at my ankle. The blacks and purples were marbled around blues. The red was pretty much gone, but the size was still somewhere between softball and baseball. We sat in silence for a while, and I felt terrible.
“I loved my hair before this happened.”
I couldn’t help but turn and look at him, his joking tone had somehow returned.
“You should have seen it, it was brown and curly. I was very proud.” He said.
I nodded still staring at him, but I had no idea what to say.
“They weren’t tiny curls so maybe it was more wavy than curly.” He glanced toward me and smiled his strange smile.
It was hard not to react to his appearance when I looked at him, but I had already set the bridge smoldering, even if this meant he forgave me.
“Please, don’t worry about it, Rose.” His tone was reassuring.
I nodded. “I just don’t think sometimes. Your hair sounds fabulous.”
He sat back in his chair and sighed. “Yep.”
I shook my head a little. I had no idea how old he was, but hair, really?
“Now, brushing my hair takes an hour.”
He was really trying now, and I smiled. “I think you’re trying to egg me on.” I looked toward him, but he had his eyes closed.
He was still grinning, and I stared at him. I didn’t feel bad because his eyes were closed, and I just looked. He looked older than he sounded. The fur on his face was a lighter brown, but slightly grayed in places. His nose was more like a snout. I think that’s primarily where my bear idea came from. His clothes appeared to have been altered to fit him, but he looked scrawny for his height. His teeth were sharp, and his mouth was quite large. If he had a mind to eat me, I had no doubt that he could.
His nose twitched slightly. “You know I can feel you looking at me.”
I snapped my head forward, and popped my neck in the process. It was exceedingly painful, but I didn’t want to say anything because I had been staring at him.
“Do I get a turn now?” He turned his head toward me, but I didn’t look back at him.
I was trying not to make too big of a deal about my neck still being on fire. “You saw me all of supper due to your candle placement.”
“True.” His attitude became more serious. “I didn’t want to scare you again.”
As I turned toward him and caught his eyes, I held his gaze. “I wish I would have spoken to you yesterday instead of screaming.” I began to blush and looked away. I was trying to be nice, but instead it could be taken as I was flirting again. There was no way in hell. I mean really? It was too late. I could see in the way that he looked at me that he had taken every implication of what I had said to possibly mean.
