boni

He enjoyed it most when his father would tell him stories. It was always something new every night just before bed. Stories of a man who intrigued the Devil that he need not wonder any more how much land he needs. Stories of a farm of talking animals that sing songs and work in fields. Stories of paradise where everyone is happy and no one knew or spoke of the suffering of one individual.

Some would say they were a little morbid to tell a child, but Flux had always been fascinated by them anyway. His favorite story, one that he would ask questions about endlessly, was of a man and his creation. Defying the law of nature and the nature of God. Though the science behind the story was kept vague, he was nonetheless intrigued by this notion, playing with the idea of life.

"Does it have a name?" Flux asked one night. He had been tucked into bed a few minutes ago, with Elanuelo picking up where they left off. He always asked for this, rereading the storybook he found one day as he was cleaning out his childhood room. His father made sure his new bedroom in the Capitol was filled with many things. Little toy kitchen sets, books, and trinkets he would find as he walked along Imperia.

"The creature?" Elanuelo had an arm function as his son's pillow, as he cupped the little hands holding the storybook up. It was still too big and heavy for him to hold on his own. The portrait of a disfigured man stared back at them beneath the yellow glow of the bedside lamp. The boy looked up at him curiously. "I hear that some call it Adam, like the first man God created. It never really got a name, though. So we end up calling it Frankenstein's monster."

"Oh." He looked back to the portrait, quietly thinking of something far away. "Like a son?"

Elanuelo couldn't help but chuckle as he ruffled the boy's hair. "Exactly. Just like a son."

"So why not call him Frankenstein's son?"

He hummed as he wondered why he didn't ask himself that question when he first heard it. "I suppose they didn't see it that way."

"That's too bad." Flux turned the page like he had done so a thousand times.

"It sure sounds bad, huh?" At his rhetorical question, the boy thought deeply as his little fingers trace the words on the page.

"Why is it a monster?" He turned his face upward, meeting Elanuelo's fond expression.

"Well, it did... almost inhumane things to the other characters. If people were like that, wouldn't we call them one?" A hand brushed his hair, letting the words linger in the air. His little body snuggled closer to his chest, moving deeper into his embrace.

"They hated him. A lot." Flux turned another page. "He hated them, too."

"There's a lot of hate in the world for them."

"I guess." Elanuelo's eyes glazed over the text, having read and reread every sentence and paragraph. "So, if there's… something we hate, here, in Imperia… they'll hate us?"

The years where he was just a baby taught him many things. What time he should go to bed before he becomes cranky. What rewards to promise him to get him to eat his vegetables. How to be gentle with him.

"They won't get the chance. As long as you stand with Imperia, you'll never have to be scared or cast out." He could see Flux trying to understand what he means. He wonders what's going on inside his head. "As long as I'm here, you never have to worry about that."

He seemed to accept that answer. "Okay."

The boy turned back to the page that had some of Elanuelo's notes written in the margins. He recognizes the passage from his winter days when he would come home early to avoid the heavy snowfall. "Do you think monsters like that can live in Imperia? In the Snow District, maybe?"

Flux's hands ran over the passage. Next to it is a little drawing of a house. Elanuelo helped him draw it in the margins to remember where they were in the story. "He hates the cold."

"Ah." For a moment, he wonders if the boy understood what he was trying to ask. "You remember this story better than I do."

At this, Flux stuck his tongue out. "That's because you're reading all these other stories."

"I am?" He adjusted himself, leaning back against the headboard as the boy scooted closer.

"Yeah, the ones you get from Solev and the doctor. It's like, ten new ones every night." Perhaps it was the innocence of it all that broke his heart hearing that. Surely he hadn't forgotten such a minor detail after how many months had passed since his job got more strict. "Do you have a new favorite?"

Is that what Flux thought? That he didn't care for the one book he adored so much because of his job? He found himself shaking his head before he realized it. "Nah, not much imagination like Mary Shelley."

"You read them anyway."

"I have to. It's my homework."

Flux's grimaced and made a sound of disgust, and Elanuelo barely held himself back from fully laughing.

"Is it fun?" The naivety of the question caught him off guard. Though, he supposes it's only natural for a kid to ask these kinds of things.

"For now. The more Imperia grows, the more things I'll have to do and then I'll tell you if it's still fun." Flux reached over to the bedside desk where he pulled out a crayon and practically swiped the book from his hands. Seems like he has something to draw. "Why? You gonna join your old man when you're older?"

"I'm good." Elanuelo feigned betrayal. "It's just all I ever see you do. I hate homework."

He watched the boy put the book down on the bed before flipping to a random page with a blank section. He lazily plops back down by the pillows, feeling relief from stretching his back all day.

"It's not all bad, kid. It's not like the Desert District where they have to worry about droughts and other stuff like that." He says as he stares at the ceiling filled with many glow-in-the-dark stars. "In here, we get to eat good food and sleep in soft beds. Isn't it nice?"

Flux hums as he draws away. "So if I made you food and made sure you sleep nice, you'll spend more time with me?"

He has no idea where he gets this from. This bluntness, and at the same time, sincerity. Part of him wants to think that it came from watching him as he conducted his business with various people, needing to get information and commanding the troops and builders. The boy was gentle, something Elanuelo had forgotten to recognize in himself. "Depends, what's for breakfast?"

"Pancakes, obviously," he answers like it's the most logical thing in the world.

"Obviously."

"Coffee. Two cream, three sugars."

A beat.

"Hmm, bacon and eggs. Sunny side up, crunchy. Two of each."

Another beat.

"What do you think?"

Elanuelo doesn't know how to keep this precious moment from fracturing. How to keep his heart from breaking. He knows what he meant by that. He knows what Flux really wanted to ask.

Of course, it sounds so nice. Like a dream he couldn't bring himself to wake up from.

The curfew alarm rings outside their window. When Flux turns his head to look at him, with his big and curious eyes, he realizes he would have to lie to him. "I think if you can manage that, you can build a restaurant if you want."

He believed his words so easily. With a burst of energy, the boy jumps on his bed with the biggest grin on his face. Flux spread his arms open wide, like a captain on a pirate ship heading towards the setting sun. "Then I'll make the biggest restaurant in all of Imperia!"

A sight that would've made any father fall apart.

"That'll be a lot of dishes that need cleaning." Elanuelo is sure that anyone can hear the smile in his voice. Flux groaned at the idea of needing to clean them.

"That's fine. Once we get more chefs and cleaners, I don't need to do them!" He barked out a raucous laugh. "We'll be so popular, we'll be full every night. You'll need a reservation six months in advance!"

"Don't I get special family privileges?"

"Yeah, the family discount!" Flux scrambles for a sheet of paper from a small notebook and scribbles something before handing it to Elanuelo. "With this, you don't get to do the dishes."

"What kind of discount…? I want to speak to your manager!" At that, Elanuelo quickly hugs Flux tight to his chest, tickling his sides as the boy tries to get away, laughing and kicking freely.

"H-Hey! I'll call… I'll call the Imperial Guards on you!" The man allowed himself to be punched by the kid. Laughter floated freely as he kept him close.

"Please, not the Imperial Guard! Spare me, President Fluixon!"

The little brat pretended to think. "Hmm, alright. Only because I know your back is starting to hurt."

"Alright kid, back it off." Flux cackled as he climbed off of him. "Get some rest."

Elanuelo took the crayon and was about to take the book when the boy held onto it with both hands. "Can I keep this with me? Please?"

His first thought drifted to the book. It was a hardcover, and he worried that he might poke himself in his sleep. "How about we keep it by the desk, hmm?"

He seemed reluctant to let it go, but eventually he let the man take it from him. True to his word, it was by his bedside desk, beneath the lamp that he now turned off. The glow-in-the-dark stars shining overhead and the window peering into the moon illuminated his father's smile. "Sleep tight, kid."

He made sure Flux was settled down, blanket draped over him. He feels a hand brush his hair before a gentle kiss on his forehead. He hums, satisfied. It's when Elanuelo heads for the door that he sits up.

"Elanuelo?" His little voice called out. The man looks back at him, one hand already on the door knob. "If I become a monster, would you hate me too?"

Perhaps it was thanks to the darkness of the room that he could ask such a question. Outside, the Imperian alarm slowed to a stop as the clouds eclipsed the moon, submerging the room in pitch black. Only the artificial stars kept the darkness at bay. Maybe that was good. Maybe he didn't want to see the look on his face. Maybe he doesn't want to know the answer. Maybe, after all his talk of monsters and men, deep down, he was still afraid.

"…You're my son. You will never be a monster."

He doesn't know why that unsettled him. As he left, the room was once again eclipsed by the night. He had asked for this story countless times, and every time, without fail, Elanuelo will indulge him. He doesn't understand why this time, he's left with an unpleasant feeling in his gut.

Maybe one day, his father will tell a different story. A happier one.