veni, vidi, vici

“We’ll be okay.”

He didn’t know how she could say that.

He didn’t know how she could look him in the eye and utter those words without flinching.

He didn’t know how she could stand there in front of him, unashamed and unafraid.

There was a monster in his house.

It dragged its clawed feet on kitchen tiles and wooden floors. It snarled behind thin walls, and rattled at doorknobs.

It ate his food and wasted his drink, but A couldn’t do anything to stop it.

There was a monster in his house, breaking his things, scratching his walls, and prowling the dark corners, always watching him.

“Go ahead.” She smiled, and it was a cruel, mocking thing.

“Prove me right.” With each step she took forward, A took another back.

“Show the world just how wrong they were about you, A!”

She threw her head back, and it was almost painful to hear the crazed laughter that escaped her.

His mind couldn’t help but go back to the years far behind them.

Everything was much simpler back then.

He loved what he loved and he hated what he hated.

Back then, there’d been no reason to love and hate them in the same breath.

A giant door lay before the party.

‘Only one who is worthy may enter,’ were the words etched into the arc of the entrance.

The companions all eyed each other hesitantly.

They were a party comprised of: an elven scholar, an honourable knight, a wise princess, a powerful battle-mage, and a young goblin sprout.

They each take a turn to press a hand against the grooves of the door.

It moves for none of them, until the tiny goblin laid a hand on the stone of the gate, and light dripped like golden waters through the engravings.

Your fingers trembled as you hit the play button. The line beeped.

“Hey! I hope you get this… soon. Something’s going on over here, and I know this is really random, but I just wanted to check in on you—”

A strangled, wet laugh burst out of you—but your spine stiffened at the sound of shrill, distant screaming.

“Jeez, I hope you don’t hear that. There’s some horror house that set up shop down the street. People are saying it’s actually haunted…”

Their voice trailed off, as though their train of thought had chugged along without them—but then they forced out a light chuckle. So unlike how they usually laughed (bright, loud, and free).

“… but y’know, I never believed in that stuff—”

And you could see the image in your head, clear as day, of them cramped into a telephone box and shrugging.

God, it was just like them to be so fucking asinine when they could die at any moment. To pretend nothing was wrong when the world was ending.

They always did want to protect you from the worst of life had to offer.

Suddenly their warm voice paused in their rambling, and the shift in tone had you shuffling closer to the receiver.

“Hey… I don’t think I’ll be able to drive out to you this year—” The screams were definitely getting louder…

“—I just wanted to say, I love you.”

The taste of copper tainted your mouth. The painful sensation of your teeth biting down on your lip stirred you.

“Let’s get married if I can come to town, yeah? Not a fancy spring wedding like everyone else has got going, but it’d be nice…”

You couldn’t help the snort that escaped you. You didn’t care about whether you got married in the scorching summer or in the barren winter—so long as they were here with you.

Then, they were laughing with you. Not a forced chuckle—but a brighter, real laugh.

“Who am I kidding? You’d definitely say no to that kind of proposal,” they muttered.

“I have to go for a while—I probably won’t be able to call you… so stay safe for me? I’ll propose to you properly when I can.”

A pause, and shuffling.

“I love you.”

The line beeped.

“I think I’m in love with her…” A was breathless as the words came out of their mouth.

“Okay—“

“—Okay? Is that all you have to say?”

B’s mouth was in a flat line as they stared at A who winced and mouthed a ‘Sorry,’ waving a hand to beckon the other to continue.

“Fuck, he’s hot.”

A’s exclamation (really, more of an observation if A said so himself) earned him an unimpressed snort.

“He’s taken. President of debate club and star swimmer were a hot topic on campus last year.”

“The girl in the sweater? Standing next to him—with the baseball cap?”

At B’s distracted nod, A could only sigh as he collapsed onto B’s shoulders in an over-the-top faint.

“You said we would stick to the plan,” A hissed.

“Well it was a stupid plan!” B looked manic as they picked off materials and tools from the room and shoved them into their pack.

“You came up with it—!”

“I wish you would just look at me.”

“I am looking at you—“