AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter1
Jarrn
“You arenota monster.” Delia’s pert pink tongue has stopped licking her ice cream to scold me loud enough to be heard in the next sector.
“Right. Sorry.” I don’t bother to hide the sarcasm dripping from my tone. “I’m vid star material. I just forgot. How silly of me.”
I immediately regret my tone because it’s obvious my words hurt her. My remorse increases when she says, “Yeah, you’ve mentioned before that you loved to act in community theater and had dreams of being a vid star as a kid. I’ve ruined that for you too.”
Her face is even more beautiful when she pouts like that, her brow furrowed into horizontal lines. Each line tells me just how disturbed she is at my use of the word ‘monster’ and how bad she feels about my condition.
“Please. I beg you. Don’t use that word.” Her green eyes are pleading with me, but this time I’m not backing down.
“Come here.” I use my most contrite voice as I stand and reach to grab her hand. When she does, I pull her in a detour to the kitchen trash so she can toss the dregs of her ice cream cone, then tug her into the bathroom off my living room.
“No!” As soon as she knows where I’m headed, I feel her yank away from me, but I’m far stronger than her, and relentless.
Usually, I let her win this argument, but not tonight. “Look,” I say when we’re both standing in front of the horizontal mirror over the double sinks. “How would you describe what you see?”
She’s struggling, I can see it in her downturned lips and pinched brows. “I see an ogre male and a human female.”
She tosses her head at me as if she just won our little argument.
“Go on,” I prod.
“He has a perfect black mohawk and a killer body. She’s a petite blonde.”
“And?”
“And he’s the nicest male I’ve ever known.”
“I said describe what yousee.”
“One of his horns was scorched and it’s blackened.”
“There you go, Delia. You’re getting warmer. Keep going.”
“He’s got the most beautiful blue eyes.”
“Set in a…?”
I catch her gaze in the mirror and silently order her to finish so I can escape the bathroom with its mirrors on not just one but two walls.
“Set in a scarred face,” she adds reluctantly.
I want to end our bickering once and for all, so although I take no pleasure in it, I press. “Mild scarring?”
She shakes her head.
“Moderate?”
Another shake, this time I see tears brimming in her eyes.
“Say it.” My voice is like steel. I want this over.
“Severe, Jarrn. Severe scarring.”
“That’s right. A child on the street might call me a monster. That’s not a hypothetical, Delia. In fact, you’ve seen it happen on more than one occasion.”
