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One year later
"Excuse me, is this chair being used?" a red man with gills on the side of his face asked, pointing to one of the empty chairs at the table I sat at. He wasn't human and neither was the friend waiting on him. I wasn’t even sure if there was a name for their species. We all called them all monsters, but that title had never sat right with me. It didn't fit the creatures I'd gotten to know. Monsters were scary and dangerous, but the man looking at me, waiting for my response, had an easy-going smile and more manners than most humans.
"No. You can have it." No one was joining me today. Not after Layla canceled on me for the second time this month. If she was no longer interested, I wished she would say that instead ofcontinuously asking for a raincheck. We'd be rainchecking until the end of the year at this point.
"Thanks," he responded, taking the chair away. A woman turned her nose up at him as he passed her by, whispering to the man she was with. Yeah, us humans were far from perfect ourselves. What right did we have to judge anyone else? The world was changing and many of us struggled to keep up. Our little town no longer looked as it did two years ago.
Six years ago, an entryway was discovered into a new world, and although the government tried hard to seal it off for good, they failed each time. More portals popped up and they couldn't keep up with where they were coming from. Three years is what it took to separate the worlds again, only for monsters to sneak in here through a hole in the wall of an abandoned warehouse. It was then the government saw both the dangers and potentials they had. Some had the ability to grow gardens with the swipe of their fingers, others could move heavy buildings with a slight touch of their hand. And then there were the ones who moved at the speed of lightning, doing the work of ten humans in the same amount of time it took one.
So much good came from the other side. Some bad too. That was the reason for the guards who sat at the three portals in our town, monitoring anyone coming in and keeping track of who left. Not every human who stepped through the portals returned. Did they decide to stay and live in the monster world, or did something happen to them? No one knew for certain. The ones who did come back had so many stories to tell and it was hard to distinguish the truths from the lies. As curious as I was, it wasn't enough for me to ever go there myself. Some things were better left wondering about.
"I knew I'd find you here." My friend Edgar pulled back a chair, scraping the laminate floor. "Toby said you went to lunchwhen I stopped by the hospital, and there's only one place you come to eat these days."
He meant one of the very few sandwich shops allowing other species to dine in. Not everyone was welcoming of people different from them, and lately I'd preferred the presence of these beautiful, interesting creatures than my own kind. Especially after suffering through a visit from my parents last night and their hateful views."It's unnatural,"my mother said many times. "They don't belong here."
They found ways to fit in alongside us anyway. Only some were approved for visas to work and live here, and not every monster who worked here slept here either. Not every monster even slept. Anyone seen as a threat or too unpredictable was rejected. This happened in two other towns as well. What started in ours was slowly expanding in different parts of the world, with lots of caution.
Our government wanted to see how we'd all co-exist together. Monsters working and eating with humans. Monsters befriending and dating our kind. If we could learn to live and mix together, then maybe we wouldn't need portals or walls. At least that's what they hoped for. I didn't see their dreams coming to life anytime soon. Not even with all the rules and regulations in place.
"They do have good burgers," I finally replied, reaching for the one that sat on my plate going cold.
"And other good things too," he added, and winked toward a slender blue woman with snakes for hair adjusting her skirt. Clothes were still weird for their kind. Not all were adapting well to them either, while some loved the feel of soft fabrics on their skin.
"I doubt she came here to be ogled. This isn't the club, stop treating it like one."
"Relax, I'm only looking. No harm in looking, and maybe even accidentally dropping my number into her purse while standing behind her in line to get a drink."
I scoffed, lifting my burger from my plate. "You're ridiculous. Why are you here? Is it to try to talk me into going on that road trip with you again?"
Rolling his eyes, he leaned back in his chair. "It's not a road trip. It's for business. I told you that. And the drive will be a lot more tolerable if I don’t have to do it alone. It’ll be good for you to get out of the house and who knows, maybe you can bring back some of those magic plants, or water, to the hospital. I hear a lot of it's great for healing.”
I'd heard that too, from more than one person. Not sure I believed a single one. Monsters had to get their powers and magic from somewhere though, right?
No matter how bad I wanted to get my hands on plants and water from the other side, I wasn’t sure it was worth the risk. "Well, I already told you my answer and it's not going to change so you're better off asking someone else."
"Everyone else has told me no already. My boss asked me because he knew I could handle myself anywhere.”
"Anywhere here. Not in some world we know little about."
Sighing, he ran his fingers through his hair. "I don't leave for another two weeks so at least think about it. We’re only driving there to pick something up, then coming back. We're as good as safe on base.”
"Sure we are. You make it sound easier than it is. People have gone through that portal and never returned."
"Maybe they didn't want to. We could be missing out on so much and not even know it. Don't be so closed-minded."
Closed-minded. Not the first time someone had called me that. I wasn't closed-minded. I played it safe. I'd lived a very ideal thirty years of life and intended to keep it that way. If only Icould find someone to spend it with instead of taking hit after hit in the relationship area. I was always the issue. Never them. I often wondered if I was broken and meant to spend the majority of my life alone.
“I'll think about it.”
“Fine. And don't just say that either.” He snatched one of the fries from my plate. “Actually, think long and hard about the opportunity we’re both being given here.”
“Let me guess. You're not only going for the job, are you?” I reached for my drink, twisting the straw between my fingers before taking a sip.
Edgar cocked his head and leaned back in his chair. “It started out that way but why not kill two birds with one stone?”
“Do you even know whoever you're planning on meeting up with?”
His expression twisted as he tilted his hand back and forth. “Kinda. We've been talking for weeks. He's working on getting a visa for work and school.”
