Page 10 of My Boyfriends Are All Monsters
“Is this some kind of retirement community for deliciously wealthy old ladies and their sugar babies?”
The fisherman’s warning rang in my ears. “I really hope it is, Jess. For my own sanity, I’m just going with that answer.”
“What else could it be?”
“A manifestation of a wish I tossed in a well.”
“A well you found in the wilderness?”
“It was a well in the wilderness, yes.”
She paused for a long breath. “I could slap you.”
“Mean.”
“And you ignored every ancestors’ warning and just tossed a coin down a well?” It wasn’t a question.
“Fuck. I should have gone with the creepy fisherman.”
“How about we stop following strange men into new places! Could we maybe give that a try?”
I squeezed my boob for comfort. “I’m trapped in some kinda illusion, about to get eaten by cannibals, or I’m already dead and this is purgatory. I don’t want to be dead.”
“Wait, why cannibals? What did the fisherman tell you?”
“A lotta vague, cryptic shit about wishes and getting eaten and not to touch the flowers.”
“What flowers?”
I sent her the picture I took.
“Lucy ... this is poison hemlock.”
“Oh, is that what hemlock looks like?”
Everyone in town stopped to look at me. My body froze. I felt the phone slip through my fingers as Jess called my name. It landed on the carpet with a dull thud that felt more like thunder in the quiet stillness. Then, all at once, they asked, “Say it again?”
The townsfolk slowly stepped toward my window, as if in a trance.
I screamed and curled up into a ball next to the bed. Footsteps pounded up the stairs, but I was far too busy crashing out to do a damn thing about that. I buried my face in my knees and rocked back and forth.
Noah and Dr. Crane burst into the room and rushed toward me. I backed farther against the wall and screamed, “Stay away!”
Both men fell to their knees on the floor. Eyes pleading, they asked in unison, “Say it again?”
“Say what?”
Chapter 5
Hemlock
Itried to profess my adoration by reshaping the bodies of her favorite vessels to be even grander than before. Sapphires were absorbed from the deep mines and crushed into a fine mold to replace the eyes of the one she called Noah. The vines that made up the doctor’s cheekbones shifted higher to match the look of the tightly dressed men in those bauble-selling magazines. Pillows materialized beneath where she sat, lifting her off the hard floor.
It was a more straightforward approach, but I’d ruined the chance of a slower courtship as soon as she said my name. She didn’t take it well. Instead of relaxing into her softer perch, she screamed and flung herself off it, backing into the corner of the room before her knees gave out and she cowered against the wall. Pointing a shaking finger between Noah and Crane, she asked, “What the fuck are you? What do you want?”
Beside me, I could hear the frantic voice of her friend through the phone. I reached for it and ended the call, silencing the frantic cries. When Noah attempted to crawl a little closer, she ripped a lamp off the nightstand and swung at him.
I overpowered her easily and threw the lamp behind me to shatter into a pile of leaves on the wall. Lucy watched it happen with wild eyes. Her hands clawed the wall behind her, as if to tear through it bare-handed and escape.
