The Mysterious Rattle 11 (Patreon)

Original Idea: Sophiie93

Copy Editor: Angela

As they went outside Melany’s fear and anxiety were evidence. She was in broad daylight for the first time in years, in full view of everything. James noticed the concern on her face growing as they neared the park. She didn’t want to be here, yet she was forcing herself to stay nonetheless.

The closer they got to the park, the more people they ran across. Melany tried to cover one of her faces with a hand, her body being hugged tight with the others. She was trying to attract less attention, but she stood out like a sore thumb.

James looked down to her and took one of her hands. “I’m here Mel, everything is going to be OK.”

Melany’s right head looked up to meet his eyes and forced a smile. “Thank you. Without you I’m not sure I could have even…” she cut herself off. “Sorry… to make this whole thing so complicated.”

“Melany you’re fine,” James said squeezing her hand firmly. “I understand how hard this must be.” Melany’s right head was intensely focused on James, but her left was wandering the crowd noticing every person, every little look she got. “So… have you ever come to this park before?” James asked in a desperate bid to keep her distracted.

“I came a couple times,” Melany said with a nod. “But it was dark and I didn’t stay long. It was before I started staying at the house.”

“So you have been around the town a bit?”

“Y-yes. But you can s-see why I chose to k-keep to myself.” Melany’s voice stuttered. She and James past a couple that stared at her, craning their neck as if they were driving past a wreck in a car. Next, a group of friends, staring and pointing at Melany, not even trying to hide it. It was a miracle that Melany held herself back from crying.

James was irritated. Ever the optimist he thought that people would accept Melany with open arms. Instead, they were treating her like a sideshow. He couldn’t imagine their cruelty and he was ready to haul off and shout at the next person who gave Melany a dirty stare… but that wouldn’t help anything. Melany needed this to go smoothly and conflict would just upset her. He took a deep breath and calmed himself, knowing that getting aggressive would just make the situation work.

“Have… you ever fed the pigeons?” he said, grasping at any possible topic.

“Pigeons don’t come out at night,” she said softly.

“Night pigeons then!” said James, blurting out the first thing that came to mind.

“I don’t think that’s a thing,” said Melany with a small giggle.

“You would know better than-“ THUNK! A loud metallic sound rank in Melany’s ears as James walked right into a road sign. He was so concentrated on her, he wasn’t looking where he was going. Instantly all the stares directed at Melany turned to James. People pointed, laughed, some got his pratfall on video with their phones.

Melany rushed over to him concerned but James just gave her a thumbs up, despite his dizziness. “I’m fine! I’m fine! No one saw anything, and it will take a lot more than a sign post to take the great James down!” A small trickle of blood ran down from his nose despite his big goofy smile.

Melany couldn’t help but burst out laughing. “You scared me!” “You have to be more careful!” her heads said in concert. She wiped a tear from one of her eyes and held out a hand to help James get to his feet. He grabbed it and as he righted himself, he felt that it was no longer trembling.

“Feel better now?” James said wiping the blood from his nose.

Melany hooked an arm around James’ and clinged happily. “Yes!” she said with both heads in unison. “Thank you for, hehe, for just being you.”

James had never felt so happy. He finally did something right. Melany was outside, happy, smiling, in the middle of the day, and all it took was a bloody nose.

Melany echoed his feelings, but in a different way. She was happy to be here, doing something she could never do alone. She was so grateful to James, and she didn’t want to be without him.

When they got to the park they found a nice tall bench to sit on, nestled underneath a large tree. Melany swung her legs back and forth idly as they sat for a moment and just people watched. Now it was Melany’s turn to stare at everyone else, not maliciously, just curiously. It had been a long time since she was out in public, after all.

“I have an idea!” said James. “Give me a minute!” He ran over to a nearby ice cream stand and returned a moment later with two cones, offering her one. “A treat! To celebrate your achievement…”

Melany treasured her ice-cream cone as if it were the Holy Grail, a sticky melting Holy Grail. “Th-thank you!” she said with a trembling happiness to her voice. Every sweet gesture James made gave Melany hope. It made her feel safe.

She tentatively licked her cone as her other head bit her quivering lower lip. “It’s been years since I had an ice-cream cone…” she said.

“Well don’t hold back then…” said James with a grin.

Not wasting any time, Melany began to lick the cone with both of her tongues. It was almost animalistic in nature, her long serpentine tongues wrapping around the cone and each other, slurping it up bit by bit. James just sort of stared at Melany devoured it in a way he had never seen anyone eat before.

“James?” said Melany. “Is something wrong, your ice cream is melting?”

“Ah crap!” The delicious frozen treat had already started to drip down his hands and splatter on his jeans. He began to lick up the drips to catch up to Melany, but ate it too fast. “Aaaagh! Brain freeze!” he said holding his head in his hands. Melany, again, had a soft laugh at his recklessness.

“James? James!” came a voice in the distance. It was a familiar voice, one that Melany heard before. “James! Over here!”

James looked up to see Caroline waving her arm and heading toward them. His face turned pale, and it wasn’t because of the brain freeze. He absent-mindedly tried to run his fingers through his hair to make sure he looked presentable, but he only succeeded in smearing the melted ice-cream through his already disheveled locks.

“C-Caroline! Hi! What brings you here?” he swallowed heavily, but couldn’t bear to turn to Melany. She could feel the stress coming off her even without a look.

“I come here to exercise every day,” said Caroline, with a soft pant. James probably should have gathered that from the workout outfit she was in. “I should be asking you the same thing. I never see you outside.

“Y-yeah, you know me… old… stay at home James…” he said awkwardly trying to make conversation. This was the most they had talked in months.

“And who is this? Is she… they… who are they?” Caroline said, talking about Melany as if she wasn’t even there. “They your friends? Girlfriends? Do you have a thing for mutants?”

Caroline was poking fun, but James and Melany went stiff as a board. Melany was now staring directly at James, her four eyes locked to his. James felt his heart beat in his ears. A single bead of sweat ran down his forehead. “Well… you see…”