The Mysterious Rattle 12 (Patreon)

Original Idea: Sophiie93

Copy Editor: Angela

A drop of sweat trickled down James’s forehead. The moment seemed to last forever. He was caught between Melany, gazed fixed on him waiting for an answer, and Caroline, uncomfortably noticing his panic and doubt.

“Something wrong?” Caroline asked.

James swallowed hard and answered in the most non-committal way he could. Deep down, he didn’t want to ruin his chances with Caroline. “This… ahem… this is Melany… She is, you know… a friend… a good friend… a very important good and trustworthy friend… she is important… to me… as a friend…” James said stammering over his words and blushing.

“Since when did you have mutant friends?” Caroline said. “I never met a girl with two heads before. I’ve heard about them, saw them in articles and on the news, but never in person.” Caroline bent in to look closer at Melany which caused her to jerk away like a frightened animal.

“Melany…” James said trying to calm her “This is my co-worker, Caroline.”

Caroline took Melany’s hand in hers shaking it vigorously. “Nice to meet you. You have nice nails!”

Melany reacted with almost shock to being touched so suddenly. Her mind was racing. She was James’s friend? Just a friend? How did James really feel? What about Caroline? She’s so nice? Is this the rival she was afraid of? Rival in what? Love? Was she feeling love for James? Or was it just jealousy? Is this what feeling jealous felt like?

She used a small mutant trick to manage her anxiety, pushing all of her thoughts into one brain and using the other head to interact with Caroline. “Oh, uh… h-hi thanks…. Yeah… they are part of my mutation. They always grow out to that length, even if I cut them and they never grow out much longer.”

“Oh. I see. Well you must save a lot on manicures then. You have pretty eyes too.” Caroline smiled and laughed a bit. Melany blushed, not used to all the compliments.

James felt safe for a split second before Caroline spoke up again. “So is she from out of town? You showing her around?”

“No, no.” James replied. “We came from my house.”

“(SHIT)” James thought. “(She’s going to think something is going on between us if I tell her she’s at my house!)”

“Your house?” Caroline asked. “So she visited you first?”

“No it’s not a visit!” James said. “She’s staying there! (DAMMIT NO DON’T TELL HER THAT!)”

“She’s…”

“Just temporarily! She’s having family problems! (DON’T MAKE IT SEEM LIKE YOU KNOW ABOUT HER PERSONAL LIFE!)”

With how much James was contradicting himself, you’d think he was the one with two heads.

Caroline looked to Melany for confirmation and she gave a meek little nod. She crossed her arms and nodded, somewhat doubtful. She had an inkling that something else was going on, but she felt it best not to pry. With a sigh she bounced up and down a bit shaking out her limbs. “I have to get back to my run or my muscles will get cold. See you!” She waved to them both as she jogged away.

After Caroline was out of ear shot, both Melany and James sighed a heavy sigh of relief, practically melting into the bench. “I’m sorry Mel, I probably gave her more details than I should have.”

Melany was staring at the ground. She had felt real true jealousy for the first time in her life. She had never experienced love before. She wasn’t even sure if she was prepared to, having been squirreled away in the old house for so long. Still, she needed an answer.

“Is that the girl you like?” Melany asked.

“Er… uh… yes” James said, knowing there was no point in hiding it after everything they had been through.

“Mmmmmhh…” Melany muttered under her breath. “Don’t… you think she would look prettier if she was a mutant?” Melany gasped a little. She blurted out the first thing she thought and it was not at all what she meant to say.

James was surprised by the curveball of a question. However, it made a bit more sense the more he thought about it. Chuck had a thing for mutants after all, and with all the mutant information he was researching in the past few days for Melany’s sake, he couldn’t deny that most of the mutant he had seen were fairly attractive. He imagined what Caroline would look like as a mutant. Maybe with some extra limbs or breasts? Maybe with some animal parts? Maybe tentacles? As his mind shifted from form to form he couldn’t deny that the mutations he envisioned her with just made her already sexy features pop out even more.

“Well, now that you mention it, she wouldn’t look bad as a mutant. In fact, yes I think you’re right. She would be prettier.” Melany’s eyes lit up. She had gotten the answer she was hoping for, though perhaps not for the reasons she was hoping for. She was just happy that James saw mutations as a positive thing. It felt like a victory.

“Okay” Melany said. “I think it’s about time to head home.”

“Yeah,” James replied. “It’s getting late.” He took her hand in his and they made their way back.

Melany gained a bit of confidence that weekend. She began to see Caroline less as an obstacle and more as a motivation. She was a mutant, and that was an advantage that Caroline didn’t have. She decided to surprise James with small gestures of affection. She would surprise him by dressing up every so often, cook his favorite dishes. Every small gesture made James smile and that smile was worth a million dollars to her.

But all weekends end and Monday rolled around to another day at work. After the pleasant weekend James felt like nothing could break his good mood…. He was wrong.

He felt a tap on his shoulder. “In my office. Now!” It was Tom looking incredibly worried. You see, whenever Tom said that he didn’t actually mean to go to his cubicle. He meant to meet him on the building’s roof where they could have some privacy. This could only mean one thing… he knew.

“So, what’s this about?” James said, playing dumb.

“James… shut up. You know. You know damn well what this is about? What were you thinking!? When were you going to tell me about Melany? When were you going to tell me about any of this!?”

“Shit, I told Chuck not to say anything…”

“If you tied a can full of rocks to your car and drove around at 4AM you’d still be more discreet than Chuck,” said Tom with a groan. “And you know that! He couldn’t help but regale me with stories about how beautiful she is, how she could be a model, how she’s ‘just like those monster girls from anime’.”

“Well, Chuck did seem delighted to meet her…”

“That’s not the point James!” Tom exasperatedly rubbed his forehead. “Chuck thinks with his dick. I would have expected this shit from him. YOU, however, are supposed to be the sensible one, and yet here you are kidnapping a mutant girl!” Tom spoke in a combination of a whisper and a yell, flailing his arms to show how absurd this whole thing was.

“I didn’t kidnap her! I just took her out of that house and let her stay at my place!” James realized how bad that sounded after it came out of his mouth. “W-well what was I supposed to do? The house was crumbling and I couldn’t leave her there in the middle of a huge storm!”

“But you didn’t have to take her home!” hushed Tom. “You should have taken her to a shelter, or brought her to the police, or fuck, I don’t know, bring her to the nearest Port Solei mutant outreach.”

“The closest mutant outreach is several towns over…”

“I don’t care! You know that would be better than… this!” He sighed heavily. “I know you have a white knight complex James but can you stop and think for a second about what you’ve done here.”

“Helped a poor and defenseless girl?”

“You are letting a complete stranger live in your house! What makes her so special hmmm? Why let her sleep in your bed? Should I let every hobo in town know you are running a halfway house now?”

“It’s not like that… it’s just…”

“Please tell me she isn’t underage…”

“It’s not like that! And no, she’s not underage. She’s 21.”

“Do you even know her last name?”

“Uh… no I guess... I didn’t ask her…”

“Does SHE even know her last name!? Seriously, I can’t believe this.” Tom threw his hands in the air exasperated. “Look, I understand if she needed shelter from that storm for one night, ONE. But now what?”

“What do you mean now what?” James said confused.

“It’s been weeks James. The storm is over. You rescued her. Fine. But what now. What is she your roommate? Your girlfriend? Your maid? Your pet? What the heck is going on with you!?”

James was offended. “Hey stop that!” he said grabbing Tom’s wrist to keep him from pacing and gesturing all over the place. “Melany is the sweetest girl I have ever met. She’s innocent and just needs a good place to stay. Someone to take care of her. She wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

Tom turned around to look James straight in the eye “So, girlfriend then?”

James choked on his own word, “No, I uh… I mean…”

Tom took a deep breath. “Look, I know you did it with good intentions, but this has gotten out of control. You don’t know anything about her family. They could be looking for her. The police could be looking for her. She probably hasn’t finished school. She might not even be registered as a resident in this town, or a citizen of this country! Heck, you don’t even know when she was last at the doctor. What if she has some disease? What if she mutates again! Would you know what to do? Do you have any plan outside of letting her live at your place indefinitely?”

“I...” James gritted his teeth angrily. “It’s not my place to make a plan for her. I’m not her parent. It’s her life. I’m just helping her however I can.”

“And what about Caroline? Do you think she will understand that you have a cute, young, sweet, tender mutant… I don’t know… live in protégé or something?”

James swallowed heavily. The thought had crossed his mind. He had just hoped everything would be OK. That it would blow over in the end. But the longer he ignored it the worse it got. Caroline already knew that Melany was living with him now, and she could get all sorts of ideas from that. Not to mention now he couldn’t get imaged of Caroline mutated out of his head, which was making him feel more and more like this was becoming a fetish. Was it a fetish? Was he really helping Melany or was he doing this all for himself?

“James, look. This is just my opinion, take it or leave it, but if you really care about this girl you need to help her. Like, REALLY help her. Don’t just give her a place to stay. Help her face her past. Help her get a job or go to school. Help her get her own place. Let her buy her own food. Give her a life that isn’t reliant on you.”

James looked off into the horizon. Many questions lay heavily on his head. He knew that helping Melany gain independence was the right thing to do, but the thought of her moving out felt… bittersweet to him. Maybe he was doing this for the wrong reasons.

Tom tapped him on the shoulder again. “Let’s go back inside. We’ve already spent enough time up here and we have work to do.

James silently nodded and they went back to their cubicles.