Monthly Drawing 29: Familiarty (Patreon)

“Hey, Sam!” 

Came a high, chipper voice behind Sam as he was unlocking his apartment door. 

“Yeah! What!” He jumped a little and turned around.

Standing before him was the Goth-y girl from the third floor. He’d seen her for the past few months since he moved in but, they only exchanged pleasantries in passing.

“Sorry, Sam” she said with a shrug, “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Hey…” His brain was addled as he could not believe this girl was actually speaking to him, “…Sarah! What’s… ah… going on?”

“Not much” She smiled up at Sam and he melted a little,” The reason I… um… stopped by is that I could use your help with something. If you have time, that is.”

“Yeah! Sure! I’m… ah.. not doing a thing!” Dang, he thought, she was really pretty.

“Great!” Sarah did a little jump and almost clapped her hands, “Let’s go!”

“I-“ Sam started but, she’d grabbed his hand and though he out-weighed her by a good thirty pounds, he was powerless to resist her. Head spinning, he followed her up the stairs to her apartment.

“Welcome!” She chirped as he was led inside, “I hope you like the place!”

“Yeah. It’s neat” He said and meant it.

“I’ll get us something to drink!”

Stunned by the thought of having a drink with Sara, Sam busied himself by looking around the main room.

Though the floor plan was identical to his own apartment, she’d done so much more with hers. It looked more like a room in a nice old home than an apartment. Any wall that wasn’t covered with an overflowing bookshelf was festooned with artwork. A comfortable-looking sofa with a patterned blanket dominated the room. He noticed there was no television but, there was a very nice stereo with a laser-stylus turntable. 

“Make yourself at home!” Sarah called from the kitchen.

“Okay!” Sam called back. He plopped onto the sofa and tried to relax. 

It wasn’t hard as it was a comfortable as it looked. He noticed a book on the coffee table and picked it up. It was “Faeries” by Brian Froud and Alan Lee. He happily began leafing through it.

“Isn’t Froud amazing?” Sarah said over his shoulder as she came around the sofa with two large glasses of red wine. 

“Oh, definitely.” He said, nervousness washed away by the joy of finding a fellow nerd, “I had a copy of this growing up. It was my favorite.” 

Sarah handed him a glass and sat down on the sofa beside him.

“You don’t have your own?” She asked, and took a sip.

“Nah,” He sighed, “I left it at my folks’ house when I left for college. Never got to go back and pick it up.”

“Well,” She gestured happily with her glass,”You can read that copy whenever you want to.”

“Thanks, I appreciate that.” He still held the book like a sort of shield.

“Try the wine. It’s a Côtes du Rhône I picked up last week. I love a good French wine, don’t you?”

“More of a craft beer guy,” he smiled and took a sip. It was pretty good, “Hey, that’s nice.” he said with slight surprise as he took a bigger sip.

“I’m so happy you like it.” Sarah smiled a genuine smile at him. 

Sam almost blushed as she met his eye. He looked away, as her look felt a bit… appraising. 

“So,” he took another hurried sip of wine, “What is it you need my help with.”

Sarah took a deep breath. Then she leaned over and put down her glass. She sat back up and smoother her skirt, watching her hands the whole time. 

“Okay,” she said as she looked up, “This is gonna sound weird but, I’m a witch.”

She waited to see his reaction but, Sam just shrugged.

“Okay,” he said evenly, “are you a good witch or a bad witch.”

“I’m not joking, Sam”

“Neither am I” he sipped his wine to cover any smile that might try to appear. She was cute and she was nice, who cared if she was a bit weird.

“Um… A good witch. Mostly. Mostly good.” She smiled at him again.

“Mostly?”

“Yeah.” This time it was a big grin that nearly melted his heart, “ Mostly good.”

“Well, that’s much better than mostly bad, I suppose.”

“Definitely” She laughed and almost reached for her wine but, thought better of it for some reason.

“So, Miss Witch” Sam smiled, feeling oddly relaxed now,” What do you need my help with?”

“It’s an important job. Really important. I-“ Sara thought for a moment, “thought you’d be well-suited for it but, I think you’ll be even better than I thought. I mean I didn’t think you’d know Froud!”

“I aim to please!” he leaned back, quite relaxed now.

“So, first, there’s this,” She pulled something from the table  just beyond the sofa arm, “Could you put it on for me?”

In her small, deep-red-nailed hand was what looked like a collar. A burgundy leather collar with a large, silver bell. 

“Oh.” Sam paused. Was she propositioning him? What was this. He didn’t feel worried, though, just intrigued. It jingled as he took it from her hand. It was heavier than he expected.

“It’s heavy” he managed.

“Yeah. The collar’s real leather and the bell’s real silver.” She leaned forward a bit. Sam could smell her perfume. “ Go ahead. Try it on…”

“Look, I-“

“Please, Sam? For me?” She leaned closer and put her head on one side and smiled a small, almost pleading smile.

That was it. He could no longer resist her. She was so dang cute. He looked at the collar. The clasp appeared magnetic. He unclasped it and fit it around his neck. When the clasp clicked closed, it fit perfectly, not to tight and not too loose. The bell rested heavily on his collarbone but, it was actually oddly comfortable. 

“Okay” he said, playing with the bell., “Now what?”

“Give me your hands” she said, reaching out hers palms-up.

Sam put his hands on hers. They were soft and small, the nails tickled the heels of his hands.

“Now, look into my eyes and repeat after me” She locked her deep brown eyes on his gray ones. 

“Et facti”

“Et facti”

“Vestra cattus” 

“Vestra cattus” 

“Ministrabat”

“Ministrabat”

“What does-“ Sam tried to say but, Sara shushed him.

“The whole thing.” she said, her smile was a bit hungry” Say the whole thing three times”

“Three-“

“Say it,” She purred, “Please, Sam?”

Sam swallowed and began to speak the odd sentence. He was a bit startled that he remembered the entire thing.

“Et facti vestra cattus ministrabat. Et facti vestra cattus ministrabat. Et facti vestra cattus ministrabat.”

As the last syllable left his lips, there was an electric feeling that seemed to pass from Sarah’s hands and fill his entire body. He leaped to his feed.

“What wuz tha’?” He slurred a bit. “I…”

He felt weird. Very weird. His body felt compressed but, pleasantly compressed. Like he was wearing a lead blanket. Seemingly from far away, he heard Sarah’s voice

“We’re going to get a long just fine. Don’t worry, you’ll like it here…”