Quiet Little Monsters

I woke up in The Lovely Cocos. The sun was shining brightly through the white blinds of the window and the television played the news on low volume. I lifted my head up from my stiff sheets and found that Finn's bed was a mess of sheets and no Finn. I sat up and looked around. A surge of panic whispered across my skin. Had he left me?

Just as I was about to get up and check the bathroom, the doorknob turned and Finn walked inside. He balanced a bag from a grocery store in one hand while trying to retrieve the key from the lock with the other. He smiled when he saw me and I figured I looked pretty comical. Trying to be vague, I reached a hand up to my hair and felt the wild ends stick up in all directions. Finn was a gentleman about it and looked away as I hurriedly combed through it with my fingers. He plopped the grocery bag down on his bed.

"What's that?" I asked when I had sorted my hair as best I could.

"Breakfast," Finn said simply and retrieved a Twinkies box from the paper bag.

"Twinkies, really?" I said as Finn tore the box open and threw a plastic wrapped treat at me.

"Be grateful," he said and tore open his own treat. I shrugged and carefully undid the wrapper and took a bite of the pastry. The creamy center had me licking my fingers and I looked up at Finn who was doing the same with his own breakfast. I finished and rolled the empty wrapper into a ball. He tossed a bottle of Snapple my way and I opened it gratefully.

"Good breakfast?" Finn asked with his dark eyebrow arched.

I nodded, "I'm grateful."

He nodded with a grin and stretched. He looked clean and I realized that he was ready for a new day. "What time is it?" I asked, suppressing a morning yawn.

"Twelve," he replied easily. I gaped at him. "Why didn't you wake me up? We should have left earlier!" I cried.

"Frankly, because I slept till about eleven forty-five. I was tired too," he muttered with a shrug, "And because checkout's at one in the afternoon."

I stood up out of bed. My nightgown was all wrinkled and I smoothed it out as I got my suitcase and went into the bathroom. Fifteen minutes later, I exited wearing a rose printed overall dress with a white tank underneath. My brown riding boots crunched in the dirt as Finn and I walked to his hunter green sedan.



Finn's air conditioning broke halfway through the second day. One minute we were blasting it on through the sunny Nevada desert and the next we were suffering through the aching heat.

I wiped sweat from my forehead and Finn did the same, he took off his sweatshirt, which had seemed so appropriate the day before. The windows were rolled down, but it was useless because we were at a stoplight in a tiny rest town; Finn was searching for a gas station.

"It's hot," Finn complained, "How did it turn this fucking hot this fucking quickly?"

"I don't know," I stated honestly, pulling the strap of my tank top to keep it from sticking to my skin. Finn seemed to have enough of the heat and pulled off his black Ramones shirt off as well. His chest was covered with tattoos that wove into strange patterns.

He caught me staring and I blushed, "Nice chest," I stated wryly, looking dead ahead.

"Ditto," he replied in dry tones and turned left to the get some gas.

He stepped out of the car as soon as he finished parking and I did too.

"I'll pay for it," I said, stopping Finn who was already rushing inside of the small convenience store. He started to protest, but I smiled and said, "You're my wife today, remember?"

He rolled his eyes when he saw that I meant business. "Thanks, Dolly. You're a good husband," he teased.

I grinned at him and glided into the store. I grabbed a couple cans of green tea and some chips before asking the gas station clerk for thirty on station two. Stepping out of the convenience store, I tossed Finn (who was leaning over the side of his car) an icy can of tea and a bag of potato chips.

He smiled gracefully and went to fill up the tank. I looked around the gas station, which was full of other travelers, probably because it was the only town I'd seen in nearly two hours. No one seemed to think anything of Finn Watson's shirtlessness. Some women looked at him with interest and I shifted uncomfortably.

So handsome. But what is that gibberish on his skin? A woman named Melissa thought as she swiped glances of my traveling partner while she filled up her tank.

My skin crawled and I was familiar enough with human emotions to know that I was jealous. Finn drank his tea deeply while we waited for the tank to fill, both of us leaning on the car.

"It sucks about your A/C," I said sullenly.

"I know," he replied, matching my tone, "Open windows for you and me now."

I nodded and wiped the layer of sweat from underneath my bangs, feeling a great need for a shower. Finn's own mop of dark honey hair was traced with the glitter of perspiration. We both stared out at the steaming road and the smog of the trucks. The highway beyond simmered with heat.

"Feels like The Inferno," Finn muttered and took out the gas nozzle.

When we got back in the car, the steady speed of the journey perpetuated a violent wind from the rolled down windows. Although I didn't appreciate the mess that the wild wind did to my hair, I liked that I wasn't baking alive anymore.

"So your mom lives in Paris, huh?" Finn broke the silence.

"Hmm?" I broke out of my reverie. We had just passed a biker bar and the thoughts emanating from that tiny shack were fascinating. "Oh, yeah. She does... How do you know that?"

"One of the things I picked up when I was finding out who you are," he said simply.

"That's not creepy at all," I said sarcastically.

"How do you feel about that? About your mom?" he asked casually.

"Fine," I said stiffly.

"You don't sound fine," he replied.

I hesitated as I spoke next, "I love my mother, don't get me wrong," I said very carefully, "I know she loves me too... But I also know her heart and in the very furthest, murkiest pit she is ashamed of me. I know it. She tries to hide, but I see her. I see her."

Finn gulped. "You're wrong," he whispered.

"No. I'm not. She loves me and tells me this is a gift from God. But she thinks it's a curse. I will never be normal. I will never behave the way a proper woman should."

"Bullshit," Finn chanted, "You're perfectly fine."

"Not to her. Why do you think she left for Paris, knowing that I hate flying on airplanes, knowing I will never visit her? I know her heart. It is good but there's a smudge of black at the center."

Finn seemed at loss for words. "I'm sorry you know that," he spoke quietly.

"I love my mom. Don't get me wrong."

"How can you look past that?" Finn asked, turning his head in my direction slightly.

"Because there's a part of me that's always disliked her, too. I love her, but I am human. I can forgive her."

Finn's pale green eyes darkened and we drove quietly into the sunset.