Hey Winnie

“Hey Winston, will you watch the front for a minute, Cass needs some help in the back,” Tonya called, voice wafting through the small room and jerking a few pairs of sleepy eyes from a game of Pokemon. Winston frowned at the screen, of course he’s in the middle of a battle. Usually if he kept the volume low and tucked himself real quiet between the shipping boxes of the packaging room he could get away with it until Tonya needed help.

Huffing a sigh, he closed the Gameboy and stuffed it into a jacket pocket, he’d have to save it later, before hopping down from his perch and rolling into the main room of the small general store. In the front Tonya waited with an amused grin.

“Up and at ‘em, lazy bones. You won’t be catching any chickens by dragging your feet,” she chimes and he adjusts his wire frame glasses.

“I got it up here, you’re good to go on back,” he says, sliding onto the stool behind the register and fishing out the game. Tonya flashes him a reproachful look that he responds to with a bright smile, all dimples and shiny enamel, until she caved with a fond scoff.

“Just put it up if someone comes in, alright? We’ve got to at least pretend that we’re a respectable business,” she says and retreats into the back where he can easily tune out the muffled chattering of her and Cass discussing supply shipments for the next quarter.

The General Tack and Mercantile, is about as quiet and lazy as he’d been expecting on a late Sunday afternoon. On this side of town all the churchgoers had already retreated to their homes to start on an early dinner and that was about everyone who came this far out to shop. Winston kicked a leg idly, chewing a piece of tacky gum that had lost its flavor about five minutes after he’d popped it in.

The gum helped. Keeping his mouth occupied keeps him from the nervous habit of chewing his lips raw and red. Every time he licked over his teeth he risked slicing his tongue bloody on the razor fangs there, and biting the calloused insides of his cheek might lead to a doctor visit they couldn’t afford, so gum is the next best thing. After rock candy, of course.

The crunch was just so satisfying.

Popping another loud bubble he kicked a foot up onto the counter, leaning back into his seat and hunkering his shoulders up to his ears. Not exactly comfortable, but he hadn’t been hoping for much. Hopefully Tonya finishes up before anyone comes in.

***

By the time he gets off work the sun has already dipped below the horizon and stars are twinkling brightly from behind tall pines. That’s one perk of living in the middle of fucking nowhere, North Carolina: everything is so clean.

He takes his sweet time plodding around the tiny town rather than taking the risk and going through it. There’s no sense in instigating anything and he doesn’t mind the walk through the winding roads up the mountain towards the cabin.

A ways off he can hear the creaking spokes of an old mountain bike that he’d recognize with his eyes closed. Elliot, trying to sneak up on him. He doesn’t want to let the guy down but he’ll never win that particular bet, ‘Oh Winnie, I bet I could scare you, I bet you fifty bucks, I’m totally serious, if I can’t do it in a month I’ll even take you somewhere nice.’

Smiling to himself, Winston tilted his chin upwards, one headphone dangling from his ear despite not being plugged into anything. It makes people less nervous to be around a guy that doesn’t twitch at every little noise and it’s hard to stifle the instinct. Deliberately he slowed down his steps to let his company catch up, trying not to cringe at every crunch of a leaf or soft snap of a wet twig.

He waits long enough for Eli to get close enough for a human to notice before making a show of stopping.

“Eli,” he called, welcoming. There’s a loud groan from about a twenty feet back as the man kicked off to catch up in earnest, maybe he would have been better off waiting a little longer to make the act a little more believable but it was too late now.

“Dude, what the fuck?” Elijah grunted with a pinched expression, “How the fuck can you always tell, do I have BO or some shit?” Or it might be the fluttering thump, thump, thump of a human heartbeat sings like music in his ears. Winston just laughs and makes a show of holding his nose.

“Bro, it’s so bad I think the whole town can smell it, do you ever shower?” joked Winston, tone light enough that Eli couldn’t help but crack a smile.

“I dunno man, it’s hard to fit that in the schedule between balling every single day of my life and drowning in pussy and hey! Don’t laugh!” Eli cried still smiling as Winston snorted, waving him off.

It wasn’t that Eli was unattractive, not by any standards, but he’s not a pushover type of guy and in a small town people talked. Maybe his mother was some sort of literature buff or a fan of irony but his younger half-brothers are named Sam and Eric and they aren’t exactly normal. He’s been hearing the phrase mutie-fucker since his dad left and mom came back with a pair of conjoined twins.
He guesses Eli didn’t want to deal with playground bullying and being built like a shit brick house and taller than him to boot, well, Winston had taken to him like flies to honey.

His utter lack of prejudice against mutants was really a bonus because honestly, when mom had said this little festering scab of a town on the face of the North Carolinian mountains would be their new home he nearly broke down right then.

He’d expected burning bags of shit in their front yard within the week and racist slurs every time he opened the door but it helped a little that they lived so far out of the way of potential pranksters. Sometimes the stray bunch of drunken teens made the hike up towards Lockegee (a ridge not too far up from their cabin where the local kids went to get high) and on the way back down they sometimes would leave gifts on the front lawn but that was really their only problems.

Only in the dead of night though because, despite their good behavior, humans still weren’t fully comfortable around them. And he conceded the point because they had good reason.

Winston had resigned himself to being the only “mutie” family in town, shoved on the outskirts up on their own mountain, and constantly having to slouch because he’s too-tall for someone his age.

Not to mention the gross rabbit food he’s been subjected to like every other time they’ve settled into a place for longer than a week. Dad said it was necessary to fit in and Mom’s been vegan since he was born, so he deals with the constant stomach cramps and takes his vitamins and sucks it up.

“Why weren’t you at the store?” Eli asks, hopping off the bike to push it alongside him instead. Winston half shrugged.

“You know. Tonya let me leave early so she could sort out this week’s shipment. I had to mop the women’s bathroom. Apparently someone thought it’d be a fun idea to dump a gallon of fruit punch all over the floor. Newsflash, it doesn’t look a period gone wrong, it looks like messy 2 year old on a kool-aid high.”

Winston fell into easy step beside the taller boy, waving his hand in exasperation. He’s pretty sure the smell of syrupy sweet scent of pineapples is forever ingrained into his nostrils but bitching about it to someone who’ll listen helps.

“Man, that sucks, but you’ll never believe this. Guess who I saw with Brenna Harrigan today?” and just like that, they fell into easy conversation, plodding along in step with one another until they’d lapped around the trail twice before finally waving a quick goodbye as the road branched off mid-mountain towards Eli’s place.

“We’re hanging out tomorrow after school, right?” Eli asked like an afterthought, Wilson pretended to look thoughtful.

“I don’t know, I might have to rearrange some stuff first, I’m a very busy man, you know?” the ‘school’ was little more than a string of buildings and trailers where classes were held, why mom had insisted that he get enrolled was beyond him but she insisted. It’s important to fit in, Winnie Pooh, you’ve just got to make an effort.

*

Winston smiled a close-lipped grin to the boys, careful to keep his teeth tucked away. They had already seen them, of course, he’d eaten dinner over here before, but despite their insistence that his needle sharp chompers weren’t anything short of “so totally awesome”, Winston wasn’t really comfortable showing them off.

“Then what?” Eric urged, brown eyes wide and completely enthralled.

“Did you punch it in the face?” Sam chimed in, looking eager.

“The bear? Of course not, I got out of there! I didn’t have a rifle for bears,” Sam wilts, pouting, and Winston laughs because, really, his guess wasn’t that far off the mark.

It’s not really cool to go around telling people how he instead turned into a giant hulking monster and ripped the head off a damn grizzly to protect his dinner, which also, incidentally, hadn’t been a buck he’d been tracking but rather the poor asshole who’d breezed into town a few weeks ago. It’d be a few more days before anyone even noticed he hasn’t paid for his motel room before skipping town.

But that makes for a different kind of tale, so he keeps it to himself and turns to the doorway where Eli was lingering.

“Dinner ready?” he asked, a little uselessly since he could smell the cooked flesh of some animal they’d picked up in town at Debbie’s insistence. Eli had protested, of course, claiming that they didn’t have the spare change for anything frivolous, but she had been firm. “Your brothers need all the protein they can get, you know that Eli. We deserve something nice.”

After that Eli had caved and had resorted to quiet grumbling on the way back up the mountain. Winston knows they didn’t have enough to invite him over, but Debbie had wrestled him into agreeing to come down and eat with them and he didn’t know how to say no without sounding like a dick, so here he is.

Next time he comes he’ll be sure to bring something mom made, a casserole or whatever. Something they can heat up later, because Winston knows they’d appreciate the food more than he and dad would. He can barely stomach pork, let alone the vegetable concoctions that mom brings in, flaunting their protein count like that’s some sort of substitute for actual food.
Which it isn’t, by the way.

Regardless, Winston stands from his cross-legged seat on the floor, reaching down to help Sam and Eric. They’re coordinated enough to get up on their own at this point, but it was reflex. Sam still smiled at him gratefully while Eric was busy pestering Eli about dinner.

Winston doesn’t want to tell them not to get their hopes up because what Eli picked up for clearance price at the IGA didn’t look all that promising, but when they get to the table and they’re nearly shouting with excitement Winston concedes they probably have different standards.

They do have two stomachs to feed and all.

“Wow Debbie, smells great,” he says, pulling out a chair closest to the sink. Next to him Eli flops down. Winston doesn’t let himself look over because he already knows his friend is frowning.
Eli doesn’t say anything, just grabs the nearest bowl of mashed root vegetables and starts spooning some for Sam and Eric. Debbie shoots him a look before smiling back to Winston.

“You’re such a sweetheart Winnie, always so grateful,” she replies a little pointedly, but her expression doesn’t change and Eli doesn’t react, just spoons the mash for himself and passes it to Winston. Winston resists the urge to bite the inside of his cheek because the blood would make them nervous. Instead he tries to focus on getting the smallest portion he can.

Fucking vegetables.

“So Sam, how was school today,” Eli asks, focused solely on the twins as he scoops out more portions of food for them both. They’ve even got separate plates. On the walls around the kitchen are a few wooden crosses of varying sizes, Winston tries to keep his attention on Sam and Eric.

Creatures like him and religion don’t mix as well as mashed veggies and gravy at a Sunday dinner. His family tries to stay away from that kind of thing, it just doesn’t mix well with their lifestyle, and Winston always felt a little guilty seeing all the little figures and crosses. At least Debbie didn’t have them bless the food or anything crazy, then he’d really feel bad eating it.

*

He could practically see it when things got to be too much for Eli in the way his hands tightened in his sheets and when the tendril of fear started digging into his chest, sending his heart rate skipping.
He could feel it in the air when suddenly he switched from human to beast and Eli looked a bit more like something to eat rather than his best friend. Despite all this Winston couldn’t help but wait in the silence of the room he’d slipped his way into earlier that night, reluctant to leave even though he knew it was time.

“I think… I’m going to go to bed,” Eli says, a little slowly and Winston is already nodding. When he stands from the rickety desk chair he does it in exaggerated motions, making sure Eli doesn’t feel like he’s trapped in a room with a monster. Which, granted, he is, but even like this Winston doesn’t want to scare him off.

He can’t even let himself think about the consequences of telling a human all of this, instead he makes his way to the window. Thankfully Eli’s place is only one story, it’s easy to pop off the screen and slide out into the night.

Before he leaves he reaches back in for the screen to put it back on but Eli waves him off from the bed.

“Dude, I’ll get to it,” Winston tries not to feel relieved at the casual tone, like he didn’t just spend all evening telling Eli all about his hangry rages when he doesn’t get his monthly quota of people meat. He forces a close-lipped smile back, trying not to look constipated, and Eli offers a weak smile in response.

At least that’s something.

“Night, man,” he murmurs, pulling his hood up against the chilly evening air and turning to head back up the mountain. Hopefully it’s early enough that mom isn’t back from her hunt, that way he wouldn’t have to awkwardly fumble his way around excuses why he was out so late.

*

Winston is still awake curled on the big bed, tucked in a nest of blankets, when he gets a text. Even though he always keeps his phone on silent, the buzz is still loud enough to make him jump and he snatches the thing off the bedside table before it can buzz again. Flipping it open he squints, trying to read the extra large print before giving up and grabbing his glasses.

It was from Eli.

Quickly he unlocked the thing, thumbing to the inbox and rolling onto his back to sit up, frowning at the time a little concernedly.

U awake?

Am now, u ok?

Oh sorry, didnt mean to wake u

Winston smiled to himself, u didnt, whats up

Just couldnt sleep, im bored

Snorting quietly he relaxed back into his pillows, of course. And here he'd been worried that Sam and Eric got hurt or something. Eli was never the type to waste his precious minutes, even when they were trying to make dinner plans and he couldn't fucking get a hold of him any other way, but now that it's nearly half two he's all about it. Winston hurried to tap a response, his thumbs a little too clumsy for the number pad because he has to type his response twice.

Me to. what r u doing?

Talking to u

Dont b a piece of shit, y cant u sleep

He'd like to pretend that text talk isn't really his style, and it really didn't used to be until Eli, the bad influence he is. Teaching people to cut corners and type their “you's” as “u’s”.

Winston couldn't help but smile at the thought of Eli cutting any corners. He'd actually been kind of pleasantly surprised to find out the guy didn't enforce proper grammar 100% of the time, seeing how intense he was during school. It was also nice not to have to go into his settings for T9 and try to fiddle with them any more than he already had.

Winston blinks at the bright screen, realizing his eyes have gone a little dry waiting for a response. For a moment he considers sending a question mark or something before Eli beats him to the punch.

im just thinking about the monster thing u know. Do u like, have to eat all the time or something? What do u do instead…?

Winston cocked an eyebrow, it's been a week since they last talked about this and honestly he was surprised that Eli lasted this long before a follow up Q and A. The big guy was just too curious for his own good. That doesn't mean he really wants to sit down and have a heart to heart through text messages.

Not right now, ill come to ur place tomorrow or something. What did debbie do about the pamphlet?

There's a bit of silence while Eli types a response.

Dude im so sick of her

Ah, it must have been bad, then. Winston frowned at his phone, rolling onto his side to try and get comfortable again.

Sounds like it went well

I just dont fucking get it, im a great student and I fucking do everything at home. Why cant she just be a normal parent and b happy about this?

Idk man, is this the first one she found?

Yea, idk what she'd do if she saw the others. Im so dumb, I never let her go through the mail before I get home, I cant believe i forgot

***she checks the mail constantly now, and will throw away anything she sees from colleges

Winston frowned, thumb hovering over the buttons as he tried to plan out how to even respond to that. His mother had always expected him to go to some sort of schooling after high school, eventually, and his dad just didn't care one way or the other.

He just couldn't get it. Why wouldn't Debbie be happy about this? Eli is literally doing all the work for himself, which is more than he can say for himself if he's being honest. The pamphlets his mother slides him in the morning over breakfast boasting universities in bustling cities that she knew he preferred were always kind of peripheral to the rest of his life, but Eli was literally going to the library and sending these places his address manually.

He'd never known his parents to be anything but supportive when they could be. Sure, moving all over the place sucked, but they never did it to spite him. He hated traveling around, but it was inevitable when your entire life revolved around murder and pseudo-cannibalism. You know, the usual.

Still frowning he clicked back through his message to change “pool” to what he actually wanted when Eli replied again.

It doesnt matter ill be gone in a year anyway

He blinks at that, stomach twisting a little bit at the thought. Resisting the urge to reread the message Winston pursed his lips and erased what he was going to say. It wasn't important now, anyway.

Yeah. im going to bed

Ok night

Winston flipped the phone shut and tossed it down on the bed beside him, rolling around to face the wall and jerking the blanket up around him against the late Feburary chill, trying not to roll back over and correct Eli because it wasn't a year. It was 14 and a half months, thank you.