Misty Rose: Nature
Chapter 26
So… Ferret. He was smart, and pretty charming when he wanted to be, and I liked hanging out with him, but… he wasn’t perfect. Well, no one is, but you know what I mean. One, the half human, half ferret thing was taking some getting used to. Even after a couple weeks of hanging out every couple of days, I still caught myself being surprised when I looked at him because he just… didn’t feel like a vampire. So I’d be doing whatever, even talking to him, just not looking at him, and I’d glance over and be surprised for just a second by what he looked like. Suppose I’d get used to it eventually.
Second thing was that he wasn’t kidding about being petted. Though I guess that was more of a Kaitlyn and Ferret thing because it was Kaitlyn that was doing it. I just… well, I guess I started not really liking being touched by anyone at some point after becoming a vampire, and that meant not touching other people either. Which was weird because I’d been a hugger for my whole life, but… I don’t know, maybe I started thinking everyone was going to either be dead like me, or alive and… remind me that I was dead. Anyway, Kaitlyn developed some kinda fixation on Ferret I guess. She liked scratching behind his ears or just like… feeling his fur. She said it was really soft, like not his hair but the fur on his face and stuff. So sometimes she’d start stroking his fur somewhere on his face or neck and… well, Ferret liked the attention, and it’d get to where I felt like they should get a room or something. But, I don’t know, my vampire side… didn’t want Kaitlyn alone with other vampires, so I’d push it back down and try to ignore it. Or, well, I’d make jokes sometimes, but I didn’t really do anything else. I got to say though, I didn’t know how Ferret was handling needing to feed, but he never seemed like he was going to actually bite Kaitlyn that I could tell. So, yeah, more points to Ferret.
Third thing was that he didn’t always remember to knock first when he came in. Somehow the locks would just be undone and he’d walk right in and… well, you get the idea. I was pretty sure that at some point he’d walk in on me or Kaitlyn not really dressed or something. Didn’t seem like he was trying to do that really, but… Ferret could be hard to read. I thought he’d find it pretty funny but not like… he was trying to be a creep, you know? But I still didn’t wan to have him walk in on us, so I’d say something when he did it. Course, it’s me saying it, so I probably didn’t sound too mad.
Then there was how he’d… well, he’d get really… enthusiastic sometimes. And forget that other people actually have opinions and feelings and stuff. Sort of like when he’d go off about computers or video games or movies or comic books or whatever. He didn’t seem to mind if I wasn’t really listening and… I just couldn’t get myself to really make him stop. He just seemed so… happy to actually be able to talk to someone about it, you know? Pops and Victoria and whoever else were his friends, but I don’t think they’d let him go on like that. And I got the being a doormat problem. Part of that was his ideas. Like… well, like the jumbotron. That all started with him letting himself in.
“Ferret, hey,” I said, looking up as the door opened. I probably should have been more careful, but I was wearing clothes and he’d texted he was coming by this time. Five minutes before, but still.
“Hi,” Ferret said. Then he immediately turned back around and reached for something outside.
“Y’know, people usually knock first,” I said. Maybe if I said it enough, he’d remember.
“Uh huh,” Ferret said, not listening to me. “Brought you two something.”
“Um…” I said, trying to see what he was pulling inside. Looked like… a box. A really big one. Ferret kept pulling it inside, more because I think he was being careful than it was heavy. Turns out it was some kind of flat screen TV. A really fucking big one. “What’s that?”
“Eighty-eight inch flat screen TV,” Ferret said, grinning.
“Mmmhmm,” I said. “Good to know. ’Cause I thought it was a jumbotron.”
Ferret just grinned at me.
“Did this fall off a truck, too?” I asked.
“No,” Ferret said. “I bought it off Amazon like a civilized person. Just arrived.”
“And you brought it here?”
“Well,” Ferret said, nodding at our little TV. “You just have the tiny one, so…”
“Uh huh,” I said, folding my arms.
“So I thought you guys might like something bigger,” Ferret said.
“Uh huh, sure,” I said, then turned and yelled at the bathroom. “KAITLYN!”
After a moment, Kaitlyn came out of the bathroom wearing a robe, and I was pretty sure nothing else. She could get really casual with people she knew. “Hi, Ferret,” she said.
“Hi,” Ferret grinned at Kaitlyn. “Brought you something.”
“Ferret wants to install a jumbotron in our apartment,” I said as Kaitlyn looked at the box.
“Did it fall off a truck?” Kaitlyn asked me.
“He says he ordered it off Amazon like a civilized person,” I said. “I have doubts.”
“No, really, I bought it,” Ferret said, holding up a hand. “Scout’s honor.”
I rolled my eyes. “Okay. Where’re you gonna put it?” I waved a hand at our apartment. “It’s not like we got a lotta room, y’know?”
“Well…” Ferret looked around. “We could put it in front of the closet.”
“And block the doors,” I said.
“Well… how about more to the side then?” Ferret said, pointing.
“’Cept the damn pole is in the way there,” I said.
“Yeah,” Kaitlyn grinned at me. “Wouldn’t wanna have a normal kind of entertainment blocking an alternative kind of entertainment.”
“Alternate kind of entertainment, my ass…” I muttered, rolling my eyes.
“Well, your ass is pretty entertaining, yes,” Kaitlyn kept grinning at me.
“My ass is not entertaining!” I said, glaring at her.
“I’m going to have to side with Kaitlyn on this one,” Ferret said, raising a hand.
“Ugh… anyway…” I said.
“Well, we could put it there,” Ferret said, pointing to where I was sitting.
I looked down. He was meaning where my bed was. I saw the problem with that right away.
“But my bed is right here,” I said.
“It’s not like you use it,” Kaitlyn said.
“But it’s my bed,” I narrowed my eyes at her. Couldn’t explain why it mattered. It just did.
“You don’t sleep in it,” Kaitlyn said. “You sleep in the closet.”
“Yes, I know I sleep in the closet,” I said. “But it’s still my bed. I might still have a use for…” I stopped because both Kaitlyn and Ferret had dirty grins. “I see that look.”
“What?” Kaitlyn asked me.
“You’re hopin’ I’ll say something like… like…” I glared at Kaitlyn.
Both of them just kept grinning at me.
“Ugh, fine,” I said. “We can move my bed. Just to get you two to stop.” I stood up and went to the end of my bed. It was pretty much just a mattress and box spring with legs. I pulled the sheets and pillows and stuff off it and threw them in my closet. “There. Happy?” They were right, I didn’t really need my bed, but… giving it up was bothering me, and I couldn’t say why.
“That works,” Ferret said, looking around. “Not much room to fit it anywhere else.”
“Stand it up in front of the window?” Kaitlyn said. “Against the wall.”
“Okay,” Ferret said. “I guess that works.”
I folded my arms. “You’re moving it yourself. Wasn’t my idea.”
Ferret just shrugged and lifted one end of my bed like it was nothing. Ferret was clearly a lot stronger than me, even if he didn’t look like it. Good to know. Didn’t take long for Ferret to get the stupid huge TV set up and plugged into the console and whatever. I just watched.
“You know,” Ferret said. “If you don’t like this, you could entertain us the other way.”
“No,” I said. “You don’t get to watch me practice. Neither does Kaitlyn.”
Kaitlyn aimed a pout at me, but I ignored her.
“Okay,” Ferret said, looking over the new TV. “That should do it. Think we should watch something just to be sure everything works. Any requests?”
I saw Kaitlyn going for the bad vampire movies and rolled my eyes. “I’m goin’ out. You two do whatever you want.”
“Aww,” Kaitlyn said. “Where’re you going?”
“Just out,” I said. I started grabbing the stuff I’d need to take with me.
“You okay?” Ferret asked.
“I’m fine,” I said. “Just need to clear my head.” Then I went into the bathroom to change into street clothes. By the time I was done, the movie they’d picked had started, and I just walked past and went out the door. Just couldn’t stay, you know? Having them… make my bed unusable at all just to put in some stupid giant TV was pissing me off, and I just… needed to walk. Try to figure out why I was getting so mad about it. My savage side was involved, but that probably wasn’t it, because that part usually just got mad about whatever was bothering me at the moment. And hanging around at home was just making me madder. So I left. Standard me, really.
I got to say this, though, Ferret usually figured out when he’d crossed a line. Might take a bit, and he didn’t always do what I’d expect to make up for messing up, but he got there. Like that night, after a while, my cell phone rang. I pulled it out, and saw it was Pops, so I answered.
“Hey, Pops,” I said. “What’s up?”
“Wanted to ask you the same thing,” Pops said. “You okay?”
“Eh… not really.”
“Want to talk about it?”
“Not really. Ferret’s annoying me.”
“I know,” Pops said. “He texted me that you were upset.”
“Why didn’t he text me himself?”
“I believe he thought you might not want to talk to him right now.”
Well, that much was true. “Yeah.”
“So, what’d he do?”
I told Pops about what’d happened with the jumbotron and my bed and how the whole thing was bothering me but I couldn’t figure out why. Pops listened to me ramble but didn’t say much.
“I see,” Pops said when I was done. “Well, I think I might have some advice.”
“Okay,” I said.
“You know the Catholic church by the cemetery?”
“Which one?”
“West side. Built out of red brick.”
“Oh…” I said. “I’ve passed it a few times, yeah.”
“You might want to head over there. Ask for Father Riggs.”
“At night?”
“He’s a friend of mine.”
“Oh,” I said. Which meant he was probably a vampire. And a priest working at a church? Okay…
“It’s kind of a distance for tonight,” Pops said. “Tomorrow night is fine.”
“Um… okay,” I said. “I’ll, um… get a ride over. Tomorrow then.”
“I’ll let him know you’re coming,” Pops said. “Take care.”
“You too,” I said and hung up. So apparently I was going to see a priest. Who was a vampire. Probably should have asked if this Father Riggs was one of the crazy vampire missionaries, huh? In any case, I went back home. Ferret had left and Kaitlyn was asleep, so I didn’t really have to deal with them then. I just curled up in my closet and waited for dawn, then fell asleep myself.
