The Musician and The Beast

The sun shown bright above the sky that day, its long golden rays warming up the ground below. The great city stood, buildings stretching up towards the sky, the light reflecting off the windows creating a shimmering glare. People walked around the sidewalks, oblivious of anyone else, running into them and shouting whenever it happened. Some went to work; some walked dogs, others rode bikes while others chose to jog instead, listening to music to drown out the sounds of honking cars from the dreadful amount of traffic.

Here, down in the city, is a school, and through one of the numerous windows, there is a music room, students sitting in chairs, putting together their clarinets, licking the reeds, others taking out flutes, while the drummers moved their drums into place. One of the many students who sit is Peter, a clarinet in hand. His hair was short, dark brown, his eyes green. He wore a suit, cleaned of any smudges or junk. He licked the reed before he blew into it, making sure it functioned properly. He played a solid G, and it came out smooth and high as expected. That was good. He took his music sheet and placed it on the stand in front, opening up to the page they always did at the beginning of class. Another student, a man with blond hair, pushed back with gel, his eyes dark brown, was sitting next to him, fixing his music sheet and testing out his clarinet. It came off a bit shrill, causing Peter to wince a little. He licked it again and blew once again, this time the note coming off far more smoothly. He noticed Peter staring at him, looked over and gave a small grin.

“Just needed some more saliva,” he said, chuckling.

He nodded. “You're the new student, right?” Peter asked. “Um... is it Calvin, right? Mr. Powell told us about you yesterday. What made you want to join?”

“I dunno. Just kind of did. By the way, did you hear the rumor?”

“No what?”

“About how there have been sightings of a large beast. It’s been eating out of trash cans, knocking down fire hydrants, and I’m pretty sure it broke into a rusty and ate all the ingredients they had.”

“Oh, that! I heard about that. What do you think it is?”

“Not sure. But I don’t think it’s anything.. normal. If you know what I mean. Like some kind of fantasy beast or something.”

“Fantasy beast?”

“Yeah, is that crazy?”

“Well, I mean. Yeah, a little bit, but who am I to judge? When I was younger, and by that, I mean a year ago, I always thought dragons were hiding around in my house. Not sure why, but I grew out of it.”

Then, Mr. Powell called out to everyone to look over in his direction. Peter straightened up, getting in position to play his clarinet. Class began, first doing a warm-up, before practicing five other songs which they were to play for the entire school. Peter messed up a few times, but thankfully nobody noticed, mainly due to how many times Calvin messed up during practice. He wasn’t sure if he was doing it on purpose or if he was trying to cover for him, considering he had been doing it for way longer than he did. Soon enough, class finished, and the rest of the school day was dull and uneventful, Calvin being in one other course with him, science. He wasn’t sure why, but he never seemed to notice him, as he barely spoke, only doing so whenever he was called on. During lunch, a kid had left their lunch, saying they didn’t want to eat anymore. Those with a school lunch begged for him to give them some of his food, and he did so. Peter was among the many students who had to eat food there and was tempted to have some, tossing away their meals if they got their hands on some. At one point, they offered him some, but when he reached out, something came over him and he respectfully declined.

Then, the final school bell rung, a sound of salvation, indicating the day is sitting and listening to teachers murmur on and on about things was over. He could go home now; he was now free of all troubles. Homework was a thing, but his teachers felt generous, and homework was minimal. Peter went outside, walking through the parking lot where the other students got into their cars and drove back home. Peter didn’t have a driving license just yet, nor did he have a car of his own, and was forced to have to take the bus home, as both his parents now worked and were far too busy to pick him up themselves. He went over to the bus stop, dragging his instrument back with him, nearly dropping it a few times along the way. Eventually, he made it to the bus stop and sat down, placing his instrument on the ground by his feet. He waited here for quite some time, hours passed, and all the cars were gone. He wondered if he should get up and walk home on his own, but as the thought came into mind, he was washed away with a strange amount of drowsiness. He yawned, his eyes growing heavy, his muscles becoming relaxed despite the seat he was in being rather uncomfortable to his rear. His parents wouldn’t be concerned anyway; he was fifteen years old and could look after himself. Just a small nap, the bus would wake him up. Another yawn came out. He closed his eyes, leaning up against the railing of the bench, and fell asleep.

As Peter slept, another hour passed by, and there was still no sign of a bus coming by to pick him up. Darkness began to fall across the land as bats flew about, and the tears became visible. But, as he slept, somewhere else within the city, in an alleyway, there was a large shadow sitting within it. The only movement it made was the gentle rise and fall as it steadily breathed. A man walked past the alley, hands in pockets. The beast in the alley slowly raised its head, watching as the man walked across. It rose up from where it stood, carefully moving out of the way. Despite its massive body, it was silent as it came out of the alley. It looked in the direction of where the man was walking, following behind. Its body was large and shadowy, a long tail dragging behind it with a blade-like end to it. Spikes jutted out from its back; its head resembled a reptile, with two small ears that pointed back. It followed, eventually catching up with the man, who stopped in his tracks. It, too, stopped.

When he turned around, it made no sound or move, remaining as still as possible. The man turned around, and at first sight, he wasn’t sure what to do; he looked startled, recoiling as though he had been slapped. He backed up, ready to run at the least sharp movement, but stopped when the beast cupped its hands and held them out as if it was begging. At first, there seemed to be nothing, but when he looked closer, he found a small black notebook in its hands. It made strange sounds, soft, murmuring sounds. It pointed at it, gesturing for him to open it. Although initially hesitant, the man couldn’t help but let his curiosity get the best of him. He opened it, and inside there was initially something before within materialized twenty-thousand dollars. The man was unaware of this, but all he saw was an opportunity to get some free cash without any effort.

“For me?” He first asked. It nodded. Smiling, he snatched the notebook away from the creature. He smiled as he closed the notepad and hugged it, but he found the animal was still there, staring. “What?” He asked, but then, the creature opened its massive mouth, saliva dripping from its jaws. It licked its lips with its long pick tongue, which extended forward and wrapped around the man. Then, with a single swallow, the man was gone. The creature's stomach was still unsatisfied, and it continued in search of another meal.

Back at the bus stop, Peter felt a presence beside him. A large, looming presence. His eyes shot open, but he remain in the position he was in when he fell asleep. This was no human; it was massive, and its breathing was slow and labored. He wasn’t sure what to do. His heart pounded in his chest as thoughts flooded his mind, jumbling into an incoherent mess. What was he to do? What was that thing? Was that the thing which had been eating out of garbage cans? It didn’t seem to be doing anything. If it indeed was a monster, wouldn’t it have eaten him by now? He slowly got up from lying position to sitting position. He looked at what it was from the corner of his eyes. He couldn’t tell, but he knew it was massive and had a long, thin tail, tapping on the ground. He didn’t move a muscle; he couldn’t move a muscle, he didn’t want to. The beast was standing up, and it moved towards him. His heart was racing now; he could swear he could feel it smacking up against his ribs. He looked from the corner of his eye once again, seeing it was holding out its hands toward him. It was then he decided to look over and see what the beast wanted.

It had its hands out towards him, and inside them, it had a small, black notebook. He stared up at it, and it made strange murmurs, and somehow, he wasn’t sure how could understand what it said.

“You want me to take it?” He whispered.

It nodded, moving the notepad closer to him. He reached out towards it, hesitating a few times before the beast simply dropped it, forcing him to pick it up from off the ground. He examined it. The notebook was simple, small, the cover of it having numerous scrape marks upon the top. He looked up at the creature, which clamped its hands together and opened it up, silently telling him to open it up. He did so, looking inside and finding nothing on the first page. When he was about to turn the page, something materialized from within. Money. He stared up at it, tilting his head. It nodded.

“You want me to have this?” It nodded. “Are you sure?” It bounced once again, taking out one of the dollars and showing it to him. “But... but I don’t want it.” The beast waved the dollar in his face once again. “No, no, I don’t want it.” The animals froze; it looked shocked as if this had never happened again. The money it had, it let go, the money blowing away in the gentle wind. He gave the notebook back and stared at the beast, who let go of the notebook, letting it fall to the ground. He wasn’t sure what to do. The creature seemed upset, saddened, its head lowering down. “Do you want to sit down?” He asked it. It looked up, cocking its head to the side. “The bus should come soon; when it does, you can come along. It’s late, so there shouldn’t be much people on it. Come on.” It looked down at the seat he patted and silently, it did so, sitting down next to him. He looked up at it, seeing it stare forward, it’s breathing slow and loud. It’s ears twitched, letting out a puff of air. When he rejected its offer, the beast calmed down. From there on, together the two sat at the bench, staring forward, waiting for the bus to pick them up.