Christopher

I didn’t belong in that community, or perhaps the world itself. Growing up in Echo Park wasn’t bad. There was a bookshop I thoroughly enjoyed where all sorts of wonderful stories were available in tattered, vintage paperbacks. I loved this bookshop; I didn’t love how people would simply go there to socialize or work on their next big Hollywood screenplay.

Ironically, my dad was a screenwriter. My dad was always working on a screenplay so it wasn’t a surprise when he told me about his weekend getaway at a film festival. I wasn’t immediately alarmed when he didn’t return home Monday night; time was my dad’s greatest enemy. By Tuesday, however, I decided to look at my dad’s location through “Find Your Friends” on my phone; he never made it past Hesperia. Since my dad had taken our car, I took a train followed by an Uber to his exact location, well, almost the exact location; the driver refused to take me any further than the entrance to the gated community.

“Thank you for the ride,” I said, stepping out of the car towards the gate, relying on my phone to navigate me. There were rows after rows of houses, but not a single one was lit from the inside. After ten minutes of walking, I found my dad’s location: an abandoned mansion. It was tall, black, and covered with overgrown bushes. There were gargoyle statues on the roof and ledges. The windows were tinted black. It looked like the site for a horror film, which was on-brand with my father’s scripts, but this was nowhere near Vegas. Suddenly, the gates opened, welcoming me in. I didn’t hesitate.“Dad,” I said as I opened the creaking door, setting foot inside. I felt the cold-air brush against my skin. The place felt damp as I walked deeper inside and away from the outside world.

“Dad,” I yelled out again. I felt something looking at me. I could feel heavy breathing, though I didn’t see anything in sight. I reached a marble staircase, and without thinking, started making my way up until I reached the second floor.

“Who are you?” I heard a from a gargantuan presence behind me, the icy breath touching my skin.

“Where is my dad?” I asked.

“You want your dad?” the gruff voice asked, ravaging my ear. I then felt his paw—an overpowering weapon—grab my bone-thin arm and started to drag me. He pulled me so fast that I didn’t have time to take in his image; his grotesqueness. He dragged me across the hall as candles lit themselves and wall clocks started ringing violently. A smaller door opened leading down a dark passageway. I didn’t have time to catch or lose my footing as this creature pulled me violently until we stood in darkness.

“Eliot,” I heard my dad’s voice again. “Dad!” I tried making my way through the darkness but stumbled across a shackled leg. I kneeled and tried to break the chain, aimlessly. I felt him getting closer to us, his icy breath leaning into me; I could feel his icy breath almost touching my lips.

“Let us go, please,” I pleaded.

“One of you has to stay with me,” he said as I laid on the ground, shackles still in-hand. I pulled on them once more, fruitlessly.

“I’ll stay,” I said, determined to save my dad. There was silence as the beastly creature smelled me, taking the chain from my hands, breaking it apart, and grabbing my dad. “Eliot!” I could hear my dad’s voice disappearing into the halls. I sat in darkness. The beastly creature returned soon after. “Get up. I’ll show you to your room.” I stood up without hesitation. As we made our way to my new room, I took note of more gargoyles, more lit candles, and more wall clocks.

“This will be your room. If you need anything, ask” the beastly creature said as he started storming off. “What’s your name…”I whispered to myself. The beastly creature turned to look at me, his fiery intensity turning into sorrow, his green eyes looking into mine and answering “Christopher,” before slamming the doors behind me.

I took in my new home. It was a mansion within a mansion; a queen-size bed with a silk comforter, beautiful, white satin curtains, a large, wooden dresser, and huge windows that allowed me a gloomy view from inside my golden prison.

Thirty minutes later, I heard a loud bang on the door. “Dinner will be ready in ten minutes,” Christopher said. As I contemplated my response, another bang followed with yet another bellow!“You will join me for dinner!” After a few moments of contemplating whether to throw myself out the window or join Christopher for dinner, I decided on the latter. I walked down the stairs back to the first floor, realizing that the mansion was further lit, candles blazing vibrantly in unison. As I turned, I saw a door almost hidden at the very far corner of that first floor. I started walking towards it, hypnotized. I opened the door and stepped inside.

I was surrounded by books; layers and layers of bookshelves, but that’s not what drew my attention most. There was a blue rose covered in a glass casing. I couldn’t stop myself from touching it. It was beautiful. I lusted for its touch. I removed the glass casing and started reaching for the rose as a blue petal fell from its stem. I was so close to feeling its soft touch before hearing the door slams from behind me.

“What are you doing!” Christopher bellowed, his teeth almost gnawing at his snout. Words were stuck in my throat. Drool was running for his snout as he started sprinting towards me and snatched the glass casing from my hands. My legs were shaking but I managed to unlock them. I ran, unable to hear Christopher’s footsteps behind me.

The cold touched my skin as I ran away from the mansion. Rows and rows of seemingly empty houses ignored me. I ran for a whole fifteen minutes in what felt like an endless loop, stopping to catch my breath. I heard footsteps again. Different footsteps; lighter yet more menacing. I turned to see three tall, extremely slender figures walking towards me.

“What brings you into this neck of the woods?” One of the three slender figures said as he snuck up on me like an evil apparition. The words got stuck in my throat as I tried speaking. I stared at his hazel eyes which almost looked red in the darkness. It grabbed my wrist and put his hand around my neck, his fingers feeling my skin; they were warm, almost burning into my Adam’s apple as I felt his knuckles press in. He started to squeeze. Before I could lift my arms to defend myself, I felt him grab one as the two other creatures grabbed my other arm. His knuckles clenched harder.

Suddenly, familiar footsteps made their way, sweeping past the three figures and grabbing the one with his arms wrapped around my neck. After a few more seconds of squeezing, its arm let go as Christopher grabbed it, a loud crack following. I fell to the ground as the three extremely slender, dark figures disappeared into the night. They were horrified by Christopher just like I was at first sight.

“Good morning,” Christopher said to me. I sat by the kitchen table, still wondering about the night before. Christopher looked at me with sorrow; shame. I didn’t understand; he had saved me—I was now obligated to stay with him.

“Good morning,” I said as he sat across from me.

“What do you want for breakfast?” Christopher asked, his huge, hairy hands hidden from me under the table. His green eyes also hid as they looked at the kitchen table, which had the finest cutlery and kitchenware imaginable.

“Coffee and oatmeal,” I answered.

“Lou! Did get that?” Christopher said, raising his voice for the first time that morning. Minutes later, I saw something more magical than having a beastly creature as my breakfast companion. A white cart made its way towards me without any service staff steering it. Then a bowl of oatmeal made its way towards me, setting itself in a front of me. Next, a jug of milk poured itself over the oats as a cup of coffee was poured by a moving carafe. I couldn’t take a bite out of speechlessness.

“What is this place?” I finally asked. Christopher’s entire demeanor changed as his furry eyebrows raised, not so much in anger but astonishment, as if he didn’t expect me to ever ask about the mysticism to his home.

“I don’t like to talk about it,” Christopher said.

“You can’t expect me to stay here without asking questions…”

“I said I don’t like to talk about it!” Christopher bellowed; the walls shook in fear, as did the moving cart and every other magical piece of furniture in the dining room.

“I’d like to show you around more once we finish eating.” For the first time since meeting, I did exactly as Christopher demanded without objection.

The following weeks were increasingly magical, from more moving furniture, bookcases, the clocks and candles that moved at the command of Christopher’s voice, to the limitless time I spent reading. Christopher offered an oasis of literature from Dostoyevsky, Chaucer, Baldwin, to Sylvia Plath. Christopher was an intellectual by all accounts. He seemed from another time; perhaps another world.

“How long have you been…like this?” I asked again one evening during dinner.

“A long time…” Christopher answered, his eyes hiding behind his food.

“Now I have a question for you. Do I repulse you?” Christopher asked as soup ran down his snout. I thought he was going to ask if he scared me, but something about the word repulse sounded uglier.

“No,” I answered, truthfully.

It took two months for me to feel entirely at home. Christopher was a great conversationalist even when he didn’t say a single word. We would spend entire evenings sitting by his fireplace or reading together in his study. Even so, I still couldn’t forget about my dad.

“You miss him…” Christopher asked me one particularly nostalgic night.

“I do,” I answered; not even the warmth of the fireplace could comfort me.

“Go,” Christopher said.

I knew he meant it, but part of me felt…incredibly guilty. Another part of me simply did not want to leave Christopher. He offered an indescribable depth.

“Let me give you something before you do,” Christopher said. I followed him as we walked towards the forbidden room I had promised myself I’d never set foot in again. There it was, as beautiful as the first time; the blue rose with its falling petals. It was beautiful despite its withering, only having a few petals left, holding onto dear life.

“Take this, to remember me by,” Christopher said as he handed me the glass case housing the blue rose. I took it, feeling its delicate exterior. I didn’t know how to say goodbye to Christopher, so instead, I started running towards the entrance. I needed to leave before I changed me mind.

I walked for a whole thirty minutes until I found the entrance that ended that loop. I also found a familiar figure.

“Dad,” I said, as I saw him dragging himself to me.

“Eliot,” my dad said before falling to my feet. I didn’t have time to react as another familiar apparition rose from the darkness. It was the three extremely slender, dark figures. The red eyes were looking down at me, ready to devour me.

“I’m sorry,” I thought to myself as they got closer.

“Are you sorry?” the voice reached into my soul as they started levitating me off the ground. The red eyes scanned through every shred of guilt. Images of my dad on the ground and a heartbroken Christopher kept running through my every thought. Tears filled my eyes. Not because I was afraid, but because I felt guilty.

“You should,” said the voice as the icy breath cut through my every emotion. I felt nauseous, starting to lose my battle with lucidity, until I heard a crack. Glass everywhere. I felt a shard cut through my skin, followed by a bellow. In the blink of an eye, I felt another familiar grab. A safe one. Christopher pulled me away from their deathly clutches. The three extremely slender, dark figures weren’t going to leave without someone to claim, though.

Christopher couldn’t fend them off like he did the first time. He gnawed at them as they scratched away. There was blood splattering everywhere. I turned to look at my dad, still unconscious. I noticed a huge shard of glass, and without hesitating, reached for the tallest of the three heathens, stabbing him in the neck. More blood splattered everywhere. The creature hit me across the face, causing me to lose my balance and fall on top of my dad. It turned to look at me, blood in its mouth. Weaker. Weak enough for Christopher to strike back. Grabbing it from behind and ripping off its head with his remaining strength. The two other creatures backed away, leaping into the night and disappearing as swiftly as they appeared. Christopher stood for a few seconds before falling in front of me, life itself starting to leave his body. As he laid next to me and my dad, I saw the last blue petal fall from the rose.

“Christopher, I’m so sorry.” I had caused this entire tragedy; I had always held my dad back in ways he’s never admit, and I ended Christopher’s life. Tears fell from my eyes, falling onto every scratch, every tear on Christopher’s body as his greenish eyes finally looked at peace. “I love you,” I whimpered. I felt a hand touch me from behind; it was my dad. He hugged me from as I continued crying. The clouds above me became clearer, followed by rain and thunder.

Christopher’s body started to levitate off the ground towards the clouds; his body started to heal. Transforming before my eyes. His injured claws were replaced by hands; his hairy paws replaced by arms and legs; his snout replaced by lips. His brown, hairy body now covered with olive skin and light-brown hair. Christopher descended back onto the earth, angelically. As I started to reach to touch the skin that replaced his beastly body, he moved. Christopher started to rise to his feet.

Eliot,” he said, turning to look at me. I was looking at an angel; a familiar angel. with the same green eyes that made everything feel at peace. “Christopher!” I said, running up to him. Pushing his body close to mine. I held onto him for what felt like eternity before kissing him. A first kiss. Of many more to come…