They Walked Among Us

Jonny was asked to make an effort by his mother, but there was no mistaking he had come against his will.

“It’ll do you the world of good being around people, socialising,” she said. “Just try to relax and have a good time.”

And that was that. He didn’t argue, although there was no question he would have a terrible time.

It Jonny’s second-cousin’s 9th birthday, and the entire house had been decked with streamers, banners, and screaming children. Dozens of children charged around the room wearing all manner of costume, quite caught up with the excitement. The birthday girl herself was a fairy, and clutched a deadly wand which she used at several points to bludgeon other children with.

Left alone by his mother to mingle, Jonny quickly grew bored and sat in a corner by himself. His mother joined the other mothers in the kitchen, keeping half an eye on her son at all times. She gave the impression of someone trying to be carefree and relaxed but actually being the exact opposite. Nearly every parent there asked her how Jonny was doing, and the response was always a simple, not altogether true, “he’s getting there”. The other parents looking on saw this thin, miserable, deathly pale teenager, dark circles under his eyes and gaunt look on his sombre face, and wondered if he was getting there, where on Earth was he coming from?

“So how long’s it been now?” one of the mothers asked, gesturing in the direction of the poor boy.

“Nearly a year now, but he’s getting there.”

“Good. Honestly, you’re doing so well. I don’t know how you’ve been able to cope.”

“Well, it’s been tough, but he takes his meds everyday, that’s all we can do. One day at a time.”

“Let’s just hope he sticks to them. You’ve got to watch them you know. They’ll have you thinking they’re taking their meds when really they aren’t. You hear it all the time.”

“From who?”

“Oh you know, books and on TV.”

“Well, Jonny’s taking his meds, don’t worry.”

“But how are you sure?” the woman’s voice rose challengingly.

“Because I know,” Jonny’s mother answered. “I trust him.”

More children bundled by Jonny, screeching as they went, as children tend to do when in the company of children and given too much sugar. As they made their latest lap, a straggler broke off from the rear and lingered. She was perhaps the youngest of all the children in the house, certainly the smallest, and wore a bright green costume which covered her entire body apart from the six inches of her face, out of which big blue eyes stared, and above which a big foam tongue was hanging.

None of the other children had said a word to Jonny, who he assumed had been warned against doing so by their parents.

“You’re a little old to be here, aren’t you?” the girl said accusingly.

Feeling uncomfortable, Jonny smiled and asked: “So, what are you supposed to be exactly?”

“A crocodile”, she replied.

He nodded. “ ‘And they walked among us with reptilian features’…”

“What?” the girl said sharply.

“Oh, nothing, just something I read…”

“Do you not like my costume?” the girl asked, ignoring his question, preparing herself to cause a scene at any moment.

“No, no, I do. It’s very good. It’s so good it reminded me…” Jonny lowered his voice, glancing at the kitchen and his mother. “It reminded me about this crazy book I read in the hospital about big reptiles taking over the world… They looked just like you.”

“Like a crocodile?”

“Yeah, exactly like crocodiles.”

The girl perked up. “I love crocodiles!”

“Well you wouldn’t have loved these particular crocodiles”, Jonny said. “They were very bad. Very bad indeed.”

“What did they do? Tell me.”

“Well, it’s not a nice story for little girls, but if you insist. Back in Bible times, back with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden… you know about all that already, right?”

The girl nodded, the foam tongue bobbing up and down with her head. “I learned about it in school.”

“Very good. Well, Adam and Eve were very happy in the Garden of Eden, as you know, and wanted to stay there, undisturbed, forever. But one day, according to this book, these big reptiles phase shifted…”

“They what?”

“You know, they teleported… errr… appeared from nowhere?” the girl nodded to confirm she now understood. “Okay, so they appeared in the Garden of Eden from the fourth dimension. That’s a strange place where a lot of weird things live and we never see. When they arrived Adam and Eve were very scared. At first they tried to befriend the reptiles, but then they realised, like I said, that the reptiles were very bad, so they avoided them. Eventually they went away, back where they came from…”

“But what did they look like?” the girl said, interrupting.

“Well, you know, like crocodiles. Only bigger. Nearly eight feet tall, in fact. With big sharp scales. And they walked around like people do on two legs, talking to one another. Very scary.”

He paused as the screeching children tore by. A fight broke out and a parent came to attend to her child who was the latest victim of the fairy’s deadly wand. Once things had settled down he continued:

“Years and years later, the reptiles came back, long after Adam and Eve had gotten old, and they tried to… err… you know… make babies with the people? But it wouldn’t work.”

“Why wouldn’t it work?”

“I don’t know, but it didn’t. It’s all very grown up stuff you wouldn’t understand. The important thing is the reptiles tried this for a long, long time with the people, but it wouldn’t work. The people, Adam and Eve’s children, and their children’s children, they had all come and gone. Hundreds of generations had passed since they first came. The reptiles got very angry about all this and started to fight with the people, but they weren’t strong enough to win. All the while they kept trying with their plan to make babies with them. That’s all they wanted to do. Like I said, this didn’t work for a long time, but one day it finally did.”

“The crocodiles made the babies?”

“They did, yes. The babies looked just like people too, like you and me, but they had reptilian features which you could only see in the right light.”

“Like what?” the girl said. “Did they have tails and sharp teeth and scales?”

“Some of them did, yes. But they were hidden, and you couldn’t see them unless you were very quick. And sometimes, when they blinked, their eyes were like a reptile’s. The people didn’t realise that they were half-reptiles, and when they found out, they grew angry and killed them.”

The girl started flap her arms and paid no attention to this last part. “I’d love a little baby crocodile as a pet! So what happened to them?”

“The babies? Well, they decided to stay hidden, and grew up and had babies of their own.”

“Then what happened?”

“Nothing. They’re still around, walking among us. Some people even say that the President of the United States and lots of famous actors and singers are reptiles too, and are keeping themselves hidden until they can take over the world and kill us all.”

The girl nodded. “You’re strange and I still like crocodiles even if they did do all that stuff. Bye.” And she ran off disappearing in to the mass of children. Jonny watched her for a while, but she never once glanced back in his direction.

An hour later Jonny’s mother said it was time to go and they left. They sat silently at the dinner table for some time until Jonny yawned and his mother suddenly became aware of the time.

“So did you enjoy the party?” she asked.

“It was okay,” Jonny said, shrugging. “Too many kids.”

“Have you taken your meds?”

“Not yet.”

“Can you go and take them now then please.”

There was no arguing. He headed upstairs and took the bottle of pills from the medicine cabinet, giving them a little shake. They were white and oval shaped and they made him stop thinking so much. Unscrewing the lid, he tilted to pour one in to his palm but was distracted by his reflection in the cabinet mirror. He leaned forward and blinked several times, pulling down his eyelid to get a good look at his pupil. Satisfied, he took a capsule in his hand, tossed it in to the toilet and flushed.

“They walked among us…” he muttered to himself, and mind racing, headed to bed.

* * *