Monster

Riversnail smiled so hard that his eyes curved into beautiful crescents. He strode fearlessly into the darkness and wrapped his hands around a figure much smaller than himself.

"Ahh!"

The figure struggled feebly in Riversnail's small slender arms. It was a very light hug but she was already using all her strength just to stand up straight.

She gave up very quickly and waited helplessly, trembling slightly in his grasp. Sensing his arms slowly relaxing, she freed herself with a gasp, and retreated deeper into the room.

"Dumbsnail, what are you doing? I told you not to touch me, what if you get infected too?!"

The words were so rough and hoarse that one would think it came from a very old lady, but Riversnail didn't mind it in the slightest. However what he minded were her words, he had already told her repeatedly that what she had was not communicable but she refused to listen, just like the people outside. He frowned and looked away.

"I'm sorry."

He locked the iron door and slowly unfastened his package. Feeling that his tone had been slightly cold, he looked into the dark and said, "I caught three today."

The girl's eyes seemed to glow with awe and slight worship. "Wow, even when mother was alive she could only get one at a time."

Those words were usually enough to give Riversnail an inflated head but now he could only tremble at the frailty and fatigue which filled her tone. He lit a lamp and opened by a small crack the door which led to the outer street, then he removed the bandages from his face and arms and began taking out dried looking pieces of meat from the package.

Staring at his hands which now held a mouse, a gory image appeared in his mind. Riversnail stiffened and his eyes glazed over.

His body no longer followed his commands and his arms dropped to the side. However this was expected as Riversnail's mind did not have any commands to give. Instead it became filled with an overwhelming desire to murder.

Sensing the sudden change Riversnail felt frightened. No matter how many times this happened he could not get used to the abrupt change in his thoughts. He turned his body away from his sister as he choked on his own breath and tried to suppress those thoughts.

"Are you alright?" the girl asked with concern.

Extremely slow shuffling of feet resounded again in the darkness and the lamp started to grow brighter.

Riversnail had regained control over most of his body by this time and jumped when he heard the sounds of approaching footsteps behind him. He hurried to the little figure, picking her up; he felt her body was much hotter than usual.

She had such a burning body and yet was still trying to get up and move? Riversnail couldn't understand what went through his little sister's head.

"I'm alright Lily, I told you not to move unnecessarily." He said sternly as he carried her to the bedding.

"Let me help." She said, glancing at the packages on the floor.

"You can't. You should be resting."

"Let me go, I can walk on my own." She replied with sudden coldness, pushing him away.

Riversnail put her down and she struggled to stay on her feet as she walked back to the bedding on the opposite side. Her arms didn't move as she walked, Lily could hardly feel them over the scorching pain engulfing her body with each stride. The pain was so terrifying that it threatened to tear her whole body apart but Lily was already used to this pain. Each step seemed to take hours but she did not falter and continued to move steadily, she did not ever want him to see her so weak.

Riversnail watched her move in silence; he knew quite well that Lily had always been the stronger one, young as she was this. If he were in her place he didn't know what he would've done by now. He sighed bitterly at her willfulness.

"Mother died out there." she said suddenly.

Riversnail didn't answer and he tried to suppress his violent thoughts once again.

"All I do every day is rest and watch you go out to that dangerous place alone." She stopped, the few steps remaining seemed to stretch on like a vast uncrossable desert to her, "I hate it. You always do everything by yourself. I want to risk my own life too; I want to help you."

Riversnail picked her up again and felt hot tears seep through his clothes scalding his skin. She held unto him so tightly that he could feel her whole body trembling. He didn't know if it was from fear or something else but it was times like this that he hated the fact that he needed to be cruel to his thirteen year old sister.

"If you go outside like this, even the insects would gobble you up. You won't be of any use to me. That's why I want you to rest and get better."

"You know I..." Lily choked on her words, she released him and clenched her little fists, "Okay, i will. You've said it so many times, but make sure you remember your promise when I get better."

"I won't forget." Riversnail said lightly, coaxing her like one would a little child, "when you get better I'll teach you all my tricks. You'll be far better than Shower. But you won't get better if you don't rest, alright?"

It seemed the idea of being better than her mother intrigued Lily so much that Riversnail felt her eyes were glowing in the darkness. He carried her off to the bedding made out of animal furs and returned to separating the dried meat and searching for bugs within it.

The meat spent some period in the town's storage; naturally it became a safe spot for small pests which usually began eating up the meat from the inside. Although the dried sterilized meat could be eaten like that, Riversnail felt it was incredibly wasteful and careless to do so without boiling it first. Boiling it would make it much softer, kill the germs, and increase its size considerably.

He set aside the mouse he did not sell, refusing to look at it again and proceeded to light up a small firewood stand.

Putting a little pot on it, Riversnail tossed in the meat along with half of the water in the skin jar. He took the lamp and made his way to the other side of the room.

Like a magic trick, the fire of the lamp grew larger and brighter with each step Riversnail took towards the girl on the bedding, till its light filled up the room in its entirety, expelling all the darkness and shadows.  However, the room was filled with such thick smoke that it became quite difficult to breathe.

The girl on the bed stiffened at the growing intensity of the golden glow and turned away reflexively.

"Lily, turn around." Riversnail said softly.

The figure shook but ultimately didn't move, she tried to speak gently but it came out rough and hoarse instead. She soon gave up on that and whispered, "I think I'm getting better, my body doesn't hurt as much today. Isn't that great? "

"Lily, please." He begged.

She turned slowly and the light of the lamp gradually poured upon her wrinkled, soggy flesh. Her face was completely filled with purple lumps, so much so that her eyes, nose and lips had been disfigured by it. One could barely make out those organs underneath the hills of huge lumps of which some oozed yellow and red pus. The little parts of her face untouched by the lumps were filled with a green rash which pulsated and congealed rhythmically as though they were alive and breathing.

Her limbs were covered with bandages which had grown squelchy with pus, and a horrid stench, even more putrid than the mice wafted from her. She tried to keep her face away from the light, but she couldn't succeed as the lamp was very close and now seemed to be even brighter than the sun. She soon gave up resisting altogether and looked at Riversnail's face with crooked eyes filled with hope.

Riversnail's expression didn't change in the slightest even as his heart sank deeper into a mire of despair. He rolled his fingers into a tight fist and fought back control over his trembling body.

He managed to keep the smile on his face and sighed, "As I thought, you're getting better, just a bit more time and you'll be the prettiest in the world. After you finish eating I'll run to the doctor for the rest of the medicine okay?"

"I'll never be more beautiful than you Dumbsnail. " Lily laughed, which sounded like the roars of a ferocious bird.

Gazing into his eyes, Riversnail felt she could see into his very soul.

Giggling she said, "Liar liar pants on fire."

He shivered and looked into her eyes. The face of a young girl was reflected in his own eyes, an exceptionally beautiful face that had once smiled and called out, "Welcome, Dumbsnail!  Did you bring a living rabbit for me this time? It looked so cute in your drawings... Oh welcome Mother hehehe."

"Welcoming the perverted prince before me, your own mother, how on earth do I have a daughter like you?" The woman at Riversnail's side spoke in a slightly exasperated voice.

Riversnail shook his head to disperse those thoughts before it became dangerous; he bent down and held her hands. 

Shower might not encourage false hopes but that was indeed the only thing keeping her daughter from falling apart entirely. Raising his head, he put on an assured smile and confidently asked, "Has big brother ever lied to you? Besides even if you don't become the prettiest I won't abandon you."

"Really?  Your smile seems so fake though," Lily muttered with a grin.

Riversnail felt he was about to cry, "This is your big brother's coolest smile how can it be fake?"

Lily's eyes seemed to dim at his words, but she instantly recovered. She looked at him with a sly smile and Riversnail felt his heart tighten for some unknown reason.

"I'm afraid I can't be anyone's bride if I continue to look like this."

Riversnail swallowed as a bad sensation came over him.

"Dumbsnail two weeks after mom found you in the woods; you read Cinderella to me and said you would be my prince. You're not thinking of renegading now, are we?

Riversnail felt sweat accumulating on his forehead. Lily smiled slightly and decided to tighten the noose.

"Lately all I've been hearing is, little sister this, big brother that. Is that your plans to renegade?"

Riversnail felt it was time to interrupt this mischievous girl or he might even get entrapped in her words.

"Well I asked that time but you said no and called me a perverted prince. You and Shower called me that for years."

"So you do remember." Lily smiled contentedly. "Don't look so nervous I'm only joking. The day Dumbsnail finds the girl he likes would the best day of my life."

"Don't speak like an old lady you're just thirteen." Riversnail said but upon realization he shivered, "I didn't mean it that way, I think your voice is beautiful, I'm talking about …"

Riversnail stopped trying to explain when he saw her smiling.

"Why are you so flustered? Did I say anything?" Lily faintly gasped for breath and then smiled; "Besides you said I am getting better."

Riversnail grinned.  Perhaps she already knew something but chose not to say anything, but this didn't matter.  What mattered was that she still had hope and she also wanted him to have hope in her.

He sat her up gently, removed the bedding and began unfurling the soggy bandages wrapped around her arms and legs.

"I can do it myself." She protested.

Riversnail let go of her arms which dropped and hung limply the moment he removed his support. She turned to him extremely embarrassed and opened her mouth.

"Stay still." He interrupted.

Riversnail's hands slowly became clammy with bits of pus and skin and grew stickier with every unfurled bandage. He had set his own aside for her, he'd later wash hers with as little water as he could spare and then cook it over the fire and wait for it to dry before taking his own bandages back and doing the same.

When he finished removing the bandages he used some of his own bandages, dipped in cold water to clean her skin and then some hot water to ease the pain.

Lily looked away while he worked and began glancing all around the room. She focused on keeping her breath steady and ultimately closed her eyes, but it was all in vain. Slowly, two streams of tears slid down her lumpy cheeks and fell onto the floor below. Her tears fell more quickly with time and almost formed a small pool below but white threads of smoke rose from it and it all gradually evaporated.

Suddenly she felt warmth on her forehead and a pleasant soothing voice echoed in her ears.

"Don't worry, everything would be alright soon."

The tears fell harder and she struggled to shake off his hand.

This bastard had also said the same thing every day after her mother died when she had cried and cried like an idiot and wanted to die.

"Dumb Dumbsnail." She sniffed.