Monsters Only Come Out at Night

The Fox and the Rabbit

Elise nearly collapsed with relief as she managed to find her first class again. She'd managed to find it pretty okay the first time, it was near the entrance so the path wasn't too complicated, but going from the place of her last classroom –which took her about an hour to find– to her first was a nightmare that she would like to never relive.

"I think you're supposed to sit at a desk when you walk in," the boy next to her warned, using his head to gesture at the red faced teacher.

"Oh, um, right!" She forced out. She wasn't used to talking with people, especially cute guys with dark, shaggy hair. "Uh, wait! I should thank you, uh, what's your name..?"

"Alexander, but please, call me Lex. Long names are not my style"

"Lex! For helping me get here, I would've been lost on the fifteenth floor forever if you hadn't been there! Wait, why were you on that floor anyway if your class was on the first floor?"

"I could be asking you the very same question, but I won't," he said with a smug grin. "I was walking a friend to class, you know Lucas?" -Elise shook her head- "He's the twin brother of Ashna but a year ahead of her, eighteen. You know Ashna, right? Waved to her in the hallway. We were walking around the school together. He was showing me all the cool hideout spots –don't tell anyone I said that– then I saw you looking like a lost little rabbit and I had to help. Glad we had the same class, I don't think my brain could handle finding any more classes today. But seriously, the teacher seems pretty mad so we should sit down," he winked and took a seat by a guy that Elise actually knew.

His name was Phobos, the same as the Greek god of fear and panic. The boy had laughed when she pointed it out at the entrance ceremony. She had joked that everyone must be terrified of him for people to continue to call him a name that roots the word phobia. His friend hadn't taken it as lightly as he did.

Insults were flying not too long after the joke was made, most of them aiming for, and hitting, Elise. Her mother would've smacked his dirty mouth for the things being said, but her mother wasn't there, and no one else seemed to notice his mouth was dirty. In fact, by the end of the little standoff Elise felt dirtier than any mouth could ever be. Like her body was wrong, though that wouldn't be a first.

She planted herself in the only available seat next to a girl who looked more than a little less than friendly. The girl, in turn, glared daggers at Elise. 

"H-hi, I'm Elise. Nice to meet you!" Elise held out a hand to shake, pasting the friendliest smile she could muster on her lips. She had never been too popular at the elementary school since her mother was the principal and made sure Elise was always studying, even if it sacrificed her lunch.

"Shut up," the girl slapped her hand hard enough to make it sting. "I don't want to know your name and I don't need to know your name. In this place I can assure you no one would give a damn if you died, so do me a favor and keep quiet, got that?"

The girl didn't make a threat but Elise could hear it under her words, bother me and I'll kill you. Elise chose to live.

"Lunch!" Lex sang behind her as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. 

Elise had just finished packing her notebooks into her satchel as the bell rang. Somehow she had failed to hear the boy sneak up behind her, despite all the careful attention she took to listen to the world around her. Alexander seemed like a sweet boy, but for some reason being around him made her nervous, and not the butterflies in her stomach type of way.

"You go ahead and eat," she told him, projecting her voice ever so slightly to be heard over the chatter of their classmates. "I want to go look and check if the library has a book I want. And no, you can't go," she replied before he could even ask. "This book is for me to look at and for me only. I don't openly share what I read," she couldn't let him find her hiding spot. She'd made that mistake once before and spent days washing graffiti off walls.

He shrugged. "Fine, fine. I'll save you a spot, alright? Oh, and be quick, I heard they give out cookies to first years today!" With that he jogged away in the direction of the lunchroom, if Elise remembered correctly.

Elise hefted her satchel over her shoulder giving herself one last moment to absorb the kind silence of the classroom, she probably would have stayed there if the teacher hadn't been glaring at her. Maybe he had a staring problem. 

She forced herself into the spiraled hallways, not excited for the long walk ahead of her. At least she knew how to get from her classroom to the library, she'd probably manage to get stuck in a random locker somehow otherwise. Elise shivered, remembering how tight the walls were in lockers, the perfect place for one's claustrophobia to blossom.

She didn't pay much attention to anything in the hallways. It's not like she was trying to shrink away so no one could see her, well, maybe a little bit, but not entirely. No, she was watching her memory, watching as everyone fooled around and decorated their lockers before they had to get to their first class. But, in the middle of the excitement and nerves of the first day, there was Elise, feeling nothing but confusion and dread. A lot of dread. First days had never been the best for Elise. She didn't know where she belonged, anyone belonged, on the social ladder, usually she was on ground zero, but some rare times she was just a bit higher than rock bottom, that was a rare occurrence though. The only time it'd ever happened ended with the kid jumping. Turns out she had some bad problems at home, Elise had always regretted not trying harder to get to know her.

Elise forced herself to focus on the memory again, thankful that she hadn't lost her way in the short time she was distracted. In fact, she may have even found a shortcut, she had managed to find her way there much quicker than she had the first time, just a few more turns and...

Elise had, once again, found the library. It wasn't much of an accomplishment but she still pumped a fist in victory anyway. That's one-to-one, one point School, one point Elise. 

She silently made her way into the library, remembering how strict the elementary librarian was. It didn't matter if you were five or twenty, you'd be on toilet cleaning duty for the year if you were too loud. Though you'd only still be going when you were twenty if you were rich and hadn't unlocked your ability yet. But any older than twenty, even if you'd turned twenty-one that year, and you'd be kicked to the streets, figuratively of course. Elise had taken that saying too literally and once asked the principal, her mother, to put pillows on the ground when they kicked her to the street. Obviously, it never came to that.

She searched the shelves for books that could give her artistic advice, she wasn't much of an avid reader but when she did read it was to improve her art, mostly in the creature area. Living things were far from her favorite thing to draw an outline of, much less actually paint. 

She managed to find her favorite book, Animal Anatomy for Dummies by Dolion Aisling. She was never too sure on how to pronounce his name, but his books still gave amazing artistic advice. She pulled a paper and well sharpened pencil out of her bag, turning to the page she had left off at, Do Not Fear the Fox. For some odd reason this chapter made her think of Lex, maybe because he always snuck around silently, like a fox.

A lost little rabbit...

If Lex were a fox, the hunter, wouldn't that make Elise, the rabbit, his prey? 

Elise shook her head. Her mother was wrong about many things, especially in the area of Elise, but she had one thing right. Elise loved to twist things into little fantasies. Since those fantasies, even with how cruel they were, tended to be much better than reality.