Short Stories by MissDaisyCrown

You can't always win

You can't always win
(Light short story)

He's quiet. He must think I don't know he's back in there, but I'm not stupid. Every single night he is and every single night he thinks he can beat me. I proudly announce that he fails 80% of the time in doing that. Does he really think he's faster than me with the greater distance that he has to cross to get to the target? Pfff. I hate the constant competing. I just want an easy night without him trying to take away my victory.

I stare at the door opening and peer into the dark hallway. There's no one yet. This is the most boring part of it all. The waiting. But there's no changing that. My eyes quickly turn back to the closet when I hear a noise. He must've shifted his weight. I don't understand why he keeps following me to the same room. Can't he find someone else to compete with and leave me alone? He's annoying the hell out of me, and has been doing this since the very beginning. One moment I'm just doing my job straight out of school, having success after success, and the next I have this guy tailing me every single night making my job a whole lot harder than it was.

The light in the hallway is switched on. It begins. Footsteps come up the stairs and first make a stop at the bathroom. The toilet is flushed and the light is switched on before a small pair of feet arrive in front of the bed. A larger pair of feet follow suit to read the kid a bedtime story. It's about fairies in a forest, raising a princess to escape a curse. The classic sleeping beauty, modified by Disney to make it more child friendly of course. Fifteen minutes later the princess and the kingdom are saved and the parent leaves the room. The light is switched off, only leaving the bed light on as an extra comfort for the kid. The duvet moves above me and the breathing of the kid is still constant but slowly becomes deeper and slower. The kid's falling asleep. Now is the time to shine. I just want to move when I hear the creaking of the closet door. A gasp sounds above me as the breathing quickly starts to sound panicked. The duvet above me moves and is probably pulled up to the kid's chin.

I narrow my eyes at the ones I see peeking out of the darkness that the closet still offers him. He's going in before I can even make a move. He's going to scare this kid. Dammit. I softly scratch my nails on the wooden floor, trying to catch the attention of the kid and moving it away from the closet. I tick one nail after the other on the floor, slowly moving my way up to the part where the kid's head is located above me. He will not win. A low growl sounds from the small opening of the closet and a quiet squeal comes from under the duvet. I push my leg out and softly kick against the leg of the bed, making the bed shake a little. It's now or never.

I just want to move from under the bed when the closet door is pushed open and the dark blue fur of my competitor shows as he moves towards the bed with a loud growl, his teeth showing, his arms lifted above his head and his nails out. The kid screams out. 'Mummy! Daddy!'

A groan leaves my lips. He got it. I push the white circle on my wrist and wait until I'm transported back to the Home Base. A second later he appears in front of me while I'm pushing myself off the ground. His shoulders back, his chest pushed out, a broad smirk that shows his pointy teeth and an arrogant look on his face. His horns reflect the light from above us, but are partly hidden by his fluffy ears. His bodysuit stops at his hips, where mine goes up to my shoulders. The guys often choose for the "bare chest" look instead of the full bodysuit. I don't know why, the bodysuits are quite comfortable in my opinion. It's probably for showing off purposes.
'You can't always win, Eevy.' he grins as he looks down at me with his three eyes.
'You're an arse.' I hiss, patting the dust from my lilac legs.
'It's okay, love. Next time you'll get it.' Mattie mocks, softly patting my shoulder.
I slap his hand away from me and hiss 'Oh screw you.' as I step away from him.
'You secretly like to have me around.'
'Oh I sure don't.' I huff, narrowing my eyes at him. 'Just leave me alone.' I tell him as I turn away from him and walk down the hall towards the board with the Scare Cases that are still to be handled this night. Next to this board are the Pending Scare Cases, where the kid, where we just were, is checked off and Mr. Arrogant's name shows up under "Scared by". Next to that board is the "Handled Scare Cases" board, that shows the ones handled in the past 24 hours. And lastly, all the way on the right, is the ranking off all the active monsters at the moment. I've been working hard to get my name into the top 10 and I had finally managed to get there, until tonight. Thanks to the victory of Mattie, my points don't rise and someone else takes my tenth place, kicking me back to eleventh. All those nights of hard work and he ruins it in one night.
'Hey Eevy.'
I turn around and put on a smile. 'Hey Scott.' I wave as he passes by, probably on his way to his next case. 'What happened to your head?' I ask when I notice a bump that was not there yesterday.
He turns around and slows his step down as he walks backwards while he talks to me. 'Oh the case of last night was a fighter and threw a plastic car at my head.' he tells me.
'Damn, that sucks.' I say.
He nods with a grin. 'It makes me look tough though.'
'It sure does.' I nod.
'Gotta go now, I'm a bit in a hurry. I'll see you later!' he laughs, turning back around.
'Alright good luck!' I call after him, turning back to the boards in front of me.
An arm is slung over my shoulders. 'Oh boy, look at that, eleventh place.' Mattie says, hanging on me. My mood immediately drops when I hear his voice next to me. I lift his arm off my shoulders and step away from him. He loses his balance for a moment, but manages to catch himself in time by moving his feet. 'Thanks to you.' I state.
'You'll get back up there soon enough.' he shrugs.
'It might not mean anything to you, but it does to me. Just go and live your own life and stop messing mine up.' I tell him as I step away without giving him a second glance.