ME & THE MONSTER

thief

Behind the counter of a prestigious jewellery shop on Bond Street, a woman was apologising for something she had never done.

She had blonde highlights and a plastic name tag on her breast that read: Jessica.

"Yes, sir. Of course, we take responsibility for the mistake," she said.

She felt her lips moving, but she didn't really process the words that left her mouth. She only knew that the young man standing in front of her had the brightest smile she'd seen in her life. She blinked. She was feeling oddly light-headed.

"I don't understand how this can have happened, sir," she said. "Please feel free to choose from any of these items, as compensation."

"Excellent," Kal, the angel, the singer, the kleptomaniac, said. "Thank you very much."

He swept off a couple of gleaming watches from the cabinets set against the wall, hesitated for a moment, and pocketed a slim gold chain on which a teardrop hung. Placidly, the woman named Jessica watched him.

"Is there anything more you'll be wanting, sir?"

"No, that'll be all. Well, you've been wonderfully understanding. Thank you again for your trouble," Kal said.

He winked at the uniformed security guard standing by the door. The man touched his cap to him.

"Nice lad, that," the guard said, when he'd walked out of the door. "Such good manners."

*

There was a child curled up in the doorway.

Kal spotted her the moment he walked around the corner of Euston Road and the block of flats where Eden lived came into view. The child had straggling fair hair, so pale it was almost white. She was hunched up on the floor, back to the door, knees drawn up to her chest. 

She looked up at him.

"Mama? Where's my mama?" the little girl in the dirty white nightdress whispered. "I want my mama."

Kal went down into a crouch.

"Hey," he whispered back. "What're you doing here? Are you okay?"

Maybe it was because the sight of her, blonde and lost, raked up painful memories. Maybe it was because the morning task at the jewellery shop had left him drained and bound to distraction. It always took its toll, stealing.

Whatever it was, when Kal realised what was going on it was too late.

*

The lift was out of order, so Kal stomped up the three flights to Eden's flat. He didn't mind, actually: it was a good way to vent. He kicked a cardboard pizza box out of his way. He stalked to Eden's door, where a blue sign that proclaimed WELCOME-ISH, DEPENDING ON WHO YOU ARE AND HOW LONG YOU STAY FOR hung lopsidedly.

He smiled despite himself. That was just so typical of Eden.

Kal rang the bell, again and again.

The click of a bolt unlatching.

"I wonder if you've ever heard," Eden greeted from the threshold, "that patience is a virtue, Kal."

He pushed past her and into the neat hall of her flat. It smelled of citric air freshener.

"Not really. Can't have been listening."

"My thoughts exactly," said Eden. With a raised eyebrow, she watched him hang his coat on the rack on the wall. "Are you going to tell me what's the matter with you?"

"There was a demon downstairs," Kal said, in a strained voice.

Eden's eyebrows rose higher into her forehead. "Sorry?"