Monsters on the Corner (BXB)

Ch. 16

"Then, I chose the one where you'll still be here not as a dog," I said.

Max said quickly,"Wolf, sorry just real particular about that."

"He'll be unconscious for awhile maybe a few hours, so before we do this you have anything you want to say?"

"See you in a few hours, bud," I put my head on his forehead.

He grabbed my arm and pulled me in, he whispered,"Bud? Got a better pickup line than that?" and kissed me.

"Ok, I'm ready," he said looking at Sabrina.

She nodded and began to put her hands closer to his face and finally said, "Ok," before she plunged her hands onto his forehead. Her thumbs wrapped around his temples and her fingers placed all down his face. I was scared for him, his skin turned white and the color of his eyes changed from a brown hazel to a tainted yellow, his clenched fist dangled by his sides, lifeless.

They stayed like that for what felt like minutes but Sabrina quickly snapped out of it, and Max was left on the floor kneeling. I ran to his side where he fell into my arms and I looked into his eyes before he drifted again.

"Is he alright?" My words panicky and my stomach nauseous," Sabrina, tell me!"

"Yeah, yeah he's fine I've been doing these for decades I know he's fine," she said weakly with her palm to her forehead,"just put him on the couch for me."

I tried to lift him onto my shoulder but to no avail. Sabrina snapped her fingers and a wheelchair came from nowhere and slide into him. He rested comfortably, fitting the chair like a throne.

I mumbled,"Thanks," as I rolled him over to the couch. I first put his feet on the red microfiber sofa then I slowly lifted his upper body, careful not to drop him or let him awake, and set him on his crimson resting place. I walked over to Sabrina after the task was finished and put my hand on her shoulder, I asked,"Are you ok?"

She just chuckled before she looked up and said,"Seeing what he went through was tuff."

"Don't start ignoring my questions now."

"I won't but what happened was dark," she shudder at the remembrance," but it involved you so I think you have a right to know."

"Actually, don't tell me. It would feel like a secret to me or that I'm just hiding something."

"Of course you had to be mister nice guy, but let me just say he does care about you if what he felt was true."

"Thanks," I put my hand near her's seeing if she needed a hand. She accepted it and weakly walked towards the door.

She turned the knob and said before she left,"You coming or staying awkwardly inside with your unconscious boyfriend?"I walked out and followed her around the small cabin to see a white picket fence around some plants and other herbal items. I knew what every single one was. "Now I don't care if you stay out here, I'll even show you some things but you can't get in my way I have to focus to make sure to get the right part of a root or anything more finer."

"I promise I won't get in the way," I said as I glanced towards a short steamed flower with its long vertical petals," Is that a Gladiolus Iridaceae?"

She paused and looked at me confused, she said,"Yeah, how did you know that?"

"At my parents, we had this huge green house where we'd grow all sorts of plants," I squatted down next to some Golden Marigolds," and when you have a huge book collection you tend to read just about everything, including the botany books."

"So what are you some closet hippie?"

"No, I prefer scholar," I plucked the flower off the stem and said," but I'm not saying that I don't use herbal remedies...or the occasional blunt."

"Jez kid you're definitely odd."

I laughed and said coyly," Said the three-hundred old witch."

She smiled and said," Touchee." We sat there for what felt like several minutes but was only seconds. I was too awkward to speak she filled the silence with a melodic humming and I watched as her bandana swayed in the breeze. Her brow glistened with sweat, this would be exactly the girl I'd ask out if I wasn't dating the hunk asleep on the couch. She finally said something to ease the tension," I'm a little hot, time to see if this works." She pulled out the white ball and dropped it at her feet and immediately stepped on it. A white glow came from her shoe and spread around us encompassing the whole lot. The aura of the area became cool almost cold but even as the sun shined on my face I only felt a small sting from my sunburnt nose. I could still hear the birds chirping closer to us but as they flew closer to our location they bounced off the feild. "I say so," she said calmly.

"I want to ask one thing."

"And that is?"

"You said that thing can control the environment around you. So can you make it to where I know when Max is waking up?"

"Yeah but it would be easier to do this," she put her hands together forming two L's and pulled outward and pushed forward. The movement seemed odd but what looked like a window appeared and I could see Max.

I chuckled and said,"Yeah that's pretty cool."

We chatted awhile, joked around and I was having a good time, she even told me about Max and some stories when he was young. He seemed like a cute kid but was always too set on his vengeance on what killed his family, killed his spirit, changed him. She thought he had grown out of it but with what she saw in him, she wasn't sure anymore. She descirbed him as what he was, a beast. Ever since she'd known him that's all he was to her, another werewolf, except this one she had to clean up the mess. She took him in because she was worried that if he'd transform with as much hatred he had for the beast that he'd kill everything in its path, but this detest soon turned into a patronage and she loved having him around.

But she quickly got off this topic. She soon turned to a newer idea, she asked if I wanted to learn a little magic. She knew I knew my alchemic ingredients well enough to skip part of my training, the only thing she was worried about was the fur ball in the house. I heard some rustling and knew he wasn't awake only moving around in his sleep as he did so many times before. His movements only made me worry until he hit the floor.

I stood up and said,"I'll get him." I walked into the quiet house and looked around, amazed by this being Max's childhood home and than some. I sat down by Max, noticing that his forehead glistened with a different sweat than that of hard labor. I moved him to where my back was on the sofa and his head on my crossed legs. I ran my fingers down his hair and looked at him and his tired complication. I kissed his forehead and my lips tasted of salt. We stayed that way until I moved him to grab my phone from my pocket to turn on some music.