Harm and Harmony

-Chapter 35-

Day: 21

Days Left: 5459

Lives Saved: 0

The creature stood by the door of the wooden house. It could hear the young woman talking from inside.

In its current form, the creature resembled a man or at the very least the shape and outline of a crude and childish sculpture of one. Its body was made of an earthy grey substance that was soft and smooth to the touch yet stiff and sturdy when in large quantities.

It looked down at the slither of light that escaped through the gap underneath the door- perfect entrance.

With its body made of moldable material, the creature could easily manipulate itself into any shape it wanted. Beginning at its feet, it flattened them into a pool of clay, then its body squashed and spilt onto the porch too. Though it was slower than knocking down the door, the creature would catch them off guard. It would take some time before it could fit underneath the door, but the creature knew it would be worth it.

*

Whilst Harmony was storing her haul of objects from the Land of the Lost and the wisp down in the basement, Corinna began sorting out dinner. She filled the kettle with water from the tap then waited for it to boil. Her mind flickered from topic to topic in hopes of keeping a particular one out of her focus. Eventually, it did as her thoughts were consumed by her family, recalling memories written in her notebook. She flicked through the pages, reading them and then trying to place it inside her head. The majority of them she could easily do so, almost a perfect reenactment of images and sounds in her mind. But there were a few which she barely remembered even writing it down. Fortunately, these were memories that were of little value or consequence, of relatives that, though she had lived with for her entire life, she had barely any interactions with. That was to be expected with living with such an enormous family, despite Corinna's best efforts to be on good terms with everyone.

Though she did deem these memories as small and insignificant compared to others, the realisation that she was starting to lose her memories was-

The kettle clicked, indicating that it had finished boiling as steam fumed out of its spout. Corinna poured the water into the pan, then adjusted the heat. She rose on her tiptoes to reach the silver food packets in the cupboard, accidentally taking three but then decided that Harmony should have another serving as she was supposed to eat a lot more than she usually does.

"The girl needs to eat," said Corinna to herself, then felt a smile on her face. It was weird to call the chimaera that. It made Corinna try to imagine what Harmony looked like, really looked like. What was her human form? What was underneath the mask...

So caught up in her imagination, Corinna did not notice the chimaera climbing out of the basement.

Harmony leaned against the kitchen unit next to Corinna, staring into the pan, wondering why there were three food packets instead of two.

Finally noticing the chimaera, Corinna gasped, almost knocking over the pan onto the floor. The pan jolted, splashing boiling water on her hand. Harmony pulled Corinna over to the sink, forcing her hand underneath the tap and turned on the cold water. After checking the young woman's hand for any developing burn marks, Harmony's bright green eyes looked up at Corinna, warm with reassurance.

Corinna did not respond.

To her disappointment, Harmony let go of her hand and continued boiling the food packets in the water-filled pan. The young woman peered over her shoulder and watched the chimaera concentrating on cooking, Corinna was indifferent to the cold water causing her hand to go numb and shiver. When Harmony eventually looked back at her, attempting to smile by showing her sharp canines, Corinna turned off the tap.

"I'm okay now, thank you," said Corinna. "I'll finish cooking."

The chimaera growled at her as she attempted to take back the pan. With Harmony's jackal and monstrous face, Corinna could not determine from her expressions if she was angry or being playful. But those green eyes soon lit up, and a three-fingered hand patted her on the head.

With her talons, Harmony picked out a food packet from the pan, then looked at Corinna, questioning.

"You need to eat more," answered Corinna.

The chimaera rolled its eyes and flung the food packet onto the kitchen unit. Corinna put it back in.

"You need to eat more, Harm." She glared at the chimaera, stopping her from taking it out again. "It'd just be a waste if you take it out now. It's already partially cooked. Anyway, I've counted how many we've got left. We have plenty for the rest of the week. The food drop-off is in two days, and if we have to fight over it, then you need to regain your strength and eat."

Harmony's head drooped, then she gave a begrudging grunt of agreement.

After taking out two bowls and two forks from the cupboard, Corinna made her way to the bookshelf near the fireplace, which stored the boardgames.

"Now what do you want to play-"

Corinna heard something fall to the ground.

"Harm?"

Harmony was sprawled across the floor. Something clasped around her legs and slowly crawling up the rest of her body.