A Helping Hand

Prologue

I used to believe that people were good. That everyone was capable of being a decent person if just given the benefit of the doubt and the needed support. The day the monsters came to the surface changed that. 

It was five years ago. All around the world, flashbulb memories were being created as the news spread and finally reached major media sites. Most people will likely tell you that at first, they thought it was a big joke. They were at home, seeing it on TV. Or in the car on their way to work, hearing it on the radio. Or in bed, scrolling through social media and stumbling across a post about the discovery of an entirely new species. I happened to be the second, and I admit, I also thought it was just a prank in the beginning. 

I lived in Ebott City at the time. I was on my way to work at the city’s hospital, where I was a registered nurse. I was young, only about 25 at the time. I had worked hard in my life to be an RN, and the pay was certainly worth it. It had always been my dream to help people, but I felt like whatever I did was never enough. I suppose the monsters gave me my chance to change that. 

The announcement came on at 7:32am, just as I was pulling out of my apartment’s parking lot. “We’ve just received news that a new race, known as ‘monsters’, have just emerged from underneath Mount Ebott. It is unknown yet as to whether or not they are peaceful, but the military assures that it has the site as well as the creatures on lockdown. We will update you all as soon as we hear more.” I just shook my head and changed the station, but it was a shock to hear it replayed and repeated on every available news station. It only sunk in that this was really happening as I reached work. The entire day was a frenzy, people going crazy and reacting to the news with a mix of hopeful optimism, excited interest, deep fear, and hateful anger. I was part of the former. 

The monsters, led by a child, to my surprise, were deemed ‘not a threat’ by the government four weeks later and set free into the world. Almost immediately, riots broke out. Humans never dealt well with people different from them, and the monsters were so different it was almost comical. I saw patients in the hospital with injuries that shouldn’t have been possible. Intense burns from lava of all things, people impaled or shot by things that disappeared and didn’t leave a trace of evidence other than the gorey wound, people who claimed they’d been attacked by frogs and fish and horse creatures, some covered in dust with no visible wounds, but a nasty mental shock. And always, without fail, claimed they only fought back in self-defense. Years of dealing with killers and gang members and druggies taught me pretty well how to judge the truth from a lie, and I knew in my heart that what happened was not self-defense (for the humans, at least). In all that time, however, I never once saw or even heard news of a monster patient. The hospitals either weren’t taking them in, or… at the time, I didn’t even want to think of what else could be happening to them. 

My only interactions with monsters were outside of work. I’d pass them in the street, or in the store. I’d always offer a smile or a friendly wave, and it would always be met with a look of surprise or disbelief, then very happily returned. They seemed like such kind creatures, I just couldn’t bring myself to believe the rumors and firsthand accounts of violence and evil I would hear during my shifts at the hospital. If anything, the monsters seemed to be the victims. 

As the years went by, despite attempts from the human ambassador to create peace between races, monsters were slowly yet steadily treated worse and worse. Negative rumors only spread, and by the time their king was killed, they were angry enough to really fight back. The hospitals quickly filled, still with only human patients. The military got involved, and laws were put into effect that any human sympathising or protecting monsters would be imprisoned immediately. 

After only about a month of fighting and riots, the monsters went quiet. Some assumed they were all killed, some assumed they went into hiding. I hoped they were safe somewhere, but of course kept that to myself. There was no way they could have returned to the mountain, what with the military guarding the only entrance and shooting anyone who came near, be they human or monster. 

Throughout this, and despite intense guilt and a screaming conscious telling me to “do something!”, I kept to myself. I went to work, I shopped for groceries, and I stayed home. I went about my normal routine as if death and violence wasn’t rampant in the streets. But some part of me knew something was coming. I almost impulsively saved as much money as I could from every paycheck, and stockpiled what goods I could. 

It finally came in handy the day I found a monster outside of my apartment. 

It had been raining almost nonstop for the past few days, and the temperature was starting to drop. I had been coming home late at night from a double shift at the hospital when I heard something rustling around the back alley of my apartment. Glancing around the corner, I saw a figure hunched over a garbage can, digging around inside. Homeless people weren’t rare in Ebott City, and it wouldn’t have been my first encounter with someone on the street who just needed a little kindness. Despite aching feet and a deep exhaustion, I rushed up to my apartment and gathered a few non-perishables to bring down and prayed that whoever it was was still there. Slowly walking into the alley, I called out with a gentle hello. After no response, I ventured further. 

“Hello?” I called again. “I saw you here a few minutes ago. I just wanted to give you some food, if that’s alright?” A male voice directly to my left made me freeze.

“Please don’t hurt me. I really need that food.” 

What I saw when I turned to face him filled me with shock, guilt, and an embarrassing sense of excitement. Hidden in the shadows behind a pile of old cardboard boxes was a bipedal blue rabbit, taller than me, especially with his long ears that drooped in the rain, but shivering uncontrollably and clutching his right arm as if it was in pain. 

“Oh!” I exclaimed, at a loss for words. Monsters hadn’t been seen around Ebott for months. After an uncomfortable few seconds of staring, I slowly set down the bag of goods I had prepared and nudged it toward him. Not knowing what else to say, I asked, “Are you hurt?” He seemed hesitant to respond, afraid, yet I could see the desperation in his eyes. “I promise, I’m not going to turn you in. I only want to help.” To prove my point, I slowly took off my jacket and tossed it to him. “It’s too cold out, and you need it much more than me.” 

“You could be imprisoned for this. Or killed,” was all he said. His nose twitched nervously. He didn’t put the jacket on, but I could see him eyeing the food. 

“I know.” 

“....Yeah,” he eventually muttered. “My arm, I think it’s broken.” A stab of pity tore through my heart, and I knew in that moment that I had to help. There was no going back. 

“I’m a nurse. I have medical supplies in my apartment, I can help you if you’d like.” At the time, I didn’t really have a plan. All I knew was that this person needed medical attention and I could provide. 

“How do I know you’re not going to dust me?” 

“What? I don’t… I don’t know what that means. But I have no intention to hurt you, if that’s what you’re asking. You- I know you have no way to know if I’m trustworthy or not, but I’m giving you my word. I just want to help.” 

He sighed and seemed to think it over, before nodding once. “Alright.” 

And that’s how it started. A new, dangerous, wonderful chapter of my life. All because a blue rabbit monster happened to need help, and I happened to be the one to find him. 

[I have not proofread this and I do not claim to be a good writer. I am quarantined and I am bored lol. I'll try to get a chapter out every week. Please please please comment, I thrive on those.]