The Beasts That Make Us

There Had Been A Death

    In the center of Galena there is a three-tiered, cerulean blue fountain. The water was overflowing with wild chrysanthemums, floating peacefully. There was a crowd of Forest Dwellers circling the fountain, heads bowed.
    There had been a death.
    She had been found in the same state as the others; bloody and half-eaten. Her name was Dawn and she had been picking flowers for her grandmother's birthday three days ago. She must have strayed too far from the path.
    Clementine and Sera stood huddled amongst the rest of the village people. Tears silently ran down Clementine's cheeks and Sera's eyebrows were drawn together, making her forehead ache. Again, thought Sera. This is the second time this month. She just couldn't understand why this was happening. Everyone wants to pretend these are just accidents, but this is not a coincidence.
    Glenn came up behind them and put a hand on Sera's shoulder.
    "Abilene wants to know if you're doing okay," he whispered.
    Abilene was his wife, and she was always asking after Sera.
    "Yes," she replied. "I didn't even really know her."
    She did, though. Dawn was the only person who wouldn't stare at her in school or edge farther away from her when she sat down near her. They hadn't talked in almost a year.
    "Alright," Glenn sighed, "She's inviting you to dinner."
    Sera really didn't feel like sitting at their dining room table and feeling Abilene staring at her with those sad eyes. She also didn't feel like entertaining their twins daughters while she and Glenn talked quietly about her in the other room.
    "Fine," Sera whispered back to him. Might as well, she thought.

•••

    As Sera and Clementine walked the cobblestone sidewalks, she felt the eyes of everyone she passed on her freckles. It was nothing new. People stared at her all the time. Sometimes they whispered things like, "overripe...like a rotten fruit," or "I bet she even smells spoiled."
No matter how used to it she thought she had gotten, Sera could still feel her cheeks burn when they said things like that. It wasn't her fault she was born too late.
    Sera was the only one with spots like hers. It was not at all common or something you wished for as a Forest Dweller. Being born with freckles came with being born too late in the year. Forest Dwellers were only supposed to have children in early to mid-spring. Sera was born in late May. No one knew or acknowledged her actual birthday because it wasn't considered worth acknowledging.
    People also glared at and shunned her mother, but Clementine was always in too much of a sad, drunken stupor to notice anymore.
    As they walked, Sera picked flowers she found along the cracks in the sidewalk and braided them into crowns for her nieces. They loved when she brought the delicately weaved flowers for them, and Sera secretly loved the glow in their eyes when she placed them on their small heads.
The roads of Galena were always littered with wild flowers and bushes, which was useful for making those quick dandelion crowns. The roads were also lined with small stone cottages and shops covered in vines and overgrowth.
    It wasn't that no one cared to trim back the foliage, they just liked it better that way. It made them feel closer to the nature they nestled their little civilization in. Although, it was hard to forget the forest they all had come from long ago with the tall fir and spruce trees towering over them and protecting them from onlookers.
    Sera parted ways with Clementine on a forked road where she went towards Glenn and Abilene's house and Clementine went towards the pub. Typical, Sera thought.
    Soleil and Elene were happy to find that their aunt had brought them new flower crowns to use in their fairy games where they pretended to fly around the garden with Everest in the front yard of their house. Sera was amused at how excited they were for such little things. She hadn't felt that way about much of anything lately.
    "You came!" Abilene said cheerily, crushing Sera in a hug.
    Her perfectly coifed curls were adorned with flowers that tickled Sera's nose. Glenn was behind her, leaning against the front doorway.
    "Yes, well I couldn't very well leave the fairies without their crowns now could I?" Sera said halfheartedly.
    Abilene smiled softly and the twins giggled.

•••

    Dinner was quiet. There wasn't much to be said. No one wanted to talk about Dawn and the others but they couldn't think of anything else to talk about. Abilene still fixed her sympathetic eyes on Sera, though. Sera shifted uncomfortably in her seat as she fed Everest scraps underneath the table. Her eyes glanced at the clock on the wall every few minutes.
    When they were finally done eating after twenty painfully long minutes, Glenn and Abilene cleared the table. Sera offered to help but Abilene quickly hushed her.
    "Don't be silly," she said.
    The girls scurried out the front door and back into the garden with the little green dragon as Sera excused herself to the restroom, but actually had stayed in the hallway to listen to her brother and his wife talk over the dishes in the kitchen sink.
    "Do you think she's really alright?" Abilene asked.
    "I have no idea anymore," Glenn replied.
    "I just worry."
    "Sera's tough, she knows how to handle herself in the forest."
    "What about yesterday then?"
    "That was different."
    "She could get hurt Glenn, like your father and the others! Dawn was about the same age as her and look what-"
    "I know that Ab's, really."
    Glenn sounded tired. He was only twenty-five years old and he already sounded like he had been to hell and back.
    "I just don't know what to do," he sighed.
    "Tell her the truth."
    Sera's heart skipped a beat. The truth about what? she thought.
    "I can't," he said, "Not yet. Besides, what good will it do?"
    She couldn't take it anymore and stepped into the kitchen light.
    "The truth about what Glenn?" Sera asked, startling the couple.
    "Oh Sera.." Abilene said somberly.
    "The truth about what?!" Sera asked again, more forcefully.
    Glenn stepped towards her, reaching but not touching.
    "I meant to tell you, I really did. I wanted to wait until you were ready. I definitely didn't think today was the day-"
    "Just tell me what you're talking about!" she shouted, stepping backwards.
    Glenn stopped. He closed his eyes and gathered himself, digging for the right words.
    "Our father...before he died he was looking for something."
    "What was he looking for?"
    "A beast. He had discovered myths about a massive killer-dragon. He became obsessed with finding it. He was always looking, searching for something, anything that would lead him to it. He called it the Black Dragon."
    Sera's heart raced, threatening to burst out of her chest. She could feel the anger bubbling up inside her throat.
    "Is this why he left and got himself killed before I was even born?!" Sera cried, "to chase after some stupid monster that probably doesn't even exist?!"
    Glenn stepped towards her again, this time grabbing her shoulders. Deep panic was etched into his face.
    "That's the thing Sera, we think it does exist. He didn't just die, we think that creature is what finally killed him. He was found with the same teeth markings as the others, nothing else could have made them like that."
    Sera's anger ebbed and the realization sank in.
    "Those people. Dawn..."
    "It's real, and I don't think it's going to stop until it has everyone."