The Ugly Love of Monster Girls

Chapter 12: A mistake

The walk home was quiet, save for the rustling of the shopping bags in my hands. 

The bags in my hands felt heavier with every step, but it wasn’t the weight of the things inside them that dragged me down, it was everything else.

Today had stretched on endlessly, yet somehow, it had also slipped through my fingers too fast before I could make sense of it.

And now, walking home, I could feel the silence pressing in. Not the peaceful kind, but the kind that squeezed around my ribs, that left me trapped in my own thoughts with nowhere to run.

I glanced at Nora.

She walked ahead, bags in hand, her steps light. There was an ease to her movements, like she belonged here. Like she had carved out a space in this world, reshaped herself to fit inside it.

I barely recognized her sometimes.

The way she laughed with strangers, the way she carried herself… She wasn’t the girl who used to clutch my sleeve, who used to snap back at strangers, who used to need me.

And yet, when she was with me, she was still that same Nora.

The same girl who leaned into me, touched me too much, the one who had just crawled her tongue across my throat.

I swallowed hard, the memory of it creeping up my spine, cold and hot all at once.

It wasn’t the first time she had done things like that. It had been gradual, easy to brush off before, easy to pretend it didn’t mean anything. But today…

Today, she crossed a line.

And I let her.

That was what scared me the most.

Not what she did. Not the way she acted.

But the fact that I hesitated.

The fact that, deep down, in the places I didn’t want to look, I wasn’t sure if I even wanted to stop her.

My grip tightened on the bags, my knuckles turning white.

A year apart, and she had changed. Or maybe I was the one who had fallen out of sync.

It was so different from the girl who used to cling to me like I was the only solid thing in her world.

And yet… she still was the only solid thing in mine.

Was I even needed in her life anymore?

I could still feel the ghost of her touch. The warmth of her breath against my skin.

I should reject her. Push her away. Make it clear that whatever this is, whatever line she thinks she can cross, it has to stop.

But could I?

Could I live without her?

Would she even stay if I did that?

Did I even deserve her?

The questions piled up, each one heavier than the last, pressing down on my chest until I could barely breathe. My mind was a mess of tangled knots, of things I couldn’t untangle, of feelings I couldn’t… shouldn’t have…

My eyes darted,

I barely had time to brace myself before the next words hit.

“You know what? Let’s talk about how you ruined her life too,” Dorian sneered, his voice sharp enough to slice through bone.

Cassandra’s grip tightened around her arm, but she didn’t speak.

“She couldn’t even go to school because of him,” he spat, his words dripping with scorn. “A normal girl, with a normal future, and yet, she had to stay locked up in this house because you wouldn’t let that thing go outside.” 

He laughed bitterly. “And why? Because you were scared? Because you thought the world wouldn’t understand?” His glare snapped to her, full of mockery. “Tell me again why you had to keep him hidden away like some kind of dirty little secret.”

Cassandra’s fingers dug into her arms, her nails pressing crescent-shaped marks into her skin. “I didn’t keep him hidden because I wanted to,” she said, her voice tight. “I kept him safe because he wouldn’t fit in. You know what they would do to him if they found out-”

“Oh, cut the bullshit,” Dorian snapped. “That’s the excuse you’ve been feeding yourself for years, isn’t it?” He gestured wildly, nearly knocking over an empty bottle on the table. “That he’s ‘too different.’ That the world wouldn’t accept him. But you know what? The world never even got the chance.”

Cassandra shook her head. “I was protecting him.”

“You were protecting your own delusions!” Dorian snapped. “He’s not some extinct ‘human.’ He’s not some precious miracle. He’s a freak, Cassandra. A freak that you let sink his claws into our daughter, too.”

The air around me felt suffocating. My stomach twisted, my fingers trembling at my sides.

“And you know what?” he scoffed. “Even now, you’re still clinging to that ridiculous fantasy. Acting like he’s some chosen relic from a dead species.” He let out a dry, humorless laugh. “That quack doctor you worship so much has been feeding you lies for years, and you lapped it up like an idiot. He’s not human. He’s not special. He’s just-”

His voice dropped lower, seething with resentment.

“He’s just a mistake.”

Cassandra took a step forward. “Don’t talk about him like-!”

He cut her off. “That doctor is a liar,” Dorian barked. “And you’re a fool.”

Something ugly swelled in my chest, something bitter and burning.

“Hell, I don’t even know why I’m pretending anymore,” he muttered, voice dropping lower. “I doubt that thing even considers what we’ve sacrificed for him.”

I sucked in a sharp breath, but it felt like my lungs wouldn’t work.

Cassandra recoiled, but Dorian only leaned in.

“He’s a parasite,” he murmured, thick with disdain. “A damn leech that’s been sucking this family dry. And you let it happen.”

A parasite.

The floor beneath me felt like it wasn’t there anymore.

“And Nora?” He let out a bitter laugh. “She’s obsessed with him. And that’s on you, too.”

Nora’s grip on me twitched, but I couldn’t turn to her.

“You let that thing ruin her life,” Dorian spat. “And now, look at what’s left.”

I wanted to move. I wanted to breathe. I wanted to turn away before the words could carve themselves any deeper.

But it was too late.

They already had.