If there is a hell, I imagine it's a lot like Mondays. Every week, without respite, this torture visits me and everyone on this bus. The man standing next to me smells like rotten bananas. The woman in front of me is liberating some new form of life from her left nostril, and a child nearly puked on my shoes on the walk here.
I might be in a sour mood, but this Monday has been kind and given my unfortunate curiosity something to focus on other than the delightful sights and sounds of a crowded bus.
Further toward the back of the bus, a tall manticore was standing up, wings pulled in and trying her very best to look unremarkable, except for one thing: she was wearing a bulky trenchcoat in the middle of summer.
I know it's rude to stare, and I've certainly seen stranger things in the city, but... why? She had plenty of mane puffing up around her collar, and her arms seemed covered as well, so she couldn't've been cold. She kept her fiery orange hair tight in a bun behind her head with two loose slivers hanging off her shoulders. A near-glowing red swallowed up her paws and grew darker near her elbows, but large orange spots begin to take over until reaching her tufts of that same orange. Though a bit taller than me, I couldn't find anything physically remarkable about her... except her hair. A redhead. My weakness. God, why did she have to be a redhead?
What confounded me the most to the point of frustration was that no one else was so much as glimpsing at her. Like they were all in on some knowledge lost on me. Surely trenchcoats hadn't become some fashion statement I'd completely missed out on.
So distracted was I that I'd failed to notice at some point the manticore had started staring back at me. We met eyes and hers sent me a silent scoff before she turned around, showing me her back this time.
What was with that look? It wasn't like I was the weirdo here.
The bus hissed and shook as if trying to shake off its passengers. My stop. I shot the manticore one last glance before stepping off the bus and starting on my way to work.
"Why were you staring at me?"
I spun around and saw the weirdo had gotten off with me.
"You look weird."
Ok, that did not come out right at all.
"'I look weird'? How about you keep that crap to yourself?"
"You're wearing a trenchcoat when it's eighty degrees out."
She stepped closer to me. "And you're wearing a haircut suited for someone half your age."
Since when did buzzcuts go out of style? "My hair is perfectly fine! You're the strange one here."
"No, I'm not."
"Yes, you are."
"Whatever!" she huffed, stepping into my personal space. "Leave me alone on the bus, hear me?"
"I didn't even do anything!"
"You were ogling me, don't trying to deny it!"
"I was staring, not ogling, at it was at your coat, not you."
"Hey." She seized the scruff of my shirt. "Back off."
"Geez, fine."
Fluttering her wings, she turned around and stomped off. What a short fuse. I could only hope she didn't make a routine of taking the same bus.
I looked down at my watch and groaned. The only thing worse than Monday was being late on a Monday. I'd have to jog to work to make it on time. I curled my upper lip at the manticore and left, feeling sorry for whoever ran into her next.
**
She was there again.
I made a point of facing my entire body in the opposite direction. I don't know why she chose to sit directly across from me, but hell if I was going to say something. I scooted away, but I didn't want to move too far. Didn't want her thinking I was avoiding her on purpose, that would probably prompt another hissy fit.
Maybe it was just my imagination, but I got the feeling everyone else wanted to be as far away from her as possible. The lady next to me kept glancing back at the manticore, the man sitting against the wall to my side kept fidgeting in his seat, and if my nose wasn't mistaken, that manticore hadn't cleaned her trenchcoat in a while, but I knew better than to comment.
Staring at the window was much more appealing than caring about that manticore.
But why the trenchcoat? Surely she could've answered that at least. I grit my teeth. No, Kevin, it wasn't worth it. Stop thinking about it. She'll just freak out on you again. Tomorrow she might not even be on this bus. Two days in a row wasn't habit, could've been an appointment, or family. All you have to do is ignore her.
So I did.
**
A week later, I was forced to confront the reality that she wasn't going away.
Every day, that stupid trenchcoat. Those shifty looks around the bus like people were out to get her. The way her mane bulged out of her coat like she was puffing herself up. Her fiery hair tied up neat in the back except for those two streaks she let down her shoulders. Those sharp crimson eyes drinking in everything they touched. My nose told me she'd cleaned her coat a couple days ago at least.
Who knew why she didn't fly to wherever she wanted to go. Those wings seemed healthy enough. And that coat definitely wasn't for warmth, I'd seen her sweating in it.
Perhaps she was troubled. Mentally unstable. That would explain why she was so eager to nag me. Yes, nagging, that's what it was. It's not my fault I stared at her, it was simple curiosity! She had no right to get mad over such a simple thing.
My body jerked to the side as the bus came to a stop and the hiss of hydraulics opened up the door. My stop. As the bus hissed and the doors closed, my heart began to beat loud enough for me to hear it. I swallowed a lump in my throat and stepped off, waiting for the sounds of footsteps behind me, busying myself with my watch
And when the footsteps began to fade, I turned around and followed.
I don't know why I did it, exactly. Just one moment I was standing still and the next I was walking the wrong direction with that manticore in my sights. Shoving my hands in my pockets, I kept one eye on her and the other on my surroundings. Now that I thought about it, I'd never walked down this way, even though it was right here.
There were all sorts of food joints, niche clothing outlets, even a few bookstores. Not too many people walking about, but enough that I brushed shoulders occasionally. Instead of the reeking garbage like near my workplace, the place smelled like food. The medley of restaurants gave birth to some sort of weird Italian dish mixed with Thai or something. A cozy, subdued part of the city.
The manticore turned off into an alley between two buildings. Huh. Maybe she was going around the back of a building or taking a shortcut. I approached the alley cautiously, as to avoid her eyesight in case she'd stopped for some reason, but when I got there, it turned out she was continuing on as normal.
As I got further into the alley, I could hear the slaps of wet paws in puddles. I looked up and saw there was some rain runoff from the roofs puddled down here. The view was pretty cool actually. I'd never looked up in an alley before. If you pictured it, you could see the sky as the road and the buildings being upside-down and you were the one walking on the sky. Now that would be—
Shattering any sense of pride I might have had, I yelped like a little girl once more when a paw lashed out, seized my chest, and yanked me to the side of the alley behind some dumpsters. I grunted as I hit the brick wall and scrambled to keep from losing my balance. Standing before me, arms crossed, was the very monster I'd been tracking.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
I brushed myself off and stood up straight. "I was walking."
"Oh, yeah, I'm sure that's all you were doing. Why were you walking here, exactly? You never come this way."
"How do you know?"
"I... It's not hard to tell which direction you walk from the bus stop, and this is in the opposite direction."
"That doesn't mean I never come this way."
"Now you're being a smartass." She stepped forward and pushed me back into the wall. "Why are you here?"
"You don't have to push me, you know."
"Why."
My hands were sweating in my pockets. "I just, you know, I was wandering around."
"You were following me."
"And you were being obnoxious!"
"What?"
"I look at you one time and then you chase me off the bus and harass me. Who does that? There's no way you can think that a furred monstergirl wearing a huge coat in the summer is even remotely normal and I was just curious about it!"
Her expression twisted one way and another between anger and confusion. "What? Are you talking about last week when I started to take the bus?"
"Yes!"
"I'm sorry if I'm a little too different for you, buzzcut, but that doesn't give you permission to molest me with your eyes!" Her paw pressed harder into my chest. "Neither does it mean you can follow me around!"
"I'm sorry, when did they make curiosity illegal?"
"This isn't simple curiosity! It's stalking!"
"Really, I follow you one time and that's—"
"So you were following me!"
"Yes, okay, fine, I was following you! I just... I have to know and you weren't giving me any answers."
"Know what?"
"Why you're wearing that coat."
She looked down at her coat then back to me. "It's really bugging you that much?"
"I don't know, maybe? Yes?"
"Make up your mind!"
"Yes, it is bugging me that much!"
Her arms went slack and she slouched, shaking her head as she stared at me. "What is wrong with you that you care so much?"
"Are you going to tell me or not?"
"I don't know. I'm trying to figure out if I'm crazy for considering it instead of just kicking your ass."
"How can I convince you?"
She tapped her chin in thought. "Alright, how about this. You tell me what exactly made you so curious and also promise to leave this alone after our conversation. That means no more stalking."
"It was one time!"
"No. Stalking."
"You know what? Fine. Fine, if you'll answer my question, I'll do it."
She finally gave me some room. Crossing her arms, she smirked at me and said, "Alright then, out with it."