Melanie awoke to the smell of cigarettes and asphalt. She opened her eyes slowly and then rubbed them; she still felt hazy. There was somebody talking in the other room. Melanie couldn’t make out what they were saying until she heard Kendo’s voice interrupt.

“I don’t care,” he was saying, “She doesn’t have anywhere else.”

“Fine, do what you want.”

A door slammed and a sigh reached Melanie’s ears. She wiped her hair out of her face and finally looked around the room. It was like a poster bomb exploded and one of those things that shoot T-shirts into the crowd during concerts had gone on a wild rampage. Well it was definitely a guy’s room, all disorganized and messy, but in a way Melanie found comfort in it. It reminded her of her own room, so clashing and chronically upheaved in disarray. She shook a stray thought of her room out of her mind; she didn’t want to think about the past anymore. She was done. Just as she was about to swing her legs out from the covers and off the bed, Kendo entered the room with a protesting squeak of the hinges on his almost-ramshackle door.

“You’re awake,” he said.

“Uh, yeah.” Melanie licked her lips and then bit them, a nervous habit from childhood she never got around to breaking. She couldn’t decide what to say so she didn’t say anything.

“Hungry?” Kendo asked.

Melanie’s grumbling stomach answered for her.

“I’d offer you something extravagant but all we got is ramen and frozen hamburgers,” Kendo informed her, going over to a CD-covered wooden dresser by the bed to dig for something that might fit Melanie. He ended up with a pair of black woman’s jeans and a severely-oversized T-shirt with a white splattered paint design across the front. “Best I could do,” he said holding it out for Melanie, “From my emo days. Don’t worry, they’re clean.”

Melanie took the clothes and gave Kendo a suspicious look. “How did I get here? And how long was I out?” She asked, suddenly embarrassed.

“Well I carried you here, to answer your first question.” Kendo shoved his stubborn dresser drawer closed as Melanie hid a small blush, “You’ve been asleep for about a day. Technically more like twelve hours or so, but it’s Saturday now so it’s pretty much the same. You slept the night through.”

“Why are you being so nice to me?”

“Why does it matter? I’m starving so I’m gonna make those burgers. I’ll make one for you too.” With that, Kendo was out of the room and bustling around the kitchen, which was half-visible from his open door. Melanie had had enough of sitting around all indecisive and dragged herself out of bed. She didn’t know where the bathroom was so she shut Kendo’s door and changed in there. The jeans actually fit decently. The T-shirt was long enough to be a dress but that didn’t matter to Melanie. It actually kind of matched her style. She folded her own sweaty clothes and placed them in the only empty floor space she could find, under the bed. Then she tiptoed her way back to the door and followed her nose into the kitchen where the wafting smell of stovetop burgers tickled her nostrils.

Melanie’s mouth was watering so much she nearly drooled. Food sounded so good, sizzling in its own grease. Kendo flipped one over with the metal spatula.

“So,” he said while he cooked, “What are you gonna do after this? I argued your case last night but I doubt Dad’ll let you stay much longer.”

So that’s who he had been talking to this morning. “I… I don’t know.” Melanie had been avoiding that thought ever since two days ago when Grivgas had left her sitting there on the curb to bathe in her misery. She almost cried thinking back, but she didn’t. She focused on the ever-tendering meat in the frying pan. Melanie was hungry enough to drink the juices straight out of the pan if she got the chance.

Thankfully, just as Melanie became sure she couldn’t contain her hunger any longer, Kendo plopped a plate in front of her, a steaming hamburger topped with steak sauce and cheese. There wasn’t any bun but it wasn’t like Melanie cared about that. She almost grabbed it with her fingers but Kendo slid a fork across the table.

That burger was the single most satisfying breakfast Melanie had ever had. Kendo watched her wolf it down with an expression mixed with amusement and disgust.

“Want another?” He asked in a snicker.

Melanie held out her plate like a child begging for seconds.

Kendo added another to the pan, eating his own as he cooked. He seemed to be good at multitasking. “So you never answered my question,” he said between bites, “What are you gonna do after this?”

Melanie tore her concentration from breakfast. She forced herself to think of a plan. Kendo seemed to be giving her time to figure it out. After the second batch of burgers was done he mumbled something about “not going outside with my hair looking like this” and went off to the bathroom, which was the tiny room next to Kendo’s wide-open door. Melanie guessed the only other door in the hallway, the only closed door, was Kendo’s parents’ room. Since the bathroom door was open and Melanie was getting full, instead of thinking about what to do next she found herself watching Kendo do his hair, which wasn’t spiked now that she looked at it. It hung down in shaggy pink waves. Kendo poured a gob of gel into his palm, mixed it all around, and then scrubbed it into his roots. He lifted his head to see himself in the mirror, shrugged at his reflection and went back into the kitchen to rinse off the pan. Melanie thought he pulled off the bed-head look obnoxiously well.

“So?” Kendo said, reminding Melanie that she was supposed to be telling him her plan instead of watching whatever he was doing with that blank look on her face.

“Grivgas,” Melanie said.

“What the hell’s a grivgas?” Kendo turned to face her, leaning on the grungy counter and wiping the soapy water off his hands with a rag.

“The road kill monster thing.” Melanie tried to look anywhere except at Kendo. She must sound like a lunatic. For all she knew, she might be.

Kendo crossed his arms in thought. The rag hung from between his fingers and dripped dirty water onto the faded tile floor.

Feeling like she should say something, Melanie began rambling, “Well I know where Grivgas lives, but it’s sort of hard to find it because it’s like cloaked by magic or something. It’s like when you walk around and you think you know where you are but your feet have taken you someplace else and then you’re lost.” She paused for breath. She didn’t dare look at Kendo’s expression. “But I think maybe I can get an answer out of it. I want to know why it took Mom’s… Mom’s body.” Melanie swallowed the lump in her throat and focused on Kendo’s face instead of that horrible memory.

“You’re telling me you really saw a monster drag your mother’s body away?” He looked like he didn’t know what to think.

Melanie nodded, unsure.

Glancing at the closed door in the hallway, Kendo looked distant for a moment before he returned his attention to Melanie. “So where does this Grivgas thing live?”

Lunchtime found them walking the path near the pond, retracing Melanie’s steps the day she ditched. Melanie was getting chills up her spine and starting to feel really nervous when Kendo suddenly grabbed her shoulder.

Melanie squeaked, “What?”

Kendo pointed to their left. When Melanie arched a confused eyebrow at him, he snatched her hand and placed it just over the edge of the path, where gravel faded into dirt and uncut grass. The air was frigid there. Melanie recoiled and looked at Kendo, who gave her an assuring nod. They both took a deep breath and stepped together off of the gravel path and the world seemed to bend around them, rippling like syrupy water before it settled back to normal. Even so, everything seemed just a tad off, just an inch askew. Kendo looked at Melanie as if to ask if she was sure about this. She gave him a determined nod and together they walked forward, shifting their eyes all around like something was going to pounce at any moment.

They came upon a pile of carcasses. The smell of rot and decay made Melanie gag, but Kendo either didn’t notice or didn’t care. He inched closer to the heap of dead animals, wincing away the smell. The leaves on the trees arched away from the path there, like they too were leaning back, avoiding the massive lump of twisted up squirrels and intestines and flies.

“So where is it?” Kendo asked, ducking lower to see the bottom of the pile.

Before Melanie could answer, something shifted there, rolling a dead raccoon off the top of the pile that landed right in front of Kendo, who jerked back then turned his attention upward from his spot on the ground. Melanie watched a slime-filled robin burst from the inside to leak wet green goop that shined in the light and smelled like a sewer. The goop slithered towards Kendo and he crab-walked backward to get out of the way. Melanie grabbed his arm to help him up and he gratefully put his weight on her, almost knocking her over in the process. But they managed to both get to their feet without falling and avoid any more of the oozing liquid.

Melanie wanted to puke but instead said to the pile of carcasses, “Where is Grivgas? I need to speak to Grivgas.”

Kendo regarded her in the long silence and then sighed. “You’re talking to no one. Let’s get the hell outta here.” He half turned to leave, but Melanie jutted her index finger in his direction.

“Wait. See?” She pointed to the very top of the heap of road kill. The air was beginning to ripple there, just as it had when they entered the pathway to this place. Kendo and Melanie gawked. From somewhere beyond the rippling, churning space came a giant eyeball, Grivgas’ eyeball. It blinked at them from above, dripping slime from its sclera.

“M’melanie,” said Grivgas, its voice like static, whispered and old, “You’ve returned. Have you come for a nice visit? Or was there some other reason you sought me out? Who is your companion?”

Kendo was speechless. Melanie swallowed her fear and yelled, “Tell me where my mother is!”

The eye of Grivgas seemed to wince; sinking back farther into the rippling portal of air. Melanie was no longer the traumatized girl Kendo had stopped from committing suicide; right now she was pure fury. A raven cawed in the distance.

“Tell me where you took mom’s body!” Melanie screamed, hysteric.

A great sigh from Grivgas somehow made Kendo feel sorry for the monster. “I ate your mother’s body,” said Grivgas, sounding remorseful.

Melanie rushed toward Grivgas’ eye. She didn’t know what she would do but she was damn sure she’d do it violently. The eye of Grivgas snapped shut and the surrounding air began to ripple faster. Kendo got over his shocked paralysis and yanked Melanie back, his arms under hers and hands firmly clasped on her shoulders so all she could do was kick and yell. In her tantrum she kicked a dead squirrel out from the pile of carcasses and it landed with a thud on the side of the path, insides sliding out from its stomach. That got Melanie out of her fit but Kendo wasn’t about to let her go yet. She slouched there in his arms and gasped for breath, hot from anger and thrashing.

The eye of Grivgas was receding. Before it was totally out of view, Kendo said, “Wait! Grivgas, that’s who you are, right? Get back here! Please, Melanie doesn’t know what she’s doing. You might not get it ‘cuz you’re some kinda monster, but you can’t go around eating people and expect them to be fine with it. Just, come back and tell us your side of the story.”

Grivgas’ voice faded as the rippling air subsided, but he said before he was completely gone, “I have run out of time. The Creature’s Court has strict rules about these things. In a seven years’ time I will be back home. I would be happy to explain everything then.”

“Get back here!” Melanie screeched, but Grivgas was long gone. Kendo finally let go and Melanie stumbled out of his grasp, catching her footing just in time to avoid tumbling into the pile of road kill. She turned her rage to him, “Why did you stop me? Grivgas was right there!”

“And what exactly were you gonna do?” Kendo snapped back at her. That shut her up good. He crossed his arms and then seeing her pained expression, uncrossed them and scratched the back of his neck as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Finally, he said, “I know you’re upset but maybe… I dunno maybe this Grivgas monster isn’t so bad. It didn’t exactly seem evil to me. Gross sure, but evil? Not likely.”

“Well Mr. Know-it-all, what do you propose we do?” Melanie said, sarcastic.

“Hey don’t get cocky with me; I’ve saved your ass twice already.” Kendo glared.

“Whatever, let’s just go. It obviously isn’t coming back anytime soon. Seven years. I can wait seven years.” It honestly didn’t seem that long. Practically her whole life had been wasted already, Melanie was thinking.

Kendo scoffed, “You really gonna wait seven years and come back?”

Melanie glowered, “Do you think I shouldn’t?”

That was all either of them remembered when they found themselves back in front of Kendo’s door. Their minds all a fuzz, they turned to each other as if to ask how on Earth they got back safely. They were interrupted by an old beater Chevrolet pulling into the driveway. Kendo straightened without realizing it. Melanie watched a man with greasy hair; metal-toed work boots and filthy clothes step out of the car and shut the door. He twirled his keys in his hands as he approached. Melanie suddenly felt nervous, like she was under a critical eye.

“Dad,” Kendo said. Melanie gulped and tried to look normal.

“Steve,” Kendo’s father said. He didn’t even look at Melanie when he walked past and unlocked the door. She was being purposefully ignored and it was being made known. Instead of saying hello or asking what she should call Kendo’s father, Melanie resigned to follow Kendo and him silently into the house and sit at the kitchen table like a decoration instead of a person. Kendo sat across from her and they both nearly suffocated in the awkward silence.

“I’m John,” Kendo’s father said, “You?”

“Um. Melanie.”

John nodded, thoughtful.

More silence rang. Kendo smirked at Melanie as if apologizing for his father, but neither could figure out what to say. The kettle whistled and they got a break from the interrogating looks John was giving both of them as he scuffled over to turn off the heat. The sound of pouring water was so loud it almost drowned out the hum of the ceiling fan.

John placed a cup of instant hot chocolate in front of Melanie and handed one to Kendo, then took a gulp of it himself. He cleared his throat. “So when’s the wedding?” He asked Kendo, who turned beat red. Melanie’s eyes went wide.

“Fuck you, Dad.” Kendo snatched his hot chocolate from the counter and stomped off to his room, slamming the door.

John laughed full and from the heart. Melanie had never felt so exposed and chewed on her lips, rubbing her feet together under the table. Even so, she couldn’t find the courage to get up and follow Kendo or say anything, so she just sat there and hoped she wasn’t being rude. “Ah I’m only kidding. Point is,” John said, “You don’t seem like such a bad girl so you can stay here for a while. Steve told me you didn’t have any place to go. That said, I expect you to pull your weight around here.”

“Y-yes sir,” said Melanie.

“Ha, you’ve got manners,” said John, “I like you already. Maybe you can be a good influence on my son.” He winked.

Melanie sipped her hot chocolate. It had gone cold but she needed to do something with her hands. It tasted awful. She gulped it down anyway. She was told to do the dishes when she was finished and John went into that room that was always closed and shut the door behind him. From the glimpse that Melanie got, it was a bedroom. A soft blue glow came from the crease under the door and Melanie could hear an announcer or a game show host chattering away. Melanie let out the breath she’d been unknowingly holding.

With the dishes done, she knocked on Kendo’s door. He opened it and let her in and she plopped on his bed. “So, where do I sleep?” She asked as he closed the door.

“Well, floor or bed. We don’t have a couch,” said Kendo, “We can switch off. You got the bed last night so I get it today. Now off.”

Melanie pouted at him.

“Off,” Kendo said in frustration. It reminded Melanie of her mother’s “just do it” tone. She complied. Instead of lying down, Kendo flopped on his stomach and dug around behind his bed. He pulled out a ratty blue sleeping bag and tossed it on the floor. “Oh yeah,” He plucked Melanie’s old clothes from under his bed, “Laundry basket’s in the closet. I just never use it.” He threw the outfit over his head and hoped Melanie could catch it. She did. They spent the next few hours clearing out a place on the floor for the sleeping bag.

“Jeez, you’ve got more crap than me,” Melanie complained and tossed a brown leather jacket that was ripped in the elbows into the giant pile of clothing at the end of Kendo’s bed.

“Yeah, yeah,” said Kendo, “By the way, what are we gonna do about that? I doubt you want to keep borrowing my clothes. We could swing by your old place. I doubt anyone’s been in there yet.”

Melanie stopped. She got lost in her thoughts. “Maybe,” she finally said.

Kendo reasoned, “I’m just saying. I could even go by myself and grab as much as I can if you don’t want to go back.”

Melanie sighed. “Don’t bother. I’ll go tomorrow.” And then her stomach moaned. They’d been working longer than she thought.

“Hungry?” Kendo chuckled.

“Just a little,” Melanie admitted.

They ate ramen for dinner and Melanie snuggled into the sleeping bag after her shower. She tired so easily these days.

“Can I have a pillow?” She asked Kendo.

A momentary pause, and then he sat up. “Come up here,” he told her.

“What?” Melanie’s thoughts went somewhere they probably shouldn’t have.

“I’ll take the sleeping bag,” Kendo said begrudgingly.

“Are you sure?”

“Just get your ass up here.”

Melanie hid her smile and they switched places, at least for tonight. She wished to dream of good things, happy things, anything to get her mind off of going back to her apartment. But, no one can choose what they dream.