There was only one woman in the public bathroom when Garofița ran inside for one of the toilets. The lady looked puzzled at the closing door of the stall, then shook her head as she left. Garofița was free to curse out her womb all by herself.
She was sitting in her house and playing with Buddy and Bezea, when she felt her stomach hurt in the very distinct way she had been dreading. Her underwear was thankfully not ruined yet.
Periods are so freaking dumb. Garofița didn't even want kids. Nobody else bleeds except for humans, who are dumb. She read once on tumblr that the dumb uterine lining being shed is for her own good, to keep her healthy and flush out any bad things that may be in there. That's nice and all, but why does it have to hurt so bad?
Garofița thought about these and more as she went back home. She pet Buddy, assuring him she was fine, and double-checked her backpack. She stole a pack of pads when she ran away, and told herself to buy more from Mrs Delia. They were expensive as hell. Another dumb thing.
Every month Garo found herself wishing she were a boy. No, not a boy, boys suck. She wished she were a genderless sexless being, completely smooth like a doll.
"If I were a boooy..." She sang to her pets. "I would be gaaay..."
She picked up Bezea and cuddled her to her neck, wondering what she should do about washing. Maybe she can ask Bea for help again, or Vitalis. Maybe she could ask Roxi to use her bathroom at her house. Maybe she could buy babywipes from Mrs Delia and use like 10 at a time. Imagine surviving cryptids and running at night through the rain only to die by toxic shock syndrome.
She sighed and went to the other room to check her food stash. She had canned beans to cook with Mr Gliga, ramen packs and canned pineapple. She didn't feel like eating any of those.
It was just the beginning, so there was only a dull pain in her stomach for the moment, more like a pressure than a pain. When she got her first period she thought "huh, that wasn’t so bad", then during her second period she could not stand up from bed. Ibuprofen didn't do jackshit, it hurt the same. Her mother told her to stop whining, as if she weren't a woman too.
"Are there any cryptids that steal uteruses?" She asked her pets. "I'm giving mine away for free."
She looked out the window at the darkening sky, a transitional grey between blue and orange. Her spider's web looked black on top of it. It was very pretty.
"I don't remember where, there is a monster that eats newborns out of the womb. Mananangal, I think. Manangal. Manananangal. I don't freaking know..."
Garofița wanted to eat blackberries, but it was going to be dark soon. She thought for a moment about how long it took her to come and go to the blackberry bushes, and she could do it fast enough.
"Walker, up!" She said as she grabbed the black plastic container.
Walker grumbled, but got up to his feet.
The forest was very pretty at sunset, the colours muted and gentle on the eyes. She merrily filled the bowl and gave some to Walker in advance, as payment for interrupting his lounging around her house all day. "Son of a bitch." She said, no venom in her voice.
Walker's head snapped to the side. Garofița spun around and saw the shepherd dog, watching them from a distance. He was dirty as usual, long black and white dreads caked in moss. He was larger than usual, but not as big as the night she saw him through the window. In-between, still plausible for a big dog. He stared at them with an intensity Garofița had never seen in another being. She felt the urge to shrink away.
He didn't do anything, just watched them. She fumbled to grab Walker's arm and pull him towards their house. As they made their way home, the shepherd followed them from the side, never taking its yellowed eyes away, walking with its body low to the ground. Walker glared back at him, but his head was hunched low and he kept glancing away, breaking eye-contact.
They arrived home and, after making sure the street was empty, went around it to enter. Garofița looked over her shoulder and found the shepherd waiting on the edge of the trees. When her head popped up in the window, the tension in the dog's body eased up and he left, disappearing in the foliage.
"That was creepy." She muttered and sat down with her little family.
She cringed as she repositioned her legs. She could no longer sit down or lay down carefree, even more now that her clothes and water were limited. What was the evolutionary advantage of alerting every predator of your exact location? It was all so very dumb.
"Walker, if you smell blood, don't freak out. I'm good." She said.
He ate his berries, not even looking in her direction.
Garofița reached a hand to his face and pulled at the skin under his eye, tugging his eyelid down with her finger.
Walker's eyes snapped towards her and he hissed with his mouth full.
"I'm just looking." She said, pulling harder, trying to tear it.
Walker jerked his head away, raising his hand as if to swipe her but letting it back down.
"Calm down. Can you say 'hello'?" She asked.
"Hello"
"Can you saaay... 'Buddy'?"
"Buddy"
"Can you say 'my shades dior'?"
"My shades di-oh"
"Good job!" She hand-fed him more berries.
"Hellooo"
"Hellooo!~"
"Hello!"
Garofița gasped. The third voice (second really, since Walker copied hers) came from outside. It was not the repetitive calling for help from that other night, but one loud and clear greeting.
After a long moment of hesitation, she got up to her feet and looked out through the spider web.
The girl seemed to be about Garofița's age, if not younger. Her hair was somewhere between chestnut brown and blonde, split into two long braids. She wore an ie, large and baggy, pale white like her skin. Her skirt was white too, and her apron was a black and red. Her eyes were green and her cheeks were pink, like a pretty peasant from a fairytale book. Her feet seemed to be bare.
Looking at her made Garofița queasy. Her face was wrong. There was too little sclera visible in her eyes, her lips were too thin, her teeth too small, her neck too long. The more she looked at her the more wrongness she found.
"Hello!" She said again. Her voice was high-pitched and warbled, like she was in the middle of crying, yet the smile never left her horrible face.
"Hello...?" Garofița said, then mentally punched herself for acknowledging her, or it, or whatever it was.
The peasant girl started coming closer. Her footsteps were silent. Not in the way Walker was silent, a predator trying to be quiet when stalking. Her feet, her body, her clothes, they made no sound at all.
"Stop!" Garofița shouted. "Don't come any closer!"
She freezed up, bringing small hands together in front of her navel. Her face still held the same smiling expression, her eyes just widened a little bit.
"Good evening!" She said, still in that grating falsetto.
"What do you want?" Garofița demanded, grabbing hold of the windowsill for support, an anchor to stop herself from shaking. Buddy pressed against her legs and Walker stood up as well.
"How are you?" The girl asked. "I heard you have blackberries and a little black kitten. May I visit and see it too?"
"No?!"
"The night is near. Can I visit, just for a while? Please? I will be a good guest."
"No!"
"Why not?" She tilted her head to the side.
"Y-You're a stranger! I'm not letting strangers into my home!" Garofița said.
"You may call me Smaranda." She said. "May I have your name?"
"No, you may not."
"Oh..." She bowed her head in disappointment. Garofița saw her eyes flick up somewhere above her and turned to see Walker standing behind her, staring the peasant girl down.
"You... you may call me, I don't know...ugh,... Mură..." Garofița said.
"Mură!" Smaranda repeated, feeling the name on her lips. Her smile grew bigger. "We are not strangers anymore."
Garofița swallowed, feeling a bead of sweat roll down along her temple.
"What do you want?" She asked again.
"Can I visit?"
"No. Why do you want to come inside my house?"
"I told you, the night is near. I would rather not be out in the dark. I do not want the shepherd to be the one to drag me home."
"The shepherd?"
"He is like a dog. Have you seen him?"
"Uhm, a couple times. Why don't you just go home then?"
"It is far. By the time I find it, it will be pitch black among the trees. That's when the shepherd roams the forest, I will surely cross paths with him. If only it rained!"
"Well, sorry, but you can't stay here."
"We are not strangers."
"I still don't trust you."
"Why not?"
"I don't like your face." Garofița said, growing mean when she was exasperated.
Smaranda paused, tilting her head to the other side. She looked... confused? Like she didn't understand what Garofița said.
"Please let me visit your house." She said when she spoke again.
"Why?" Garo pressed.
"It is growing dark!"
"Can't the shepherd walk you home or something?"
"I do not like him." She shook her head. God, even that looked wrong. "The shepherd is rude. And my mother told me not to stay out late."
"And... what happened?"
"I stayed out late..."
"Well, your mother wouldn't want you to stay with a stranger either, right?"
"If it is a human, it is fine."
"Really?"
"Yes. And we are both girls."
Garofița's brow twitched, then she looked down at her hands. How can she make her go away? She didn't want to deploy Walker on her. What if she hurt him? The sky was a darker and darker shade of blue-orange.
"Sorry, but you will have to stay somewhere else." She told her.
"I will not hurt you."
"G-Got it, but my pets don't like you. So I can't let you in."
Smaranda tilted her head again to the right. For a while she said nothing, didn't move at all. The woods were silent except for the echoing sound of the cars from the town, close but still too far. Or maybe it was her own ears ringing.
"... ...Are you mad at me?" Garofița asked.
"What is that?" Smaranda suddenly straightened her neck.
"Huh? Like... are you feeling angry with me?"
"Feel?" She tilted her head to the left. She looked down at her feet and wriggled her toes. "All that I feel is the grass and the earth. And the wind."
"N-No, like,... emotions."
"What is that?"
"Feelings... inside your body, kinda... Like happy, sad, scared... You know?"
Smaranda thought it over. "I feel hungry."
" Okay." Garofița quietly squeaked.
"Can I visit your house?"
"Still no."
"Why not?"
"You scare me."
"I do not mean to do it."
"Well... too late..."
The forest behind Smaranda was darker and darker, the trunks of the trees turning black and blue.
"Are you 'scared' at me?" Smaranda asked. Garofița really wished she would stop smiling. Also that she would blink.
"Yes, I am. Same way you are scared of the shepherd."
"I am not scared of him!" She twitched as if hit, her voice slightly lowering.
Garofița looked at her for a second, then pouted. "You aren't?"
"No!" Her voice was back up high.
"Then what's the big deal if he finds you outside?"
"I do not want him to find me!"
"Or you'll get in trouble with your mom? Are you scared of her too?"
"I am not scared of anybody!"
Garofița exhaled through her nose, her lips turning up into a grin. "You are scared, aren't you?"
Smaranda's smile stiffened and her teeth grinded against each-other, and tendons stood out in her neck. "I will turn your head into a broom."
Garofița backed away from the window with a flinch, Buddy tripping between her legs and Walker squaring up, hissing lowly.
Smaranda realised the mistake she made and quickly changed her tune. "I am sorry! I will only visit your house until daylight returns. Then I will leave and not come again. I will be a very good guest and then you will never see me again, I promise!"
"No." Garofița frowned. "You can never visit my house. Now go away."
"I am very sorry-"
From the dark trees jumped out the shepherd, huge with sharp teeth and red gums. He bit Smaranda's neck and she screamed with an adult woman's voice, shrill and agonised, and black blood sprayed like in a punctured can.
He disappeared into the woods, dragging her still shrieking form after him.
"A-a-and then the-the shepherd, the shepherd dog I told you about, came out of nowhere and dragged her away, a-and..." Garofița retold as she sat on one of the toilets at Amante.
"Jesus Christ, girl..." Vitalis said as she checked her reflection in the mirror, wondering when was the last time anyone wiped it. It was a front, sure, but at least pretend it's a real restaurant. "You need help?"
"No, I'm okay!" She said as she flushed the toilet and exited the stall.
"Is everything okay, Garo?" Roxi asked from behind the bar. "I got calcium and magnesium supplements in my bag."
"Thanks, I'm fine!"
"Want us to check the forest?"
"N-No, don't worry."
"I kinda don't wanna go either." Mihai said.
"Why not?" Vitalis asked. "You scared?"
"Yes!" He turned to her, baffled. "I don't want a huge dog to jump me for being out late!"
"He didn't hurt Garo, though." Roxi said. "Doesn't seem completely unreasonable."
"If the Lord can lead you to it, He can lead you through you!" Gabriel hollered from the kitchen. Everybody chose to ignore him. Too much research on cults is not good for the mind.
"Anyways," Vitalis said outside as they walked away, "if you need nurofen, I have some in my tent."
"Thank you!" Garofița smiled.
"I never liked that forest." She wrinkled her nose. "Too many things going on."
"I like it..." She said. "It's really pretty sometimes. And it's where I get berries and flowers from!"
"You're cute." Vitalis puffed with her cigarette. "Well, I guess be careful that you don't stay out late. Which you already weren't doing."
"Yeah..."
She sneaked glances at Vitalis, wondering if she should tell her about what her dogs, particularly Walker, really were. If she knew, then Mr Eduard and the others wouldn't have any secrets to hold against her.
Would Vitalis get mad? Would she tell her to get rid of Buddy and Walker? Walker still had the skin of someone from town. What if she knew him before he died?
"What's up?" Vitalis looked at her.
"Nothing!" Garofița said.
She will tell her another time.
