Warning: This story contains violence. If you do not wish to read about this, do not read further. Thank you!

I’ve never really believed in “fate.” To me, it’s an extremely human concept. Everything that happens is coincidence. I was only coincidentally born in Fifelthorpe, rather than some other small town in Yorkshire, or even any other city in all of England for that matter. It’s only a coincidence that I was hired at the Teddy’s in this town, rather than any other business in any other town. It’s only a coincidence that I heard Sara screaming that night, and it was only random that I felt compelled to investigate. It’s only a coincidence that I was hurt that night.

Long chains of coincidences like that are not uncommon. Everyone’s life is a long chain of coincidences, and mine is no different. These things have never troubled me. I have never had any reason to assume my life isn’t entirely average for monsters living in Yorkshire. Strange things happen to everyone for no reason at all. Today, another entirely normal, expectable coincidence occurred. Sara took me to a clothing store in Fifelthorpe run by a monster and their human girlfriend.

It’s been two days since I had to eat human food. My headaches have passed, but I am still feeling moderate weakness. Thankfully, the outward, obvious symptoms like sweating and nausea only occur while the food is still in my body, so Sara hasn’t noticed a thing. Still, being this weak is worrying, especially in a town like Fifelthorpe that’s riddled with possibly territorial monsters. I think Sara wanted to make it up to me, because she proposed another date the morning after.

“We should go clothes shopping,” she said between sips of her morning cup of tea, “There’s a right fine local place ‘ere in Fifelthorpe, but they’re closed on weekends, so we’ll ‘ave to go on Monday.”

I thought about it. New clothes sounded nice. I haven’t bought clothes in a while, and they were beginning to wear out. They all reeked of fast food as well. I nodded.

“Yeah. That sounds like a great idea.”

I can’t say it was a foolish decision. I wasn’t hurt badly, but my throat was a little sore for the rest of the day. The store was right in the middle of town, and was quaint and small. I knew as soon as we walked in: there were monsters here. The smell was very slightly muddled by what seemed like mint oil, but the pungent odour of a monster was hard to cover up. Sara made a comment that it reminded her of something, but I was far too distracted by the smell of monsters to listen.

Responding to the jingle bells on the door, a lady hidden from view called out a welcome to me and Sara. She walked out from a back room and smiled at Sara. She wasn’t the monster.

“‘Ullo V!” Sara waved, and V waved back. She was human, I could tell by the way she moved.

“Oh, Sara! Great to see you today! Who’s your friend?” V responded. The way she talked, too, was undeniably human.

“This is Madison! She’s been staying with me for the past couple of weeks cuz she broke ‘er arm savin’ me from a monster attack! Figured the least I could do was let ‘er stay at my place while she was healin’.”

V nodded, “I see. That’s very brave a’ you, Madison!”

I nodded in agreement, though there was really no bravery. In fact, I’d be more inclined to say it was a blind fit of hunger induced stupidity that started me on this string of coincidences.

“Where’s Muffins?” Sara asked.

“Oh, they’re in the back takin’ care a’ some boxes we just got in. We’re putin’ up winter stuff soon!”

“Oh! That’s great! I love your winter clothes!” Sara smiled. “Hey, I gotta use your bathroom right quick.”

V nodded and Sara ran off, leaving me alone with V. Then, suddenly, a person with a black, modern-style mullet came out of the back and came around the counter, and they looked furious. Just then, the pungent odour of monsters became much more apparent. I took a subconscious step towards the door. They stopped for just a moment to whisper something to V that made her eyes widen, and before I knew it I was on the floor.

The monster had grabbed me by the throat and slammed me into the ground. They straddled me and grabbed my head to restrain me. My fingers elongated into claws, and I began to grab at their arms before I realised I was at an extreme disadvantage, and struggling would only get my neck snapped.

“I don’t want trouble. I’ll leave.” I choked out. This made the monster scowl even harder.

“I fuckin’ despise you bloody cattlers. If I could kill you right now I bloody would.” They growled through clenched teeth. I didn’t say it, but I thought it. Why can’t you? I learned today that even some monsters are subject to the weird behaviours I once considered human.

“Sara’s the sweetest, most innocent woman to come out of this shithole town, and I don’t know how you did it but you made her care a whole bloody lot about you. If you fuckin’ hurt her I’ll make god-damn sure you’re running from death for the rest of your miserable, pitiful life. You got that?”

They were so angry they were squeezing my throat. I think they might have even crushed my windpipe. I couldn’t breathe, let alone talk. I tugged at their arm and nodded. They took a deep breath, slammed my head into the ground one last time, and stood up, pulling me up from the floor with them. As I stumbled to catch my balance and gasped for air, they confidently said “Good,” before putting on a friendly face just in time for Sara to leave the bathroom.

“Oh! Muffins!” Sara ran up and hugged the monster, who hugged her back.

“Heyup Sara! You been ‘oldin’ up alright?” Muffins responded.

“Yea! Incredible! Madison’s a big help around the house! Did you two hit it off well?” She looked at me. Muffins shot me a hateful glance, though I already had my answer ready.

“Of course. They’re quite the character. Right intense, too.”

“Yea, yea! I love that about them! Never a dull moment in ‘ere cuzza you!” She reached up to ruffle Muffins’ hair, causing them to back away and chuckle.

They began to conversate back and forth like they had known each other for a long time. I’d never seen humans and monsters interact like this. It was unnerving. It was like Muffins wasn’t even a monster, just a human who smelled like one… But their strength and ferocity... No, they were unmistakably a monster.

Sara and Muffins wrapped up their conversation, Muffins excusing themself to the back to finish their work. On the way there, they stopped to give V a loving kiss on the cheek. Hadn’t they just warned me about cattling? Furthermore, V was present for that whole ordeal. Surely V knows that Muffins is a monster. Is she not scared of them? Humans are strange. Muffins is especially strange.

Whatever. Everything seems to be strange in Fifelthorpe.

Me and Sara shop for some time, and I try to not think too hard about what just happened. Perhaps when it came time to eat Sara I could just flee Fifelthorpe. Maybe I could cross the Scottish border. Surely this Muffins character wouldn’t leave their entire life behind to chase me all the way to Scotland. We both got some new clothes, though Sara picked out all of mine. I just agreed with everything she said to make the experience go by faster, as I didn’t care what I wore, so long as it didn’t smell like Teddy’s. Then, we left, and I hoped to never return.