Morning is Mocking Me

A Story by ManicKatie2

Back story of a girl trying to understand the man she's in love with as he's tries to get his Forever Beauty. Author's note: I wrote this story last year on July 12, 2015, Romance/Horror/Fantasy.

I hate mornings. They feel like a mock of what should be good and kind when they are evil and hateful. It seems like mornings takes so long to get passed each day. I want them over with right way. I could hear the birds outside sing again. Their song felt like a stab to me for not getting out of this bed. I opened my left eye to see if he returned home yet. All I could see was sunlight peeking through the broken window. I looked away in discuss from the light. I know he won’t be home until night fall. It seems like forever since the time I saw him go. It reminds me of the old times when we were young…

For many years, I was the closest friends with a kind, adventurous farmer boy that lived out in the county side. His name was Sheridan. He has tan skin with dull, blue eyes and light brown curtained hairstyle. He was about 6 foot something, compared to him and I. I was shorter than him. There wasn’t much to say about him, but he was out there helping his family by working in the fields for them or fishing with his friends. Many people at school loved to hang out with him when they could. I do understand why they would. He's funny, has the best grades in school, and very good looking, but his ideas and kind heart is the only part that made me interested in him in the first place.

I had a crush on Sheridan since 8th grade. Even though we hardly spoke to each other. Now and then, I would watch him talking with his friends during school hours. My best friend Laura would push me into talking to him. I would ran away from her or tell her that there’s no way on earth he would see me as something he would want in this world.

I always questioned myself saying, "Why would he want to be with someone like me?" I have really white skin that it might take someone years to find me in the snow. My eyes were dark brown and my blond hair felt thin and stringy from me dying it from brown to blond. There’s just no way to get him to see me.

Sometimes, I would be lucky just getting a chance to see Sheridan before he runs off with his three buddies. I would pray to see him again, and of course he would come back home just so he could brag about what all of them did on their adventures. Each adventure would be better than the last one. At least that’s what I heard from him. I do remember the time when my friend, Laura, started dating one of his friends, and we got to hang out together as a group. Laura would try to get Sheridan and I some alone time. It would work but he wouldn’t talk much to me.

One day on his father’s farm, my friend Laura ran off with her boyfriend and left us behind again. Sheridan would laugh believing she isn’t being a good friend for leaving me behind. I would tell him it’s alright, she’s Laura after all. That afternoon, he showed off his father’s farm where they grow corn. It was so tall that I wanted to run into and get lost. I could tell he was enjoying talking about his father’s farm, but I wanted to know more about him. So I asked him a question, “Why do you like to go on adventures so much?” Never did I think he would laugh at me the next second.

“You’ll laugh if I tell you,” he said looking too disappointed, but I jumped right in front of him and smiled.

“Try me,” I said. Sheridan close his eyes as he tried to think what he should say to me. When he reopened them, he gave me corny smile.

“As a little kid, my father was adventurous and always looking for something out there. He showed me a book about when the Gods were left behind for so long on this earth. I’m searching for this thing called forever beauty. They said no man on earth could find it. My father searched all his life for that beauty, but never could find it. He believes this beauty is near here. So, I’ll find it for him and maybe I’ll have this forever beauty,” Sheridan said as he looked up into the sky. I was in shocked. I never thought he had this kind of dream. It sounds like to me, he doesn’t even know what this forever beauty is…

“How will you know when you find it?” I asked. He looked down in shocked with his eyes wide. Soon he calmed down and replied to my question.

“I’ll know when because before you’ll get the forever beauty, you’ll get the eyes of the Gods. Only Gods know what’s true beauty is, so they know what it looks like…” I backed away as I started to believe. Maybe he's a bit crazy. He must have caught on my reaction because he asked if I believed him. He stared deeply into my eyes as he waited for my answer. He's looking for the truth from me. He’ll get the truth from me if he likes it or not.

All I could say from my heart is this, “If that’s your dream, go for it. I’ll be here to help and support you all the way.” These few words made him smile and pull me closer to him as he wrapped his strong arms around me. I couldn’t help but be happy for this moment in time. We stood there next to the corn field as we both started to realize, we weren’t going to let each other go.

It wasn’t long after that day, he chose me to be his girlfriend. Every girl at school hated me for dating Sheridan, but I couldn’t help it. I wanted to be his. When the last year of high school was over, Laura and her boyfriend end up moving way to Wyoming where they would start a new life together. It felt lonely not having girl time anymore. At least she’s willing to call me. A year later after high school, Sheridan asked me to finally move in with him. Each day was perfect than the last. He would come back each morning from his little adventures or working on his father’s farm. He was always giving me kisses and showing me what he picked up from his adventures. I would be happy just having him back home.

But all of that changed after that day. Sheridan didn’t come home until late that night. He came home mad and frustrated. All he did is run to our bedroom and stayed in bed all night. Never once checked to see if I was here. If I was my younger self again, I would pray that he was alright and try seeing what’s wrong. But I’m not that girl anymore because I understand he needs time to be himself without me. It just drives me crazy when I can’t do anything for him.

The worst part is over time. He would never leave the bedroom. A lot of our friends started to think, I’m crazy for not checking on him. Even Laura was starting to yell at me over the phone. Time after time of telling myself and trying to think of ways of getting him to speak. Even though it wouldn’t work. I would still find him in the bedroom again as he plans to do nothing all day.

This isn’t like Sheridan. It kills me inside. I want to save him before it’s too late. Sadly, I just can’t stop him even if I wanted. Part of me is yelling inside saying over and over again, “Stop him!” I wouldn’t. In ages, he hadn’t been going outside anymore. He's always closing the windows and making sure that no sunlight will come inside. It’s not like him. Each time I checked on him, I could see he never got sleep anymore.

I was so happy when his childhood friend showed up saying he found something for Sheridan and needed him to go check it out. This talk finally got Sheridan out of the bedroom and got him back on his feet. I was so happy that my Sheridan was going on another adventure. So, I went out of my way just to get all the stuff he would need. The next morning I kissed Sheridan goodbye on his lips, but he brought me closer. It wasn’t long until he deepen our kiss and pulled away. Soon, he stared into my eyes saying everything will be alright, and they would be back in 3 days. Then, he took off with his friend. I stood right next to our house as his body disappeared to the horizon. I prayed that night he would return soon.

The first day passed away really fast with me cleaning the house. The second day was long, but fun from me shopping for us to eat. The third day dragged with me sitting waiting for their return home. As the third day’s sun started to fall as the moon rose into the sky, I knew Sonic was running late, and they would be here tomorrow for sure. So, I sat there waiting for the morning light to shine as my adventurous man ran up to me and hugged me like the past.

Never once did he showed up. Few days became a week, then a week became a month. I was started to get scared about them. I was hoping nothing hurt them or something horrible happen. Please God, bring him back home. I would hate myself if he never returns…

I started to believe I saw him coming home one morning. I ran out to go greet him but he wasn’t there. I thought maybe I’m getting sick. Always believing I’m seeing things that I want to happen but didn’t.

Two months later as I was cleaning the dishes as I tried getting my mind off of being alone. I heard the front door opened. I jumped a bit and stopped cleaning the dishes. It wasn’t long when a tan skin and brown hair man walked in the kitchen. I backed away in shocked and disbelieved. Our eyes locked with each other, but he was the first one to break the silence.

“Hey Lottie, miss me?” Sheridan said with a grin. I started to cry and ran up to him as I try giving him a huge hug. He realize what I was trying to do, but he pulled me closer and kissed my forehead. He stared into my eyes as I tried to stop crying, but it didn’t work.

“Where have you been?” I yelled as the tears fell off my cheeks.

“Far away for too long,” Sheridan said as he wiped away the tears with his fingers. It wasn’t long until he popped the question, “So since I’m home now, why don’t we go somewhere?” I was in shocked and questioned his actions, but I was too happy knowing he was home.

“Don’t you want to take it easy?” I asked, “You just got home.” But he shook his head in disagreement.

“No, I want to spent time with Lottie. All I could think was trying to get home to see you. Also, I found a really cute place you will love to see.” He looked like he really wanted to go out. It hasn’t even been five minutes inside and he already wanted to leave. But I signed and smiled at him.

“Well if you don’t need rest, let’s go!” I yelled in excitement. He picked me up and twirled me around with joy. Soon we were walking to this place as we held hands together. I enjoyed this a lot. I wished his friends got him out of the house a lot sooner.

We walked out of the city to a huge meadow. At first, I thought this was the place, but Sheridan said the place was deeper down in the woods. The walk seemed to take forever. But once we got there, "Gosh, it was so beautiful to stare at." In the middle of the forest was a clean clear river that shone in the sunlight. The plants were bright green, and butterfly flew crossed the river as the wind blew softly. Birds were singing their pretty songs. I could stay here forever.

It was a surprise when Sheridan jumped in the water first which cause me to get wet. He started to laugh. But I wasn’t going to let him enjoy this moment alone. I jumped in next and went after him splashing water into his face. He had a childlike laugh which I never heard before, but I was liked the idea I was making him happy.

We were having fun in the river. He splash water into my face couple of times, but I couldn’t stand having water in my eyes. I had to get out of the river and grab the towel that I left in the backpack. I rubbed the towel on my face. This has to be the most perfect moment in my life. It was just us and us alone.

I realize there was a moment of silent. I had a weird feeling deep down in my heart. As I looked up from the towel to see where the birds were, the bright blue sky was turning dark. I wasn’t sure, but maybe it was getting late. But that can’t be, it was still morning when we left. I turned round to see and Sheridan was gone.

I panicked. The first thoughts were maybe he drowned in the river. I know he was a good swimmer, but maybe the water current got him without me knowing. I got near the edge of the water, for the first time I realize there was a bright red circle with a bright star in the middle of it. It shined in the water as the waves hold still. I didn’t remember seeing this here.

I was going to bent down to touch it when a tan skin guy pulled out from the middle of the circle. I realize it had black horns coming from the top of its head and blood marks coming down from those horns. The horns were long and shaped like a bull’s horns. There were weird markings coming down from the back of his neck, and it wrapped around his body. At first I didn’t know who it was until it turned to look at me. It was my Sheridan, but it couldn’t be him…

His eyes were dark blue and his mouth was huge with sharp teeth, and it opened all the way to the back of his cheeks.

I backed away in fear, but it only made the monster come closer to me. “Hello my dear Lottie… Don’t you look beautiful today?” this new Sheridan said with the mix of his old voice and a deeper darker voice but never once moving his mouth.

“What happened to you?” I asked in fear of what I’m seeing in front of me.

“Nothing happened to me. This is my true body, and I found my real self. After all of these years, searching for what those old books has been talking about, I finally got what I asked for,” he said. I hated the idea his mouth hasn’t moving, and I didn’t like the fact he was so close to me.

“Sheridan this isn’t what you truly want?” I asked praying all of these years, his sick ideas weren’t true.

“I thought I finally found the Forever Beauty. I’ve been searching for so long. I believe all of those years of going on those stupid, waste of time adventures meant nothing to me. But when my friend showed up at our door talking about it. I couldn’t believe it, but I had to see it. Once we got to that place, I couldn't believe we found it. I had found the water with the red circle which the God have left behind for years. As I was going to touch the red circle, that's when the water pulled us in, and the red circle gave us new bodies. My friend died from the change, but I didn’t. The change over would be easy for me because I knew what it could do and I accepted it. Now I can see what God see. I wanted to show you so badly. I had to come home as fast a could. By the time I saw you, I realize what they meant for forever beauty. The way you look and smiled at me. It was beautiful. You're beautiful, Lottie! You have always had this beauty around you. That's the reason why I felt being bonded to you from the start. You are my Forever Beauty. I had you all this time and never realized it because of my human eyes. With God's eyes, I see your beauty clearly and bright. I won't leave you alone ever again, Lottie. Please join me, Lottie. Together we will live as husband and wife in our new bodies. Be my forever mate. Would you, Lottie?” he asked as he held out his hand to me. His words felt like a stabbed to my heart. I always dreamed of being his wife someday, but never like this? I just don’t believe this. I could see that I never really knew his real reasons or what he truly wanted in life. I was a fool, but now I need to get out of here. This was too much for me. I backed away slowly as the tears started to form in my eyes.

“I… can’t,” I said crying as I broke into a run. I just couldn’t handle this right now. I never realize Sheridan’s dreams was looking for something that was hateful and fearful. Why the most kindness guy would want this life style in the first place? It wasn’t easy running in the forest since it was getting darker. But it was smart on my part to never once look back. But all of my hopes of me getting away from him ended as I heard my name being called couple of time behind me. He was on his way to get me. It was only the matter of time now.
"Lottie!! I won't let you run away from me. You are mine!!" Sheridan yelled as his voice echoed the forest.

As I made it to the meadow, I knew I wasn’t far away from the city, but I felt something pushing me down to the ground. I tried getting up but it bit me on the shoulder. I screamed in pain from the bite. I could feel my life drain with the blood dripping down my neck. It stopped biting me and lifted my body up. I realize who was holding me.It was no other than this new Sheridan.

Sheridan carried my body in his arms right to the red glowing river. I wanted to get out of his arms, but I felt paralyzed under his grasp. He made sure only I was right in the middle of the red circle. I could feel something grabbing my body and pulling me under the water. I couldn’t breathe anymore since the water was going into my mouth. It wasn't long until I passed out from this crazy nightmare.

I woke up feeling sick. I was still in the messy bed with the sunlight coming through the broken window. Nothing has changed. He still hasn’t returned home, and those nightmares are still coming back to me. I know those dreams are only nightmares, but it happened. I remembered all of what happened before and after it. This pain won't go away...

I looked crossed the wrecked and destroyed room to find that my deep, dark man with black horns has returned home. He stared back at me, always watching my moves. I tried to get up from the broken down bed, but my body wouldn’t listen to me. He finally slowly walked over to the bed. Each step he took, sent a loud squealing noise which made my heart jump. As he got near the bed, he got on it. Sheridan wrapped his strong arms around me like he did back in the good old days and kissed my forehead as he said over and over again, “You look so beautiful, Lottie.” Then, after he was done talking, he laid his body right next to me. It felt nice feeling someone here and not being alone anymore.

Finally I turned my body toward Sheridan. His eyes haven’t blinked once, but they stared into my eyes. I could see a reflection of a girl in his eyes. Her skin white as snow and her eyes were dark blue. Her hair was a dirty shade of blond. There were horns on top of her head that wrapped round on both sides of her face that looks like goat horns. The markings were coming down from the horns. She had two, little, faded, bite marks on her neck that she covered with her hands to hid it from me.
I had to close my eyes because I couldn’t handle knowing what I became because of him. He seemed to realize my feels were hurt that he kissed my lips to stop me from being so fearful. After we broke away, Sheridan said without moving his mouth, “I love you, my Lottie.”

“You too… Sheridan,” I replied. After a while all I could hear was my lover’s breathing and birds as they sang their mocking lullaby to the endless morning sky. I still hate mornings.