The Man Who Killed the First Monster

“Ahhh,” an early morning scream as a red-head was in shock. The first thing she saw after waking up was a naked stranger lying on her bed. She scrambled on her feet as her hand grabbed on to the duvet, covering her nude body. Her feet retreated until her back was on the wall. Her eyes didn’t leave the sight of the man who was sleeping comfortably.

Did I sleep with him?

She had to ask herself. Her memories were fuzzy yet staring at his face, she pondered on why did he look familiar. Then something just clicked inside her head.

He’s the patient who just woke up from a coma. But how?

Speechless as she didn’t remember them hooking up, and that wasn’t even the most important part.

How did he get out of the hospital? His leg supposed to…

As her eyes trailed down to his leg. Her sight stumbled upon a rising flag. She turned her head fast enough to avoid looking at it. She peeked to the side and saw the leg was out of the cast. It was fine, without any scars from the surgery done on his fractured leg.

Bryce stared at him once again as something felt familiar about this man. More than just being a patient of hers. A sudden flash of memory jolted her off the floor. She grabbed her head shaking from left to right. Her legs grew weak as she fell on her bum.

A sudden intense fear was swallowing her. She didn’t know why she was feeling like this, but she remembered a silhouette making a fireball out of thin air. It sounds ridiculous but that was what she remembered.

Thud.

She heard something fall. Her eyes crept towards the source and she saw a wooden staff lain on the floor. She turned speechless with jaw wide open. Her eyes were quivering as those repressed memories came back like a flood. She remembered everything from the time she was kidnapped to the time she saw a little girl sacrificing herself for the sake of saving her.

Tears broke out like a dam. She was sobbing hard as she remembered those unfortunate souls especially the girl. She didn’t even bother covering herself up as she cried and cried. The guilt she felt was immense. She was supposed to die that night but an innocent soul saved her from the fireball of purgatory.

The weeping of a red-head woman woke up the man on the bed. He shifted his body from side to side trying to get himself to sleep once more. But the constant sobbing made him too annoyed to fall asleep.

He got up from bed with his half-opened eyes and terrible bed hair. He was about to complain about the noise but his morning wood made him flustered.

Shit.

He grabbed on to the pillow and covered his crotch.

Shit, is she crying because she thought I raped her? Damn, this is so going to put me in jail. Shit, what should I do? Should I try to smooth things out?

“Ehem,” he tried to gain her attention.

She turned around to Jason as her tears didn’t stop flowing.

“You don’t have to worry, I didn’t even touch you. Let alone look at you,” he tried to convince her but it doesn’t sound right.

“Well, to be more precise I did touch you and look at you but it was necessary. I mean, necessary like… I did it to save you. So, we’re cool?”

His effort to smooth things out only brought the situation to turned even worse. She cried even harder as the bedroom was filled with only her voice.

Oh boy.

Jason gave up with his head down. He waited for her to let it all out. Crying until your tears dry out was the best option. Half an hour later she stopped crying.

Thank goodness, I can’t stand it anymore.

He was grateful for the peace and silence but Bryce was deep in thought. Although she didn’t want to, she recalled those memories about last night. One particular thing she couldn’t forget was the man who fought against those monsters. He killed them all using their own weapon against them and the most important thing was, the clothes he wore. The hospital gown.

“It’s you,” she stared at the sight of this man.

“Like I said lady, I didn’t rape you. You can sue me all you want but justice will always prevail,” said Jason. In the end, he spouted nonsense, trying to appear innocent.

“No, not that,” she stood up and came closer to Jason.

“Woah,” Jason looked down once more as he didn’t want to be label as a pervert. Bryce was standing there going all out full commando as if she wanted him to see her like this.

“You’re the one who killed them. You’re the one who killed all those human-like monsters,” she spoke her words loud and clear as if trying to assure herself that what she remembered was right.

“Yeah, it’s me. I killed them. So… can you please at least try to cover yourself?” he confirmed her memories as well as pointing out to her going hippie freedom.

Bryce looked down and noticed she wasn’t wearing a thing.

“Ahhh,” she screamed and covered herself up with her hands.

“Don’t look,” she shouted.

Jason didn’t want to respond to that and kept quiet. He was already in a position of not looking. He would have been grateful if she at least recognized him trying to be a gentleman.

She went on to put on some clothes. A sweater and a pair of hot pants.

“So. What are you? And how did you even get out of the hospital? You just woke up from a coma in a critically injured state,” a lot of questions spiraling inside her mind.

“Ehem. Before that, you wouldn’t mind lending me some clothes, would you? If you can see here, I’m quite defenseless right now,” the lack of clothing diminished his confidence in doing anything. Jason was definitely not an exhibitionist.

“Oh, yeah. One second,” she went through her closet rummaging through her stuff.

“I don’t know if it will fit. But, that’s the only thing I have,” a pair of washout jeans and a football varsity jacket.

“Heh, at least now I know you prefer dating a taller guy,” said Jason. His deduction was spot on. The clothes were a bit dusty and judging by its size and measurement, it was definitely owned by a tall guy. Her cheeks flushed in beet red.

“It's my ex. I forgot to throw it out after we broke up,” said Bryce with her arms crossed over her chest. She didn’t feel comfortable talking about that ex of hers but she needed to clarified things.

“A football jock, huh. Now, I definitely know your type,” Jason raised the football varsity jacket as he pointed out the logo on the back.

“You went to Stanford. That’s pretty cool,” he couldn’t miss the Stanford University logo at the back of the jacket.

“Can we please get back to the main topic here,” she grabbed a chair and sat close to the edge of the bed.

“Yeah, well. Let me dress first, I’m still naked,” a big ‘oh’ on Bryce’s face. She turned around as Jason wore the clothes. He saw a pair of scissors on top of the vanity table. It was close to the bed and he grabbed it. He adjusted the length of the jeans as he cut the useless part.

“Are you done yet?” Bryce was impatient. She was still in the shadows about all that had happened.

“Hey, do you have something to eat. I’m starving,” Jason walked passed her as he went to the door.

“Hey. Wait,” she ran after Jason who was going downstairs.

Jason opened up her fridge and took out a bottle of milk along with a bag of cereal. Bryce was staring daggers at him while leaning at the counter with both of her arms crossed over her chest. Jason was making himself way too comfortable inside a stranger’s house.

While picking a bowl and a set of cutlery, Bryce spoke out.

“You do know that is my house and not yours. I can easily call on the cops on you.”

“Well, I did save your life twice. So you should at least be grateful for that,” his comeback rendered her speechless. He sat on the dining table and started munching down on those good chocolate cereals.

She took a seat opposite of him.

“What do you mean twice?” her wrinkled nose and the crease between her eyebrows showed her exact state of mind.

“I saved you from that pervert rapist in the elevator,” Jason continued eating up the cereal as he slurped the milk on the spoon.

“You’re the ghost? But how?” more confusion for the woman who only believed in logic.

“I can turn invisible,” he said.

“Stop playing around with me. That’s not possible,” she didn’t believe him.

“C’mon, you already saw some ugly monsters throwing fireballs. At least bend that logic of yours,” said Jason.

Bryce knew he was right. Yet she tried to cling on to the logic that she knew and understood. Then a sudden realization struck her. If he had turned invisible then did he followed her from the hospital and went along inside her car all this time. Then, she remembered herself taking a shower before being kidnapped.

“You peek at me while I'm taking a shower didn’t you?” She stood up and leaned forward to Jason as if interrogating him.

“That’s your biggest concern? Me, taking a peek at your body? FYI, I didn’t need to peek at you. I’d already seen everything back in the forest,” said Jason.

“What?” she shouted.

“You’re a doctor right. Can’t you at least be reasonable? I had to carry you while running through a dark forest to come back here and both of us were naked. I saw everything and it didn’t even matter. There are bigger things than skin exposure that you need to worry about,” Jason straight up lectured her.

She sat back on her seat while deep in thought. While Jason continued eating. She knew what he said was the truth. She was only playing the peeping card just for the sake of not facing the reality of it. The reality of people dying. She knew that a lot of people turned out dead last night and she was one of those lucky ones.

After a while, she spoke out.

“What should we do?”

She looked at Jason who was having his second bowl.

“We’ll do nothing.”