11Many thanks to AbeSapien99 for being my beta reader!
I drew an illustration for the fic, found here on Deviant Art:
art/After-the-Fairytale-Twins-100178001
Note: This chapter is chronologically after the second chapter, but I think it's a better introduction to the story as a whole. The third chapter picks up where this one ends.
Katie Sherman's voice: Normal
Every kid thinks their family is normal.
It was always Mama and Daddy, my brother Trevor and me in our little house in the woods. And in the house before that too, and before we moved to America, but I don't remember that. And the cats. We had lots, and Daddy kept finding more - skinny cats with sharp claws who wouldn't eat the dry food Mama bought them, but tried to steal off my plate. Mama said they were stinky, but she kept buying food for them anyway.
Mama would get up early in the morning and sit at the kitchen table, drinking coffee and looking sleepy. If I asked her to play, she would say, "Not now, Katie - I have to go to work." Lots of times she wouldn't get back at night until after Trevor and me were asleep. Other times she brought bags of groceries, and Daddy would help her carry them in - piles and piles of food. She would eat the dinner Daddy cooked for us, smile at us a little, and then lie on the couch and watch TV. She usually fell asleep before she had finished watching one show.
Daddy was always there with me and Trevor. He made us breakfast and brunch and lunch and snack and dinner and supper. He showed us how to take care of the cats. He played with us in the woods, but we weren't ever allowed to go too far. He knew how to do funny tricks with his tail, and he taught me how to do them with mine (Trevor was jealous because he doesn't have a tail). He watched Sesame Street with us and read us books.
Daddy never left us alone during the day. Sometimes at night, when Mama was home, he'd leave for a long time and come back smelling sick-sweet and smoky. Mama always looked a little mad when he did that, but Trevor and me didn't mind - he made even funnier jokes then.
I didn't think it was weird that we never played with other kids. We had each other, and Daddy and Mama, and the cats. And sometimes grown-ups would come to visit. There was a doctor who came to see us, but Trevor and me didn't like her much because she gave us shots. Uncle Johann stayed with us for a while. We didn't like him much either, because his head made scary noises, and there wasn't any part of him that was soft - only hard or squishy. One of the cats died while he was with us. He brought it back to life, but soon it died again, and we cried. Mama was mad at him for that. My favorite visitor ever was Uncle Abe. Me and Trevor would sit in his lap, and he would hold our hands. Then we felt just like we were under the ocean. Uncle Abe told us that he was letting us see all the places and strange fish he had seen.
One night our house caught on fire. Daddy woke us up and carried us out of the house. He carried Mama out too, but she wouldn't talk to us, and she looked sick. Trevor and me were really scared. Daddy told us that she was okay, but she had to sleep. We had to wait with her while Daddy made sure the forest didn't burn down like the house. Afterwards Mama did get better. She told us that she had an accident, and that was what caught the house on fire. Trevor and me knew all about accidents - we had been told to never turn on the stove if a grown-up wasn't there to help us, and to never play with matches, and if we found Daddy's gun, to never, ever touch it. But I didn't know that grown-ups could have accidents too. That was when I started to think that grown-ups might not be right all the time.
When we moved to our new house, I was big - four and a quarter. That's why I could tell that Mama and Daddy weren't happy all the time. When Trevor and me were supposed to be asleep, I would sneak out and hear them fighting. Mama would yell at Daddy about the cats and how there wasn't enough money and how tired she was all the time. Daddy would yell at Mama for not playing with us and for not caring about how he was stuck in the house and never got to go anywhere or meet anybody. It made me feel bad, but I kept listening. Trevor pretended like he didn't know anything about it, and wouldn't talk to me if I tried to tell him about it.
Mama and Daddy decided that we needed to play with other kids. So Mama read me one of my Sesame Street books - the one called "The Monster at the End of this Book". It's one of my favorites, because I like Grover best. She told me that even though the people on Sesame Street know that it's okay for monsters and humans to be friends, and even be in love like her and Daddy, most human people are like Grover at the beginning of the book - they're afraid of monsters, and don't want to meet any. She said that when I meet my new friends, I should pretend I'm not any different from them. I should keep my shoes on all the time so they wouldn't see my hooves, even though they are very pretty hooves. I shouldn't let them see my tail, because if they did they might tell their parents, and their parents would get scared. I shouldn't tell them what Daddy looks like, because they'd be scared of him too.
I asked her, "Is that why Daddy doesn't go to work like you do?" she looked surprised, and I thought maybe I'd said something bad. But she said "We used to go to work together. But that job wasn't a good job. We had to stop working there. But there are people who want to make us do that job again, and so we have to make sure they don't find us."
Then Daddy had to use a machine to grind off Trevor's horns. He used it on his own horns first to show Trevor that it didn't hurt, but Trevor still wiggled and cried when he did it. Mama tied my tail to one of my legs. It felt weird, but I didn't mind too much because I liked meeting other girls who were humans. They were nice. We played Dora the Explorer.
One night I heard Daddy's voice, very loud. His voice is rumbly, so when he reads a story it feels like a big cat purring, but this time he sounded like a big dog growling, so I knew he was fighting with Mama again. Trevor looked like he was asleep, but he didn't wake up when I said his name, so I knew he was just pretending. I snuck down the stairs, but I didn't want to just listen that time, so I peeked at them.
Mama was on fire. I had been told to be careful around fire, and never try to touch it because it would hurt me. But she didn't look hurt, and Daddy had his hand on her shoulder and he didn't look hurt. I didn't think about the fire, I just saw that Mama was sad. I wanted to help her feel better, so I ran to her and gave her a hug.
Everyone started screaming. I was screaming the loudest, because my arms hurt worse than anything, and there was fire in my hair. Mama kept burning and screaming. Daddy picked me up and squished me under his coat.
The next thing I remember is the doctor. She told me that Mama was very, very sorry, but that she was okay and not angry, and that she wanted me to rest and get better. I was asleep for a long time. Sometimes the doctor would wake me up and give me water to drink, and then I would go back to sleep.
When I woke up again the doctor was gone. I was thirsty again, so I called for someone to help me. Nobody came for a long time, and I got scared. Finally Daddy came in, carrying Trevor. Trevor's face was all smudgy from crying. Daddy was smoking a cigar, and that scared me more than anything. Mama never let him smoke around me and Trevor.
I asked him, "Where's Mama?"
"Mama quit, Katiebug."
Trevor started to cry again, and I did too. Daddy sat down next to me and tried to hug me with his arm that's big and rough and cold.
"Guys, guys, she's coming back. Do you know what she did when we used to work together? She quit thirteen times. And she always came back. She'll come back this time too. She loves you very, very much. She just needs a little time." But he looked scared and sad.
My Mama quit us. That's when I knew our family was not normal.