Page 1 of Gaming with the Gargoyle in Hallow's Cove
Gabe
Prologue: Four Years Ago
Iwishmymomwould stop putting post-its on my forehead. When I open my eyes and see that bright yellow paper, I know I am home.
Sleeping in, see you after your hangout. <3 Mom
Shit. This is not good. Since my dad died, Mom really hasn’t been the same. I’d hoped that she would improve while I was away at school this year, but apparently not. As gargoyles, we already sleep the entire day—if she’s sleeping part of the night, her depression is worse than I thought.
We couldn’t spend long together anyhow. I’m meeting Preston, my half-brother—same dad, different moms—at Killy’s bar in a bit, but that only makes me worry more. If she’s not up by the time I get home, I’ll need to wake her up. Preston made it sound like we are just hanging out tonight, but I know better. Nothing with Preston is ever casual. He always has ulterior motives. Hopefully today’s ulterior motives involve straightening out the issues of Dad’s will. I don’t like what I’ve been hearing from my mom while I’ve been away at school, but I want him to tell me—to my face—what is going on.
My dad was human, but he fell in love with my mother, a gargoyle, when they were very young. Because he came from a wealthy human family, his parents had never seen my mother as an acceptable bride. So, our father had agreed to a marriage—mostly for show—to a human woman and had Preston, though after a few years in a miserable marriage, they’d agreed to largely live separate lives. When that happened, my father and Preston started spending their holidays in Hollow’s Cove, and I came around. As a kid, I’d always idolized my big brother, but this whole situation stinks and he’s looking like a fish.
Street lights flicker on across town, my “morning” greeting for all my life. Flower baskets hang from each lamp post and this early in the summer, the bushes are still blooming. The fragrant aroma of freshly cut grass tells me that my neighbor, a meticulous cyclops, saw enough growth to mow his lawn today. I grab my glasses from my pocket and put them on, bringing it all into focus. Deja Hairdo seems to have had a bit of an upgrade—it’s got a new coat of paint—perhaps to make up for the derelict fire station next door.
I stretch to the sky, reaching my wings out to their full span and flex my claws. Already the scent of the ocean feels right again. It took me years to get used to the bustle of people and scents of a large city overseas, but my mother was right, I think it did me good to spend time in the gargoyle homeland. I learned things about myself, and my culture, that I wouldn’t have in the isolated coastal town of Hallow’s Cove.
With a powerful gust, I take off into the air, soaring over Main towards the bodega. I could make myself some food, but a breakfast burrito to go sounds like the perfect welcome home. The chime when I walk through the door reminds me of stopping by on our way home from school with my best friend Gwen. We went to night school, like middle-of-the-night school, and the bodega was one of the few places open at two AM when we got out. Ssthress, the naga owner of the bodega slithers in from the back room and waves to me.
“Well, look who’s skulking in my door! If it isn’t baby Gabe! Not such a baby anymore, get over here, kiddo!” She envelops me in a hug, both arms and tail, and gives me a firm squeeze. “You shot right up while you were gone, didn’t you kid?”
Ssthress has always been particularly kind to me, I think as a single lady she had a lot of sympathy for my mom and how often she was alone. As a kid, she always snuck extra servings of pizza in my box, or charged me less for the biggest size slushy.
“Nope, I think you might just be shrinking, old woman!” She could still be taller than me if she used her whole tail’s height, but she prefers to balance on the thicker portions that make her just shy of six feet tall.
“Har, har.” She rolls her eyes and gives me an especially firm squeeze before letting me go. “What are you in for?”
“Breakfast burrito… or two.”
She flicks a hand toward the freezer and slithers to a new appliance. “Grab them and get ready to have your mind blown.”
She air-fries my burritos, and I don’t have the heart to tell her that the rest of the world has had them for a long time now.
“I’ll come back later, I have to meet Pres at the bar!” I say through a mouthful of burrito.
I walk the rest of the way, enjoying the sights and sounds of home. By the time I get to Killy’s Bar, I’ve passed five different people who stopped me to ask how my time away was.
Once inside, I approach the bar and stop short, because I would know that laugh, that ass, that scent anywhere—Gwen. In front of me, her brown hair, longer than I last saw it, is my best friend. My best friend that I’ve been obsessed with for the last six months. My best friend that thinks my letters home have been “increasingly shitty” as they’ve gotten shorter and shorter and I’ve had to restrain myself from being a weirdo. Gargoyles mature later than humans, so I imagine your best friend—whom you haven’t seen in a year—telling you that all of a sudden he’s pretty sure he’s in love with you, would be pretty startling. So, short letters. Because Gwen deserves better, she deserves for me to tell her in person.
“Killy!” I call out. “Is this little thief causing trouble?”
Gwen turns around, a massive smile on her face making me weak in the knees. “Gabe!”
She launches herself at me, wrapping arms and legs around me like a koala. This is the reason it’s taken me so long to come home. I give her a brief hug but disentangle myself as quickly as possible. She’s always been like this with me, climbing all over me like a jungle gym, but since I’ve realized how I feel about her, I knew it would be a bad idea—and it is.
She squishes into me perfectly and I have to imagine painting minis to keep my dick from giving it away. Start with a grey base, dry brush the high points with white…
“I didn’t know you were home! I thought you weren’t getting in until next week!”
“My finals finished early, and I didn’t see any reason to hang around!” As much as everything else feels right, the real feeling of home is being with Gwen. These last five years without her have been torture. I only have one left before I can head home and stay here for good. I’m not certain we actually have enough folks in Hallow’s Cove to need a second therapist, so I am not entirely sure what I’ll do when I graduate, but one thing is for sure, I need to be where Gwen is.
I can’t tell her how I feel, of course, I don’t want us to be miserable for a whole year being apart, but once I’m back? I’m going to tell her how I feel in the most romantic way possible. I’ve been writing her letters the whole time I’ve been gone, but I have a whole stash of secret letters of all the things I couldn’t say to her. I’m going to incorporate them into an adventure somehow and then ask her to be my girlfriend at the very end.
Just thinking about it brings a smile to my face as I set her down. She’s got the most stunning eyes and I smile down at her for perhaps too long, holding her hands and rubbing my thumb on the back of hers. Perhaps if I told her, she might consider living abroad with me for a year? Waiting to tell her really seems like the best idea, but looking down at her is messing with my head.
The deep sound of a throat being cleared interrupts my thoughts and when I turn my head, I see my older half-brother, Preston. Pres is shorter than me now, but I’ve looked up to him my entire life. He’s always had the best style, with his short, slicked back hair (I can’t grow any), and designer clothes (I mostly wear nerdy t-shirts and jeans or gym shorts). He’s super self-assured and gives me the best advice. Preston smiles wide, his white teeth shining in his tanned face. As a kid, I wondered if I was human, would I be as handsome as him. I’m proud to be a gargoyle now, even if it means I tower over my big brother and feel like a bull in a china shop in human homes.
Preston saunters up, wrapping his arm around Gwen. She places a hand on his chest and my heart falls out of my chest and slams onto the floor. A massive diamond glitters on her ring finger. She’s beaming at me, and Preston looks confident and pleased with himself, as always.