Page 3 of The Monsters Within

“Mellie, don’t.”

She sighed and nodded. Then she turned her chair so that her back would be to him and I could see him while I talked. He went back to his post, leaving me alone with Dr. Jefferson.

“How long have you known Cash?” I asked. Suddenly wondering why they were so familiar when I knew she had only been here a few weeks.

This time, Dr. Jefferson looked at him over her shoulder, and when she turned back, she had a smile on her face. “Most of my life. Cash and my brother Gunner prospected together. He and King were two more big brothers to me growing up.”

“You and he never...” I couldn’t bring myself to finish the question. Jealousy and I were close friends. Too close.

Dr. Jefferson threw her head back and laughed. “Oh God, no. Never.”

I reached down to scratch my leg and caught Cash’s eye. The monsters settled immediately.

“Why don’t we start with something simple? Tell me about how you met Valhalla.”

I took a deep breath and told her about the day I met Val.

I’d wandered around the city alone, looking for my brother.

He didn’t come back.

Thorne left two days ago to find us food and he never came back.

Maybe someone took him too.

We weren’t the only kids who lived on the street. There were lots of them. We’d never had friends before. We still didn’t have any now. Thorne said he didn’t trust them. He said we could only trust each other.

He told me to stay where I was. I always listened to Thorne, but I was hungry. He was older. He knew more than I did. But I was scared.

We waited for Mom to come back, but she didn’t. So I guessed that meant Thorne wasn’t coming back either.

He was so mad when Mom left. I was sad. And scared. She didn’t want to leave. But he made her. He hit her and pulled her hair until she was in the car.

She’d cried.

Mom never cried.

I didn’t know why Thorne wouldn’t let me go with him. He had taught me how to find food. I could have helped him, and we would still be together.

I looked down the alley. Thorne said to always look and to make sure there wasn’t someone there before I went in. I tried to always do what he said, but I couldn’t wait anymore. He never came back.

I crept down the alley, sticking to the side like Thorne had said. There were boxes and wood floors that people used to move things. Someone had leaned them against the building, so I tried to stay behind them.

There were two dumpsters at the end. One of them would have food. I was too small to climb to the top, so I went to the side and pulled at the little door. Why they had a little door, I didn’t know. Grown-ups could reach the top, and the door was too small for them, anyway.

But I was happy there was one.

I was just about to climb in when I heard a man.

“Hey, little girl, do you need some help?”

Thorne said I shouldn’t talk to strangers. But Mom said it was rude to ignore people. I didn’t know what to do, so I just shook my head.

He was scary looking. His clothes were dirty, and he smelled funny. Kind of like my bed when I didn’t wake up at night. But grown-ups didn’t have accidents like little kids did. That’s what Thorne said.

“Come here, sweetheart.”

He reached for me, and I scurried back. There wasn’t much space under the dumpsters, but I was small. Thorne said not to hide behind them cause grown-ups could move them. He said to hide under them so they couldn’t reach me.