Tiny Raven

I dreamt of nothing.

Nothing so thick I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. There was no movement, no sensation at all. I was suffocating, but there was no need to breathe. I couldn’t see, but everything was inky blackness and blinding light. I couldn’t feel, but I was being compressed and pulled apart all at once.

I dreamt of everything.

Hands made of shadow and ink reaching for me. Grabbing and grasping, trying to catch me, only to phase through my arm, shirt, body. Faces oozed in and out of existence, their mouths open in unheard screams that were too loud.

I saw –

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

It was too early for anyone to be awake.

I rolled over with a groan and hit the “snooze” button on my alarm clock, glaring at the glowing time display.

Four hours of sleep was not enough.

I considered calling in sick to my first job, claiming I had the flu or something. Getting a full night’s sleep would definitely help my hangover.

Four oh one.

With an unhappy grunt I forced myself to sit and turned on my lamp. I closed my eyes against the light before it could sear into my dark-adjusted pupils and make my head throb.

As my vision adjusted I grabbed my pills and threw them back, swallowing them dry. I broke the seal of the water bottle, and drank the entire thing to chase the medication.

No time to waste, I needed to start my day.

I climbed out of bed and looked for clean clothes.

My organizational system was not working as well as I thought.

I eventually found a pair of jeans and a tee that I was reasonably certain were clean and I made my way to the bathroom.

I checked the bruise in the mirror, happy to notice that it wasn’t as prominent as I had feared. It was dark but it was small enough that I would probably avoid having coworkers ask about it.

I stripped and took a quick shower, water near scalding. Towel off, clothes on, and into the kitchen for breakfast.

My morning routine hadn’t changed in years, and I fell into a rhythm.

Two pieces of bread into the toaster, and I flipped through the news on my phone while I brushed my teeth.

The toaster pops and I spit into the sink.

I had just grabbed the first slice of bread when –

“You’re up early.”

I screamed.

I threw my toast at the unexpected and too-close voice.

It ninja-starred across my apartment.

Bone Ninja dodged. Not that he needed to, my aim was way off.

I’d never be Hokage at this rate.

“Guess that bread is … toast?” the skeleton asked, looking where my breakfast had flown.

I groaned, thrown off by the break in routine. “Make a pun that bad this early again and you’ll be toast.”

He gave a sort of half-hearted huffing chuckle.

A for Effort, I guess.

“Fuck yeah,” I muttered as I reached for the second piece of my breakfast.

I stopped as a realization hit me.

“Fuck no.” I spun on the skeleton, pointing and glaring at him. “I have to go to work!”

He blinked and part of my brain wondered how. How does bone blink? How do you blink without eyelids?

“And?” he asked.

I turned back around and grabbed the toast, tearing it roughly in half. I held out half to the skeleton while taking a bite out of the other. “I can’t leave you here. You’re not on the lease. I don’t even know if this place allows monsters? I mean, I’m pretty sure they do … but I’m pretty sure they have to be on the lease. And I can’t have a stranger just … in my home while I’m gone.”

My brain, sleep deprived and high on adrenaline, spiraled.

He could be a pyromaniac and would burn everything down. He could be a violent sociopath and set up maniacal traps. Wasn’t there some legend about monsters loving puzzles and those puzzles being deadly? He would start a cult with my neighbors and work to revive some Great Old One and bring destruction on humanity from my apartment, since that was the place where the Ley lines connected this world to the next and …

He was looking at the bread I was holding out confused, not taking it and was not on my train of thought.

Granted, the train had definitely left the tracks at this point.

“Hungry?” I asked, waving the half of toast a little. “Take it.”

He did and looked even more confused. I swallowed the last of my piece and washed my hands.

I needed to get back onto my routine.

I went into the bathroom to run a comb through my hair and style it enough that it wouldn’t frizz.

My brain kept going.

Shouty Old Guy had been on his way to get rid of Bones. There was an auction house somewhere near here that dealt with Monsters, and with the paperwork all filled out and just requiring a signature …

Why?

He hadn’t even fought that hard when I raised the amount of money I was extorting out of him. What had he said? ‘As long as it gets rid of him’? Something like that.

What had the skeleton done?

I glanced at the skeleton as I went to my bedroom to throw my bag together. I raised my voice to keep talking to him, uncertain if he was listening or cared.

“I can’t leave you here, so you’ll have to come to work with me.” I paused as I ran through my mental list of things I’d need today. “Is that a normal thing people do? Is that even allowed?”

I shook my head, trying to reign in my wandering thoughts. “I don’t really have a choice until I figure all this out and I know you aren’t insane or something.”

I shouldered my bag and rushed to the kitchen.

“No offense. I just … don’t feel comfortable leaving a stranger in my home. I’m sure you’re a polite skeleton with no predilections toward the eldritch.”

I stopped to consider our interactions so far. Lots of glaring and angry silence from him, and a whole night of drunken antics from my dumb ass.

I definitely had plenty of reason to believe he was polite and not evil.

I started putting together a lunch. Two water bottles from the fridge, a mental note to restock, an apple, a bag of chips.

“Hey, Boney!” I called out. He waved from the couch. I hadn’t noticed him laying there.

“Turkey or ham?” I asked as I looked at my packages of deli meat. “Have a preference?”

He shook his head and I decided on ham and cheddar. Put together the sandwich, cut it in half, add it to the bag with everything else.

Couple of granola bars and I had a lunch for champions.

“Anyway, you’re coming to work with me and hopefully I don’t end up fired. And you don’t get in trouble. And everything goes great and we celebrate our newfound friendship tonight. You ready for work, Bones?”

I turned to look at him and frowned.

He was standing by the door, staring at me all black eyes and barely masked hate. His hoodie was zipped but he still had no shoes, and his athletic shorts were looking even more ragged than they had yesterday.

I did some quick mental math and figured we would be able to swing by a shop between two of my jobs. I checked my bag to make sure I still had the two hundred from the old man.

Perfect. I could use it to buy the skeleton some clothes. It felt more appropriate than spending it on myself, anyway.

That meant I was carrying a lot of cash, but with any luck I’d be left alone since I had a spooky scary skeleton with me.

“Hi ho, hi ho,” I said to the skeleton as I walked toward the door. He furrowed his brow at me and I blinked. “You’re … not familiar with Snow White? ‘Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work we go?’ ”

Another shrug and I remembered he hadn’t had much time to explore the surface before … well, before. I held the door open for him.

“Gonna have to marathon all the Disney classics, then,” I said, trying to keep my voice light.

---

My first job was one of my closest places of employment. Maintenance on the lines at a factory, then quality assurance testing earbuds. Unfortunately it started so early that I couldn’t take a bus, so I had to rush across part of the city on foot.

I hoped my shadowing skeleton would follow my lead as I wove through city streets and alleyways, moving at a jog. I checked on him a few times, when we passed windows and I could glance at his reflection, or when there was a fence to jump.

Somehow he kept up with me, despite walking at a leisurely pace, hands in hoodie pockets.

Impressive, but it only added to the terror I felt from his blank glare.

As we got the warehouse I pulled out my phone to check the time. A little before five. Right on time.

I sought out my foreman. He was the son of someone important and he got the position through nepotism rather than merit. At least, that was my theory. He wasn’t a bad manager, he was actually one of my better bosses. He did his best to treat everyone humanely and was humble enough to ask for help when he was in over his head.

He was often in over his head.

I found him in his office and explained that I had someone with me as I clocked in.

He was about to argue when he saw that “someone” in the doorway.

“Oh, a monster. Strange for you to have one,” he said and I felt my cheeks redden with shame. “If that’s it, then it’s fine, Just don’t let it mess up the line. If it breaks anything it’ll come out of your paycheck,”

“Of course.” I nodded and he dismissed me with a wave of his hand.

I spent the next hour doing maintenance. Fixing minor issues and wear and tear on the line, ensuring everything would run smoothly.

Officially I didn’t do this job. The maintenance guys were overwhelmed and the owners wouldn’t hire more people. “Everything works fine, why do we need more mechanics and engineers?”

Somehow the overnight maintenance guy learned I was all-but-certified to do some of the work. He worked out a deal with the foreman and I was asked to come in an hour early. I would then take care of some of the easy, routine tasks each morning.

It sucked, I missed the hour of sleep, but I needed the money.

I had nearly finished when my first coworker arrived.

She was a college girl, working her way through school. She was studying something in the hard sciences or maybe mathematics. Astrophysics or Cosmology or something. I wasn’t really sure. She was a sweetheart, and had made me a cupcake for my last birthday.

Her name started with an H. Hannah or Heather or something.

She stopped short when she saw the skeleton sitting on the ground near me.

“Who is this?!” She asked, somewhere between a shout and a screech. She looked between Boney and me a few times. “You have a monster? Since when?”

I sighed and finished tightening the nut I was working on before pulling myself to my feet.

“Yesterday through a series of unfortunate events. He’s … ” I stopped short.

I never asked his name.

He spent all day with me and had slept in my apartment and I owned him and I had no idea what his name was.

“He … He’s my bodyguard,” I finished, the lie sounding lame on my tongue.

“Oh! You do live in a rough area, don’t you? Well, I understand. Sometimes we have to compromise on our values so we can survive, right?” She gave a casual shrug as she walked away. I couldn’t help but shudder under the judgement in her tone.

I methodically put my tools back into place in their toolbox.

“Hey, Bones.” I said as I finished. Even without looking at him I could feel his eye sockets on my back and I knew they were black voids. I swallowed hard, trying to ignore the uneasiness in my stomach, and not looking at him as I sorted my thoughts.

“I’m sorry. I haven’t been acting like a very good person.”

I took a deep breath and spun around, holding a filthy hand out to him. I plastered a big smile on my face.

I tried not to feel the weight of my guilt.

“Hi. My name is Theresa Navarro. It’s nice to meet you. What’s your name?”

The anger and hatred dropped from his face for a moment, replaced by a flicker of surprise. He glanced between my outstretched hand and my face, trying to see how sincere I was being.

After a lifetime he took my hand.

“Sans,” he said, voice soft and edged with confusion. “Sans the Skeleton.”

I shook his hand once then let it go and grabbed the toolbox to return it.

“Nice to meet you, Sans,” I said as I turned away. “I’m sorry it took me so long.”

I had the impression that few of his owners had bothered to learn his name.

I returned the tools and told the maintenance guy about an issue on one of the lines that I couldn’t fix.

Then it was time to start what I had actually been hired to do. Four hours of mindless drudgery.

Quality Assurance testing for earbuds was an exceptionally basic process. Plug the headphones in. Make sure they scream like a computer being murdered. Then wrap them up and send them down the line to packaging.

It was easy, boring, and paid next to nothing, but it was stable.

Sans watched as I worked, sitting where he wasn’t interfering with the line or my coworkers. Some employees glanced our way as they came in to start their shifts, but no one said anything to me.

Most people didn’t seem to notice or care about the monster in the room.

After an hour of watching me the skeleton apparently got bored and he came over to help. He wrapped the cables after I tested them and my productivity improved immensely. I was grateful for the help, but I worried how it would mess up my numbers.

I only hoped I wouldn’t be expected to do the work of two people every day.

We passed the time in silence, working side by side until my phone buzzed in my pocket, letting me know it was time to go. I checked in with my manager and clocked out. Then I headed across the street to the overgrown park where I usually ate my first lunch.

It was more an empty lot than a park, but there were benches to sit. Most people ignored the area and it was mostly used by the homeless or the drug addicted. This time of day it was empty, and as long as you watched where you stepped –

I stopped just short of stepping off the sidewalk.

“Hey, Sans?” I asked. I gave him a moment to respond and sighed when he didn’t. “Can you catch human diseases?”

He gave me a weird look, confusion and curiosity plain on his boney face. I waved at the lot, “This park sometimes has used needles and stuff around. I don’t want you getting Monster AIDS or hepatitis or something.”

He looked down at his bare, skeletal feet and shrugged. “No.”

“I guess not having a liver probably helps,” I said, mostly to myself. I considered my options. I looked at his feet, then at the park, and then turned away and headed toward my next job. There was a nicer park by the hotel and neither of us would have to watch out for dirty needles or used condoms.

At one point I had one of those fitness trackers, a gift from my sister. She had tried to get everyone in the family to join together in a friendly fitness competition. Just some nice family bonding.

It ended within a week when everyone realized how much I traveled by foot. No one realized that I crossed the city multiple times every day. One of my brothers called me a cheater and the competition was dropped.

It was just as well since I lost the tracker a few weeks later. I had put it with my stuff in my locker one day and it had vanished like magic. I never did figure out which coworker stole it.

I led the way to the park and sat down on one of the benches near the playground. I handed a water bottle to the skeleton, along with half the sandwich, and then offered either apple or chips.

He chose chips.

I crunched the apple and people watched.

Or rather, skeleton watched.

Sans was leaning against a tree, watching the little kids on the playground. There was an almost soft expression on his face.

The pinpricks of light were back in his eyes.

I remembered the kid from the news stories, the one who had freed the monsters from the Underground. I couldn’t remember their name.

I assumed Sans didn’t know them. There were something like a million monsters in the Underground. Only a handful had interacted directly with the human child. I wondered if thee was any folklore or legends about the kid. Stories passed around the refugee camps in the early days on the Surface.

I couldn’t figure out how to ask Sans about them.

“I’ve got four hours here, then a couple hours as a sort of lunch break,” I said after I finished my apple. I threw the core at a trash can. I missed. I sighed and stretched. “There’s a strip mall a block or two from here. We should have enough time to stop there and get you some clothes.”

Sans said nothing, which I had come to expect. I threw the apple core into the trash and considered my remaining half of the lunch with a frown.

I was hungry.

I really didn’t feel like eating.

I glanced back and saw that Sans seemed to be waking up. Apparently the skeleton could sleep standing up. What a useful skill.

“Want some more sandwich? I’m not gonna eat it,” I said as I packed everything up.

“You keep feeding me,” the skeleton noted. “Trying to fatten me up?”

I laughed, “Yeah, you’re too skinny. I can see your ribs.”

He snorted in response as he took the other half of sandwich.

“Fuck yeah,” I said with a grin. I pointed at the building we were heading to, “Time for job number two.” I waved my hands in mock excitement. “Housekeeping. Yay.”

As we entered the hotel lobby I pointed to some of the plush couches and asked Sans to wait for me there. I headed into the employee area and put my belongings in one of the little half lockers.

This was one of my nicer jobs. The pay was okay and the conditions weren’t horrible. I had a safe place to keep my things while I worked, I didn’t have to work with people, and the whole place was air conditioned. It was also incredibly unlikely that I would get injured.

It was better than a lot of other options.

I changed into my work outfit and threw my regular clothes into the locker with my bag. As I clocked in I explained that I had a monster with me to one of my managers. Like before I was told as long as he didn’t distract me or cause damage it was fine.

And any damage he did cause would come out of my paycheck.

I left the employee area to collect Sans. He took one look at my outfit and damn near pissed himself laughing. The bones of his face were tinted blue.

“Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, numbskull.” I growled in good nature.

It wasn’t like I particularly enjoyed cosplaying as a French maid to clean hotel rooms, but a job was a job.

“C’mon,” I said, motioning for him to follow me. “We have rooms to clean.”

I spent the next four hours playing maid. I stripped beds and replaced linens. I vacuumed, swept, and mopped. I scrubbed toilets and showers.

Meanwhile, Sans sat in various hotel room chairs and watched. He was occasionally taken over by a fit of giggles and I would roll my eyes.

I did look pretty dumb in this getup.

Eventually I gave him my phone and charger. I wanted him to have something to do besides watching my every move.

By the end of my shift I was hot, sweaty, annoyed, and more than ready to be back in my regular clothes.

I told my manager which rooms I had completed and which were unfinished. There were only two. One was a disaster that was way higher than my pay grade and I thought would need a biohazard team to get it back to normal. The other was locked from the inside and obviously occupied.

I clocked out and changed back into my normal attire.

It was so much nicer to be in a tee-shirt and jeans.

I met up with the skeleton in the lobby and led the way to the shopping center.

I was starving.

I didn’t want to eat.

Sans needed shoes.

---

I normally only shopped at thrift stores, but I had learned a long time ago not to buy thrift store shoes.

Cheap shoes were more expensive in the long run.

I led the way to a discount shoe store. New shoes, half the price. Most  were the perfectly reasonable shoes … if they had been black or white. Instead their designer had chosen the most garish colors and patterns.

Most of these shoes were abominations to the eye.

Sans found a pair of pink and white sneakers that fit his boney feet well. I chuckled at the color choice, but he seemed happy with them, so I was too. At least his shoes looked normal.

I grabbed a bag of socks and we paid and left. No bag necessary since he was wearing the shoes out.

I debated between the thrift store and Solar’s before settling on the latter. Getting Sans clothed was important, but I needed to try to get some food in me for my next job.

“Food, then fashion,” I said and I led the way to the bar.

Around three thirty we walked into Solar’s and I learned that my stomach did not appreciate the idea of food.

I walked up to the counter and sat in my usual spot, giving a tired wave to Grillby. My short night was catching up to me.

“Heya hot stuff,” I said with a smile as I lay my head on the counter. I giggled as he flared red.

“Welcome to Solar’s Bar and Grill, can I get you anything to start with?” Grillby asked and we pretended he didn’t.

I glanced at the skeleton beside me. “You gonna order?”

“I’m broke,” he said as he returned the look. His pupil lights were back.

I snorted, “So am I. People still gotta eat. If you’re hungry, get something.”

He paused and I hoped that I hadn’t just issued a command.

I had figured out Grillby’s commands and their limitations through trial and error. But was it different when the speaker was also the owner?

I put my hand on my stomach in an attempt to ease my sudden queasiness.

I wasn’t certain how the collar understood what a command was. Was it the literal words used, or was the tone of voice important? Was it somehow the speaker’s intent? I had heard somewhere that intent was very important to monsters. That it could effect their magic in a lot of different ways.

I dug into my bag for my notebook to write down a reminder. I needed to read up on this.

“How about a burg?” Sans asked. It almost sounded like he was asking for permission. My appetite shrank further.

“Great! Eat mine, I’m not hungry.”

Sans gave me a look, which Grillby apparently took note of.

I ignored them both.

Grillby pushed my drink to me, and I took a swig of it gratefully. The alcohol burned in all the right ways and I started to feel a little better.

Then the burger and fries appeared and I pushed them to the skeleton, taking a couple of fries as I did.

“Thirsty?” I asked, lifting my drink.

The skeleton got a mischievous look in his eye then said in a voice meant to carry, “I’d ask for water but Grillby doesn’t – ”

“Shouldn’t touch the stuff!” I finished with him, laughing. “I thought of that yesterday!”

Grillby made a cracking huff, which set me off laughing even harder. I took another couple fries and waggled them at him.

“Oh, c’mon. That was a good one,” I said with a smile. “Anyway, seriously Sans, do you want something? There’s a magic machine over there that will give you almost anything your … uh … heart? desires.” I waved at the fountain drink machine and Grillby proffered a glass to the skeleton.

Sans took the glass and wandered over to fight with the touch screen on the machine. I wondered if he could do it without fingertips.

I turned back to Grillby, “You and Sans knew each other before, right?”

I tried to make it more a statement than a question.

The fiery bartender looked surprised, but nodded. “… lived in the same town,” he said, his voice crackling softly.

“Neighbors,” I said with a nod. I looked back over at the skeleton, then sighed and finished off my drink. “I’m in over my head, Grillbz.”

The bartender was silent. I assumed that meant he agreed. Now that the adrenaline, anger, and anxiety from yesterday was out of my system I just felt sad. Defeated. Like I had made a terrible mistake.

“Sometimes we have to compromise our values to survive.” But what about when it wasn’t about survival? What if it was a selfish need to … Protect? Help one of millions? Not feel like the worst person imaginable?

“ … you’ll manage,” Grillby said softly. He put the check down next to me and I fumbled in my bag for my wallet. “ … stay determined.”

I chuckled and tried to mask my expression as I handed him my payment. I didn’t want him worrying about me, not when he had so many other concerns.

“Oh! Sorry Flame-bo, but times have been a bit tough,” a rough, booming voice said from behind me.

Too close.

I winced, grabbing the barstool to keep myself from jumping at the intrusion into my personal space.. Apollo reached over me to take the money from Grillby. He counted out what I owed then took the tip for himself.

I glared at his retreating form. “Asshole.”

I sighed and pulled my wallet back out. I still had a little backup money, my spare cash in case something happened.

I looked around, making sure the greedy bar owner wasn’t around, then held out some of what I had.

“It isn’t as much, but it’s what I got,” I said, voice thick with apology.

The bartender made a move to reject my offer, but I insisted. He took it gratefully before hiding it in his waistcoat pocket.

We didn’t end up leaving Solar’s until an hour later. I had decided it was more important for Sans to have a friendly conversation than making sure he had shirts. He was pretty well covered up in the hoodie when he kept it zipped.

We could get him some shirts in the next week.

My last job of the day was stuffing envelopes for some political campaign that I didn’t care about. I got to sit down and the biggest risks were either a sore back or a paper cut.

I ended the day with a lot of paper cuts.

It was nearly ten by the time I was done, well past the time I could go cutting through back alleys without fear. So I hopped on the bus to my apartment, Sans close behind me, and I paid the fare for us both out of his money. I made a note that I owed that fund some money.

We rode in silence. Him all blank eyes and rictus smile, me doing my best to ignore the other passengers.

Then we walked the two blocks to my apartment in silence.

Then up the stairs in silence because the elevator was still out of order.

I had a feeling that Sans was not very talkative.

Or he didn’t like me, which was entirely reasonable and most likely.

Sans all but vanished as soon as he stepped through the front door.

I slipped my shoes off just inside the door and looked at my kitchen. I still needed to make dinner.

I sighed and went to collect ingredients.

Noodles, cheap canned marinara, cheese.

Lasagna was one of the easiest dishes I knew and it kept well. I made it a lot and it was all I would eat for weeks.

While I was waiting for the water to boil I pulled out my laptop.

I had to actually tell the government that I was a slave owner and get the paperwork filed. I also needed to email the property manager and get Sans on the lease as a permitted resident.

I wanted to research how the collars processed commands, too. I didn’t want to unintentionally use a command on Sans.

I worked on everything while I cooked, sighing every time I caught sight of my clock.

After I pulled the lasagna out of the oven I took a small slice for myself. I left a slice for Sans on the counter before packing the rest into the fridge.

“Sans, there’s some lasagna if you want it,” I called out as I passed the spare rooms, uncertain which he had chosen. “I’m going to sleep. Goodnight.”

I locked my door behind me and sat on my bed to eat and continue my research.

I glared at my alarm clock with an angry sigh.

There were never enough hours in the day.

---