The Antiquity Shop down the Street

Rough day. Rough week, even. Between the constant bullying, little kids pulling on her tail, people trying to pluck her feathers for collection or the people working at the orphanage (she didn’t trust them), Skapii was having a rough time.

For this reason, she didn’t stay in the bedrooms tonight. She decided to leave, just for a few hours… Maybe. She couldn’t help but wanting to escape forever, to start off a new life somewhere far from here.

She left as quietly as she could, avoided the night watch person. Crossed the park, and escaped through that hole in the barrier she found long ago. Way too long ago !! She wasn’t supposed to spend all her years here. It was bad. She was tired.

She started walking in the street, looking at her paws, ears lowered. She was miserable. It probably wasn’t that bad… But she wasn’t feeling so great, oh no. At some point, she just stopped walking, sat on a bench and stayed there, curled up, motionless. After fighting back tears for a long while, she decided that she was allowed to cry. Her life sucked.

A long moment passed before someone interrupted her. “Hey there, is everything alright ?” It was a deep, very soft voice, very gentle. She looked up, eyes full of tears, and stared at the man who was facing her.

He looked like… A gargoyle, probably, judging by the texture of his skin and the lichen growing on his body. Which reassured her a bit – she felt a lot more comfortable around other “monsters”.

He had soft features. A pencil mustache and incredibly well trimmed and designed short beard. A big nose and long, thick ears, with soft edges. He had really nice green eyes, whose corner dropped a bit. His hair was pretty fluffy, it was short but had just enough length to curl a bit there and there, to show off that fluffiness. The mustache, beard and his impeccable white shirt and suspenders gave him a really fancy look. She wasn’t that impressed by his large, bat-like rock wings, because she herself was a winged creature, but they definitely were something worth mentioning. He also had a long, thick tail, which ended in a fleur-de-lis shape.

He just looked very gentle overall, and in her current state, she quickly let down her guard.

“Is everything alright, hon ?” He repeated calmly, with a very gentle, comforting smile. She stuttered a few syllables, tried to wipe away her tears.

“Schhhh… It’s going to be okay. Don’t worry. Can I sit by you ?” She hesitated, like maybe 0.5 seconds before she nodded and gave him some space next to her on the bench.

He sat next to her, folding his wings in his back and looking at her very softly. “What’s going on, hon ? Are you lost ?” She shook her head in negation. “It’s past midnight, what are you doing outside alone in the cold ?”

She didn’t answer right away, but he didn’t cut her short or anything. He waited patiently until she managed to speak up. “I escaped from the orphanage.” A dash of “oh no” appeared in his eyes, but he didn’t lose his soft expression and reassuring look. 

“Oh, hon, I’m sorry… It’s not reasonable though. They’re all going to be worried about you, you could even get in trouble…” She sniffled and looked away. “They won’t notice… I think I’m going back… At some point…” 

He softly, carefully put a hand on her shoulder. She jumped in surprise, but braced herself and let him do. After a few second, he was stroking her shoulder with his thumb, very softly. And she immediately started to melt, started to sob quietly.

“Do you need to talk about it, hon ?” It took a little while, but she nodded softly. “Go ahead, you can tell me. Take your time.”

She rubbed her eyes, slowly leaning against him. He didn’t push her away, let her do that if she needed to. She took a while to start.

“I’m not happy at the orphanage…” She rubbed her face. “I’m just… I’m not even happy in general… My life sucks…”

“You shouldn’t say that, hon. Believe me, it’s all going to get better with some work and maybe some help, okay ?” He patted her shoulder. “I can guess you’re not feeling good, you wouldn’t be here either way, and I’m going to take that very seriously. But I assure you there’s some light left at the end of that tunnel. I promise.”

She sniffled again and looked up at him. “B-But I don’t find it, I just try to be safe but even at the orphanage it – it’s just bad.” He looked at her, still with that very soft expression. “What’s happening that makes it bad ?”

“W-well I just try to be discreet and safe and not bother anyone and stuff b-but, the people they go after me and they…” He didn’t interrupt, gave her time. “They’re not nice, they say I’m weird, they say I’m bad because I’m a monster, they say I smell like wet dog – I’m not even a dog !! And they, they try to pluck my feathers or to pull on my tail and… It-it’s just bad, it’s all the time, I don’t feel good there, there’re so many things that go wrong…”

He kept stroking her shoulder with his thumb. “Anything else ?” She took a short break. “I just feel so bad and I feel like I don’t matter and just about everyone wants me to feel terrible always… I feel like I’m never gonna be happy…”

“Schhh… I promise it’s going to get better.” She sobbed a bit louder. “But what if it doesn’t ? I try to tell myself it’s gonna get better and it’s just a bad moment, but it never ends. My whole life is a bad moment.” He was still looking at her very softly, but he definitely looked sad. She didn’t really realize though. 

She leaned against his shoulder, crying, and he wrapped an arm around her. He just stayed there with her, stroking her hair until she calmed down a bit.

A long moment passed before she spoke up again. “I-I’m sorry I…” She started shaking a bit. “Schhh. It’s okay, hon. It’s okay.” He sounded so gentle, and she gave up entirely on her guard to melt against him.

“My name is Nevski. How about yours, hon ?” She waited a moment. “S-Skapii.” He smiled to her, incredibly soft and gentle. She stared at him, blinking softly. Grabbed his hand and played with his fingers. He let her do.

“Maybe we could start heading back to the orphanage, yes ?” She nodded and attempted to find some muscle tonus to stand up. He helped her and started walking next to her, heading to the orphanage, very slowly.

She was still playing with his hand. 

“I shouldn’t have left the orphanage in the first place…” He smiled softly at her, as an attempt to reassure her. “This allowed us to meet each other.” She looked up at him with big eyes. “Are you happy you met me ? I did nothing but cry and complain…” He smiled and clicked his fingers. “I believe every encounter has a meaning.” She looked into the void for a moment. He kept going. “I’m also glad I could help you get these awful things off your chest.”

She nodded quietly, wide-eyed and looking half disconnected. After a while, she spoke up. “Thank you… It. Helped a lot.”

He squeezed her hand, very gentle. “I’m glad.” 

They kept walking until they reached the orphanage. She started dragging her paws on the ground, walking slower and slower.

“It’s going to be okay, Skapii.” She looked unsure. He kept going. “Is there anyone you can talk to about all of that ? You don’t have to deal with it all alone, hon.”

“There’s… Hmm… Agamemnon and you.” He sighed quietly, heartbroken. She really didn’t have many positive acquaintances. “Who’s Agamemnon ? A friend of yours ?” She made a face and stuck her tongue out. “Not really. He’s a bastard man but he lets me do my homework at his shop and it’s nice.”

Nevski looked absolutely horrified by now. 

“Does he… Treat you okay ?...” She didn’t answer right away. Took her time to think about it. “I think so. He’s not good at being nice… But I think he tries. I think.” The gargoyle was growing more and more horrified by the second. “Skapii, hon, you don’t need people who don’t manage to treat you correctly.” She just shrugged.

He grabbed a piece of paper and wrote down something. Handed it to her with a soft, kind smile. “Hey, hon, here’s my phone number. I’m a nocturnal creature… But if you text me, anytime you want, I will answer as soon as possible, okay ?”

She grabbed the paper, wide eyed. “O-Okay… Th-thank you Nev…Ski…”

He smiled gently, kneeled down in front of her. Patted her shoulder softly. “Anytime, okay ?” She nodded. “We will see each other again, I promise. For now, just don’t forget to send me a message by times to times. I want to make sure you’re okay.”

She started sobbing quietly, opening her arms and making a grabby hands gesture toward him. “C-can I h-have a… a hug ?...”

He picked her up carefully, wrapping his wings around her and holding her tight. Whispering little comforting words into her ears. He really didn’t want to be creepy or anything… But the little sweetheart probably needed that.

The hug lasted a long time, until she stopped crying. He put her back on her feet, smiled softly to her and patted her head. “Will you be fine ?”

She nodded. “Good. You should go back inside and sleep, hon.” She nodded again. “Thank you Nevski…” He smiled. “You don’t have to thank me, sweetheart.” She rubbed her cheek. “Okay…”

“There’s a hole in the barrier. I’ll take that way so they don’t know I got out.” He nodded softly. “Sleep well, hon.”

She blew a smooch to him and immediately ran back inside.

The gargoyle sighed, rubbed the back of his neck. Extended his large, rock wings, and flew off into the night.