How to describe Chloe? She was beautiful. Not like Pen – completely different – and not just because she was human. She was gentle and kind and so much fun to be with. Chloe saw the fun in everything, and although we were two different species, I could almost be myself with her. She had no idea what I truly was, and when I did have to return to The Hollows to rid myself of those cravings, I told her I was visiting my sick mother – which wasn’t a complete lie.
Every time I went home I would go to mother, brush her hair, sit by her feet, and hold her hand while she sat and stared blankly at the wall. I would talk to her about Pen, but gradually the conversations became less about her and more about Chloe.
By the age of twenty-one, I finally felt confident enough in the human world to fulfil my ambition of joining the police force. With the extra money, Chloe and I made enough to rent a small house together on the edge of town. We were more than just friends by that time, we had become lovers, and Pen and that kiss we had shared together was nothing more than a distant memory – or so I thought.
One morning, I picked up the letters from the doormat and carried them through to the kitchen. Chloe was still in bed, it was Saturday, and she wanted to lie in. As the kettle boiled away in the corner, I thumbed through the letters, most of which were nothing more than junk mail. Then, at the bottom of the pile, there was an off-white envelope. My name had been scribbled across the front, but there was no address or post stamp. I placed the other letters to one side, and sitting down at the kitchen table, I opened the envelope. I took out the letter, feeling as if I had been slapped across the face. The letter was from Pen, and this is what it said:
Dear Jim,
How are you? That’s a dumb question,
right? But you have no idea how many times I
have started this letter, then ripped it up and
started all over again. So, I’m just going to
write everything down. So here goes...
...Sorry it has taken me so long (seven
years? Has it really been that long?)to get in
touch but things haven’t been easy for me
since we last saw each other that night.
Firstly, I want you to know that I’m
well, happy, and safe and I miss you – always
have – how could I forget you? My father had
somehow found out about my friendship with
you. So he sent me away. Remember I told you
about his brother – the one who was
imprisoned by the Vampyrus for a crime he
didn’t commit, well he got out and my father
sent me to live with him. My father just dumped
me on him. I don’t think he was expecting me.
Uncle John was pretty cool about everything.
He was a pretty cool guy all round, really, and
I think that perhaps he was innocent. Whatever
he might have or not done, he just took me in
and gave me a home. I saw very little of my
father, and like most Lycanthrope, he seemed
to struggle with the curse. So John became
more of a father to me than an uncle, and I
loved him as one.
However, two years ago John died. He
came home late one night with a fatal injury. I
don’t know what had happened – a fight
perhaps? I never really knew what he got up to
and there is a part of me that never wants to
know. But he died in my arms in a pool of his
own blood on the kitchen floor. It was a very
difficult time for me as I had grown to love him
very much. Although life has sometimes been
tough, what so often got me through, was
remembering that night we spent together in
The Hollows. I often think back to that world
you took me to – not just The Hollows – but
Oz. Although I don’t think I could ever return
to my world beyond the Fountain of Souls, I
have created a little piece of Oz in the human
world!
My uncle left me a sum of money – I do
not know how he came by it and I think it is
best not to know. But with it I have invested the
money and opened a little café and bar, which
I have named the ‘Wizard of Ooze.’
Why don’t you come and stay? I’m
desperate to see you again. We could hang out
like we did before. It’ll be just like the old
times, me and you.
Write back (the address is at the top of
the letter) would love to hear from you!
Miss you Jim!
Your friend,
Pen
With my heart thumping in my chest, I read the letter over and over and was so pleased to know that Pen was safe and well. I then folded it, placed it back into the envelope, and tucked it into my trouser pocket. I couldn’t risk Chloe reading it. Not just because it was from another woman, but because it spoke of The Hollows, the Fountain of Souls, and what Pen and I really were – a Vampyrus and a Lycanthrope. I wrote back at once and told her everything. I explained how much I had missed her, and spent so much of the last seven years wondering what had happened to her. I wrote about my mother and brother, then told her I had joined the police force. With the pen poised over the paper, I looked up at where Chloe still lay asleep above me. Then, taking a deep breath, I wrote that I had met a girl called Chloe and how much I loved her. I hoped that Pen would understand and still want to see me. Once dressed, I left the tiny house I shared with Chloe, and posted the letter to Pen. As I walked back to the house, all of those feelings I had once felt for Pen came rushing back through me. I could vividly remember all those lazy afternoons we had spent together, the night we had spent in The Hollows, and that kiss we had shared. It was that kiss I kept playing over and over in my mind as I tried to crush the feelings it had woken inside of me.
Back at the house, I found Chloe wearing her night dress and sitting at the kitchen table. She had a steaming mug of coffee in one hand.
“Okay, honey?” she smiled. “You don’t look well – like you’ve seen a ghost or something.”
I sat down at the table across from her and told her all about Pen. Not everything, you understand. Not about The Hollows, the Fountain of Souls, the Vampyrus and the Lycanthrope – but just about a childhood friend who wanted me to go and visit. As I sat and spoke, that kiss came to the forefront of my mind again and whatever feelings that Pen’s letter had stirred inside of me, I knew that I had better get a grip of them real quick. Not just because it was unfair to Chloe to be harbouring such feelings for another – but I was a cop now and any mixing between the Lycanthrope and Vampyrus was forbidden.
Murphy
I received another letter from Pen about a week later, giving me the address of her café-bar.
She said that she was happy for me that I had found love with Chloe and invited her along too for the grand opening of her café. Pen explained in her letter that we both had to come dressed as characters from the moving pictures, ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ I went dressed as a scarecrow and Chloe as the wicked witch.
‘The Ooze Bar’ was packed on its opening night. The place was full of Tin Men, Scarecrows and Lions. Holding Chloe’s hand at my side, I looked about the café in search of Pen.
What would she look like now, seven years later?
Would I recognise her? Was she in costume like the rest of us and would she recognise me? I felt nervous but excited all at the same time at the thought of seeing her again. I looked around the café and to see all of those tin men, lions, witches, and scarecrows reminded me of the night we sat and watched the magical moving pictures together. There was a real carnival type atmosphere in the place and it buzzed with pulsating music and energy. Then, without warning, a pair of hands slipped over my eyes from behind.
“Guess who?” a voice whispered in my ear.
I whirled quickly around and there she was, dressed like Dorothy from ‘The Wizard of Oz’. Despite the long platted pigtails, which I guessed was a wig, I recognised that smile pulled across her face, her bright hazel eyes. Pen looked older, but more beautiful than I had remembered.
Her body had grown up, too, and filled out in all the right places.
“Wow, you’ve grown up!” I said.
“So have you! Filling out nicely I see,”
Pen grinned, patting my stomach. “Good to see you again, Jim.”
“You too,” I smiled, my heart leaping, as I hugged her tightly in my arms.
Letting go of her, I turned to look at Chloe. “This is Chloe,” I told Pen.
“Hello, Chloe,” Pen smiled.
“Hi,” Chloe said back, and even beneath her bright green make-up I could see she felt uncomfortable.
If I were to be honest, I felt uncomfortable, too. I was unfamiliar with Pen’s new friends. As we sat and chatted at the end of the bar and watched the inhabitants of Oz jive around the small dance floor, Pen beckoned over one of her staff. I guessed she was in her early twenties, just like us, but it was hard to tell behind the heavy lion’s make-up that she was wearing.
She had light blond hair which had been vigorously backcombed to resemble a lion’s mane.
“This is Annie,” Pen shouted over the booming music.
“Pleased to meet you, Annie. I’m Jim,” I said. “This is Chloe.”
“Good to meet you both,” Annie said as Pen propped her arm around her shoulder.
“Annie’s a real sweetheart, she keeps me out of trouble,” Pen said wistfully.
“Pen’s told me all about you,” Annie said as if studying me. “She said you were like a brother and sister once.”
“I guess we were,” I said, looking at Pen.
“She doesn’t stop talking about you!”
Annie smiled.
“Jim
, this and
Jim
that!”
“I have the same problem,” Chloe chipped in, staring at me. “I’ve heard so much about Pen, I didn’t know what to expect!”
“Am I a disappointment?” Pen asked, flamboyantly tossing her Dorothy style pigtails from side to side.
“Mmm…let me think about that for a moment!” Chloe placed one hand to her chin and pondered.
I couldn’t tell if Chloe was joking or not.
“That witch’s costume suits you,” Pen suddenly teased Chloe. “I bet you didn’t have to borrow a broomstick, you brought your own!”
Chloe looked at Pen, and with a wry smile on her green lips, she said, “I borrowed yours!”
There was a moment’s silence between them and I wondered if they would get on or not.
Then, both of them began to laugh. I hoped Pen and Chloe would grow to be friends.
Annie said farewell and went back to serving the customers that were queuing at the bar.
“Annie’s been a good friend to me,” Pen said. “I met her a year or so ago. I worked for a local photographer. Weddings, that sort of thing. I never took any pictures. It was my job to try and get people to have photographs taken of their kids.
We had a stall set up in the local shopping mall, taking kiddie photos for ten pounds a go. Anyway, Annie comes along with this doll of a girl in a pram. My boss gives her the hard sell – telling her what a beautiful kid she’s got and it would be a crime not to have her picture taken. I could see that she really didn’t want to have it done – she didn’t look as if she had ten pennies to rub together let alone buy a photo. But my boss just keeps ragging on at her, until she gave in.
“He’s sounds like a real nice guy,” Chloe added.
“He was okay, just under pressure to make money, you know,” Pen said with a shrug of her shoulders. “Anyway, she has the picture taken, and although the photo wouldn’t be developed and sent to her for a few days, she has to pay up front. I’m working the register and see this all going on. She reluctantly comes over to me, opens her purse, and hands me the money in a five pound note and the rest in change. I take a peek in her purse and can see that this leaves her with nothing. I took down her address so I could post the picture to her a few days later.”
“Didn’t you feel guilty?” Chloe asked.
“I didn’t stop thinking about her for days. I wondered if her kid was going hungry or going without because we had taken her last ten pounds.
So when the picture was ready, instead of mailing it out to her, I personally went round to deliver it.
She lived in this scruffy-looking apartment block just outside town. I handed over the picture to her along with her ten pounds. But she refused to take it, she was too proud. So once she had gone back inside, I posted the ten pounds through her letterbox. As I was walking away, she came to the door and called me back. ‘Jeez, you are persistent,’ she said. She invites me in for a coffee and that was that, we became good friends.”
“What about a partner? Where was her daughter’s father?” I asked.
“Hit the road, as soon as he found out he was gonna be a daddy,” Pen explained.
Chloe shook her head and said, “Loser.”
“Yeah, I know,” Pen agreed. “It’s his loss. Katie’s a real cutie, a peach of a little girl.
Anyway, I started going round to see Annie and sometimes we would take Katie to the park.
Anyway, we would sit and talk and I would tell her how one day, I would own my own café. I promised her that if my dream ever came true, I would give her a job.”
“And here she is,” Chloe said as she glanced over at Annie who was laughing with a customer.
“That’s right. She might only be bar staff at the moment, but as I get on, so will she,” Pen said.
“Who looks after Katie while she’s at work?” I asked.
“I pay her a little more than the rest, you know to cover the cost of a babysitter,” Pen explained.
“That’s really sweet of you,” Chloe said.