Monster

First Troubles

Grake held and rocked the alien child, worried what he was doing wrong. It was crying and crying, inconsolable.

A rough knock on the door had Grake scrambling to answer. He found his closest neighbor at the door. Usually already a grumpy person, his neighbor glared at him from under his heavy brows with a displeased scowl.

"I am so sorry! I really don't know what I am doing wrong." Grake said, exhausted with lack of sleep over the past few days as he tried to figure out how to care for the child.

The other villager continued to frown. "I don't understand why you even bother with it." He grumbled at Grake. "It will be far better off with its own kind. Just take it back where you found it!"

"But Humans don't respawn like us!" Grake said with distress.

"You don't even know if its a Human..." The other villager managed to frown even more, his eyebrows joining into one line and hanging over his dark green eyes, deep set in his face. Embers of fire danced in them, reflecting from the fireplace that Grake had running to cook the stew he just tried to feed to the child earlier.

Grake didn't answer, refusing to meet the other villager's eyes and only rocking the child as he desperately tried to hush him.

"Then, I don't know!" The villager threw up his hands in frustration. "But you need to do something! My children and I couldn't get any sleep at night for all the noise it makes!"

"I am so sorry, Gricham. I am trying to calm him down. I am." Grake said, nearly crying himself for causing such problems for everyone.

The neighbor gave the child in Grake's arms an unfriendly look. Stepping closer, he studied its angrily twisted face and mouth opened so wide it seemed nearly square.

"Well... Is it thirsty? Hungry?" He asked in a tone that let relieved Grake know that he intended to help solve the issue. It was a far better attitude than the complaints he got so far in form of stares and mutters behind his back.

"I gave him food, but he wouldn't eat it. He almost chocked on it. I made him some stew and he did eat some, but I think it gave him a stomachache." Grake said, giving the colicky child a helpless look. The being continued to wail, its small face scrunched up and blotched red, its small hands clenched into fists and aimlessly waving them around. Its tightly shut eyes leaked beads of colorless water.

The other villager leaned in closer and pulled in a sniff, only to immediately step back with a grimace. "... Did you clean it up? Humans and their animals make waste after they eat. It's disgusting."

"I did!" Grake said defensively, a bit embarrassed.

"Well, maybe Humans are like their animals. And their animals do not eat normal food when they are babies. They drink their mother's milk! Maybe that's what he needs." The other villager suggested, some curiosity breaking through the complaining tone despite himself.

Grake's mouth made a small 'o'.

"You are right! I didn't think about that!" With excitement, he looked at the tiny crying Human, then felt his heart fall. "But... where am I going to get milk?"

The other villager threw up his hands once again. "A cow of course! Where else? Go talk to Samnil!"

Grake nearly jumped, giving the other villager a truly grateful look.

"I will do that right now! Thank you, Grich! You are so clever."

The other villager's face calmed a bit, pleased. He nodded, watching Grake scramble to quickly put on his street robe.

"Of course I am. I raised sixteen children myself... But don't thank me, yet. Let's go right now and see if it works, first." He declared and waited until Grake, the child bundled in his hands, hopped outside his house. He lead the way with determined expression, his chin lifted high, while more villagers stopped and looked after them.