Changeling - An otherkin story

Chapter 3 - Brenda's Crush

"Brenda?" Tash says, pinching her eyebrows together. "What's got you so upset?"

"He didn't even recognise me," I say in a harsh tone, dropping my bag on the bench. "Like, seriously, does he have the memory of a goldfish or something? What a rude fucking bastard."

"What are you talking about Brenda?" Tash asks, forehead furrowed.

"Our stupid amnesiac film studies tutor. I just saw him in the hall and he didn't know who I was, and then he just hurried off like an asshole."

She mulls over my words for a few moments, her forehead wrinkling. I feel heat in my cheeks as I realise I'm probably too mad about the whole thing. He probably has lots of classes and lots of students.

"Maybe it's better this way," Tash says.

"What do you mean? Not your whole weird vibes thing again?"

She would be easier to ignore if she wasn't right an uncanny amount of time. Too many incidents come to mind; the time she had a feeling about a new kid at school who ended up stabbing a teacher, the really nice bus driver we had who we found out committed suicide a week after Tash had said something was off. And the one that really clings to me. Tash and I were in primary school, we must've been grade 1 or so. Ellie hadn't transferred to our school yet, and Zoe was in the other class, so we hadn't really met yet. Tash was off sick with a cold, so I was bored at lunch without anyone to play with. I found a cool plant along the edge of the school, just where it turned from manicured oval to semi-tame bush, and I was killing time by knotting the grassy threads together and making braids sitting in the shade of the larger trees. I remember that I was singing to myself when I heard another voice join in, humming along with me. My hands paused mid grassy knot and I looked around. Several paces away was a girl, she looked around the same age as me, but something about her gave the creeps. I don't know what it was, I don't feel like I can trust my memories of that day, but I remember that she had large eyes, and something was strange about her skin, like it was greenish. I heard the bell ring but I couldn't move, like my feet were glued to the ground. When she spoke to me her voice was like a hissing whisper.

"Please stay. Play with me," she said.

I shook my head. "I-I can't," I choked out.

"I don't have anyone to play with."

I remember my feet shuffling towards her, heading deeper into the bush to join her, but then I broke free and ran back to the school. Tash called that night, all snotty and coughing through the phone. She had begged her mum to talk to me most of the day. And I still remember the first words she said to me when I put the phone to my ear, 'Stay away from the fairy'.

She can't have known anything about my weird encounter that day, I hadn't told anyone, not even my mum. And yet, she knew somehow.

"I don't know," Tash sighs in the present. "I do get weird vibes from him, but... I dunno. I'm not sure they're bad vibes, they're just... off. Maybe it's not such a bad thing that he's ignoring you."

I sigh. "You're probably right. I should just let it be."

I think of his face and it makes me grind my teeth. Maybe I'm too angry to let this go.

I'm the last one back to the dorm again, I suspect that will probably be the way it will be all semester, if not for the rest of our degrees. I try to stalk away to my room, but Ellie spots me as I slink past.

"Brenda," she calls.

I sigh and turn towards her, she's in the kitchen with a beer in hand.

"There's a party tonight at Toad Hall, are you in?"