What's the Opposite of a Fairy Tale? | ONC 2024

3: The Not-Quite Rescue

I stared at my screen and the message that Gabe had written: Hey. Where are you?

It wasn't much— the barest of greetings and a vague calling-out of the fact that I had almost definitely missed dinner this evening. I glanced up at the clock in the corner. 9:43. Yep, I'd definitely missed dinner. If I hurried, I could probably make it before the cafeteria closed at ten, but who was I kidding? Even if I could get there on time, there was no way they'd let me in.

Still, the idea that had started forming when I read that message was now coalescing into a plan. It wasn't a very good plan, but it was the best I had. And at this point I literally had nothing to lose.

I swiped vaguely at my phone's screen. I didn't really expect it to unlock, but I was still really hoping. So when it actually worked, I was ready to shout for joy.

Bhnd Eng build, I wrote. It was ugly as hell, and it must have taken a full five minutes to do it. What can I say? Typing with no thumbs and pretty inflexible fingers was a whole new challenge. I just hoped Gabe would understand it.

Where? The Engineering building? Gabe wrote back.

I wanted to scream. Was he kidding me? How on earth was I supposed to know where the Engineering building was? I was an English major.

English, I typed. It was painstaking, and I had to hit delete at least six times to get the single word out. The worst part was that Gabe didn't even know the sheer amount of effort I was putting in here.

Really? Why? You coming over or what? Gabe typed back.

No. Come, I replied. Then for good measure I added, Hlp.

I stared at the phone intently, willing him to understand. And more importantly, to take me seriously enough to actually come out here. 

Finally, those ubiquitous three dots appeared on his side of the chat.

K, he typed.

Good. At least it looked like Gabe understood after all. Now all I had to do was wait.

I sat down on my shirt, not wanting to lay in the dirt. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of a deep-red something that came up to about my shoulder. It took me a minute to realize it was my shoe. I had to say, I really didn't like the feeling of being so small.

As I waited for Gabe, I tried to keep my mind occupied. I was afraid I'd go crazy if I didn't. I pulled the end of one of my shoestrings closer to where I sat, noticing for the first time the intricate little diamond patterns it was woven into. How many were there? Was it six across? That seemed low. I pulled it towards my nose, using my new claws to grip it as I counted again.

The next time, I counted seven. Great. Well, that was fun. I went to drop it back onto the ground and found myself struggling to retract my claws. Finally, I managed to let go and turned my attention to my paw. Clearly, I was going to need some practice with these things. I was going to get my body back, I knew that. But I couldn't afford to be completely useless before I did.

I practiced grabbing that string and letting it drop. Sometimes, I'd use my claws, and sometimes I'd keep them retracted. It wasn't until the fifth or sixth time I'd batted it away that it really hit me: I was playing with a shoestring. And not only was I playing with it, I was acting like it was the height of entertainment. The thought stopped me cold.

I scooted away, eyeing the thing like it had somehow tricked me. I sat up as straight as I could, chin in the air as I tried to regain some of my dignity. Then, I glanced quickly around, trying not to look too obvious about it. At least no one was here to witness that.