To Love A Myth - Book 1: Mr. Higgs and the Maid🎩✔️

8

With the fight starting off the month, Higgs hoped that the atmosphere of it didn't carry on through the rest of the month. Although is centaur form was stubborn and headstrong, it was also the most sensitive. He knew he had somehow made Merida feel bad but didn't know why or what to do. He wanted to comfort her but he didn't know how to approach her and when he went to the door, he could practically feel her anger seeping through. The more she ignored him, the more anxious he got, as well as depressed. He needed to understand what was going on and how to fix it...

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Higgs stood outside of Merida's door and fidgeted for about twenty minutes. It was going into week two of the month and he hadn't seen her since the incident with being out late. He was surprised that Boston hadn't come to see him as well. Not that it was that big of a deal, but according to his sister, he had seemed keen on doing so. If that were the case, he needed Merida's help to hide his hide. There was still anger lingering in the door but he sucked it up and knocked on the door.
"Ms. Dunbrough?" he said, going back to formalities.
He felt he should get permission again to call her by her given name, since it seemed he had somehow caused this issue. After waiting, Merida hadn't opened the door and so he knocked again.
"Ms. Dunbrough, are you in there?"
Silence again. Higgs began to panic and pounded on the door in anxiousness.
"Merida, please talk to me!"
She still didn't answer and Higgs turned around and kicked the door in, breaking it off its hinges.
Merida flew up from the bed with a yelp and then glared at Higgs angrily.
"What the bloody hell is yer problem?! Now we have to fix the door!"
"You- you wouldn't answer me." He said sheepishly.
"That's because I was sleeping!"
"I can see that now..." he said, looking away.
"What do ye want?" she growled.
"Are you... are you avoiding me?"
Merida tried to run her fingers through her hair but ended up getting her fingers caught in the curls. She pried her fingers from the tangle.
"Honestly, aye, I am."
Higgs felt hurt and he rubbed his arm, unsure how to really proceed.
"Why?" he asked softly.
"Shouldnae I?"
"Have I done something to offend you?"
Merida gave a snort. "If ye dinnae ken what ye did then I've no use to tell ye."
"If I've offended you, please tell me. I don't like guessing games-"
"I dinnae like searching all over for stupid little boys in the wee hours of the morning, having a panic attack, and then having that lad throw away my concern! But I do it, I live with it."
Higgs visibly winced at the harshness of her tone but was still confused as to what his adventure from the other night had to do with her avoidance.
"Why are you still mad about the other night? I told you that... that I was seeing my sister. Is this about the note thing?"
"It's not just about the note, Mr. Higgs. It's about the way ye ken I ken about ye. Ye make me out to be a bad person when I'm not."
"I never meant any offense in regards to what I said but..."
"Do ye really believe that I only care about ye because I'm worried about the money ye can or cannae give me?"
"Isn't it the crux, no matter how you try to cover it over with lovely words of trying to be a hero?"
Merida glared daggers at him as he stared at her, although he wanted to run from her fierce stare.
"Ye must be half a brain in that head of yers to ken I'm that horrible."
"It doesn't take much to please someone in your situation. You needed a job, I gave you money; if you leave this job, you may not have any money."
"It's not about the money, ye greetin teenie! Why cannae ye understand what it means for someone to give a bloody hell about ye?"
"Because most only care about me because of what I can give them."
"If that were all I cared about, we wouldnae be having this stushie!"
Higgs was very confused about the situation. "Why... would you care about me?"
Merida threw a pillow at his face and pointed out of the door.
"Get out! I dinnae want to see ye face anymore!"
"What do you mean?" he asked, fear in his voice.
"Ye're making me angry with ye and ye're blethering."
"I'm trying to understand, Merida, honest! I just... I just can't understand." He said, becoming panicked that she would leave.
"How cannae ye understand that I was worried about ye because ye're my friend and I care about ye wellbeing, employer or not? How hard is that?!"
"Very hard!" he yelled, tears suddenly welling up in his eyes. "You wouldn't understand."
Merida sighed. "Ye're trying to compare me to those women before me, the ones who let ye down. I'm not like them; when will ye get that through ye're thick skull? I'm not here for just the money. I'm here because I like working for ye and I care about what happens to ye."
Higgs truly didn't understand. He had been hurt many, many times before. He didn't understand why she got to be mad at him when he had to stave his anger towards his own curse and the things it caused. He had had many opportunities to try but it all ended the same way. They all said the same things. Merida may have been a little more flamboyant with hers but it would end up the same and Higgs had had enough.
He wanted to be angry. He wanted to nip it in the bud before it got too deep and his hope was ripped to shreds again.
"You say that now, but one of these forms will make you leave. You act all high and mighty with your bravado and strong Scottish sense of heroism, but you'll leave me! They always do! You're only here as a challenge to yourself because you told me that you wouldn't be like those others girls, so now you have to prove that you can withstand all the transformations to prove it to yourself. It's a game to you! No one could ever care about someone like me! It's been generations and the curse gets passed on and on because no one could ever get past the first year, let alone years to come. Don't flatter yourself, Ms. Dunbrough, into thinking that you're the only one to sit there and tell me to my face that you are different from the rest. I have a long line of maids who will tell you they made that promise as well but they just couldn't handle it. 'Oh, I will never leave you, Mr. Higgs' 'I would never do that to you.' 'I'll show you how true I am.' Over, and over, and over again! Just because you're Scottish doesn't mean you won't leave me."
Higgs suddenly felt a rain of water hit his face and without thinking, flew his hands out. In the process, he ended up whacking Merida in the face on accident. He felt sorry about that but the deed was done and when he finally got the water from his face and opened his eyes, Merida was glaring at him with a blaze so bright in her hazel eyes that he thought that maybe he had awakened a hidden she-devil from the depths of Hell within his maid.
"Get. OUT!" she snarled.
"I didn't mean to hit you-"
"We are past that now, Mr. Northumberly!" Merida roared. "I willnae waste my time on a greetin teenie like ye if ye cannae believe anything I say! Ye willnae look and see to try and find the truth in my words because ye compare me to people in yer past who spread horrible rumors and all that clishmaclaver about yer curse. I ken ye doubt and I ken ye confusion, but if ye feel that strongly about me caring about ye, then I willnae waste my heart on ye and I'll do exactly what ye believe of me to do and not care."
"No wait-" he stammered, backing out of the door.
"Ye've made yerself very clear, Mr. Northumberly. Do what ye will because I willnae care anymore."
She slammed the door closed and Higgs stared at it for a long moment. He didn't really know what had just happened but he could feel within his body the anger and hurt he had caused. He could feel Merida's sorrow from inside the room and the anger as well. He knew he had made her very angry with his words but he also had to say them. He had been strung along for far too long to be put down again and he wanted to make that very clear. He wanted to believe that Merida was different but it was starting to sound like the previous maids from before. True, she had gotten past more than one transformation, but these were the slightly mild ones, ones that could be looked past. The ones not yet done were the ones that caused the panic and the leaving. He just didn't want to get close to someone again and have them leave. So he would make it so they only at least stayed out of obligation... caring and loving and wanting to understand were things that a Northumberly never received and Higgs was going to make sure that he wasn't fooled again.
He turned around carefully in the narrow hallway and left the manor.