Misery County

Chapter 7 - Part 2

Cassie looked over her shoulder for a moment. "Do you think we can help them?"

"Help who?"

"The monsters. What if we could turn them human again instead of killing them?"

"Yeah, I don't know about that. I'm not sure if I'd want to. In my eyes, they forfeit their right to life when they victimize the innocent."

"Do you feel the same way about, say, someone with severe mental illness that harms someone during an episode?"

"No, but that's different," Eric stuttered, clearly not convinced by his own words.

"How so? Both aren't thinking rationally when they do it. More than that, both are robbed of the capacity to think rationally when they do it. They're as much victims as anyone else."

"Oh, God, Cassie, tell me you're not turning into a liberal." Eric recoiled in revulsion at the last word.

Cassie laughed. "It's not like that, silly. Look, if someone who had a mental illness that made them violent is given antipsychotics or whatever medication they need to make them normal again, and then they're no longer violent or even the same person that they were while ill, then don't you agree that they can't be held responsible for what they did while ill?"

"Uh huh."

"So then why can't you see it the same way for monsters that we can turn human again?"

"I don't have a proper rebuttal for your argument, but you're wrong anyway."

"What? How?" Cassie scowled.

"You're just wrong. They're monsters. That's all there is to it."

"Well what if you were turned into a monster then?"

"I'd expect you to do the right thing and take me down before I could hurt anyone."

"You'd have no interest in being cured and turned back to normal?"

"I wouldn't be thinking about that, would I? I'd be a simple-minded, instinct-driven, base monster – an abomination in the eyes of gods and men."

"But it doesn't have to be that way."

"Look, Cassie, don't take this the wrong way, but I don't foresee us ever agreeing on this topic, so what do you say instead of going back and forth like a pair of politicians at a dull debate, we go out and get some food instead?"

She beamed. "Oh, Eric, you know how to get into a girl's good graces."

*

For any other man, sitting with Cassie at a diner would be an awkward and embarrassing experience, but they'd been far too close for far too long for Eric to let that get in the way of their lunch date. That's not to say that there was anything to stop him from teasing her.

"Would Miss Piggy like another helping of solid lard?" he mocked.

"Laugh all you want, partner, but the way I see it, my time on this world is limited, and I plan to live every day like it's the last, and if that means eating the most unhealthy food known to man, then so be it."

"Cassie, I imagine there's some morbidly obese, gout-ridden diabetic on their motorized scooter rolling by looking down on you for your eating habits."

"Sounds like my kind of man. Maybe you can hook us up."

"Is your heating bill getting so high that you need to slaughter them and burn their blubber for warmth?"

"Now, now, Eric, I don't kill everyone I take home."

"Don't you?"

"Well, fine, I do, but it ain't my fault the world is full of monsters."

Eric looked at her with concern. "When was the last time you actually went out with someone?"

"I'm out with you now."

"You know that's not what I meant."

"Oh, I see. Well, maybe I'm saving myself for someone special."

Eric was a bit surprised. He couldn't tell whether she was joking or not. "Not to let my cynicism shine through too much, but that could be a long wait, and – and I say this with only the best intentions – you won't be young forever."

"Maybe it won't be that long a wait. Maybe I have someone in my life already."

This was an interesting development, Eric thought. "That's news to me. Who is it?"

"Just some arrogant joker."

"Ha, you know how to pick 'em. So what's so special about this guy anyway?"

"He's a good man in a world of sin and decadence – a diamond in a sea of shit, one might say."

"I've got to say, I never figured you for the sentimental type."

"There are a lot of things about me you never figured," she said with what Eric could have sworn was a hint of hostility.

"So what's stopping you and mystery man from being together?"

"What's stopping us is I don't think he looks at me the same way that I look at him."

"Unrequited love. Ouch. Like that Slipknot song."

"Is your go-to when you think of songs about unrequited love really Slipknot?"

"You say that like there's something really wrong with it."

"I don't know about that, but there's something really wrong with you."

"I'd be offended, but I know that's just the saturated fats speaking."

"You're a saturated fat."

"No, you are."

"Shut up."

"No, you shut up."

The exchange reminded Eric of their time together as kids. When he was in his teens, she was in her single digits, but the way they were together, they may as well have been just a pair of children – a pair of siblings – having fun and playing without a care in the world. The mischievous smile on Cassie's face told Eric she was reminiscing about those same times.