Monster Stories (Melancholic Euphoria's Tumblr Stories)

Minotaur Boyfriend: Damien

A Sweet Surprise

You had seen footprints of many sizes before around the undergrowth and greenery of where you had resided: the ones of merchants travelling through solo or in merry groups, of herds of Cervitaur that travelled within the seasons each year, of centaurs that resided and ate happily at the summer berries.

But never had you seen something like this.

You had spotted them when you had been coming back from collecting those same berries for your pies, pies you made with its butter crust pastry and sweet filling, having tripped and almost fallen into one of them and mistaking it for a ditch. This had been deep and large, a heavy animal that seemed to walk on only its two legs compared to what you imagined other four-legged creatures around to do when grazing for food.

These tracks had been large and wide enough to make your feet look comically tiny: the mere image of what the strength of this creature was enough to make you hurry back to your little cottage within the forest for safety, being a bit more aware of what could be out there without you knowing.

You had been living in your cottage for a few years to be correct: the same little one that you began with your grandmother by making jams and pies during the heats of the summer, sipping teas and giggling in the kitchen. The memory of her was what kept you in continuing to make pies and sweet treats, making business for all to come and take a humble slice of your desserts.

You had managed to finish up another pie – its filling sweet apples and cinnamon – that you got out for a few customers who had asked you to make it for them, the treat going down swell! You couldn't help but think back to the same tracks not too far from you that had been coming through, your only hopes that whatever it was had gone very far from your cottage.

The next few following days, nothing much had changed, new faces and old ones had come buy for your tasty pies and treats, some praising you for the gifted ability in making such a treat so delicious. One sweet lady had even asked for the recipe of your grandmother's jams, "A family secret, I'm afraid." You crossed your fingers, your grandmother's recipe you could never share to anyone.

That following evening you had gone to take out your laundry to go and wash by the river, the warm evening flurry of the summer heat had made it relaxing and quaint to be out there still, the sky had cast enough light when the sun was barely set across the gradient sky of lavender and pinks.

The basket in your arm was heavy but comfortable enough to carry you down to the small river-bend not far from her home when she had heard it, the groaning of soil as a tree shifted, and when she had looked up in time, there were a flock of birds that had flown above her head, mildly startling her briefly. Her eyes carried her to look onwards, her feet continuing to move as she walked down the slope to get closer to the sound of rushing water.

Perhaps a buck had startled them, you're overthinking. She reminded herself carefully. You're in no danger. She would've promised herself that but the next sound so close to her had made all the muscles tense and her movements halt. The air was harsh and too low, and you found it as if you were struggling to breathe, your movements stiff as you slowly continued, keeping your footsteps as quiet as possible.

When you rounded past the shrubbery and saw the rush of the small river coming into view, you had found that you were indeed safe, but when your eyes looked onwards towards where the river widened and the slope dropped not too far from you, a few metres away, something caught your eye.

It was as black as midnight in contrast to the juniper, perhaps a sleeping bear you had imagined firstly, but no bear you knew had large horns like that on top of its head. Its body and pelt were as shaggy as a bear, collapsed as its huge body jerked occasionally back and forth, a large humanoid hand had come to hold at the terrain, supporting its large body as if to get closer to the water.