Step Monster: Interlude 1
by
Asukafan2001
The wind howled causing the tree branches to scrape against the snow-covered bedroom window. Darkness had long ago crept across the room creating shadow like figures out of the disheveled mess of everyday objects. The clunk of a central air unit turning on cut through the otherwise silent bedroom. The whirring of a fan spun up bustling heat into the chilled bedroom.
In the corner of this slovenly kept bedroom rested a large wooden chest of drawers with its top cluttered with knickknacks, make-up and a small hamster cage. Various articles of clothing rested atop the hamster cage causing its mesh top to bow inward under the weight. Wood shavings unevenly covered the floor of the cage hiding the newspaper below.
A small woman sat in the corner of the cage with her back resting against the glass wall. Hours ago, she could see her reflection in the glass which allowed for a painful reminder that her body was covered in a cotton fur made up of her stepdaughter's sock. A sense of relief almost filled her being as the darkness overtook the room sealing away her reflection. A reflection that brought back vivid memories of the day her humanity was lost. Even now she could remember the feeling of the chemicals burning away her skin while bonding the dingy cotton of the athletic sock to her body.
As Nancy List stared outward blankly, she wondered how long she had been here. Just to the right of her on the wall she knew hung a calendar. However, long ago she gave up trying to read it. When she looked over at the calendar it appeared to be nothing more than a jumbled mess of gibberish. The numbers and months were all displayed as unintelligible garble to her. Only its rectangular shape and grid like pattern told her this was a calendar. She could see dates and small drawings Peyton had made on various days. However, the knowledge held behind the writing was sealed away. It was sickening to look at the calendar on the wall or the alarm clock across the room on Peyton’s nightstand and realize that it is now impossible to decipher the numbers. The concept of time had been completely stolen from her.
The cycle of time became day and night. The fact Peyton kept her room dark and curtains drawn tightly shut most of the time made it so the fact she was being given food told her that it was evening. Peyton tossing her bookbag into the room told her it was afternoon. The blaring of the alarm clock meant morning. These were the only ways she had to judge the passage of time. However, when she wondered how many days or months she had been in here. She was left clueless.
This wasn’t the first of such examples. As time continued on, Nancy found herself struggling to maintain much of her human knowledge. When Peyton or her friends spoke to each other she found it harder and harder to follow along with the conversation. The words they used in her mind seemed to grow more and more complex by the day until much to her chagrin they were simply lost.
Peyton had to re-educate her. Nancy felt humiliated at the prospect of this. Peyton would at her leisure teach her the skills she deemed necessary. Such as since she hated painting her nails Nancy was provided with the knowledge of how to properly paint Peyton’s nails. Nancy had always been a bit of a painter and Peyton provided her the materials in order to maintain her skills. It was at one time a dream Nancy had to have a painting on display at an exhibit or art gallery. However, now her skills were used only for her rotten step daughters benefit. Her art was exclusively reserved for Peyton’s nails. The world would only know her skill through her step daughters nails.
Days and weeks went by with Nancy begging and pleading for Peyton to teach her more. She yearned for more advanced knowledge. She missed being able to read. However, anytime she asked the response was always the same.
“How does this benefit me Twerp?” Peyton would say. When she couldn’t come up with any valid argument that Peyton would accept. Nancy would be simply forced to view her gleeful smile as she rejected her request.
Peyton relished these moments. Here was the former dictator of her life now coming to her begging to be taught to read, begging to be taught proper English. A feeling of empowerment washed over Peyton in these moments as now she could decide what was important to know and what skills would be needed in this new life she was providing for her step monster.
Almost as if on cue the bedroom door swung open carelessly as Peyton strolled into the room dropping her purse onto her bed and letting her jacket fall carelessly to the floor while she sipped on an orange fizzy drink. Twerp could remember a time when she would reprimand Peyton for treating her stuff so neglectfully. Now that seemed like another lifetime ago. Now she was just thankful when she remembered to feed her each day.
Peyton approached the cage with her long straight blonde hair falling out of her beanie as she bent towards the cage. She tapped her pointer finger against the glass several times. The noise boomed in Nancy’s ears as she picked herself up from the floor. Peyton bent down lower removing herself from view briefly before returning. She lifted up one corner of the roof of the cage not even bothering to remove the dirty clothes she had piled onto the cage some time ago when looking for a shirt.
Hanging in the air by Peyton’s fingertips stood a pair of snow-covered canvas sneakers. They seemingly hung in the air for several seconds before they fell off her fingertips and landed in the cage with an audible thud. The impact caused some of the snow to fall off the shoe and land onto the ground. The snow that had fallen off the shoe melted wetting the wood chips. The hum of the overhead light kicked on as Peyton illuminated Nancy’s world.
“Clean” ordered Peyton. The word filled the air around the cage seeming to encompass every aspect of her audible range. This was a human word Nancy knew. This was knowledge deemed necessary for her survival. As Nancy’s eyes continued to look upward at her stepdaughter whose gaze had already left her. She had already moved her attention towards her phone. The digital clacking of keys on Peyton’s phone was all she could hear as Peyton turned away from her showing her only her back as she walked away falling into a cream-colored faux fur bean bag chair. The familiar beep of the Xbox was heard as Peyton pulled on her headset and grabbed her controller off the floor.
Nancy looked over the black canvas sneakers. The dingy white rubber trim was covered in snow from the outside. As she ran her hand over the snow, she shivered as a chill overcame her. It had been so long since she had actually touched snow. It almost felt foreign to her now. The chill was such an unfamiliar feeling it almost scared her. The snow itself was still malleable to her touch. Nancy could remember when she touched snow before it would rest coldly on her skin melting as it turned to water. As she held the snow in her hand now bits of snow clung to her cotton fur. As the snow melted the horrid cotton sock, she found her body encased in grew damp. As she went to drop the bit of snow much it clung to her hand.
Looking over at her empty water bottle her mind savagely took over. She lowered her head towards the slowly melting snow which clung to Peyton’s shoes. Twerp opened her mouth and extended her tongue as sucked the cold dirty snow into her mouth. As the snow melted and turned to water, she couldn’t help, but relish the cold liquid as it slid down her throat. There was a time in her life she vaguely remembered drinking nothing but bottled water. She would look at where her water came from and discard some bottles simply because of the source it came from. Now just the notion of having cold liquid slide down her throat was a treat. As all the water she got was room temperature when Peyton did remember to fill her bottle in the bathroom. The dirt and filth of the snow meant nothing. As she looked back at the snow, she could see it was covered in impurities. Its white form like her own body has become dingy and filthy from being trampled on. As she lowered her head back down and licked more of the snow off of Peyton’s shoe to quench her thirst.
The notion that something so repulsive could now seem almost natural was not lost on Nancy. She hated herself for it. She hated that her life had become this. Peyton had gained full control over every aspect of her life. The longer that her life remained like this the harder she found it to remember her life being any different. She tried to remember what the bedroom she shared with Douglas looked like. The names of co-workers and friends all seemed impossible recall. It was chilling to think she couldn’t remember the names of her own family and friends however she could recant the names of all of Peyton’s friends.
Nancy brushed some of the snow off white trim of the shoe. She looked over at the corner where a small trough sat filled with cleaning solution. This made her mumble in disgust over the fact that never once had Peyton forgotten to fill it with cleaning fluid when it was near empty. However, countless times had she done without food or water.
Dipping her cotton covered hand into the solution she scrubbed the patch of white rubber trim she had just cleared snow from. She pressed with all her strength making sure to remove even the slightest hint of dirt. She knew what was expected of her. Peyton expected her shoes to appear as if they are brand new. So, she continually used her fur cover hand to scrub the trim and brush the cold snow to the ground with the other. She would trade off every so often in order to give the hand she used to brush the snow away a chance to warm up. The muscles in her arm and hands expanded and retracted repeatedly as she scrubbed and cleaned the trim of the shoe.
Nancy could feel the discomfort in her knees from kneeling on the wood chips. Her legs and back would bend and twist in unnatural ways in order to thoroughly clean the massive shoes set before her. As her pulled her hands away she looked at them in utter disgust. However, this was now her life. This was her new normal.
“My hands are nothing but wash rags to her” Nancy said to herself as she listened to Peyton’s voice as she spoke into her headset. The constant sound of gunfire and explosions told her she was playing Destiny again. Listening to Peyton talk and laugh into the microphone made her long for conversation. She wondered if she could even laugh anymore?
What frustrated her the most was being unable to articulate what she wanted to say. She could think it clearly in her mind and then when she would go to speak it and it was as if her brain couldn’t figure out how to form her thoughts into words. This made her feel like a child or a toddler. She could only scream or cry out in frustration when she was unable to find the words to argue back or explain to Peyton the injustice of what she was asking or doing.
As Nancy finished cleaning the trim of the shoes, she took a few steps back admiring how brightly the white shined now. As she looked more and more at the trim of the shoes, she started cry. She couldn’t believe how horrible her life had turned out. She felt wretched over the notion that this was her station in life. She was now forced to comply and obey every wish of her teenage step daughter or face horrid consequences.
What made matters worse was the fact that while she stared at the bright white trim of shoes, she desperately hoped that it would please Peyton. As much as she hated herself for it, she felt a need to seek approval from Peyton. When Peyton would praise her or rewards her, she felt a sense of accomplishment that made her sick. After everything that has happened, after everything that she has been put through she still wanted the approval and admiration of her step daughter.
“I hate myself” Nancy struggled to say as she forced her legs to move back towards the massive shoes. She carefully climbed the trim of the shoes she had just cleaned and clambered on the canvas top. At one time she would have marveled how it could hold her weight. Now it was simple humbling. As she crawled towards a stain emblazoned onto the canvas of the shoe. She rubbed with her hand several times hoping it would rub way. She desperately wanted it to disappear however the stain clung to the show like a young child to its mother. So, she did the only other thing she knew. She lowered her head and extended her tongue.
As her tongue slunk out of her mouth it quivered from the cold. The snow and coldness of the sneaker had cooled the cage which held in the coldness. As her tongue ran across rigid canvas of the sneaker it felt like sandpaper. She recognized this taste it was ketchup. Unfortunately, this ketchup had been exposed to the elements. It tasted nothing like the ketchup she knew as it had more of an earthy tone to it.
Nancy drug her tongue across the stain again and again. She could see it dissipating as her saliva ate away at the substance. As repulsive as it all felt a sense of accomplishment hit her as her tongue stroked over it one last time before it was no longer visible. She then continued her climb slowly across the canvas sneakers making sure to remove any blemish she came across.
Her muscles ached as she slid down the shoe and back onto the floor of the cage. Nancy didn’t have to wait long before Peyton sat up from her game. She yawned as she stood and stretched her arms into the sky before eying her prized pet. She walked towards the peering in as she lifted the roof the cage. She pulled the shoes eying them over.
“Adequate” was all Peyton said as the lid fell back into place and the shoes were dropped to the floor carelessly. As the shoes spilled over onto their side they were already forgotten by Peyton.