Up and down, she watched the paddle ball. There was a pop near her ear, the too-sweet scented gum of the guy sitting beside her. She didn't know who he was. She didn't know the kid playing with the paddle ball, either. But there was a curious sort of zen, sitting there on the park bench as some kid played with a toy, getting frustrated whenever he missed the ball with the paddle. She supposed the guy sitting next to her was the kid's brother, or something. Whenever the kid missed the ball, he'd look at the guy and whine. The guy would shake his head, tell the kid to try again. "You'll get the hang of it, don't worry."

No impatience in the voice, just fraternal affection.

She gathered her duster a little closer, keeping the edges up off of the ground.

She would be loathe to get them dirty.

Her hands and her attention went back to the board sitting across her lap, the modelling clay atop it. It was supposed to be, was going to be, a bird. A very extravagant bird. A firebird maybe, even. Probably, actually. It was a good idea, if she did say so herself. She went back to her music and her clay, dipping her fingers into a bottle of water beside her when necessary. She was sitting out of direct sunlight, which was mostly enough to keep the clay from drying out, but it did still need help now and again.

Immersed in her music, she didn't notice the guy and the kid hurry off.

She noticed the sun being blotted out, though. Looking up, startled, Mariam was ready to tell off the person standing in her light. She was more than ready, even, but the words didn't make it past her mouth. The 'h' in 'hey' died in a hiss died in her throat.

Those were a *lot*of eyes.

She scrambled up, somehow managing not to drop the board and the clay on the ground. The bottle fell, and water began to spread out along the dirt. There was a part of her that was annoyed at this, but the rest of her was more concerned with the eyes breathing on her.

Oh there were teeth to go with the eyes.

Of course there were.

Well dammit.

Finally the short-circuit in her brain fixed itself, and Mariam left the clay and board on the bench as she took off running. There was a brief moment when the eyes and teeth were more interested in the clay than her, but that moment didn't last nearly long enough for Mariam to get away. She could hear it coming after her, because it turned out that the eyes and teeth had feet, too. She was not necessarily the fastest person alive, but adrenaline was a wonderful speed boost, and she was booking it if she did say so herself. There was a bench. She went over it instead of around it.

The monster went through it.

She turned instinctively at the crash behind her, and that was when she lost track of her feet and ended up skidding and rolling several feet. Coughing, she sat up immediately and scrambled back towards standing up. As her hands scrabbled in the leaves next to the path, something hard touched her fingers. Instinctively, she pulled it up, taking a brief second to marvel at the--was that really a *diamond necklace* just... sitting there? In a place like this?

No time, she had no time.

If only it'd been more useful than a necklace. As she got back to her feet finally and kept running, she wondered what in the world she was supposed to do with it. It would look very pretty on her corpse, to be sure.

Could she strangle the thing with it?

Did she think that was a capability she had?

Whirling back toward the monster, she took a moment to note her change in attire to herself as she launched herself at the monster chasing her. Since when had she been wearing hose and bloomers? She hadn't left the house in that, had she?

...Why were her boobs just... there?

She had the necklace wrapped around the monster's neck before she knew what she was doing. Well, this was as good a plan as any, she supposed. She twisted the necklace, which was somehow not breaking, the monster shrieking and trying to toss her loose. The legs that propelled the teeth and eyes fortunately did not have claws to go with it, and they were short to boot. So far, she was avoiding any serious damage. Some scratches here and there, but that was really it.

...Oh no why was it slimy, and why did the slime burn..?

She threw herself off of the monster, or, rather, would have if it hadn't tried to buck her off and made her tighten her grip in response, just out of pure instinct. It made a strangled shrieking noise.

She made a similar noise in response, though less strangled, as it tried to throw her to the ground. It seemed to shriek louder, and she matched it both in pitch and volume as she pulled harder still on the necklace she had across its throat. Unfortunately, that still wasn't enough to keep it from unceremoniously dumping her to the ground with one long, sinuous snap of its body.

.... Short legs, long body, long neck, so many eyes, some fearsome teeth... What was this, a dinosaur from hell?

And why was she dressed like a pinup?

The slime still burned even after she was no longer in direct contact with murdersaurus, but she was still loathe to get anywhere back near to it. But it didn't seem like she would have to. It shrieked at her and snapped at the air, but then turned abruptly and fled. That left her to stare after it in disbelief, wondering just what in the everloving hell had just happened. She didn't even get a chance to decide if she wanted to chase after it to take it out, because it just... disappeared.

Entirely.

There was a little bit of smoke left after it, but it was gone. At first, she didn't dare to believe it, but some long moments of standing in the sidewalk led to her sighing deeply and beginning her trudge back to the bench she'd left her clay on. If she still weren't in the ridiculous clothing and if her skin wasn't still tender from whatever slime that'd been, she would have chalked it up to quite possibly the weirdest daydream she'd ever had. Maybe a gas leak from... somewhere... somehow...

As it was, she was left trying to figure out how to synthesize what had happened as she found herself back in her normal clothing with no diamond necklace anywhere to be found. She paused in the path for a moment, looking down at her now-empty hand. ...There weren't really even any marks. Some redness here and there, but... it looked like it had already largely worked itself out. She was deeply lost in thought as she packed up her sculpting, relieved that it seemed to have mysteriously escaped damage. Maybe the decision to make it a firebird was good luck, or something.

Alright, so it was going to be a firebird for sure, now. Maybe it was an omen, or something, because she still didn't know why the monster had just... left. Unless it decided she was too much trouble to try and eat, which was a very real possibility, but it had been more than big enough to decide it really, really wanted her for dinner, and not as a guest. ...And about the lingerie getup... She was evermore sure she hadn't actually hallucinated it, but that still didn't tell her what it had been about, or what was going on with it.

She was going to have to figure that out, because she should probably know if she had an alter ego, or something.

This was a train of thought that she maintained her entire ride home on the subway and lightrail, until she found herself looking up at her front door and remembering she probably could have called for someone to come get her.

Oh well.

She opened the front door with a jingle of keys, made a noncommittal noise in response to her parents' questions, ignored their scoffing like she always did anyway, and trudged up toward her bedroom.

Yes, mother, she knew she had things to do in the morning. No, father, she wasn't out seeing a boy.

The notion that she was out seeing a boy made her snort in amusement even despite her current state of confusion and tiredness. She wondered if her father would ever give that notion up, but knew already that the answer was 'no'. They wanted someone to carry on the family name, after all. And that didn't happen without a marriage and children.

'Dad, I'm still in high school'.

'Never too early to scout suitors! But make sure they're good ones!'

'Sure, dad'. She puffed air out, fluffing her bangs for a moment as she used a foot to push her bedroom door shut and lay back on her bed.

...What a day.

(1555 words)