Outsider

When it came down to how they were written in epic poems and old tales, they were always full of rage, treacherous and evil, described with repugnance, always terrible, cruel and filthy. Yet she never felt quite like that.

Her limbs were too long to ever resemble a human’s, despite her slouched figure she moved graceful and swift. Everything from deep sunken eyes, unruly thick hair and dark feathers, large fangs and sharp claws, everything could be interpreted as dangerous.

Yet the only times she had to show her teeth was as she was being hunted down by men, they would holler and run into the night for as long as their legs would allow them, unaware of the blurring limits between human and beast.

That night, like many others, she saw them coming forth with torches, burning bright with anger and fire. For a second the lonely creature thought they were coming to hunt her like many other nights, until she heard a scream.

The scream of a woman.

The creature looked closer, at the front of the mass of villagers a woman tried to outrun them, she looked like any other human, but as they chased behind her the beast started to make out a word: “Witch”.

A witch trying to blend never had a happy ending. She lurked closer as the horde pursued their victim out of the town, catching up with her at a speed that can only be fueled by hatred. Their many voices shouted and their many hands threw rocks at the lonely woman as her desperate cries echoed louder in the forest, the so-called beast  felt once more, that familiar feeling of injustice towards them who were labeled as monsters. 

Without thinking, without even noticing, she had been keeping up with the crowd and most importantly, with the witch. Despite how fear traveled through her expression, she was a fair young woman, resembling a human in every feature.

Finally, she was knocked down by one of the many rocks thrown at her. Seeing her trembling on the ground, her looks not too far from those of prey, the beast jumped between the witch and the mob.

Her snout opened wide, displaying razor-sharp teeth, emitting a cry that seemed both too human and too animal, roaring in a key that deeply unsettled the listeners and filled them with fear.

Some kept throwing rocks, others threw fire, yet nothing could even scratch the hide of the beast. Some stood still from the disbelief, shocked at the sight of this large monster who managed to resemble many animals at the same time, like it came out of a nightmare.

Without a word the creature lowered herself, the witch understood and jumped on top of her, riding the chimera as she ran away from the mass. 

“Thank you” she mumbled in a strained voice as her tears fell on the scale covered skin of the beast, her hands holding her fur tight, she pressed her body against the creature. The screaming of the people behind them seemed to never stop, running through the woods.

After a few turns and twists the creature lowered herself once more and dropped the witch on a bush.

She opened her snout and a coarse voice said “Stay. Hide”.

Without giving the witch time to object  the command she kept running, taking the humans away from her as they tried to evade obstacles with all their might, following her meandering figure.

They chased her for long minutes that felt hours, some managed to hurt her, many gave up fairly quickly, deciding to go back home to their ordinary lives, relieve overflowing in their chests as if they had done some sort of justice that night, now believing the world to be a little safer than it was yesterday.

By dawn the creature arrived to her nest and passed out sooner than later from the exhaustion and pain her body was under.

When she woke up the witch was there, taking care of her bruising skin and open flesh. She had put on her wounds a funny smelling paste, covering and protecting them with wide leaves.

“Thank you for saving me last night” the witch said “I wouldn’t have made it if it wasn’t for you, would you mind if I stayed?”

The creature invited her to lay in the nest.

The silence they shared felt oddly comforting, yet the chimera could see there was something in the witch’s mind, she sighed “I thought if I kept it low, if I was discreet enough then I could make it, but now I'm sure, I'm not made for it” her eyes reflected her pain, like the night before, she quickly fell to tears “I tried to follow all of their human traditions, I tried to be kind and to not use magic, yet they still knew I wasn’t one of them, after all, I’m still an outsider”

The chimera nodded. Despite her looks, there was something she sensed underneath, something that told her the witch was closer to a beast like herself rather than a human.

“What you did last night is something no one would have done for me” the witch said with a kind smile blooming on her face.

The chimera leaned closer and emitted something that sounded much like a purr. The witch stroked her hide and leaned closer to her, not minding the rough textures.

The beast, too, had never had anyone who would do something like save her life or take care of her aching body, like the witch had done.

Her kind didn’t stick together for long and their mismatched looks kept others away.

Words escaped the creature, for she wasn’t sure of how to communicate her feelings, although by the looks of the witch she felt like she was feeling the same thing. At that moment, sitting in her nest next to the witch, she finally felt like he belonged somewhere.

A kind of ease she had never felt before swelled through her body.

The witch understood that feeling the chimera couldn’t communicate. She didn’t have to hide her true self in a community of people, where everyone looked like her but would never fathom what her life was like. Next to this creature whose features seemed oddly assorted by fate she felt welcome, more alike than in any other place she had lived before.

She left out a relieved sigh, for she finally understood what she truly needed to feel like she had found that exact spot where she was meant to exist.

At that moment, and forever more, they belonged with each other.