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A bad day3,478 words
The Past Haunts Us All8,321 words
Bathtime3,512 words
Research 7,817 words
My Little Pony4,704 words
That Night3,173 words

Bathtime

It was early evening, and my day off has become the randomest and most emotional I’ve had in years, but now I lay on my white couch, a copy of Stephen King’s newest novel opened in my lap as I tried to focus on the things that happened no more than an hour ago.

Turns out my new friend and inadvertent housemate was named Eclipse, and unlike what I thought, she didn’t like having someone in the room (who wasn’t her mother) when she took a bath, but I have a feeling that she’s going to need help when she needs to clean behind her ears.

I don’t know how I could have forgotten such an extravagant name as Eclipse, but I did, and as I am now realizing I forgot everything that happened last night, tripping on an unmarked basket, the unicorn whose life I saved by starting a fire. I bet you that if Eclipse had left while I slept, I would just go about my life as if nothing ever happened.

Why, well I will need to talk to the little filly that thinks she’s big enough to take a bath on her own to find that answer out.

On another note, I never thought of my mother’s death being in a thrift shop fire, or its connections with the orange bean pillow I bought online… I think...my memory has been real foggy ever since Eclipse’s arrival, and it’s starting to bug me.

And something was off about that memory. It was extremely blurry. It scared the crap out of me, but I couldn’t tell anyone apart from my mother, who had a bandage over her right eye. The kind of bandage used after skin grafts, but why would my mother have a bandage like that before she gets burned? What does it all mean? Do I even know how my Mother died? No, I have to… she died from being burned in the thrift shop fire… but… no that doesn’t make any sense. Why would…

“Oh I’ll look it up tonight,” I said, slamming my book shut and getting up off of the couch. “Right now I need to make sure, Princess Eclipse isn’t burning my house down with soap.” I moved to the bathroom door that lay across from my room, smelling a nerve rackingly strong soapy odor coming from the otherside.

I halted, my fingernails digging into my palm, grunts of anger seeping from my mouth, I don’t know where this anger came from, but I feel like punching her in the face! I took a long, shaky, breath, that would get me nowhere with someone like Eclipse. She’s afraid of her own shadow when she’s around me, and while she’s gotten better at interacting with me, I should know to take things slow, not burst a blood vessel over the possibility of losing a few bottles of shampoo. She’s just a kid, maybe a bubble bath will make her feel more welcome.

“I really want to get to know her more,” I said, my own voice startling me.

Taking a deep breath, followed shortly by another, I raised my hand and knocked as politely as I could. “Eclipse?”

Nothing

“Eclipse, you need some help?”

Again nothing

“Eclipse, I’m coming in.” First I was angry now I was concerned, deeply. What if she slipped and smacked her muzzle on the tub’s bottom? What if she drowned? “I’ll kill you if you’re dead!”

Grabbing the door I heard the familiar “click click” of it being locked and tried harder to open it. My rage was beginning to blind me so much that, if the door wasn’t locked, I might have actually killed her. Very emotional day I thought, bleeding the rage out with a couple more angry grunts. When I finished, I took a deep breath, letting the cold Maine air sting my throat as the smell of bath soaps assaulted my nose. With a loud exhale I left the door, worry washing over me the moment I realized my outburst could have scared her, and headed to my room.

Wanting to take some extra time to release my emotions, I made my bed, feeling the gentle cold of the plush blanket center my vision, and opened the sliding window, hearing the creaking of unoiled hinges striking my mind and bringing myself back, and let a cold blast of the outside air hit me in the face. It was mid october right now, which meant that Jack Frost was on his way, and no one should be outside when Jack frost made Maine his new home.

With my bed made, window shut and mind clear I grabbed my keys and headed back to the hallway.

After locating the smallest of five keys, I slid the metal into the hole, feeling the locking pins bounce up and down with its master’s entrance. I can’t remember why I locked the door in the first place, or why I left a filly in the bathroom alone expecting her to take care of herself, maybe I was stupid, or maybe I’m just having a bad day. I did in fact forget how my own mother died and was taking care of a unicorn filly, so I should cut myself some slack.

Everytime I twisted a key I felt like it would break, and the last thing I wanted was to have a locksmith come over and find a possibly drowned unicorn in my bathtub, that didn’t happen and the door opened with ease.

As I entered the bathroom, the smell of soaps disappeared, being replaced by a stale lysol lemon scent. The linoleum floors weren’t wet meaning there wasn’t any kind of splashing or struggle. The sink and mirror were spotless. The entire bathroom was exactly the same as it was before I left for the couch.

Turning my attention to the bathtub, I see that none of the bottles of soap were even touched, and the little blue filly is still sitting exactly where I left her, her eyes trained on me… fear evident.

“You okay?” I said. It was much easier to speak calmly after I saw that Eclipse was just fine.

“P-Please d-don’t kill me.” she put her hooves over her head as if to protect herself from my fists. “I-I’m sorry f-for taking too long.”

“Woah woah, who said anything about me killing you?” My heart picked up its pace, pounding away as I watched her every emotion.

Face contorting, going from fear to confusion in the matter of seconds, she looked at me, head cocked and eyebrow raised. “But, you said—”

“Oh, what I said was I’ll kill you if your dead, something that’s not possible.” I looked at her, watching for the signs of fight or flight. “I would never kill you.” When none arose I moved forward, flinching when she pressed her back against the tub wall, and crouched to make myself look smaller. “Relax, Eclipse, I won't hurt you. It’s just been a stressful day.”

“M-M-My Mommy, when ever she-she’s having… having a ‘hic’ a b-bad—”

“Breath, Eclipse.” I started to crawl towards her.

“W-When m-my… Mommy...” I saw that she stopped breathing again, her face contorting in mild terror, and moved a little quicker. “B-ba… day…” She gasped when I planted my open hand on her head and would have hit the wall if I didn’t hold her in place.

“Eclipse,” I said, staring into her scared purple eyes. “I need you to do one thing for me, can you do that?” as I expected, she only hicced in response, but it made me smile. “Can you breath?” She could breath alright, but it was more hyperventilating than breathing. This made my smile grow.

I felt her skin crawl under my hands, hear the dread in every breath she took, but did nothing to ease her fears, and the more terrified she got the bigger my smile grew. But not for the reason you think, I didn’t think of this reason until I saw her sitting in a tube of lukewarm water doing nothing.

“P-P-Please don’t kill me!” She screeched, tears pouring down her face.

I closed my hand, feeling her fur tickle my fingertips. She let out another shriek, this one biting my ears, and didn’t stop until I began to itch behind her ear. Feeling this, she broke down, placing her head on the edge of the tub.

“Eclipse,” I said, thinking about her reaction to my mind game, her palpable fear and honest belief that I would kill her. It made me laugh, and I sat there, giggling like a schoolgirl. I laughed and laughed, but made sure to keep itching her ear. “Eclipse, if I were going to kill you, I would have done it by now.” This made her gasp and shake, turning her cries into wails. “Sorry, I guess I should stop using the ‘k’ word.” I made a mental note, letting my smile grow again before continuing: “What I’m trying to say is that you’re safe with me.” Safe, that word made her stop for a moment. “Yes, you are very safe with me,” I continued scratching her ear. “Again, if I wanted to… hurt you I would have done it by now.”

I sat there a few minutes longer muttering the words “You’re Safe” and scratching behind her ear as she cried, and the more I saw her the more my smile grew.

Eclipse was something special, very special in fact. In my bathtub was a mythological creature that defied everything I know by not only being able to talk, but having the mind of a human child. Her ability to remember the words I’ve said as well as the feeling behind them was remarkable, and her innocent nature was incredibly adorable. I’d bet that if I said “Do you want a cookie?” her eyes would glow and a giant smile would plaster itself on her face despite what I said about killing her.

But one thing that is even more immaculate was this urge to protect her I have. If at that moment, someone came into the bathroom with a gun, I feel like I could easily take a bullet for her. It was a peculiar feeling and I intended on doing some research once her needs are taken care of.

“Okay, let’s get you cleaned.” I ignored the groan of disapproval she gave and grabbed the mint scented bottle of axe shampoo at the other end of the tub.

As I massaged the green goop into her fur her muscles started to give way, and once her tears stopped coming, a moan of relief slip through her lips. Soon her iron grip on the side of the tub loosened and would have made a splash if my hand wasn’t there to catch her.

When she was done, and half of my mint shampoo gone, I pulled the sock from the drain, the sudden noise taking her out of the light sleep she was in. I soothed her by rubbing her back with my professional rubbing hand, the one I earned from giving too many belly rubs to Bane, and soon she gave a cute little snort before letting her head fall back against the side.

I went to grab another towel from the laundry right outside the bathroom, a certain sense of pride welling up in me, and wrapped her in its white wonder. She seemed to enjoy it, giving off another little moan of pleasure as she delved further into sleep.

It made sense for her to be falling asleep, she might not have gotten a lot of it last night, fearing for her life, that, and I just gave her a warm massage so, she might not have it in her to stay awake for much longer. My smile grew once more as she shuffled into a more comfortable position on my shoulder, resting her head and letting her body melt into mine.

My plan is to set her on one of the pillows in the living room and let her take a well deserved nap while I did some research on her appearance, but that wasn’t meant to be. My foot slipped on a slick spot and I fell back throwing Eclipse into the air.
Each step I took to try and regain my balance ended with me slipping on another spot. If I had looked up at that moment however, I would have seen Eclipse’s horn glow with a dark blue hue.

I lost contact with the floor and could see Eclipse floating up to the ceiling in slow motion. The collision stopped her scream for the briefest of moments. I hit the back on my head on the tiled floor and the pain exploded in my mind. I held out my hands to catch her, but the Eclipse I saw had some how multiplied into three and I couldn’t figure out which one to catch. Everything went black and I lost all Eclipses that were falling to the ground.

Moments later my head hit the floor again and Eclipse cannonballed right onto my stomach, knocking the wind right out of me.

“Yay!” The sound was faint and everything was still black. “Do it ah- Ow- gen, do it” her voice was beginning to grow, and I could hear the pain that tinted her words. “Ow, Ow, Ow, okay don’t do it again, don’t do it again!... OWWWW!” She fell off of my gut allowing me to breath again. Opening my eyes, the bathroom light seemed to assault my mind as the pain pulsed in the back of my head. “Ow ‘hic’ Ow, make the pain go away.” With a groan, I turned my head, light finally returning to normal.

I saw Eclipse lying on the floor curled up into a little blue ball. Her cries felt like an MMA master was punching me in the gut. I got up, my world spinning and was quick to lose my balance. After three failed attempts, and three more head injuries, I finally got to her side.

When I put my hand on her shoulder she gasped, turning her head at such speeds that I could hear her neck crack. Her eyes were the size of dinner plates and, in the first second she looked at me like I was a monster, filled with fear, but once her mind connected ‘me’ with ‘you’re safe’ she gasped again and rushed me, wrapping her small arms around my waist and burying her face into my shirt.

My smile came back, although this time it was tainted with the pain the still pulsed from the back of my head; she was acting just like a human child, running to the nearest familiar face, a simple thought magnetizing the action, He’ll make everything better. A primitive thought that helps bind mother and daughter and every friendship oriented species together. A bond known as trust.
“Where does it hurt?” She didn’t gasp when I picked her up nor did she cringe or give any outward signs of hesitation when I used my other hand to stroke her back.

“Ha-Here,” she said, pointing towards the left side of her head.

“Want me to kiss it and make it better?”

There was hesitation, I saw it in her eyes, but it didn’t last and she quickly replied with a whiny “yes.”

My breathing sharpened and I could feel excitement curl through my body, threatening to take control. Being quick I held her by her armpits and planted a short kiss on the left side of her head. When I pulled away I saw that she was looking downward, a blush apparent even through her fur. “What’s wrong?” My voice seem to shock her out of some kind of state as she gasped, not a pain filled gasp, but an embarrassed one, like her mother found her with a young colt.

“N-Nothing… it’s just m-my mommy usually kisses my boo boos and makes them all better, not… you.”

Something felt off, I hadn’t expected that reaction from her, blunt honesty that was almost being… held back. Not even a human child of her age (I’m guessing six) would be so tactful.

“Oh, I see how it is,” I said, coating my voice with spite. “I’m not good enough for ya”

“No, that’s not it at all!” The blush grew as her voice hitched up an octave from surprise. “I’m just not used to anyone but Mommy kissing my boo boos, that’s all! Please don’t hate me because of that!”

I couldn’t help it, I burst out laughing, not even noticing that I dropped her to the ground. “I was joking Eclipse,” I said through my laughs. “And… and you’ve done nothing to earn my hate, so relax.”

“Oh Haha, very funny, Eric,” she said, faux anger welling in her eyes. She moved across the floor towards her towel, winching every now and again when a new pulse of pain came from her head. “You’re a jerk!”

I was about to respond, but one look in the mirror made me stop. She didn’t have a scowl on her face, not even a frown, there was a tiny, appreciative smile, and while the rest of her face shouted her embarrassment, that one smile told a different story.
“No need to thank me, Eclipse, I do it for a living.”

“I’m not THANKING you!” she shouted, but again she hid her embarrassment as a small delicate smile formed. “I-I don’t like jokes like that” She tightened the towel around her body hoping it would hide her face.

I looked at her for a few moments, my smile coming back with a vengeance at the sight of her wrapping herself in a towel twice her size. It was like she was returning to a more... comfortable position in life, letting me make all the scary decisions as her mommy and daddy did back where she lived. A child’s life is one of happyness, of letting others make big decisions for you so you didn’t have to worry, but most importantly of safety and closure whenever something scared you. Eclipse was fitting into this familiar life like a puzzle piece, letting me be the one to make those big decisions and soothe her fears away when she gets scared.
“Come on, let’s get you dried off so I can give you a tour of where you’ll be living.” I got up, grimacing as pain pulsed in the back of my head, and grabbed her. “At least until your mom or dad picks you up that is.”

I heard a loud gasp come from under the towel. “Ya-You mean I-I can stay?” It was like she was dreading the question. “I w-won’t be a b-burden?”

I turned her around, wiping the towel off of her face, seeing that beautiful smile of hers as well as a few hopeful tears falling from her giant purple eyes. “Yes you can stay, and as long as you follow my rules you will never be a burden.” Seeing her give a truly bright smile made my heart well with so much joy I thought it might explode. I knew having a unicorn filly living in my house will bring complications to my life, with food bills and what not, but I couldn’t even think of an innocent soul like her’s being out on the streets where she might be raped and beaten, or worse, killed.

I gasped a little myself when the feeling of soft, damp, fur slowly wrapping around my left leg brought me out of my thoughts. Looking down I saw Eclipse hugging my legs, glints of the tears coming from eyes, and the little hics that came from her mouth as she tried to word her thank you.

I grabbed the towel that was slipping from her body and began to dry her off. As I did so I could literally feel her muscles relaxing under my touch and began to wonder how long that question burned in her mind. When I was done I broke her lovefest with my leg and brought her into a tight hug, which she highly appreciated, silently crying into my shirt as her pent up worry melted down her face in the form of tears.

“Th-ank you… Thank you sooooo ‘hic’ much, Eric”

I stayed silent, rubbing her back while she let it all out into my shirt.

But before she could finish, the knock came at the door.

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