GWC '24 #3: In Search of a Friend or Why You Should Let Monsters Eat Your Pink Socks

On a quest for a monster pest who just might be a friend.

This is my final entry into the Gibberish Writing Competition, judged by

Scoot

and

Sara Dietz

. Thanks so much for all you do! This is a three-part competition. You can find the first story, A Martian Fairy Tale, here and the second one, the Trial, here.

Image by Alexander Antropov from Pixabay

The Warning or Why You Should Only Eat Brown Socks

Cold toes woke Brianna once again, alerting her to another missing sock. That’s the third time this week, she grumbled to herself, I’m going to have to talk with him.

Flopping over the edge of her bed, Brianna’s flashlight shone into the face of Marv. He held up his arms to ward off the sudden light, the fluffy blue fur failing to conceal the pink sock hanging from his mouth and the slightly guilty look on his face.

“Marv,” she said, “another sock! My mom keeps asking me where they are. What am I supposed to tell her?”

“Sorry, I am, Miss Brianna. I just gets so hungry,” he said. He tried to hide his smirk, but monsters that live under beds are terrible liars.

“You are not sorry. It’s always the pink ones, too! Why not eat those itchy brown ones instead?”

“Oh no, miss, not that, I couldn’t. Stomach pains for weeks, that’s what I would have,” he said innocently.

Brianna narrowed her eyes. “Don’t give me that. You just don’t like the taste. You better be careful; you don’t want my parents checking under there, do you?”

Real fear crossed his round furry face. “Not that, you wouldn’t! Disappear, I would!”

“Maybe I would, maybe I wouldn’t. Just remember that the next time you take one of my pink socks,” Brianna said, rolling back onto her pillow with a smile. She could still hear Marv muttering, but she was pretty sure her socks were safe for now.

Cold toes woke Brianna once again, alerting her to another missing sock. That’s the third time this week, she grumbled to herself, I’m going to have to talk with him.

Flopping over the edge of her bed, Brianna’s flashlight shone into the face of Marv. He held up his arms to ward off the sudden light, the fluffy blue fur failing to conceal the pink sock hanging from his mouth and the slightly guilty look on his face.

“Marv,” she said, “another sock! My mom keeps asking me where they are. What am I supposed to tell her?”

“Sorry, I am, Miss Brianna. I just gets so hungry,” he said. Brianna glared at him, suspecting him of lying.

“You are not sorry. It’s always the pink ones, too! Why not eat those itchy brown ones instead?”

“Oh no, miss, not that, I couldn’t. Stomach pains for weeks, that’s what I would have,” he said innocently.

Brianna narrowed her eyes. “Don’t give me that. You just don’t like the taste. I wish you would go away and never come back!”

Marv’s sad round eyes met Brianna’s in the gloom. “If you wish, Miss Brianna.” With that, he seemed to sink out of sight, disappearing among the clutter.

Brianna blinked. She hadn’t expected that to work. Even as she realized that it had, she began to regret it. Sure Marv was a pain, taking things all the time and leaving suspicious blue fur behind for her to deal with. Still, she kind of had a soft spot for the guy; his funny way of talking made her laugh, and it was nice to have company in the lonliness of the night. He’s probably just joking around. I bet he’ll be back tomorrow, Brianna thought without much confidence.

Just as she feared, the next couple of nights remained monster-less. Each night she waited for the tell-tale rustling of Marv’s approach as the dark house settled into its snowy sleep, but every night she was disappointed. She wished he would appear so she could apologize.

For the first time, she began to wonder where Marv went during the day. She’d looked for him several boring, rainy afternoons last summer, but he always seemed to just appear out of nowhere under her bed at night. Well, he must be under here somewhere, she thought, dropping to her knees on the floor.

“Marv,” she whispered as she pushed her way carefully under the bed, “Marv, are you there?” No response. The whole house was quiet, and Brianna wished more than ever for her friend.

She wriggled herself a little further under the bed, pushing a misplaced sweatshirt and a completed book of mazes out of the way. Suddenly, a little further ahead appeared a faint blue glow. Brianna stopped short wondering if it was her old nightlight. Carefully, she crawled nearer, moving aside the box with her rock collection. The glow was coming from what looked like a whirlpool of blue light floating in the air. Brianna tried to peer around its side, but it hardly seemed to be there at all.

Slowly, haltingly, Brianna reached out her hand toward it. The air around it felt more solid than it should. Her hand seemed to vibrate in time to its spinning. With a deep breath, she shot her hand out to touch it, and in that instant her room disappeared.

She felt like she was sliding headfirst down the most wild water slide of her life. Lights seemed to flash by all around her, yet she couldn’t really see anything. She didn’t feel wet, but she also felt like she couldn’t take a breath, like she was being squeezed through a tube.

With a sudden crash, she landed sprawled on the ground. Brianna lay there blinking, trying to make sense of what she was seeing. Above her was a forest canopy with the orangey pink sky of sunset peeking through. Looking, again, though, it seemed the sun was still at high noon. Strange, I wonder where I am, she thought.

She slowly got to her feet. Everything about the forest she had landed in felt wrong. The ground was spongier than it ought to be. The air was like a balmy summer’s day instead of the wintry night she had left. The trees’ leafy branches rose up into peaks like whipped cream. None of that could have prepared her for the galaxy of blue spiraling portals that spread out in all directions under the trees. Just like the one she had seen under her bed, the multitude glowed and spun like a forest of fairy lights. That whirlpool must have been a gateway between my room and Marv’s world. So, all these other ones must take you...everywhere, she thought.

A rustle in the branches made Brianna look up just in time to see a furry black ball with bat-like wings jump out of the trees toward her. She ducked out of the way just in time. The little monster flapped around her head. Brianna tried to run away from it, but it followed, beating at her with its wings. Four, five times Brianna batted at it, finally knocking it to the ground. With a sharp kick, she sent the monster scurrying off into the trees.

Brianna took several deep breaths to calm her nerves. That was when she realized her mistake. The forest was full of portals – which one was hers? She wasn’t even sure which direction she had run in. She was trapped in the monster world where apparently not all of them were as nice as Marv. I just have to find him and he’ll help me, right? she thought desperately.

Unsure where to start on her quest, she looked into the gloom and spied a blue dirt path not far away. Hurrying over to it, she considered which direction to take. One seemed to go further into the forest, while the other quickly led out into sunlight. On a hunch, she headed for the open air. The pink sky which at first had been disconcerting made the world feel cozy, and she hurried along the path.

She walked on and on for what felt like hours accompanied only by strange bird and insect noises. Her warm winter pajamas were doing her no favors in the heat of the sun, yet she trekked on. To either side at regular intervals were piles of items: blocks, board game pieces, unmatched shoes, pine cones and acorns, the refuse of her world that had been brought here. Brianna wondered whether Marv had made all these piles. He couldn’t possibly be the other only monster in this world, right? But then where were they all?

The path had been quite easy so far, and Brianna, though tired, was hopeful that she would be with Marv soon, even as she wondered whether he would accept her apology. Coming around a bend in the road, she saw before her a most discouraging sight: a valley that boiled like a pot of water. In pools large and small, turquoise mud spit up in globules like a mad scientist’s work bench. As Brianna crept nearer, she could feel the heat rising up from the seething mass. The whole valley was crisscrossed with dead-ending paths and there didn’t seem to be any way around to avoid it.

Brianna was about to go back, sure that she had taken a wrong turn, when she spied a house in the distance. It looked just like the gingerbread house she had made last Christmas, complete with smoke wisps rising from the chimney despite the hot day. Marv! That must be his house, thought Brianna. But how can I get across this place?

She began to study the terrain in front of her in earnest. It’s just like a maze in a book; you just have to find the way across, she realized. Her eyes tracked back and forth across the plain, following this path and that, marking it out with a stick in the dust. She was pretty sure once she was down there she wouldn’t be able to tell which way she ought to go, and one wrong turn could be disastrous. She stood there a long time, saying the directions to a little tune until she was sure she would remember, wishing for the thousandth time that she wasn’t alone.

Before heading down the slope, she ran back up the path a little way to a pile of shoes. After searching for a while, she found a mismatched pair that were about her size to protect her feet from the hot ground. She also dug through a pile of clothes with less success; the only things in her size were a particularly ugly t-shirt with a unicorn and a pair of boys’ plaid shorts. At least I won’t bake in these, she mused as she pulled them on.

Equipped for the journey, she headed down the slope. It was not quite as hot as she feared it would be but was still hot enough. She moved quickly but carefully along the paths of solid ground, singing her song as she went. So far so good. The globs of mud jumped into the air at random making spectacular shapes, but they smarted terribly when they landed on Brianna’s exposed arms and legs. She regularly had to jump out of the way of eruptions to avoid getting completely covered. Even still, she looked like she could be Marv’s cousin from all the blue she soon had on her.

Soon, she could see the far edge of this nightmare field, with Marv’s house in sight. Her expert maze skills had served her well until the very last turn. She was supposed to take a left onto a narrow bridge to the edge, but seeing it up close now, Brianna could see that the little strip was actually just some scum on top of roiling mud.

She was so close! She tried a couple different paths, but nothing seemed to lead to the solid ground just twenty feet away. Could she jump it? Seemed unlikely. Is there anything solid that she could put it across? No branches. No poles. Not even a canoe paddle to help. Her thirst and exhaustion began to get the best of her as she stood there helplessly. She was stuck there, all alone.

“Marv!” she called out, her voice a croak in her parched throat. She swallowed a few times and tried again. “Marv!” She called over and over. No luck. It’s not working. But she kept trying until she collapsed onto the hot ground, still calling out weakly.

As she lay there, she saw through the haze, between the dancing blue mud orbs, something larger, fluffier appear. It was Marv! He crouched down on the edge of the field and sprang over to Brianna in a truly monster leap. He scooped her up in his soft arms and carried her back to his house.

After a drink of suspicious-looking yellow water, Brianna felt much better. “Thank you,” she said, “I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t come.”

“Most welcome, you are, Miss Brianna. Why came you here? Very dangerous,” asked Marv, his eyes full of concern.

“I came because…” Brianna trailed off, really scared for the first time. In a rush, she continued, “I came to say sorry. I miss you, and I want you to come back. You’re my friend.”

Marv broke into his wide, toothy smile. “Oh, Miss Brianna! So happy I am! A friend you are, too. Why I go to all the houses, that is, to see all my friends. Very lonely here with no other monsters. They’re all far, far away in monster city. Better not to be alone, it is.”

Brianna smiled. “Yes, it is better not to be alone.”

And that was how it came to be that on a sultry summer’s night several months later, Brianna crept out of bed. She gathered up her snow boots and winter coat, stuffing them under her bed. She would need them where she was going. Then, she slipped under the bed to visit an old friend.

Word Count: 2033