Alice's Return to the Oasis Pt 1

Alice’s Return to the Oasis

A month before

A breeze lightly stirred the air as midnight began to descend on this small human town.  No one was moving at this time; no doubt many were curled up warm in their beds as a harsh chill clung to the dry air.

‘At least, I hope this is the case. ‘

An inhuman being thought as he moved dead through the centre of this little settlement.

The cold barely sunk into the man as he moved, gliding across the ground with his large tail of red and black scales, his long snake body gliding effortlessly and silently across the pavement and dirt.  In place of legs did this odd 24 foot long feature of his start at just above his waist, yet this wasn’t the only thing that made him so different from the people who lived here. 

He looked human enough from the waist up; expect the wide blanket of scales up his back, many standing up with sharp points along his spine and shoulders.  His eyes, a strange dark amber colour had slitted pupils and an odd marking at the corner of his eyelids, hidden behind long locks of tangled brown and brass coloured hair.

When he smiled or talked a pair of snake fangs could be seen in place of normal incisors, his forearms had a single long scale that he could raise to be used as a weapon if desperate while his hands were large, ending in sharp white claws he hardly ever used.

In those arms of his was the whole reason why he was in this town.

He held the tiny sleeping body of a girl in his arms, a human child by the name of Alice who couldn’t be no more than seven years of age.  On occasion when he wasn’t scanning the area around him he would stop and pause to glance at the little girl, brow frowning each time he felt her shiver from the cold air his high body temperature of 45°C couldn’t quite protect her depending on where the end blew from, or to see her little face strained in pain. 

She was so small compared to the naga that she almost disappeared from sight in his arms, the three and a half foot tall child far dwarfed by his human like torso of nearly seven foot, adding his tail to this meant he was a huge total of 31 feet in length, close to a third larger than some others of his race and torso size.

A flash of images constantly plagued his mind as the strange being moved, wondering over and over how this little girl had prompted this visit to a town full of humans no doubt more than willing to put a bullet through his head.

He kept seeing those trusting periwinkle blue eyes staring at him as he snapped her dislocated arm back into its socket, the faintest touch of a tiny soft hand against his face as he tried to scare her away, her soft little voice like a sparrow, telling him that he wasn’t a monster even when he threatened to eat her alive.

Absently he stroked her back when she whined in pain from her now swollen shoulder, not waking even though it must surely be hurting her greatly; utter exhaustion seemed to come as a blessing to this poor little one.

He knew her shoulder would swell even before he snapped her dislocated arm back into place, it had been like that to long otherwise, he was just glad she had fallen asleep before the real pain had gotten too much for her.

She became more restless and eventually cried out softly in her sleep, a sound of distress and fear that caused him to clutch her just a little closer, hissing protectively under his breath, before flushing in embarrassment when he realised what he did.

He wondered if she was dreaming about her adduction by those kidnappers she had told him about, the way they had mistreated her. 

While trying to fix her arm he had caught glimpses of the many numerous bruises the couple had inflicted on her, and how thin and malnourished her little body was.  He suspected her small size was likely due to this, poor little thing...

He could never forgive people who would do something like that to an innocent, a child no less.

Fortitude almost hoped they would come back; he was dying to acquaint them with his claws and teeth…

Finally he found just what he was looking for as a medium sized white building loomed before him; a thick smell of steriliser blanketed the place.

Fortitude suspected this place was where their healers lived, a couple of lit windows helped with this assumption that some were always on site to help.

As he approached the main door he pondered why these humans needed such a big building to heal their sick, surely a tent, or a decent sized cave would be enough.

After one final stroke of a clawed hand against her back, done so gently so not to wake her the naga carefully laid the little girl down by the door.

Laying on the cold cement and away from the heat of his body Alice instantly started shivering.  Fortitude frowned at seeing this, worry about her health quickly setting in.

He couldn’t leave her alone here all night; she would freeze before anyone found her in the morning. 

He had to fight back the urge to snatch her back up and take her back to his oasis with its warm rocks and thermal springs, then stunned that such a thought would cross his mind.   She was a human, a hatchling no less while he was a Naga, an unusually large one at that, hell most of his kind, if any existed anymore other than him probably viewed her kind as prey, this small one would be seen as little more than a snack. 

He had known her for only a few hours, already he couldn’t bear the thought of such a sweet little thing near a predator like him any longer.  He didn’t even want to think about what might happen if he got hungry and lost himself near the child, less she wind up as so many other smaller or bigger creatures before her.

Besides the idea of devouring something sentient and alive made him feel queasy to both his stomachs anyway.

He ate much like a snake, constricting his prey till it died then usually swallowing it whole if they were small enough, this included mice, lizards and snakes, chickens, the occasional lamb or small sheep he could steal from the village from time to time.  He mostly ate the small crocodiles he found slinking about his waterways, some easily bigger than the tiny girl but anything bigger then a chicken tended to be more effort than he usually gave to devour, he was rather lazy when it came to hunting, usually he was rather well fed from the many small creatures that lived in his oasis without having to much effort in on bigger, nastier game.

He tore apart anything too big to make it easier to get down; so far he had only had to do that twice.  Once with a stray cow that had broken her leg and had been lying, driven mad with thirst on the ground in the middle of the harsh plains when he found her, he was unable to pass up the opportunity of a large easy meal from an animal that would have perished anyway, he made it quick and merciful, he didn’t like suffering.

The other time was with a monster crocodile that had nearly cost him his life trying to take down, it had came out of the depths of the waterways back when he first found the oasis,

Catching his prey and cooking the meat like humans or adding plant stuffs to his diet never really passed the man’s mind before, it was as alien as the thought of flying without wings, or him learning how to ride a bicycle. 

It was something his mind couldn’t even begin to comprehend and something he didn’t really want to try to do.

After a few moments composing himself Fortitude turned his attention to the matter at hand, if there were lights on there must be people inside this building, the problem was to get their attention.

He spotted what seemed to be a large red button fixed in the wall next to the door with some sort of word underneath it.  He couldn’t read it, he could read just not in these humans odd little language but it didn’t take a genius to add two and two together.

Before he pressed the button he bent down to look one last time upon this little child before he left her to a hopefully better life when a tiny red dot caught his eye.

It was next to the wall to his right, its bright florescence colour standing out so much more then the button, it seemed harmless but a warning registered in his mind, although he couldn’t remember why.

Then it started moving.  His slitted eyes followed it as a cat might, almost triggering an impulse to dive at the dot and try and catch it, the key word being Almost.

It slid silently and slowly across the wall, and then disappeared from sight as it moved almost in front of him.

Then the warning in his mind turned to pure, startled understanding.  Slowly he straightened up, turning himself till he was staring one of the windows to his right, finding the source of the tiny light in a shadowed figure three stories up, just as the sniper rifles focuser moved to the middle of his chest.

Nothing happened for several minutes as he fixed his gaze on the person, waiting to see just who would move first.  He could tell from the way the focuser stayed still and steady that this being had a sure hand with the gun and would be unlikely to miss, yet he had bothered to show him his focuser so clearly when he could have so easily shot him with his back turned.

He couldn’t help but notice where the focuser was, usually when a gunner was aiming for one of his kind they went either for the head or dead in the centre of the chest, while the head could well be fatal, despite his thick skull that point in the chest wasn’t, since his heart wasn’t placed the same as a human’s, instead his rather large lungs took up that room, he needed a lot of oxygen to move his rather large body.  No, this gunner was aiming much lower on his chest, about where his ribs ended, about a few inches higher then where his first belly was, his heart was located just behind there.

If he fired that gun, Fortitude wouldn’t even have time to so much as gasp before his heart stopped forever, or bleed to death in minutes if it were somehow to miss and go through any of his other organs.

Only a trained Monster Hunter, or M’hunter as most inhuman races had learned to fear knew that.  If he remembered right some M’hunters factions, as there were many were in fact half breeds, human with something else being the most common, sometimes, although very rare even half naga were the ones that led the hunt.  Pure human ones were rare as well since most humans didn’t know about the other species; naga weren’t the only ones who hid away from the rest of the world.

This one was defiantly a human; he would have smelt anything else a mile away and would have steered clear of the place.

He glared at the M’hunter, making no move to defend himself yet not masking the look of rage in his eyes, wondering why a hunter would be here of all places.   His thoughts flashed for a moment to the girl, wondering she had been used as some sort of trap to lure him here, then dismissed it. 

If the girl was involved she couldn’t have possibly known and the state she was in had meant she had been left alone for too long a while to be set up as bait to lure him out, besides he could have just as easily left her to fend for herself or followed through on his threat, there were just too many faults in such a plan to be even considered.

Also he couldn’t forget her telling him what she could remember from her short life and the abuse she had suffered, her voice told no lie, although he almost wished it did.

He felt anger for a second as he stared up the figure, unable to so much as see his eyes in this light. 

‘Why do you hide in the shadows little human?  Scared to look into my eyes before you try and kill me?’ He thought bitterly, cursing his luck. 

He had done nearly everything he could to avoid detection in this land, he had kept to himself for fifty years in his oasis before this little town sprung up seemingly overnight, he hadn’t harmed anyone, he kept to his own devices and everyone benefited expect for the occasional bit of livestock, there was no way a M’hunter could have found out about him.

The rage was starting to grow as minutes continued to stretch by; tempting him slowly, dangerously closer to a blind fury to attack the figure, the knowledge that he would likely die long before getting close to it was getting dimmer and further away in his mind.

Alice groaned suddenly, a sound of pain, so much weaker than before snapped him out of it and likely saved his life.  Out the corner of his eye he glanced down at the girl, worry setting in as he noticed how much more she was shivering then before, her little face was flushed with a faint fever and strained.  Then he realised why, the kid had rolled onto her injured shoulder as well!  That would explain the added pain to her features. 

Despite the situation he let out an annoyed and concerned grunt at this, wanting to move to help the little girl but unwilling to risk his life to do so.  All he had wanted to do was help the brave little child, take her too safely and perhaps her horrible past might yet be forgotten, yet it seemed that there was no such thing as safely anymore in this world; even the places of healing had someone ready to end a life.  He would admit he likely deserved it from the crimes he had committed long ago; perhaps this was karma getting back at him.

If it was to be then it was to be, but he’d be damned if he went down like that.

A thought came to him then, why hadn’t the M’hunter fired yet, he just stood there pointing his gun at him, yet nothing else. 

Perhaps, he just wants me to leave, get away from their sick and injured?  The naga thought, then realised from where the guy was he probably couldn’t see Alice at all either.

He gritted his teeth at what he was about to do, giving the shadowed person a venomous glare before slowly turning, revealing the little huddled shape on the ground, a dim light from above the door enough to give some detail to the child.  The focuser faltered for a moment which was all Fortitude needed.

He sprung back on his tail, darting off despite his large mass the way he had come, whipping his tail tip hard against the button which immediately started blaring a soft but insistent beeping sound, loud enough to carry after him as he slithered quickly out of town, tail stirring up dust behind him to cover his tracks.

He slowed down once he was a decent distance away, the little shape that was the child only barely visible and the shadowed figure in the window gone.

“Farewell and good luck, little one.”  Fortitude whispered softly, before gliding out into the darkness, disappearing into the night without a trace.

***

“All day, staring at the ceiling-
Making friends with shadows on my wall..
All night, hearing voices telling me-
That I should get some sleep-
Because tomorrow might be good for something

Hold on..
Feeling like I'm headed for a, breakdown..
And I don't know why…

But I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell
I know, right now you can't tell
But stay awhile and maybe then you'll see
A different side of me..
I'm not crazy, I'm just a little impaired
I know, right now you don't care
But soon enough you're gonna think of me
And how I used to be...me

I'm talking to myself in public..
Dodging glances on the train…
And I know, I know they've all been talking about me
I can hear them whisper
And it makes me think there must be something wrong, with me
Out of all the hours thinking
Somehow I've lost my mind’

The sound of someone singing softly, but with growing strength from outside the window slowly stirred the little girl from her sleep, scrunching up her tired eyes as she tried to go back to sleep.  Soon enough she fully awoke, her soft periwinkle blue eyes opening to the calm darkness of her room. 

The singing was now starting to soften, the owner drawing further away from the house.

Stumbling to her knees Alice, climbing up onto the head board and looking out the window. 

She only just managed to catch sight of the person’s hat covered head and shock of pale hair before they disappeared out of sight, that song finally being lost from her ears.

Alice was actually a little disappointed, the person had a nice voice, and the song sounded familiar, if a little bit sad. 

Carefully she slipped back into bed, pulling the covers back up to her chin but, try as she might Alice couldn’t go back to sleep.

The little girl turned restlessly, screwing up her face when she tried to force herself to sleep.

Finally she sighed and sat up, clicking her tongue and noticing then how dry her mouth had become.

The seven year old gingerly crawled out of bed, bare feet sinking into soft carpet.  The cool air bit into her skin not covered with her bright orange pyjamas, causing her to tuck her hands against her tummy as she softly crept to the partially opened door, silently creeping into the upstairs hallway.

There were three doors other than her own right across from her, two bedrooms and a bathroom.  A soft warm light lit up the stairwell from the end of the hall, meaning someone was still awake. 

Slowly she tiptoed to the end of the hall, eyes wide when she caught the faintest mutter of voices down that way.

Alice was going down the staircase to when the voices of Mr and Mrs Aperman drifted much clearer into her ears.  It had been a month since she had woken up in the medical centre owned by the kind couple.  When it became clear that she was lost they had let her stay at their home, disliking the idea of the tiny child staying at the centre alone once she could walk again.  She was at first worried that she would be a bother, constantly scared that if she did anything wrong these kind people would turn into the cruel two that had abducted her seven months ago.

Quickly though it became clear that they were far from being horrid, they had never raised their voices at her nor hit her, always they were kind and although at times they would treat her like glass were rather understanding sometimes. 

The two were completely mortified when they found out how she had been treated that first night; she still remembered how Maria Aperman had hugged her very tight, not letting go even after Mr Aperman had called the police, his face had been grave and pale after she had told them about her kidnapping six months before.

What she didn’t know was that with her story and her sudden appearance had in fact prompted the local police to search the roads surrounding the town, in an attempt to believe this crime hadn’t been dumped on their doorstep and were just the imaginings of a dehydrated kid. 

They in turn had found something horrible that helped prove her story was true. Alice never found out but what they had found that caused great horror to the police, she never found out they had found the remains of a kid her own age, the last child that couple had ditched in the desert over one hundred and twenty miles away from the town.

That also gave a mystery to her appearance, no one knew just how she survived the day in the heat nor the cold of the night till she was found, asleep on the centre's doorstep with a heavily strained arm and badly lacerated feet from walking on hot and sharp ground, her skin was badly burned from the sun but, mysteriously she was only a little dehydrated considering the circumstances with hardly any memory of having gotten there.  Many believed Alice had been dumped closer to the town then the other kid because of her age, (Which she had, although still not a distance most would have survived) and the pain her arm and feet had caused some form of memory loss.  The only ones that knew what really happened was Alice, and the mysterious creature that had helped save her life that day.  If the being had not interfered, indeed if he had left her to her own devices the small girl would have developed severe hypothermia, and died that night.

She had been tempted to tell Mr and Mrs Aperman her secret, she had kept out the part of finding the secret oasis and the large being that lived there; something had kept her back from uttering those words. Perhaps it was worry that they might think she was being silly and wouldn't believe her or worse, if they did believe her, and deemed Fort as something bad.  He was a very big man, and he did look firce, although Alice never saw that, she saw someone unlike any she had ever meant, that made him special to the young girl.

She was also starting to wonder though if the man actually existed, or what they said was right about having lost her memory, she couldn’t remember her life at all past the six months she had been kidnapped, it was suppressed, gone except for the rare, happy dream she barely had anymore. 

The idea of the snake man being a figment of her imagination was almost too scary to even imagine, he was to special, to important in her mind to forget, so Alice kept the idea of meeting him again close to her heart.

Even if his last words to her was to forget, to treat their time together as a nightmare to be forgotten.

"I know, I honestly not sure what we can do, they said her parents disappeared shortly after she got kidnapped, if they can't find someone to take her in I can't see them not putting her into an orphanage. " Alice realised with a start they were talking about her.  She crouched on the stairs, keeping a slight grip on the railing in front of her as she listened in, knowing deep down she shouldn’t be listening in, it was rude.                

“She’ll get eaten up if that happens, Alice is such a sweet innocent child and she’ll never survive it."

The grief in Mrs Aperman's voice scared Alice. 

I wonder what this Orphanage is. She thought to herself, it sounded like Mrs Aperman really didn't like it.

"I know dear, I wish we could offer to take her but with Marcus I just don't know if we could handle it." Alice thought he sounded upset, with a sinking heart she wondered if he was upset with her.  Marcus was the couple's son, a boy a few years older than Alice.  She had tried to become friends with the boy the first time they met but Marcus had quickly deemed the young girl to boring to hang out with, preferring other kids his age.                                                                                          

"We can't just let her go like that!” The woman's raised voice really scared Alice then, it was scary how upset she sounded.  Alice sniffed, tearing up at the thought of this orphanage thing, since it must be so awful to make a grown up so unhappy.                                                                                                               "We don't have a choice in the matter." The desperation in his voice furthered Alice's fear.  She started to sob softly, then cry.

She heard footsteps running towards her till Mrs Aperman appeared at the bottom of the stairs.                                    

"Alice are you okay, did you fall baby?" Maria face was twisted in worry as she rushed up to the little girl, scooping the crying child up and hugging her, trying to calm her in vain with soothing words.                                                                        

"What happened!"Mr Aperman yelled put from the other room, rushing into the doorway to see his wife in the middle of the stairs trying to comfort Alice.  Automatically he leapt to the first conclusion one could possibly think in that situation.     

"Take her into the lounge room; I'll get the first aid kit!" 

"I I I'm O-okay, I d-didn't fall." Alice sniffed and hiccupped, burying her face into Maria's shoulder, further making her harder to hear clearly. 

 She was either ignored or wasn't heard as they rushed her down the stairs and into the room they had been in seconds before, Mrs Aperman careful sitting down on the couch and gently holding the girl while her husband went out of the room, only to rush back a minute later with a white box with a bright red cross on one side.

"Where's the pain, did you fall on your arm?" Mr Aperman asked as he bent down next to his wife, gently feeling over Alice's right arm, still in a sling as the muscles that moved it were being stubborn in healing.                                                                                                                                                             "P p p-please don't s-send m m me away!" She wailed instead, hugging tighter to the older woman, for her part looking very surprised by her distress.                                                                                                                                                              "Alice, baby, were you listening in?" Maria asked, answered by a wave of new sobbing and a slight nod from the little girl.           

"Don’t worry, I would let that happen to you sweetie!”  She gave a challenging look to her husband as she lightly stroked the girl’s thin back as she started to hiccup again.  To the woman's distress no matter how much food she gave to the girl she had yet to shake her malnourished appearance, even after a full month of solid square meals each day, not to mention all the times she had forced snacks on the girl, even when Alice complained how full she was when asked.   She had barely grown or filled out; she only hoped that she wouldn’t be stunted for the rest of her life.

"You shouldn't eavesdrop on people's conversations.” Mr Aperman lightly scolded, flinching slightly at the hell freezing, wrathful look he got from his wife.  

"She really shouldn't." He said with a lot less strength at the quelling glare he received, cringing from it, he hated it when she got like this, it was okay when she turned it on other people, he was hopeless when that look was turned on him.                                        

"Please stop crying Alice, it’s not that bad, who knows you might have a kind person come to adopt you, like a king or queen! Being adopted isn't that a bad thing."  He tried to tell her in an attempt to quell his wife’s fury, despite trying to sound professional he realised with dread he had taken on a voice he used to tell thermal patients bad news.

He flinched, glancing at his wife, who had adopted a ‘Oh really” look at his king/queen comment.

"Y-you all sounded so u-upset, i i it must be bad." She sniffed; finally seeming to calm down a bit as she finally turned her head, peering shyly from the comfort of the older woman's arms.  She was a touch confused as well, what was this Adoption thing?  How was it linked to Orphanage?                                                                                        

"Lawrence, we can't just let them take the dear, so many kids get messed up, or worse they disappear altogether, and she's already been through so much.  Just...ask them, see what we can do to stop that happening."  Maria implored him.  Alice looked at him, tears still in her eyes as the woman asked him.

She saw him open his mouth to say something, and then something changed in his eyes when he looked down at Alice.

"Alright...I'll see what I can do, I'm sure we can afford to look after another kid, heavens know if you keep feeding her more than our own son we'll surely go broke though." With that Mrs Aperman launched at him, kissing him full on the lips, causing Alice, who was still in her arms to giggle at the flushed look that came over his face.                                                                   

"Oh thank you so much honey!  See baby, told you nothing bad would happen.” Lawrence raised his hands.  "Don't celebrate yet, I haven't even asked anyone so far, no use getting our hopes up yet!” Maria scoffed.                                                          

"Please, you’re the only doctor around for miles, everyone trusts your judgement.  How in the world can they not refuse?"  With that she turned her dotting attention back to Alice, leaving her husband looking much more flustered then her kiss had done.

"Guess I have no choice then...I'll make some calls; see what Gus has to say in the morning." He muttered, scratching his head and sighing tiredly as he turned and left the room.

“See that baby, that’s how you get a man to do what you ask them when your older, be sure to remember that when you get married one day.”  Maria said to the girl as she carried her back upstairs.  Alice giggled, before wrapping her arms around the woman’s neck trustingly, almost breaking Maria’s heart at the attention.

“Alice dear, what were you doing up so late, you know you need to rest if you want your shoulder fixed up as soon as you can.”  She cooed to the girl as she reached the room they had turned into Alice’s for the time. 

“There was someone singing outside, and I was a bit thirsty; I just wanted a glass of water, I didn’t mean to spy on you.”  Alice muttered sadly as Maria sat her back into the small single bed that sat against the right wall.

“Oh it’s no worries dearie, you came at the perfect time.  I’ll get you a glass of water in a bit, alright? And someone singing?  Must have been a dream sweetie, someone would have to be mad going about in the middle of the night just to make noise.”  She chuckled at the thought.

“Oomph, I do reckon you’re getting heavier.”  The woman laughed in the next second, hand on her lower back as it twinged.

“You ok? Did I hurt your back?”  Alice asked concerned, wide blue eyes even wider than usual.

“No-no sweetheart, it’s all alright.  Let’s get you that water, and then you have to promise me you’ll go right to bed.”  Mrs Aperman smiled, tapping the tip of the little girl’s nose gently, causing her to giggle softly.

“Ok Mrs Aperman, I will.”

Later Alice laid alone in bed, the lights were off and the moon shown faintly through the open window, pale silvery light reflecting off the half full glass sitting on the side table.

It was rather pretty and drew her tired gaze.

It still felt alien, feeling safe, warm and comfy.

Till a month ago she hadn’t known what being safe was like, or warm and comfy.  She could only remember lying on a thin, dirty blanket in a small, dark and damp laundry room, barely able to keep warm and never dry.

She had never felt safe, even in sleep that cruel couple would torment and beat her; she hardly knew rest, only fear, hardly even knew a moment without abuse.

Alice sighed into her pillow, eyes drifting lazily to the ceiling, the silvery light made it seem like a big open canvas to her eyes.

It almost felt like a dream, like the ones she used to have with the people without faces.  She could barely remember those dreams anymore; she only got the dim sense of there being two people with her.  She had felt loved in those dreams, safe like nothing could ever harm her again.  Alice always felt so alone when she woke up from that dream, like she lost something, and worse was the faintest knowledge in her heart that she could never quite know that feeling ever again, something bad had happened, but no matter how hard she tried she could never remember what.

She sighed, muzzling into the soft pillow against her cheek, eyes drifting shut.

She was still scared she’d wake up one day and the kind couple who were looking after her would be gone and Mama and Papa would be back.

She shivered, pulling the covers tighter, turning and staring wide-eyed at the window like they would suddenly come through it.

After a while Alice’s eyes drooped closed again, a memory playing through her mind that helped calm her fears.

“Tired little one?”  He muttered, lying back beside her.
“Yes...I’m very sleepy...but I don’t want to go to sleep.”  She whispered, opening her eyes to slits, for the first time that day to the naga, she looked a bit scared.
“Why?” Fortitude couldn’t help but ask.
“Because I’m scared I’ll wake up back in the dark room and Mama and Papa will hurt me again...” 
“I won’t let them get you, I know somewhere nice and safe for you where they will never think to find you.  And if they come, well, let me take care of them.”  The last bit he smiled darkly to himself, that predatory look creeping back into his eyes.
“Can I stay here with you?”  She asked, shutting her eyes again, her worn out body finally giving in.  The last thing she heard was his strained voice, sounding far away.
“I’m sorry little one... you need to be with your own kind. Sleep now, and try and forget this nightmare.”

Alice smiled softly, breathing starting to even out, body starting to relax and calm.  She knew she was safe, she just knew it. 

She chuckled softly before going to sleep.

“Silly..mister Fort...you’re not...a monster...or a nightmare....