The Cowboy and the Woman with a Slit Mouth

Elias had gone to bed after Tibby left home, but now a burning filled his lungs, as though it was hard to breathe. The fluid was stickier than water. The smell of ink emanated from everywhere around him, overwhelming his nose.

He was surrounded by this same fluid that filled his lungs, but only saw an inky blackness. His arms flailed as he struggled to gather his bearings. This had to be a nightmare. He must’ve just been worried about Tibby.

Then Elias felt a familiar parcel of fur clinging to him, and realized that Leo was still there, pressed against his chest. The cat’s claws dug into his shoulders. Wetness welled where the claws met his skin, but adrenaline pushed the pain out of mind.

Instincts took over, and Elias kicked at the water in an attempt to rise to the surface of whatever this was. One hand clutched Leo tight to his chest, and the other stroked. But as they ascended, he felt his body start to crumble.

And it wasn’t just his body.

Who was he? What defined him as a person? Thoughts of his family came to mind, only for them to slip away. He could almost feel them slip out into the inky blackness, not unlike how a clump of sugar would dissolve in water.

He kept kicking. His arm worked beat away at the surrounding black fluid even as his limb ached. But his body kept crumbling. Parts of him hung loose from his body.

There was a faint, drowning meow from Leo. He looked down and saw his cat staring up at him. He hadn’t wanted to pay attention to it before, but now he felt patches of fur come away in his hand. Leo was crumbling away too, much like Elias was.

The cat buried its face into Elias’ chest. Leo’s heartbeat thundered like a drum against his skin. Elias kicked harder. His legs burned. His lungs burned. His breath slipped out between clenched teeth. He did not feel a burning sensation along the skin from the acid, but his skin nevertheless began to flake away, and then strips of the muscle beneath.

Leo’s body relaxed in his arms. And then the cat, the pet he’d owned for ten years, fell apart.

“Leo!” Elias cried out, and more of the surrounding sticky black fluid filled his mouth and lungs. He coughed and spluttered. More of his body crumbled away, but this time something slipped inside to fill the gaps. As more of these gaps in his flesh filled, his body grew warm. But even if his body no longer crumbled, his lungs still needed air.

As a pair of strong arms wrapped around him, Elias finally gave up the fight to stay conscious.

When he came to, Elias felt a firm mattress of straw and fabric beneath his back, nothing like the softer mattress he normally slept on. Even the smell was different. He drew in a deep breath, and a sharp sting filled his nose. Like he took in a deep breath of winter air. But it was supposed to be summer.

His eyes snapped open. The memory of Leo crumbling away seized his mind, and he felt around for his cat. But Leo was nowhere to be seen. Anxiety swelled, and something on top of his head and at the base of his lower back shifted. His fingers probed, and found furred ears stemming from amidst his hair, and a furred tail had grown from his lower back. Curiosity guided his hands to the sides of his head. Brushing past his locks of hair, he felt no ears where they should’ve been.

This had to be a dream. Some kind of dream within a dream. And when Elias woke, he would be on his mattress again, with Leo cuddling up against him because they both missed Tibby. The thought brought some reassurance, and he looked up at the ceiling.

It was dark green, and shone bright like metal. Nothing like the wooden ceiling of his family home. He sat up and found that he’d been stripped naked. His jeans and button down shirt sat at the other end of the room near a roaring fire. A woman sat there by his clothing in a wooden chair, her hair touching the ground. Her back faced him.

Elias’ gaze roamed the walls. Green and blue fur pelts of animals he couldn’t name decorated the room. Among those in his hometown, only the mayor would’ve had access to such exotic furs, but he’d never heard of the lord having a woman with such long hair living in his home. And Elias’ home wasn’t anywhere near the mayor's mansion besides.

“Excuse me,” Elias called out to her. “Where am I? Have you seen my cat?” After a moment, he chastised himself. His mother had always said to use manners. “Sorry, I’m Elias Jund. It’s nice to meet you. What’s your name?”

The woman turned around to face him. She wore a white gown. Elias’ eyes drew wide at the sight of her face. Her mouth opened wider than any normal person’s. Her mouth had been cut at the corners as though by a knife or scissors, and her dark hair obscured her eyes.

“Aaaaaare,” she warbled. The sound made the hair on the back of Elias’ neck stand on end. She glided toward him on footsteps that made no sound. Elias scrambled away until the back of his head knocked against the headboard. The woman continued. “Youuuuu.” Her hands reached out to him.

His heart hammered in his chest. This had to be a nightmare.  When he woke up, he’d have to tell his mother all about it. For the time being though…

He flung the blanket over her, and leapt from the bed. The woman let out a startled shriek as he darted past her and across the room. There was no time to put on his clothes, so he left them there. A long metal rod lay poking out of the fireplace, meant to stir logs around. Elias snatched it by the handle, turned back around to face the woman with the split mouth, and held it as though it was Tibby’s high school fencing sword. The weight of the weapon’s head tilted it forward. The muscles in Elias' forearm clenched as he forced it still.

The woman tugged away at the blanket, and glided toward him. But she moved slower than her initial approach. Her hands remained at her side.

“Waaaaaait,” she said, but Elias didn’t leave the creepy woman any time to approach. His newfound feline tail reached over and twisted the doorknob. It opened, and he darted through. A short hallway lay outside, and he saw a flight of descending stairs at the end. If he could just get away and figure out where he was, he could figure out how far away he was from Amrika. And then he could somehow secure passage there, or at least figure out a route. He didn’t have his passport, but if he could just get to someone with a cellphone, he could call his mother or Tibby.

But for the time being, Elias darted past two doors and reached the stairs. The split mouth woman called after him, but he wasn’t about to stay near someone so creepy. His feet thudded down the stairs, and he found himself facing a small sitting room with chairs and a table. The table bore a plate of meat and red berries. The meat had a faint smell to it, as though it’d been cooked. The smell of cooking meat also wafted from the room up ahead, past the sitting room. A faint whistling could be heard from it.

“That kid wake up yet, dear?” the whistler eventually said. It was a man’s voice. There was a faint twang of an accent that Elias had only ever heard in country western films with cowboys. His words were not quick with urgency, but instead carried a simple everyday tone that made Elias’ eyebrows knit together.

Elias glanced around for anything he could make use of in the room. There was a shelf that bore a strange cube with a surface that resembled a television.

He tried to force himself to relax. At least this man could speak actual words he could understand.

“I’m awake,” Elias said. His grip tightened on the metal rod. “I’d like your name. And the name of the woman upstairs. Where am I? Where’s my cat?” The more questions he asked, the more confusion bubbled up. As it turned to fear, he brandished the rod out in front of him. In this situation where he knew nothing, the firmness of the rod was somehow comforting.

The man emerged. He sported a faint brown beard on his cheeks and chin, and wore a wide-brimmed brown hat that matched those of a cowboy. An eyepatch covered his right eye. An apron adorned his chest that looked to be made from a green fur pelt like the one he’d seen on the bedroom wall upstairs. Splotches of red sauce and fish juice stained it. Beneath that apron was a brown vest. He carried a carrot in his hand.

“Careful now,” the man said, upon seeing the metal rod in Elias’ hand. “You didn’t hurt my wife upstairs, did you? That’d be an awful way to repay her for watching over you for the past couple hours.”

As if in response, the split mouth woman glided down the stairs on unheard footsteps. She entered Elias’ periphery, and his gaze juggled between the split mouth woman and the man with the wide-brimmed hat. His ears flicked up and his tail lashed behind him.

“Tell me what’s going on,” Elias said. Seeing that he was outnumbered, and that the man seemed safe to talk with, he lowered the metal rod. “Please.”

The man and split mouth woman exchanged a look.

“Mind taking over the cooking, dear?” the man said. “Left the pot to boil.”

The split mouth woman nodded, and glided past him. Upon seeing the plate of food on the table, she pointed to it, and then Elias.

“Eeaahi.”

The man waved aside her words.

“I’ll make sure the kid gets some food in his belly, don’tcha worry,” he said. Only after the woman had vanished from Elias’ sight did he relax, and keep his eyes on the man. The man returned a frown. “Try not to look at my wife like that if you can. She’s been through enough already.” A pain weighed down his words, and he brushed his eyepatch. “We both have.”

“Sorry,” Elias said. “And sorry about her mouth.”

“Nothing you did,” the man said, waving aside the apology. “Anyway, what’s your name?”

“Elias Jund,” said Elias. “How do I get back to Amrika from here? My mum and sister are probably worried sick about me.”

“Amrika, huh.” The man’s lips pressed together. “Can’t say I’ve heard of that place.”

“But Amrika is one of the biggest nations in the world,” he said. Elias racked his brain, struggling to make sense of the man’s ignorance. “Are we on one of the islands south of Buca?” Perhaps there were some natives of those islands unfamiliar with the rest of the world. That didn’t explain how this man knew his language, or how Elias had gotten here to begin with when he’d been resting in his bed the night before. But there would be time to figure out answers to those questions later.

The man took a seat at the table, and motioned for Elias to go up the stairs.

“Why don’t you get dressed?” he said. “Your clothes are probably dry by now, I reckon. Unless you want to show your beauty to everyone that wants a gander? You’ve got a prettier face than most men I’ve met, mind you, but I’m not too keen.” The man chuckled, but his smile didn’t meet his eyes. “And I’m taken besides.”

“I’m not going anywhere till you tell me where I am!” cried Elias.

He sighed.

“It won’t mean anything to you, but we’re on the outskirts of the Azure Kingdom.” Just as the man said, Elias knew nothing of an ‘Azure Kingdom’. “And you might learn more about it if you put a shirt and pants on. Kuchisake sewed on a sleeve for your tail.”

“Fine.” Elias climbed the stairs two at a time. He returned the rod to the fireplace before turning his attention to his clothes. While they were dry, they also bore a faint gray stain all over, as though they’d been immersed in a dark liquid. They’d been clean when Elias had gone to bed the night before. He brought his tunic to his nose and sniffed.

“Is this ink?” he wondered aloud. After a shrug, Elias pulled on his shirt and trousers, and slipped his tail through the patchwork rear sleeve meant for it.

As Elias approached the sitting room, he heard the man speak.

“We don’t need to run a test, do we? Why don’t we let this one go just this once, Kuchisake?” the man said. There was a moment of silence, and then he sighed. “Yeah, I remember what’s at stake.”

Elias entered the room.

“Is something wrong?” he said, and watched as the split mouth woman retreated back into the kitchen. Now a journal and pencil rested in front of the man with the wide-brimmed hat. The plate of meat and red berries had also been heated, and Elias’ stomach rumbled as the smell reached his nose.

“Why don’t you have a bite?” the man said. His voice was firm, more of an order than a request.

“Before that, could you tell me your name?” Elias gave the man a pointed look.

“The name’s William, but you can call me Bill. Pleasure to meet you.” He turned his head to the side, referring to the kitchen behind him. “And the woman back there is Kuchisake.”

Elias ate a spoonful of meat. His eyes lit up as he savored the mix of salt and spice. His ears flicked upward and his tail zipped from side to side. Then he moved onto the berries. The rich tang exploded in his mouth as he bit down, and he couldn’t stifle a muffled moan of delight.

Bill jotted words down in the journal.

“This is incredible,” he said. “You made this?” The food back in Sanfran, even his mother’s cooking, tasted downright forgettable by comparison. Then he saw Bill’s frown. “Did I say something wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” Bill said. He shut the journal before Elias could catch a glimpse of what he wrote. “And of course I made it. You thought my looks won Kuchisake over?” He chuckled, but it was too heavy to be mirthful. Before Elias could probe further, Bill leaned across the table. “You remember how you got here, Elias?”

Elias racked his brain.

“I was surrounded by this black stuff,” he said. “I was…coming apart. Leo too.” His eyes squeezed shut, and his fingers touched the feline ears atop his head. “What happened?”

“I fished you from the ocean,” said Bill. “And you’re lucky.” His gaze lingered on Elias’ ears. “You’re very lucky.” A weight filled his voice that made Elias shudder.

“You know something about my cat, don’t you?” said Elias.

“Have a bite to eat,” said Bill. “Then we’ll go for a walk along the shore and stretch our legs. Better than staying in this cramped shack. Maybe we’ll even find your cat kicking and yowling in the ink.”

Elias finished every last scrap on his plate, and sipped from the glass. The liquid was more white than clear, but not quite thick enough to be milk. A faint sourness made his brow wrinkle.

“I guess you haven’t had coconut milk before,” Bill remarked upon seeing Elias’ shift in expression. “Neither did I before I came here, but it’s better than drinking ink.”

“Yeah.” He took a few sips, before he realized the oddity of what Bill just said. “Ink, you said?”

“Finish your meal, and then you’ll see.”

Elias nodded. Odd taste aside, it helped wet his throat.

After a few more gulps, he finished the glass.

“Thank you for all of this,” he said. These people had never seen him before, but they’d rescued him from whatever had taken him far from home, and even offered him food. And he responded to their care with a surprise attack and a makeshift weapon. “Sorry about earlier.”

“It’s all right,” Bill said. “If you hurt Kuchisake, I would’ve shot you between the eyes. It’s good for all of us that that didn’t happen.” He laughed.

Elias chuckled along nervously. Bill rose from his seat and motioned for Elias to join him. He led Elias from the room, and down another hall. A front door lay ahead. As they approached, he heard Bill’s breath catch in his throat.

“Are you all right?” said Elias.

“I’m fine.” Even as he spoke, Bill didn’t meet his gaze. His hand closed around the doorknob, as though steeling himself. “No other way to do this.”

“Huh?” Elias’ head tilted.

Bill opened the door. Elias gazed out at a sandy beach and palm trees. Beyond the sand and trees, however, he saw an unusually dark sea. Even darker than the stormiest of waters. Elias walked down the pathway toward the shoreline, leaving a trail in the sand behind him.

The water crashing up against the shore wasn’t just dark, but pure black. He glanced at the gray stains on his tunic and trousers. A lump welled up in his throat as he leaned down and touched it. His hand came away stained with ink.

He brought the hand close to his face. He blinked a few times, expecting the ink to suddenly turn into water. It did not. He gazed past the gaps in his fingers at the endless ocean of ink where there should’ve been water.

His face grew hot. His vision spun.

Elias gulped down air, but it did not help him stabilize. Sweat built up on his brow. A sudden thirst seized his throat, and he turned back around toward the house. Something to drink was there. He just needed to take a few steps.

“Elias!” he heard Bill’s voice. It was faint.

His fading vision saw the man run toward him, feet kicking up plumes of sand.