Nightmare: Part 2

The three words on the paper haunted me.  Who was I?  My mind worked hard to think about every detail since the moment I had come into existence.  I thought about things I had thought were unimportant.  Did I have fingers and toes?  What did my face feel like?  How long was my hair?  I probably looked like an idiot as I felt around my face trying to identify features.  I felt two eyes, a nose, and a mouth.  My hair, I felt, was, as people called it, shaggy.  I couldn’t identify the color with touch, so I left that detail alone.  I had five toes on each foot, and five fingers on each hand.  I looked long and hard at my skin.  Yes, I did have skin and it wasn’t transparent, it was tanned.  I was human.

I walked down the street in confidence for the next week, pleased that I had identified my species.  But I was still confused.  I hadn’t been able to identify myself as male or female.  And I still had no name.  I thought about naming myself, but then decided against it.  Everyone in this town knew me as “the nameless one.”  There was no reason to get them all confused.

“You’re looking mighty pleased with yourself.” Jessica said as she fell in step with me.

I widened my lips in what people called a smile and replied, “I have identified myself.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I have discovered that I’m human.”

Jessica laughed.  “Of course you’re human!  Any idiot could have told you that.”

“But….my nightmares.”

“What?”

“I have these terrible nightmares.  I can’t answer questions about before I came here because I have no memory.  Was my mind wiped?  Did I have some kind of accident and forget?  Or had I just been created and the one who made me dropped me off here?  There are so many unanswered questions, Jessica.  I don’t think I’ll ever be able to find the solution to the puzzle that is my life.”  That was the first time I had ever said her name aloud, and it felt wonderful on my tongue.

“Nightmares?  Those are normal.  Everyone has them.” Something in her voice changed and my mind told me to be wary for some odd reason.

“Not the ones that I have.  I have them every night, and they seep into my day dreams as well.  That day when I fell and then got up and started walking as if I was in a trance?  I was walking towards one of the monsters in my dreams.  He took over my thoughts, got inside my head.”

Jessica looked more interested than terrified.  “Fascinating.” She said.  “I didn’t think there were any of you left.”

I squinted at her.  “What do you mean?”

“Have you identified yourself as male or female yet?”

I shook my head.  “How do you know these things?”

Jessica looked up at me, but this time there was a hunger in her eyes.  Her eyes turned from green to red and her tongue, not a human tongue, snaked between her teeth.  “Oh your kind wassss my favorite to eat.” She hissed.  “Ssssooo innocent and ssstupid.  Ssstupidity is ssssooo tender.”

Her body transformed until she was no longer Jessica, but a large snake.  And yet, somehow, I wasn’t afraid.  I smiled again.  Then a voice spoke.  It took me a moment before I realized it was my own voice.  But the words coming from my mouth were so strange I didn’t know where they came from.  “I remember you from the dark ages.” I said.  “You devoured my people.  Why have you come?”

“Issssn’t it obvioussss?  To conssssume you.  I mussst be sssswift.  The moment you identify asssss male or female, I am forbidden to eat you.”

“You’re not making any sense, Jessica.”

“Aww, you’ll catch on ssssoon, little one.”

“Why are you here?” I asked again.

“You haven’t learned anything until you learn that monsterssss have nightmaressss too.  Nightmaressss of their greatessst enemiessss being more beautiful and fierce than they!”

I still was not afraid.  Something inside of me said that she was making petty threats with no real depth to them.  That nothing could hurt me and that I was safe.  I stood before the snake as she raised her head and bared her cruel fangs.

“Sssshow me your true form, monssster!” She demanded.

I closed my eyes, and took a deep even breath.  Suddenly, something entered my veins like liquid fire.  I sucked air into my lungs and then blew in the face of the snake.  As I blew, I spoke at the same time.  “I am the last male of the Pelle Mutante.  Feel my breath.” I could feel the heat of the air coming from my lungs as I blew in Jessica’s face.  She cried out as her scales melted from her body and she was reduced to nothing more than a puddle on the street.
Pelle Mutante.  My brain wracked for a translation.  Of course!  Skin Changer!  I was the last male Skin Changer.  That’s why I had no memories of my previous life.  Every time I changed my skin, I lost all things that had to do with my previous form, including memories.  “Pelle Mutante.” The words gave me peace.  I had identified myself.  I had defeated an enemy.  I knew my purpose.  I went back home to my apartment.  The words “Who am I” were still written on that single piece of paper.  I drew in a breath and blew on it.  The paper melted along with all the suffering and confusion I had endured.