UnderHelp

Standing here mindlessly is having its consequences…The chilly air was nipping at the skin on my face and making my nose turn rosy. My eyes are watering with warm tears and I bet my money that if I stand here much longer, my fingers are going to turn black and snap off and left behind on the snow like charcoal sausages. They are already turning into an undesiring reddish-purple shade. I slipped on my hoodie and stuffed my hands into the pocket as I question myself if I should turn back and go home.

I would have, despite the awkward tension that will come after it later… I mean, I can’t really throw myself out of my own home in a way that would be terrifyingly strange to my two neighbors and expect them to forget about it… right?

My two neighbors…heh. I almost forgot they were skeletons. In fact, I almost forgot that everyone that I currently spotted here isn’t at all human. The skeleton brothers didn’t seem like that was bother though- well except for Sans. He seems to not trust me at all… I mean I guess I couldn’t really be frustrated or confused over that. If my wish came true and I had a sibling of my own, I would be conscious and protective- especially if it happens to be someone who I just met. But I guess that wasn’t it, was it? It’s because I was human. But what made him think humans weren’t trustworthy at all? Sure, we have some rotten eggs… okay maybe a lot of rotten eggs but that’s not whole humanity. Sometimes, we need the darkness so the stars will shine the brightest.

But no…There’s definitely something missing here… and I’m sure curious about it. There must be a reason why I was the only one not knowing of these creatures to exist. And whatever these people are… they apparently need my help according to Mrs. Toriel. Does Mrs. Toriel know I’m not like one of them? I’m going to have to hang tight and ask all these questions to her. But whatever the answers are… All that I know is…

As proven from back at my house, these beings are just like me. They could talk, walk, not sure about eating and drinking… but they do have personalities! Which also means they have feelings, intentions, beliefs, goals and yes, even problems. Problems that could be minor or mega, harsh or lenient and needs the support. Problems that I will strive my best to help them out of it and have them living life at its fullest. According to Mrs. Toriel, these people need counselling services. They are going to get their counselling services. I am determined to succeed! Mark my words, world! I CAN DO THIS!!!

The applause of millions of audiences cheered and ratcheted in my brain. A shower of rose petals rained down upon me. The people got up from their seats and clap their hands together. Following the claps were the whistling and ‘whoo’s from the people of the first row. I took a bow of thanks and the stage was littered with white Pomeranian pups. As they tackled me to the stage floor and licked me until I was soaked, I was suddenly handed the town’s key and is president of United Earth.

“Who’s there?”

Oh great, now I’m back to reality. Well this sucks now…

“Hello?” The soft female voice answered from the other side of the door. Wait so there is actually someone behind this door after all? Wow, they must really love the antique type theme. This door looks like it got time travelled from ancient Rome to here. This chick must be some dinosaur.

I began to open my mouth to say my greetings back, but nothing came out of my mouth. I tried again and all I got was a choked sound. It was then that I realized how exhausted I suddenly feel… and how weak my whole body was. My throat was a pain. It was scratchy and had a furry feeling to it. When I tried to talk, my throat had a stinging ache that prevented me from getting at the minimum one letter out of my mouth. I started to cough vigorously until I could taste blood on my tongue. I sniffled and my teeth chattered. I was definitely coming on with a cold. It’ll turn into a fever if I don’t head back now.

So there I was, returning my fist away from the door and ignored the lady from the other side. I turned my body around and head back home, had a nice bubble bath and ate up gourmet chicken-noodle soup. I mean, that’s what I wished for anyway.

Instead I stopped and took a look at where I was. It seems I was at the end of a snowy forest, which was a place I never recognized. The trees here were different from Snowdin’s. In Snowdin, it was planted with Christmas trees throughout… right here the trees were straight and aligned perfectly together like a wall that’s protection something. The trees are much taller and slightly dead looking which caused me to shiver at its eeriness. I felt myself becoming uncomfortable and afraid that in all places… I choose to be lost in a woods where it looks like a murderous woodcutter would live.

Howls of the wind picking up made my fear of being lost dissipated and a new phobia kicked in. Snowy gusts blew my hair and clothes. My face got numb with frostbite and I could feel someone’s eyes in the distance. Before I could even pretend to shook the feeling off, a growl sends my body to stiffen. Every part of my body stopped as I saw ahead of me a gigantic intimating creature armored with heavy metal and equipped with a spear that was taller than me. Its point was so sharp, I could feel my nerves tingling. But the creature didn’t come close. It sniffed the air and barked at me like it was trying to warn me about something. I looked at the canine-like soldier with confusion in my eyes. The creature’s ears fell back and its tail resembled the behavior of an afraid dog. It whined and charged away from me, the ground vibrating slightly at each running step the creature took. He left within seconds.

Suddenly a squealing alarm rang my eardrums deafeningly. That’s when I knew… this isn’t good. I am in big trouble now. In the deepest of all shits.

The breeze got to a point where it’s unbearably freezing. I cuddled myself up for warmth, but it did not help whatsoever.

The alarm was still ringing and I could hear a megaphoned voice blasting far away to where Snowdin rests. It was announcing something it seems and for a moment, I could hear panicked shouts.

My heart was going a hundred miles per second. The wind got powerful and the snowing became rapid. The snowflakes weren’t delicate anymore, they were like tiny bullets striking my form. The world around me turned white which clued me what was happening here.

Too horrified for any reaction, I was vulnerable to any hits. The squalling wind shoved me violently back a few meters. I fell onto the snow and guarded my face with my two hands. My muscles were straining against the powerful blizzard. I forced myself up, but got thrusted back into the hard stone door, the back of my head receiving a raging throb, too agonizing to put to words. Trickles of warm blood slid down the side of my head all the way to my lips, where I could both taste and smell the metallic fluid. I pushed myself to my feet shakenly and tried to control the dizziness and blurriness of my vision. I couldn’t hear anything either, only a high-pitched sound thrumming my ear drums.

I trailed my hands out to touch the door. They immediately formed to fists and was bashing the door.

“H-help…please…” I whispered, my throat still hoarse. I Kept my bashing going, no matter how painful it is to do it with solid stone that dug into my skin and bruising it. I felt my fists bleeding, but kept going. Blisters and bloody knuckles forming, Tears falling, my body icy… but I was still determined to not give up.

“HELP! SOMEONE! PLEASE WHOEVER YOU ARE!” I cried out desperately…

“HELP! ANYONE! PLEASE! LET ME IN!!!” … I was trying so hard. I went on for a while, but it felt like days… I prayed for someone, anyone, to save me…

But nobody came…

My arms were tiring and my head was weightless. I kept on bashing the door for a while and I thought for a second that I was now a goner… that is until I heard a clicking sound from the door. Locks and chains unclenched from the other side of the door and it threw open quickly. I screamed from both terror and gratitude that somebody came. I frantically hurried myself straight inside once I found the light of someone’s home.

My panic and adrenaline was still kicking in. I collapsed on the floor and wailed inaudible ‘thank-you’ s over and over again like a broken record. My cheeks were glossy of tears and my eyes stung. I looked like a shivering blubbing mess.

The lady from the other side used her great body strength to push the door close and locked it quickly. As soon as she turns around, I threw myself to her and hugged her tightly as I bawled my eyes into her dress, hiccups and tears wetting the fabric. She stumbled back just a bit but found her balance. She looked down to me holding her and hesitantly patted my back and returned the embrace.

“There, there, my child. You are safe now.” Her words as soft as pillows and motherly. This only made me cry even more, but I stifled it. My hands gripped her dress material, too terrorized to do anything but to shake and hyperventilate in fear. This made the lady to crouch down and hushed me like a kid who had a nightmare. She holds me close and hummed close to my ear soothingly. I closed my eyes and tried to calm myself down.

“Oh my,” My eyes opened and watched as the goat-like lady creature draws back from me.

Oh no… she knows! She knows I’m a human! She’s not going to throw me out because of it right? SHE’S NOT GOING TO THROW ME BACK OUT THERE RIGHT??? Oh no… oh no no no no… This is bad! This is REALLY bad!!! How am I-

“You’re wounded!” She exclaims, picking me up into her arms. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion and I looked at her questionably. Although, that didn’t last that long when I actually did start to feel the raging pain of my temple, the back of my head and my two fists that had blisters over blisters that are opened up. I clenched my teeth and hissed at the wounds that are more than aching. I could hear my ears still ringing and squeezed my eyes shut. I saw blotches of red that appears every burning feel and heartbeat.

In within no time, I was placed carefully on what seems to be a bed. I felt an unusual feeling coursing through my wounds. My eyes shines with awe as I watch two white paws dance in the air with lime-green light flowing around them like mist or smoke or something. It was breathtaking and very distracting, I couldn’t stop staring at the beautiful sight before me. Her finger-paws-hoofs(?)-whatever they are… they moved to my forehead and touched it gently. Soon, I was covered in green light and could feel it changing my injuries. It was like she was healing me. She IS healing me! But how?!

After a while, the light fades and I was as good as new.

“What was that?” I asked with a bated breath, still gazing at her in wonder. She chuckled softly, patting my shoulder tenderly.

“I do apologize. I guess you really are confused with everything that is going on right now ever since you first came here, Frisk,” Her caramel eyes peered down at me and for once in my life, I actually wanted to feel what a mom’s love felt like but I shook the feeling away. I am over that. It’s a rotten memory that should left to be ignored.

“I knew I should have arrived first thing in the morning… Darn that pesky dog.” Before I get to ask her how she knows my name, the lady lifted up a ‘wait a moment’ finger gesture. I watched her horrendously huge body strolled out of the room. The room bears a resemblance to a perfectly normal child’s bedroom. There’s a huge closet next to me and a box of cool toys at the front of the bed! They don’t interest me at all though. Mainly because I’m twenty-three fucking years old, but I pretend that those two demonic stuffed animals beside me, watching through my soul and planning my schedule to hell are pretty cool.

As I glance around the room, the creature comes back with two things. A damp-looking cloth in one hand and a plate with a massive wedge of pie sitting on top in the other. I breathe in the air and fell into a trance. The air smelled like butterscotch and cinnamon. You could tell that the pie was straight-out-of-the oven fresh, and it manipulated my stomach to growl like the starving, demanding devil it is.

I felt my cheeks burning and looked down in shame, like as if It’s a nasty crime to feel hunger. Like I should be ashamed for wanting food. How could I?! I’m such a sicko! I couldn’t help myself too… not with the absence of having breakfast today.

The lady chuckled softly, placing the plate in front of me. My pupils hoisted up to see the lady.

“Would you please hold still for a moment,” it wasn’t a question, much like a request. But it wasn’t demanding.

“This will only take a moment my child.”

She places the drench cloth onto my face and wiped away something that was on the side of my head, cheeks and lips. I assume it was blood from before. The warm cloth felt like heaven upon my frozen face. What would I give to have a nice warm bath right at this moment?

“My name is Toriel… I am the woman who sent you here. As you can see… I am not human,” She finished her cleaning and stared at me with seriousness in every bit of her expression. I didn’t bother to interrupt her with my own questions and decided for her to explain herself first.

“But do not worry my dear… As intimidating as I may look, I won’t harm you nor will others around here. And I ensure you will do the same, correct?” I nodded sincerely.
“I didn’t work my way to become a counsellor just to do the opposite of helping people. Although… can I add… I do have a lot of questions for you to answer if that’s alright?”
“That is understandable, yes.” I patted the extra room on the bed for her to sit, which she happily accepts it and sat next to me on the edge of the bed.

“Toriel, if you knew I was human… why would you accept me to come here anyway? I heard that humans weren’t the best of visitors here. Apparently deaths were involved?” I asked in my investigator voice. I always have an investigator voice when I ask the serious shit.

She sighed as her head fell and her ears dropped lower than before. She looked pretty mournful at the moment. Was this a tender topic for her?

“It is true… humans weren’t the best of all companies. Time by time a human stops here and finds out that we weren’t humans… out of being afraid… they would kill a monster here. You see Frisk… a very long, long time ago, us monsters were accepted in your society and as a race, we helped each other out and lived in harmony for a while.

It was until one day… the humans began to get a bit restless of us using our magic around them. Most of them were beginning to block us out and we had no equal rights as the humans did because of their ‘superiority’ of power. We have magic, they have determination. That being said, we were treated cruelly. Some monsters did not have the patience and stood up to the humans. That lead to horrible fights that were brutal and even caused deaths.

At another time, we were gathered around into a huge protest mob and ask for the human king to accept our request for equality and peace… and how we do yearn for that. Instead, we got into conflict as a human mob was formed and strike down our people with fists and cruel words. We were close to war, but our king had declined. We instead moved away from the human borders and made our land here.

We lived here for countless years, which would also conclude why the humans were blindingly attacking our people here. They have forgotten about us completely,” Toriel paused for a minute, watching her bare feet on the carpet. I watched her expectantly, urging her to go on.

“It was until only recently this old bag of fur learned about technology. Well, some. We were in desperate need of a counsellor here. Every day I see the faces of the sunken. Faces that are in desperate need of your help, Frisk.

I search around on the ‘web’ and somehow managed to find your announcement of you finding a place to stay and build your business at. I never knew you were human at first, so I went for it. We have too many houses built around Home anyway that weren’t needed. But once we started having contact with each other, you praised me with words like ‘how I was a generous human being.

Honestly, once I found out I was having doubtful thoughts about you coming here. But then I realized something. This could give us the hope that all humans weren’t as bad. It would improve our trust and relationship knowing that one human was good throughout the encounters. Maybe this could even lead to something more…” Toriel stared at me to make sure I have understood what she said. I have… well, on most parts. I’m a little confused about the ‘determination’ part… but that could wait.

“So you’re saying that you’re ‘monsters’… and that you’re a forgotten race that could wield magical powers… and that humans apparently are stronger…because they’re determined? Therefore, you were vulnerable… so you moved here… and now I’m here to build the relationship of monsters and humans back to spirits again…not only that but to provide service for them… but they’re not going to kill me? Not after what my race had done to them?” I looked at her stupidly but she just smiles and chuckled warmly.

“That is exactly what I am saying. Please do not fret though… I know it must seem so confusing to take all of this information in… But do not worry my dear. I know for sure that no one will ever harm you- unless of course you harm them first. But as I see here… that is not likely to going to happen,” She picks up the plate of pie and places it on my lap.
“Please eat up. You need the strength after that horrific incident. Oh and if you’re still confused about all of this… I have something that may explain the situation much better than I can. I hope you like reading…” My eyes sparkled in interest once the word ‘reading’ was mentioned.

“Are you joking?! I love books!” My hands threw up like they were going to catch the roof from falling and prevent it from breaking our skulls like eggs.

I instantly transformed back to eight years old again. I remembered reading so many books from the local library near the orphanage. I had a lot of spare time and I never had friends to play with, so I read daily for at least three hours. The whole day if it’s a great book. Certainly, I always do try and fit my exploring in and I always bring a book back to the ‘special spot’ I found when discovering outside of the town. It was a tree stump that had a river flowing near it. It looked pretty swampy too… I remembered pretending to be an explorer adventuring the amazon rainforest for lost treasure and secrets. If I’m not doing that… I’m reading a borrowed book on the tree stump. These memories were the best of my childhood…

“You too?! That’s MARVELOUS!” She clapped her hands together in joy of having the same interests with me. I giggled in excitement. Both of our faces lit up like a campfire…in a less painful way that doesn’t make our skin melt off. For a minute… I could have sworn I sensed a daughter and mother moment- oh wait… what the heck am I saying here? I just met Toriel… and now I’m already getting attached to her? Maybe a little too attached… No… that’s not fair. That’s pretty selfish of me…

“Is anything wrong?” Her tone was delicate and worrying. She leans close to me, but I scooted a bit away from her. “What is the matter, Frisk?” her hand touches the unfilled space between us.

“Uh… it’s nothing… I’m just exhausted…” I lied, using my primary blank face in case of these situations. It was pretty easy to pull off… I used it a lot when I was a kid. It always succeeds…

I started to cough and sneeze crazily. I covered my face with a hand. Once I finally stopped, I started to feel dizzy and light headed. I paled and my eyelids sagged.
“I don’t think I feel too good…” I admitted.

Toriel nodded and placed her paw on my shoulder.

“Very well my child. Do eat up and get some rest. You shall stay here while you recover and the blizzard goes away. In the meantime, I shall allow you to borrow my books.” She turns away and was about to get up from the bed… that is until I caught her off guard with a big warm hug.

“Thank you…” I whispered to her and sat back down onto the bed. She stood there for a minute with a kind smile pressed to her face. She left without a word but a hum that was so soft, it was almost like a lullaby.

I goggled at the massive pie on my lap and wolfed it down almost straightaway. It tasted like a miracle melting on my tongue and it warmed my insides up relaxingly. After that, I fell into a deep sleep.

There’s a big day of reading tomorrow…