Goblin took a deep breath, then sighed. He slid the ski goggles down over his eyes and pulled the hood of his winter coat up over his head. He looked down, adjusting his feet on the small wooden sled, then looked back out at the snowy hill. He could see the cabin in which he, Norman, and Otto were spending the week. In the fading sunlight, he could see the lights shining from the windows.
He took another deep breath and sighed again. He jerked his body sideways, using his weight to shift the sled closer to the edge of the hill. With the added height of the sled, the hill looked much taller and steeper to him than it was.
Tenth time's the charm, he thought with a smile as he shifted the sled closer to the edge. It tottered there, the distribution of Goblin's weight being the only thing that determined whether or not it went over. With determination and confidence, Goblin squatted slightly and shifted his weight towards the front end of the sled.
The sled tilted forward, and when its skis touched the snow it began to slide. Its speed increased as it descended the hill, and Goblin whooped as it flew down the slope.
A little more than halfway to the bottom, Goblin's weight shifted backwards slightly. The shift of weight was enough to cause the sled to fly out from under him, sending him falling backwards. He landed on his back in the soft snow with a grunt. He sat up and watched as the sled continued down the hill upside down.
Goblin growled, angered by the second failure, but thankful that it threw him off backwards this time. The past two times, he'd fallen forward, and rolled head-over-heels down the hill while the sled glided down behind him.
Still, it was another failure. Dejected, he stood and walked the rest of the way down the hill. He grabbed the rope of the sled and dragged it behind him as he climbed back up the hill.
He repeated the same actions again: stepping onto the sled, pulling down his ski goggles, pulling his jacket hood over his head. He shifted the sled to the edge of the hill and let it totter there for a moment. After taking in and letting out another deep breath, he started to shift his weight forward.
Before the sled tilted too far, Goblin abruptly shifted his weight back again. The sled slid out from under him and he was once again thrown onto his back. The sled went down the hill without him, but he didn't sit up to watch it. He couldn't remember what had caused him to change his mind. He lied on his back, looking up at the darkening sky, trying to remember what it was he'd felt.
His answer came when he felt it again. He stayed focused on it this time, and finally he realized what it was.
He groaned in annoyance. Of course, he always felt it when he was having fun. It was the feeling that meant his body needed to release waste. Judging from where the feeling originated, he could tell that this time, the waste he needed to release was pee.
He continued to lie there, thinking more about the feeling. The sky was quickly darkening above him. He wondered how long he'd been out here.
The need to release pee was becoming more prominent. He bent his legs at the knee and brought them closer together. He heard Otto's voice in his head:
"You need to go when you feel like you have to. You can't wait until the last minute."
Goblin scoffed. He'd heard that phrase at least a hundred times now. Otto had spent the last month trying to teach him to use the toilet. He didn't understand why. He knew how. At least, he did now.
When he'd first started to take control of Norman's body for an entire day, he'd realized that there were a lot more things he needed to do than he did in the short time spans he usually spent in his and Norman's body.
The need to release waste was one of them.
He hadn't known that he needed to use the bathroom. He realized soon after learning about his body's waste disposal systems that the bathroom was used as a place to release them, but he thought that Norman and Otto and everyone else used the bathroom as a preference. And he decided that he didn't want to have to go somewhere else to release waste because it took time away from things he wanted to do.
But he quickly learned that releasing waste whenever and wherever you wanted to was...highly frowned upon. Otto and Norman and their friends and family got really upset when he released waste where he wasn't supposed to. Not that that changed anything. He didn't care what people thought of him. It wasn't until Otto began rewarding him for releasing waste where he was supposed to that he started trying to do so.
Now, lying on the ground and staring at the almost pitch-black sky, Goblin hated Otto and hated Norman and hated his body for needing to release waste. He didn't want to go to the toilet. He didn't want to go home. He wanted to keep practicing on his sled.
He took a deep breath and sighed loudly, then sat up quickly. He could barely see the outline of the sled at the bottom of the hill. He ignored what he'd been feeling and stood, then walked down the hill to retrieve the sled.
Goblin walked to the edge of the hill. He set the sled down but didn't step onto it again. He stood, dancing from foot-to-foot, and surveyed his environment. It was completely dark now, and he could barely see anything. The only illumination came from the bright moon and the lights from the cabin in the distance.
He hissed in a breath and squeezed his knees tighter together. He absentmindedly grabbed the edge of his snow pants with gloved hands. The need to release waste was a lot greater than it had been. He was starting to feel nervous, and the need was beginning to interfere with his sledding.
He began to debate with himself over what to do. When the feeling was this severe, it was hard to ignore, and it was difficult to keep the waste inside of him. There were many outcomes to this scenario, depending on what choice he made next: he could go into the woods and release the waste now, or try to wait until he got to the cabin, and release it in the toilet in the bathroom. If he chose the second option, he knew he faced the possibility that his body would choose to release the waste when he wasn't ready to.
Releasing waste into his pants was not an option. He'd done that a handful of times the past two days, and Otto had been furious about it. So had Norman. He could not do it again. Not to mention it was cold, and he knew that cold and wet did not mix well.
He looked out at the cabin. There was a wide stretch of woods separating the bottom of the hill he was standing on from the cabin. And even if he made it out of the woods, the cabin's backyard was wide and expansive. It would be difficult to make it back to the cabin and into the bathroom in time.
Still, it was cold and dark outside. So, Goblin decided that he was going to try to wait until he got back to the cabin, and he would only go outside as a last resort.
Goblin kept his knees squeezed together as he sat on the sled and rode it to the bottom of the hill.
"All these layers won't be easy and quick to take off if you need to."
The phrase had been running through Goblin's mind over and over again as he slowly made his way through the dark, snowy woods. Eventually, the words had gotten to him, and he'd pushed his snow pants down.
Now he was shivering. His legs were so cold he could barely move them. He was certainly underdressed for the weather, but he felt more confident that he'd be able to get his pants off quickly if he needed to.
As the need to release waste got worse and worse, Goblin started to reevaluate his options. He had a lot less confidence in getting home in time. He definitely didn't want to go outside considering how the frigid air stung his face. But he would not make it home.
He groaned. He wished he didn't have to do either. He regretted not releasing the waste back when he'd decided he needed to. He regretted trying to walk back home and letting it get worse.
His mind swam with ideas of what to do. Conflicting thoughts that changed so fast that he couldn't settle on anything. He debated with himself between trying to get home and releasing waste in the woods.
He looked down at the ground as if he would find an answer there.
And he did.
Goblin froze abruptly and dropped the rope of the sled. He yanked his gloves off and threw them to the ground, and as he grabbed the waistband of one of the two pairs of sweatpants he was wearing, his eyes again fell on the patch of yellow snow at his feet.
Goblin was tired, cold, hungry, and thirsty as he walked slowly across the yard behind the cabin. But, he did not need to use the bathroom. He thought about the patch of yellow snow, and the slightly larger patch he'd made behind it. He smiled, proud of himself for not releasing waste into his pants.
He was shivering and no longer smiling when he climbed the porch steps. He saw Otto in the kitchen as he walked through the sliding glass doors into the cabin. Otto looked at him and quickly stopped what he'd been doing.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"I'm cold," Goblin replied.
"Of course you are," Otto said. "You're not wearing gloves and you pushed your snow pants down."
Goblin looked down. He didn't even realize he hadn't pulled his snow pants back up when he'd pulled his other clothes back on. He must have forgotten he was wearing them. He hadn't put his gloves back on because it had been so much work to put them on the first time and he was already tired.
"I'm going to get you a blanket," Otto said. Goblin nodded. He stood on the rug in front of the sliding doors. The air in the cabin was much warmer than the air outside.
Otto returned a short while later with a folded blanket. He set it on one of the kitchen counters and went back to Goblin.
"Let's get all this snow gear off," Otto said.
Goblin noticed that Otto was moving quickly as he unzipped the jacket Goblin was wearing and slid it off. It wasn't until he'd taken off the second jacket and was frantically untying the boots that Goblin realized what he was thinking.
"I don't need to use the toilet," he said.
Otto froze and quickly looked up at him.
"No, no!" Goblin quickly added. "I released pee in the woods on the way home. I didn't release it in my pants."
Otto sighed and smiled.
"Good," he said. "I was afraid you'd had an accident—"
Goblin frowned and narrowed his eyes. He didn't like the phrase "have and accident" to describe releasing waste where he wasn't supposed to. He'd heard parents use that phrase when talking to or addressing young children and hated when someone connected the phrase to him. He was not a child.
"Sorry, sorry!" Otto quickly caught himself. "I was afraid you'd peed on yourself on the way home. I'm proud of you for going in the woods."
Goblin's frown turned to a smile.
Otto worked quickly but less frantically to remove the rest of Goblin's snow gear. Then, he grabbed the blanket, unfolded it, and wrapped it around Goblin's shoulders.
"Hot chocolate?" he asked.
"Yes please!" Goblin replied.
"—And I looked down, and I saw this patch of yellow on the snow, and I realized that was the sign that I needed to go in the woods because I wouldn't make it home, and so I did!"
Norman laughed at Goblin's story. Goblin's reflection in the bathroom mirror was beaming at him, glowing with pride.
"That's great, Goblin," Norman said. "I'm proud of you. You should be proud of yourself."
Goblin's smile widened. He squirmed with happiness and pent-up energy. Norman could feel the strong emotions coming from him. He would be bouncing off the walls if he had control of their body. And Norman had to admit, he felt a bit jittery himself.
"Did Otto give you coffee?" he asked.
"No, I don't like coffee," Goblin replied. "He gave me hot chocolate. And a giant candy bar for releasing pee in the woods and not in my pants."
Goblin's reflection was leaning against the reflection of the bathroom countertop. He was bouncing up and down, still smiling. Norman knew he wasn't going to get much sleep that night. Goblin would be too hyper to go dormant and would bother Norman until he finally calmed down.
"That explains it," Norman said. Goblin was practically jumping up and down now. Norman laughed again, then said, "You're going to have to get going now. I need to release some waste of my own and then try to get some sleep."
"Okay," Goblin said, finally starting to settle down. "Goodnight, Norman."
"Goodnight, Goblin," Norman replied.
Goblin started to fade, but Norman thought of something and called him back. Goblin's reflection appeared in the mirror again.
"What?" he asked.
"I'm sorry that I got so angry at you the past two days," Norman replied. "When you..." Norman knew Goblin didn't like the euphemism "accident," but he couldn't come up with another way to say it so his voice just faded. He coughed and continued, "I shouldn't be so mad at you. I know you're trying. And I'm sure it's as hard for you as it is for Otto and I. I'm going to try to be more sympathetic going forward. As long as you're not doing it on purpose."
"Not anymore," Goblin said.
"Good," Norman said. "Good job today. Keep up the good work. I don't care if it means I lose sleep."
Goblin laughed.
"Thank you," he said. "I will."
Goblin faded and Norman turned away from the mirror.