the beautiful subway monster
her commute matters just as much as the rest of us <3
a long, slimy, slithery subway monster lives and sleeps on the Q/B line at Dekalb Avenue. she’s gorgeous. her talons come to a point because sometimes when she squirms fast enough across the tracks she leaves burning hot metal flakes in her trail. she has round bright chartreuse eyes with slitted pupils, like a snake, with a third eyelid that helps clear out any gook that may seep into them. she has a long teardrop-shaped body with a spiked spine and jagged tail at the end. she is green and grey in color, with a pattern like moss agate. she has a kind face and a beautiful smile, all 300 teeth white as pearls and sharp as daggers.
when she sleeps, she dreams of eating MTA maintenance workers and drinking fresh rainwater that collects around her from flooding. she lives at Dekalb Avenue because the trains hardly ever run there at night, well, at least not on the express line. she used to sleep a little further up into Manhattan at Canal Street, but the Rat Czar had an issue about “wanting his space”. she doesn’t mean to impose, so she crossed the bridge and now lives here. it’s better, she thinks. she’s really cleaned up the joint! she cleared out a majority of the muck and trash and threw it in the East River when the River Monsters weren’t looking. where else is she supposed to put it?
she doesn’t throw everything away, however. she keeps the Shiny Things, things she finds Beautiful, Special, One of A Kind. she’s really made a Home for herself here! when two girls coming from Manhattan stooped a Victorian Lamp and dropped it on the tracks, it was her Lucky Day! an oncoming Q train ran it over and bent it to shit, yes, but brought it a bit further up and out of commuters’ view. she quickly grabbed it, and bent it back straight with the force of her tail. sure the glass is a bit broken, but it still Twinkles in the light just the same. she keeps Old Bottles and strings them up with rat tails, sometimes when she passes by them they leave a light chime behind. she’s kept every Wedding Ring, Bracelet, Earring, you name it, that’s fallen on the tracks, wishing she could wear them. instead she keeps them all on display, spending most of her day admiring them, but dreams about who they once belonged to. she’s a Collector, an Admirer of Beauty.
she’s very shy. when she was younger she had a stronger urge to go outside, to meet people, but was met with horrible responses. humans were disgusted at the sight of her. they didn’t admire her beauty, they wanted nothing to do with her. she horrified the people she passed. they drew back in terror, babies cried. she can see the side of her body, she can admire the ridges of her tail, how manicured her talons are. she had been practicing her smile. she doesn’t know how Stunning she actually is! she doesn’t have access to mirrors, and fears that seeing her own face will ruin the self-esteem she’s worked so hard to build. she feels Beautiful because she knows she’s Kind. she knows she has Good Taste and A Good Sense of Humor. she knows she has Compassion! she’s saved the lives of subway riders who have fallen on tracks, only to have them scream in her face instead of thanking her. she tries not to think about her physical beauty on a day to day basis, though. she tries to focus on her character, knowing she can’t be anything other than the way she is, yet is fearful of how people will receive her. so she hides, all alone with her valuables, and waits for someone like her to come along one day and sweep her off her tail.
she doesn’t just stay home and mope about being alone, though! she takes herself on dates! she’ll go as far up to 34th Street and use her loooong tail to wave in front of the structures to make those mystical sounds she loves. she follows the whispers of platform performers’ songs until they turn into a roar. she lurks around corners, her eyes closed, drinking in the sound. but her Favorite Thing to do is rush past the abandoned station right before the bridge to admire the mural. the colors are something she only wishes to emulate in her own collection at home. but she isn’t the artsy type. or is she? she wonders to herself. what if she collected broken glass and stuck them on the walls? how Beautiful would that be? maybe if she created a Mural of her own, not just for herself, but for her other neighbors, too? for the rats, the roaches, you and me. maybe if she made something so Beautiful, she’d not only be able to see the Beauty she has in herself, but have something to share with us, too. i think she’d really like that.