The voice in my head was correct most of the time.
So I watched without guilt as the couple laughed and took each other in their arms, swinging and dancing across the cobblestones without a care in the world. I believed they were two young men. One had dark hair and skin, the other light. They were so opposite, so different, and yet in love. It made me glad to see.
"Stop!" the dark-skinned one cried with laughter as the light-skinned one dipped him close to the water. "You're gonna get me all wet."
"So?" the other teased. "It's a warm day, you'll dry off."
I watched as they continued to play around the fountain, splashing each other and dodging the water.
"Hey, look at all the coins in here."
The pair leaned over the edge of the fountain.
"Do you have a spare coin?" one asked. "I wanna make a wish."
The other handed one to him. "What are you wishing for?"
"It won't come true if I tell you!"
"How do you know?"
"It's the rules of wishing." He closed his eyes, waited a moment, then tossed the coin in the water. It sank to the bottom. "There."
His partner chuckled. "Happy now? Now I'm one coin poorer."
"You'll live."
"If you're done, let's get lunch. The fountain is nice, but those statues give me the creeps."
"No kidding. It's like they're watching you..."
They began teasing each other again, pretending that creatures would jump out of thin air and attack them. I watched them go with a sense of melancholy stirring inside me.
It was not my first time hearing such a comment, and it would not be the last. I understood my appearance was off-putting. Compared to the round-faced humans, gargoyles were monstrous and frightening. On clear days, I saw my own reflection in the water below. I had sharp horns, long wolf-like ears, a muzzle with rows of fangs, claws instead of fingers, a whiplike tail and bat wings. The only part of me that was remotely appealing was my eyes—a pair of sapphire gemstones.
But even they were not enough to combat my foulness. I was hideous. And that was why my curse would never be broken.
For the only cure for my affliction was a kiss from my fated mate.
Some days I wanted to weep from frustration and despair, but my gemstone eyes were dry. Neither did I have a voice to cry out with. Not during the day, at least. At night when I could roam as a man, I never wanted to cause a fuss. Sobbing or screaming would surely get me into trouble, and since I was already cursed and chained here, I did not want to find out what punishment awaited me if I defied orders.
But I was curious. Why did I know these things? I had no recollection of receiving this knowledge from another person. Horrified, I wondered if it was all a lie I told myself to cope with this never-ending torture. If that was the case, I wished I would be struck by lightning and destroyed.
If I was, would my consciousness remain? Would I float around the castle grounds aimlessly for all time, without even a body to call my own?
...Perhaps I did not want to be struck by lightning after all.
The couple was gone. I was alone again. Not even the sparrows returned to bathe in the fountain.
A sense of hopelessness weighed upon me. Though it was impossible for me to ache physically, my stone body felt weary and tired.
Would I ever escape this fate? Should I even bother hoping a future was possible for an ugly creature like me?
I wanted to shut my eyes to escape the world, just for a moment. But I could not even do that. My gemstones were permanently open and on display.
I was afraid to hope. So I did not.
All I could do was wait.
