Working with Charlie – as I had predicted – was something very interesting.

When he arrived here the first day, he was like a scared baby; new to the world, afraid of everything. A few days later, though, he was behaving like a little kid. For once, he loved cartoons, after having sat down and actually payed attention to what was happening. He also loved candy now that he had tried it. One night I had woken up and heard rustling coming from the kitchen. When I went down there, I had found Charlie robbing the candy cabinet, a pink look on his face when I had caught him. I reprimanded him and sent him off to bed again.

But now, as the the first two weeks had gone by smoothly, without any more wild surprises or midnight candy-hunts, he was slowly becoming what you would call a 10-11 year old child. Somewhat matured, but still a kid, nonetheless.

"So Charlie," I said that Monday as I watched him carefully tie his shoes on the bench by my front door. "Are you sure you're ready for today? This is your first time allowed outside. There's going to be a million new impressions and I just want to make sure you're up for them."

Charlie looked a little nervous, but he assured me he was OK. "I am ready for it. Where are we going?"

"We are going to go to the mall today, to shop for food," I said, zipping up my coat. It was a bit windy today. "There's going to be a lot of people, but they're not going to know who you are. They shouldn't bother you."

"What about..." He looked up at me and let his magenta eyes flash at me. I understood his concern.

"Purple eyes aren't a normal human eye color," I obliged. "That's why I thought you could wear these for today." I held up a pair of simple black rayban sunglasses to him, a pair I was sure would suit his sculpted face. "They'll shield your eyes from the public and also dim the light a little, which is good, considering you're not used to the direct sunlight."

Hesitantly, Charlie took them, and after a little guidance, he placed them on his nose and then looked at himself in my hall mirror. "I can't see my eyes, but I can still see."

I nodded and smiled a little. "Clever, right? Alright, so you think you're ready to go? The mall is a couple of miles away, so we're going to drive there. You okay with that?"

Charlie nodded again. With no more room to stall, I therefore opened the door and out into the world we went.

~~~

Why did I just know that taking Charlie into the world would be like taking a child to the aquarium?

He was glued to my car window, watching everything and everyone as we drove through the city, with the same expression a kid had when staring into a tank full of weird, exotic fish. Eyes big and mouth open, he observed the world glide by him.

"This... is..." Charlie choked on his words and instead just pressed his hand to the window.

Only in this very moment, I realized how much of the world most of us took for granted each day. I tried seeing it through his eyes for a moment; Everything was new, only some things he had seen through pages in a book or digitally on a screen. Now, as the sun tried to peak through the thick clouds and created a beautiful luminous effect, I smiled, truly appreciating how beautiful our Earth was.

But of course, there was so much more than just seeing the world for the first time to Charlie. It was seeing everything; Houses, buildings, people, trees, roads, birds, dogs – I could go on forever. If the window had been open, he would've been catching flies; His mouth was a chronic state of open.

I pulled into the parking lot of the mall, finding an empty lot. After turning off the electrical engine, I turned to Charlie who was still looking around, now watching the humans walk around with their shopping carts and bags. "Are you still feeling okay? We can turn back around if this is becoming too much for you."

Charlie instantly closed his mouth and shook his head. "More. I would like to... see more."

I watched him for a moment, considering if maybe he couldn't really determine when enough was enough, but then decided that maybe he could. After all, he wasn't showing any signs of stress, only nervousness which was to be expected. The world was his adventure park.

"Alright, let's go then," I said, clicking both him and me out of our seat belts before getting out of the car. Charlie instantly walked up to me, keeping close, but not too close. As if he was scared of hurting the world, but also scared of hurting me.

We walked into the mall, Charlie catching a few glances because of his impressive height. Also, he wasn't the worst looking guy. Broad shoulders, strong built, lean. Despite the fact that his eyes were covered by the shades, you could still make out just how handsome he was. Sculpted cheekbones, straight nose, square jaw. Light stubbles, which I wrote behind my ear to teach him how to shave.

Terminator is in the building.

I fed a shopping cart a single coin and then me and Charlie wheeled into the local grocery store. Charlie was constantly turning in circles around himself, trying to catch and see everything. I tried not to smile too much at how he reminded me of a dog coming to a new place.

"So Charlie, now we're just going to find a few things," I said, fishing my shopping list out of my pocket. It only had five or six items, but I had a tendency to always forget what I needed to buy if I didn't make a list. "First up are carrots."

Too stunned to even provide me with its Latin name, Charlie just nodded. I noticed him nervously adjust his shades when an old man gave him a long glance.

I placed a hand on his arm. "It's okay, Charlie. Just try and relax."

He jumped at my touch and took a step away. "R-relax. Okay."

"Just remember to breathe," I said as we came to the green section. I could only imagine how difficult it had to be for him to take it all in.

"I have so many questions," He nervously breathed out. "C-can I ask some?"

"Of course, Charlie, you're here to learn. You can always ask questions whenever you have some."

He inhaled a deep breath, but then blew it out – and then exploded with questions. "Why are so many people walking with musical plugs in their ears? Why do some humans hold hands, but others don't? And why do some have small metal things on their faces and colorful patterns on their skin, but some doesn't?"

He went on and on, and I tried to answer as many as I could. Some where harder than others, like 'why do dark-skinned people mostly walk around with similar toned people?' while others were easier, like 'what is that colorful substance that female is wearing on her lips?' But no matter what the question was, Charlie absorbed the answers with a hunger like I had never seen before. The air around him was practically vibrating from his excitement.

"Okay Charlie, we're almost done shopping now," I said, breaking through his question-rant. "We just need one more thing on the list; ice cream."

"Ice cream?"

"Yeah, it's like frozen milk, but it tastes sweeter, better, and it comes in different flavors," I told, going to the ice section, Charlie waddling closely behind me. "I thought you might like to try it tonight. Do you want to?"

"Is it like... candy?"

You couldn't really compare ice cream with candy, but in a way they were the same thing. "Yeah, kind of like candy."

"Then yes, I would like to try it."

I chuckled to myself. This man had a sweet tooth that could retire a tooth fairy.

We made it out of the mall with all our things, Charlie carrying a bag of skittles. I told him he could eat a few of those and try and name the flavors the best he could, as kind of a flavor-memory exercise. I had introduced him to quite a few and I wanted to see how well he remembered them all.

I was loading the car with our groceries while listening to Charlie list off all the flavors with their Latin  names, when suddenly, he stopped up and turned around, as if something caught his back's attention. "Charlie?"

He stared at what looked like two women in their forties, sitting on a bench by a bus stop, seemingly talking about something I couldn't hear. They were about twenty feet away, yet Charlie seemed enthralled by what they were talking about.

"Charlie?" I tried again, putting the last carton of milk into the trunk of the car before closing it. "Charlie, what's wrong?"

He shook his head and I managed to catch his eyes blinking behind those dark shades, as if being snapped out of concentration. "Those females... they were talking about... us."

"You and I?"

He shook his head. "Me. Us. Creatures."

"Oh." Wait, he could hear that? "How do you know? Can you... can you hear them from—"

"Can you imagine if they actually let them out?" Charlie spoke as if lipping off the words from someone else. "Walking around on the street with those monsters walking next to you. I wouldn't allow my daughters to leave the house, that's for sure."

All I could do was stare for one long moment before I realized my mouth was hanging open and then closed it. Shaking it off, I placed a soft hand on Charlie's arm which he immediately cowered away from. "Don't listen to them, Charlie. They don't know what they are talking about. How about we just go home, hm? We need to celebrate your first outing, look how good it went! You should be proud! Charlie?"

After a moment of silence, he slowly lowered his head and nodded. "Okay."

He was clearly affected by what those two old hags had said, maybe even upset if he knew what that was. I got him into the car and got us on the road, trying to shift his attention onto something else by talking to him about everything and nothing. Weather. What we bought today. How well he did in the mall. But Charlie remained quiet the whole trip back, mostly just humming as a reply or just not replying at all. Finally I gave up and let him be alone with his thoughts.

"Carly?"

It had barely been two minutes of silence. "Yes, Charlie?"

When I turned my head to glance at him while still watching the road, I saw him staring flat and straight into nothingness, his face and body limp and void of anything but this... emotion I couldn't place.

"Am I a monster?" He whispered.

• • •

Do you think he's a monster?