Page 99 of Eliza and Her Monsters

“Didn’t you hear? I’m famous. I can do what I want.”

Wallace laughs.

“Who’s famous?” Wallace’s roommate, Tyler, walks into the room behind Wallace carrying a hamper of laundry. Wallace explains the conversation quickly; when he mentionsMonstrous Sea, Tyler bends into the webcam’s sight.

“YoumadeMonstrous Sea?” Then he looks back at Wallace. “Your girlfriend madeMonstrous Sea?”

“Her name’s Eliza,” Wallace says.

“You have to bekidding.” Tyler drops his laundry basket and hustles out of the room. A minute later, he returns with a flock of college students chattering aboutMonstrous Sea.

Wallace handles them well. He blocks them from the computer at first, letting them work through their preliminary questions, then lets them see me. Lets me see them.

They’re not monsters. They’re people. We greet each other, and they’re polite, and they want to know how it feels to be me.

“A lot better than it used to,” I say.

I think this will be okay. I think it will be strange, and probably scary, and I think there will still be times where I think I am the worst person on the planet. But I think I will also love myselfand what I’ve made, and I’ll know without doubt that those two things are separate.

I am Eliza Mirk, daughter and sister and friend.

I am Eliza Mirk, mother of a fandom.

I am Eliza Mirk.