Chapter 8: 8

I couldn’t stop thinking about her.

I walked to school the next day, thinking about her, knowing that I would be back again, and soon. Maybe even that afternoon.

I sat in class, not paying attention because all I could do was think about how thin she was.

During lunch, Lee tried to talk to me about something but I was distracted by the image of her tattered clothing. She had to be cold all the time.

And to be real, once she was out where I could see her, she was kinda…

“Cute,” I mumbled.

“What?” Lee asked, frustrated that I’d been ignoring her for so long.

I shook my head, as I realized ‘cute’ was not the answer to her question. “What did you say?”I asked.

“I said we should go to Christians house later and try to take the photos of Mr Slithers,” she explained.

“Weren’t we going to do that tomorrow?” I asked.

“But why put it off?” she asked.

“I’m… busy tonight,” I explained.

She blinked at me. “It’s Friday,” she said.

“So?” I asked. “Look, I know you’re eager but I have things I need to do tonight. Important things.”

She frowned. “What’s more important than our future band career?” she asked.

I leveled my tone before responding. “It’s important. And I also have to repot Lady Arachna and Henrietta.” That was true, I'd been neglecting my plants for a while now and it was bothering me.

“But….” She bit her lip. She knew she couldn’t pressure me into this. I rarely said no. “Are you sure you can’t do it today?”

I nodded. “I’ll do it tomorrow, don’t worry. One day won’t make that much difference when it comes to our album cover. Why don’t you guys use the time to practice the songs?”

She folded her arms. “I guess that makes sense.”

“We should probably get used to setting up the amps and sound system,” Christian pointed out. “All of our hard work will be for nothing if we mess that up.”

Sierra nodded agreeingly as her fingers typed on the computer.

“Yeah, so you guys should focus on that today,” I agreed.

Lee didn’t want to let it go, but she finally sighed. “Okay, do what you have to, just please don’t forget we have a lot to do before Hallow’s Greed.”

I nodded. “I’m here until the end,” I told her.

---

I carried a backpack this time. I climbed up the asylum’s hill and then made my way down to the basement once again.

The darkness was becoming familiar, but my hair still stood up as I walked past the dead rat. This place was not suitable for living people.

The eyes were there as I approached the door.

“Hello,” I said.

They retreated a bit.

“I’m not here to hurt you,” I explained.

The glow waited.

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I took a few steps forward. “I brought you some clothes.” I pulled the bundle out of my bag and set it on the floor between us. She stayed perfectly still. “Can you understand me?” I asked.

The eyes blinked. She took a few cautious steps closer, half crawling all the way. She almost seemed… feral.

She stopped a few paces away and stared at me. Her hair was another mess but I considered getting her to approach me was a feat by itself.

“Who are you?” I asked.

She shrank away from my voice but finally sat down on her little spot.

“Can you talk at all?” I asked.

This was going nowhere. Slowly produced another plastic wrapped sandwich from my bag. She perked up at the sight of food and took another pace closer.

I couldn’t tell how tall she was, but she was definitely small. Maybe her growth was stunted from malnourishment, or she was just short and skinny. When I held the food out, she sniffed at it. She had almost taken it when I remembered last time and pulled it back to unwrap the plastic for her before offering the food.

“Sorry,” I said at the betrayed look on her face. “I just want to help.”

She slowly extended a hand and took the sandwich before hopping back a pace and devouring it hungrily.

When she was finished I held a water bottle out to her. I wasn’t sure she had access to clean drinking water in this old building.

She seemed even more befuddled by this than she did the plastic wrapping as she observed the liquid from afar.

I realized she probably didn’t understand how the bottle worked and so I opened it for her and poured a few drops onto the musty ground before holding it out.

“It’s water,” I explained. “For drinking.”

She took the bottle from me and sniffed at it too. There was definitely something feral about her behavior. She immediately spilled it as she tried to drink.

I waited as she drank. It was amusing to watch, for one, and for two I was deeply curious about her.

She finished the water and looked over the plastic bottle curiously.

“Hey,” I said.

She looked up at me.

“Are you okay?” I asked. “Do you need help from the police?”

She stared at me. I wasn’t sure if she understood the language or not. Maybe she was a feral child? Did she grow up raised by wolves or something?

I sat back and she flinched from the sudden movement.

“I won’t hurt you,” I said softly. I very slowly extended a hand out to her. She shrank away from it at first, weary. And then sniffed at it. She was close enough I felt her breath against my skin.

And then she reached up with her own hand, which was dirty. Her fingers hesitated close enough to mine I could sense their movement even when we weren’t touching. And then there was soft feeling. Her skin was surprisingly cool to the touch. I expected there to be thick calluses or at least some dryness but it was soft and supple. My fingers curled, slowly and gently to hold her hand. She didn’t pull away.

“You came back,” she said. Her voice sounded like a dry stick dragging through desert sand.

I nodded. The last thing I wanted was to scare her.

“They don’t normally do that,” she explained. Her fingers detached from mine and she backed away.

For a long time we simply observed each other at a distance. But it was getting late. I had to get home before my brother started to worry.

When I stood she shrank back again and then slipped back into the maintenance room, never taking those pink eyes off of me.

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