Tainted Innocence

Chapter III

Xander cleared his throat impatiently and Lynn turned around. He was standing next to his study desk on which a huge sheet of paper lay.

"Come and take a look."

Lynn approached the study desk and took a look at the sheet of paper that seemed to mean so much to him that his eyes were practically gleaming with pride.

She frowned as she saw what appeared to be the very complex construction drawing of a maze.

Lynn looked at him questioningly.

"A maze?"

"Yes, it took me a week to complete it the way I imagined."

A week...

Why would he feel the need to spend days on constructing a maze? It was downright creepy!

She didn't want to tell him, but his drawing freaked her out.

„That's very... complex.", Lynn said hesitatingly, not knowing what he wanted to hear.

"Thank you, Lynn. I think it's my best one so far.", he said.

"You've drawn others?", she exclaimed, taken aback by this new odd hobby of his.

"Yes. They are designed to keep people away from me. People that might harm me."

He'd started speaking with a moderate tone of voice, but upon realising how intimate the information had unwillingly become, his voice had died down, resulting in nothing, but a sad, helpless whisper.

She could have kicked herself as it suddenly all fell into place. Of course Xander had to somehow cope with what had happened to him, and constructing these mazes obviously served as some kind of therapy. And she had been freaked out by it. Ridiculous!

"Believe me. If that one was real no one would ever get out again.", Lynn said, trying to compliment him on his work, and missing the sinister, victorious smile on his lips that was gone in an instant.

"Let's hope I will never be in the predicament to need a maze."

Xander added a little chuckle, but Lynn thought she could tell that it wasn't just a joke to him. To her it seemed that he really hoped not being forced to build such a death trap.

"Still, it's an impressive work!", she said. Creepy as it was, it was true.

"Thank you."

"So... ahm... would you mind listening to some music now?"

Xander cocked his head.

"You don't want to see the others? See the progress I made?", he asked, looking crestfallen.

Remember, you are the only social contact in his life. Don't make him feel unwelcome...

The voice inside her head sounded awfully like her mother's. Lynn cracked a smile.

"Of course I would like to see them, Xander."

*

"What do you want to hear?"

He held up a couple of CDs from the rack.

Lynn came towards him and looked at his choice. Most seemed to be old stuff she'd never heard of, so she picked the only option that didn't scream boring at her face: A collection of some of last year's most famous singers.

"Let's try this one."

Xander nodded, although he looked a bit unconvinced as to whether he would like her choice.

"Mother gave me this CD. I don't know what's on it.", he admitted while he was inserting the CD into the player.

A few moments later the first tunes of one of Lynn's favourite songs filled the room, and the girl smiled happily. She sat down on Xander's neatly made bed and motioned to the boy to come and do the same. Shyly and as stiff as a board the boy came closer and took up position close to the headboard of his bed, keeping a certain distance to Lynn.

"Hey, I don't bite.", the girl said.

"You don't have to sit that far away from me."

She saw him gulp and, if possible, become even paler.

"I just don't want to invade your personal space, Lynn. Far be it from me to make you feel uncomfortable.", he said bashfully.

Lynn chuckled. Sometimes his shyness was kind of sweet.

"Ah, come on, Xander. You don't make me feel uncomfortable. We're friends, and friends can sit next to each other.", she encouraged him and stressed her words by patting the bedspread to the left of her thigh.

Xander had watched her closely, before he finally made his decision and came nearer.

"Do you know this band?", she asked, no sooner than he had sat down next to her.

He shook his head.

"Most modern music bores me. I'm quite fond of classical music.", he said, instantly blushing and not daring to look at her. Apparently he feared her reaction to his statement.

Lynn felt sad for him. Here he was, obviously afraid of how she would judge his hobbies, and yet he still spoke about them just because he didn't want to appear seclusive in front of the only person his age that currently kept him company.

The voice inside her head piped up again.

Warm up to his hobbies, tolerate what he likes and don't make fun of it. He needs reassurance, not scorn from his only social contact.

"Xander?"

"Huh?"

"You don't need to be embarrassed about your favourite music or any other hobby of yours. I like some pieces of Mozart, too, you know?"

A smile lit up his face at her words, and Lynn found that he looked nice when he smiled.

*

He began to send letters during the time they couldn't see each other in which he wrote about his daily activities, St. Ignatius (which was the school he went to) and any scientific news he deemed interesting enough to share.

Most of the time Lynn didn't know how to respond properly, and so she often opted for telling him that what he'd shared with her was fascinating, interesting or absolutely impressive.

She felt bad for being more than often confused by what he wrote about and even worse for having to feign interest. When it came to knowledge, he was lightyears ahead of her. A fact that still hurt whenever it became obvious. She just hoped that one day she could come close enough to his level of knowledge, so that she didn't have to ask her parents anymore what Bremsstrahlung or a Cyclic Redundancy Checksum was.

Tolerate what he likes...

It wasn't that easy when you didn't even understand what he liked.

Still, she kept in touch with him and even though they were vastly different from each other, she truly wanted to make their friendship work.

She'd started to like him. Despite his blatant otherness he was a nice, compassionate boy whose company was comforting. She liked his shyness, the way he blushed when he felt embarrassed, the way his eyes sparkled when he had to tell her something interesting. She liked how he treated her. Other boys his age didn't like girls. They wouldn't even want to play with them. They were mean, rude and some behaved like a rowdy. Xander didn't mind that she was a girl. He was happy that she was in his life, and that made her feel appreciated for who she was.