Chris’s POV
“Damnit!” Lei yells, looking out the window.
“What’s wrong,” I rush to join him and freeze in shock.
The world outside has turned white, the ground already being covered in snow. Lei pulls the window shut and locks the hatch on it, I rush to copy him with the other window and when we’re finished he pulls little curtains over both.
“Can’t we just leave,” a bundle of nerves builds in my chest.
“We’d never make it back, we’d get caught in the blizzard.”
“Blizzard?”
“Yes, I’ve been stuck in here before in one and it looks small enough. I think we’ll be okay.”
“How are you so calm about this?”
“I’m not.”
Leirell’s POV
My chest feels as if it’s in a vice but I keep breathing deeply and get to work. I pull out the couch and set it up, I get Chris to sit down and wrap a knit quilt around his shoulders and heat some of those cuddly teddies up in the microwave.
“Thanks Lei,” I hand him one and place some others under the covers of the bed to heat it up.
“Feeling better?”
“Yeah, do you want to play a game?”
“Like?”
“I’ll ask you a question and then you ask me?”
“I guess that’s fine.”
“Why do you eat in the bathrooms?”
“I won’t have a panic attack there and no one can find me to hurt me or make fun of me. Why do you think that everyone thinks you’re insane?”
“I speak to myself a lot, I’ve had some nervous breakdowns and I once had a bit of a psychological breakdown in which I was convinced that I was Jimmy Hendrix and the leader of a San tribe at the same time. It’s funny to think about it now but back then… It was a nightmare. What happened to your family?”
“Candy is my family,” my hand goes to the scars on my neck.
“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to but in… Can I ask a different one?”
“Okay.”
“Why do you make flower crowns?”
“My sister taught me,” I shrug and try to hold the tears in, “I sell them sometimes to brides and girls for weddings and proms.”
“Well they’re beautiful.”
“Thank you… The flowers all mean something; it gives them a little more… Substance. Why did you talk to me; in the bathroom I mean?”
“You remind me of how I am sometimes, you looked lost and alone and I just wanted to help you somehow but instead you helped me get home,” he laughs a little and I do too, but soon it turns into us both shivering.
Chris’s POV
It starts to grow colder and I get under the bed and hesitate as Lei’s thin form slips in next to me, but soon forget any worries I had as I slowly start to warm up. I’m still a little cold though and I pull the blankets up to my nose to compensate. But then I can feel Lei next to me… He’s still shivering lightly and as his hands brush my side by accident it feels as if a block of ice rested on my side.
“Lei you’re freezing.”
“I’m fine I just have bad circulation.”
“You’re shivering.”
“I’m fine I swear.”
“All the same Lei, I’d rather you not die.”
“That’s the first time anyone’s said that to me,” he laughs a little but stops as I inch closer.
“If we take up less space we can tuck the blankets around us, like a cocoon.”
“Um alright, we do need to keep warm.”
I move until my head rests in the crook of his shoulder and he brings his legs up to his stomach. I wrap my arms around him and pull my legs up until they rest beneath his. His breath tickles my neck and I can feel him heating up beneath me.
“Thanks Chris,” his gangly form folds up even further, “I think it was your turn to ask…”
“You still want to play the game?”
“Sure…”
“Okay…”
YOU ARE READING
Flowers in the Dark (boyxboy)
Short StoryThe quiet and sweet loner Lei and a lovely boy named Chris meet unexpectedly one day in the beautiful woods near where they live. Both have been struggling with their own demons and issues on by themselves until they meet and become friends and poss...
