The Confused Ones [ON SEMI-HOLD]

Chapter Two: An Unexpected Visitor

Zaria, startled, immediately assumed a defensive position.  I think I still know everything from that required self-defense class I took when I was six.  Let me see, closed fist, thumb folded over fingers- oh, this is ridiculous.  I’ll never be able to defend myself against whatever’s out there.

Suddenly, a brown-skinned boy leaped into the air, swung from branch to branch, and landed directly in front of Zaria, managing to alight on the balls of his feet. Zaria screamed. At his look, she then quickly shut her mouth, but kept her defensive position.

“Who are you?” he asked.

“What are you?” Zaria countered.

“I’m the Boy,” he responded.  “What are you?  You don’t look anything like me!”

Zaria’s nose crinkled.  “Of course I don’t look like you!  I’m a girl.”

“But I already have the Girl.”  He frowned in confusion.

“What do you mean, you have the girl?  Isn’t there more than one girl in this… world?”

“More than one?  Why would there be more than one?  One is perfectly enough to destroy and create.”

Zaria knew there was something odd about that phrase.  It was the second time it had been used within a single day.  “Why does everyone keep saying that?”

“What do you mean?  It is the way of life.”  The Boy shrugged, then rolled his eyes.

“Well, not where I come from.  My world is full of several million boys, girls, men, and women, all of whom look relatively similar to me.”  Zaria’s statement, to her ears, sounded perfectly logical.

The Boy’s face took on a look of recognition.  “When I was very young, my mother would tell me about a place with many people, all of them with skin the color of coconut milk.  Your skin is that color... but that place isn’t real.”

"But, that place IS real!  It HAS to be real.  It's my home, where I come from!"  Zaria’s voice was rising in pitch as she attempted to answer.

The Boy stared, confused.  "It's just a story, not reality!"

“No, you see, it is.  My world has lots of… people.”

Zaria could have told him about the computers, the dreamworlds, the cliquish society that the whole world conformed to, but she didn't desire that.  She didn't need him to know everything about her world, her entire life up until this point.  It would make her sound empty, like she knew nothing.  Unexpectedly, she felt something rising in her, something unidentified, something... new. It welled up inside her until she felt ready to burst.  Suddenly, as the Boy looked at her, it all rushed out.  She felt dizziness threatening to take over, and could think only one word before she collapsed- him.

(A/N:  Sorry it kinda sucked!  I'll be editing this yet again as soon as I get the chance.)