Elizabeth

She Had Never Thought To Ask

She had never thought to ask him not to lie to her; it was too obvious to be something she'd mention, and that meant that Wesley could hide the girl in the window from his mother without being disobedient, if not without being dishonest.

So dinner was just the same as always, the unspoken words between them as tangible as the food they were eating. She'd said her day was alright. but Wesley suspected she'd been lying just as he'd lied when she asked him the same question. He couldn't tell whether she was truly unbothered, or even relieved, by his father's conspicuous absence that night, which neither of them mentioned, or was just acting fine for his sake. What disturbed him was that he could usually tell when she was hiding something, and she genuinely seemed glad that his father wasn't there. Maybe the state of his parents' marriage was even worse then he'd thought. He hadn't known that was possible.

As soon as he finished his meal, he left without a word and retreated to his bedroom. He knew he was upsetting his mother, but at that moment he didn't care. She would be fine on her own, and if she wasn't, it wasn't like anyone would be there to see her cry. Nor would there be anyone to see him cry as he was hit once again with the wave of emotion that crashed down on him whenever he forced himself to realize that his imaginary perfect life with the girl in the window would never happen. He'd allowed himself to use her to personify happiness (which he'd known from the start was a mistake), and now that she had made it clear exactly how she felt about him (specifically that she wanted him out of her life)...

"Please don't cry," he heard a musical female voice murmur. He gasped, startled, and looked around his room, his eyes wide.

"Who... who's there?" he asked, his mouth suddenly dry. There was no one there. Great, now he was hearing things. He'd gone and driven himself insane over nothing at all.

"Please don't be frightened. And don't faint. And don't be mad at me," the voice begged. It was easily the most beautiful voice he'd ever heard, like bells ringing. If she was real, she was probably a fairy, or his guardian angel. This made him considerably calmer, although he knew that the fact that he was accepting the prospect of a fairy in his room should have terrified him.

"I'm going to make it so that you can see me now, okay? Promise you won't get scared?" the voice asked, sounding surprisingly vulnerable. Weren't ethereal, disembodied voices usually supposed to be the ones in control?

"I don't really think I can promise that," Wesley responded, chuckling in spite of himself. He heard the voice sigh, clearly exasperated.

"Fair enough. Alright, here goes nothing," the voice relented as he saw a shimmer in the air that turned into the girl from the window that he'd been crying about only moments ago. Wow. He really was insane. The girl rushed over to him.

"No fainting, remember?" she said anxiously, searching his eyes. He forced himself to smile weakly.

"I don't believe I ever agreed to that," he reminded her. She sighed again, probably relieved that he wasn't screaming. He looked at her face. He hadn't seen her in days, and he drank up the sight of her now. Either she wasn't real and his mental image of her was even more beautiful than how she was in reality, or she was even prettier up close. He could see that her jade eyes were speckled with brown, a detail that he'd never noticed when he saw her in her window.

"Are you real?" Wesley asked the girl. She laughed a little, probably because of what a stupid question he'd asked.

"Last I checked, yes," she teased. "You're not going crazy, if that's what you're wondering. I'm really here, I was really invisible before, and all that." He nodded, allowing himself to believe her. If he was going to be insane, he might as well enjoy it.