A Kid and His Slime

Chapter 9 - Fading Light

The world around them was completely silent. Nothing made a sound. Alex started to shift, his body laid flat against the cold stone floor. The sound of his legs sliding against the fabric of his clothes, bag, and movement he used to stand again were deafening. Truly, it was as if Alex had stepped into a chamber of pure silence. There was little to no light where he was albeit a small beam of light that shown on the floor from dozens of feet above his head. His body and his hair were all covered in dirt and he began to brush himself clean. Looking up again at the small hole of light he realized he must've fell and was he ever lucky. To fall such a great distance and be without a single scratch or injury was what many would call a miracle. The light was fading fast though. Alex wasn't sure of the time but when he was at the apple tree it was already late afternoon. Sunlight still made it down here though, but it was starting to slip away. He suddenly remembered Slime. Where was he, was he okay?

"Slime?" Alex gently called. But there wasn't a reply.

"Slime?" He called once again but no reply came. Though he had just met Slime recently he was his first friend in the world, beside his father, and the thought of his friend being lost or hurt caused a lot of emotion to stir up inside of the young boy.

"Slime where are yo~u!" He yelled into the room.

"Hey, stop yelling I'm right here!" Slime replied finally. He rolled up beside him but was a little off balance as his body wobbled side to side. Unlike Alex, he was at least left in a daze with slight dizziness.

"Slime you're okay!" Alex screeched excitedly. He fell to his knees and embraced the slime in his arms as he gave him a hug.

"Put me down kid! We are not that close!" Slime scolded as he wiggled his body hard trying to get Alex to let him go. Alex did and the slime fell to the stone floor but landed softly and as he did his body give a hard wobble as he did. He turned and looked back up at Alex.

"Listen kid I know you mean well but don't go going up to Slimes, or anyone for that matter, and picking them up."

"Why not?" Alex asked.

"Because it's flippin' weird! You don't see me climbing on you and using you as a mode of transportation, do you? No! Because it's weird!" Slime lectured, though secretly Slime had hoped one day ride on the shoulder of a human. But the likeliness of him every getting a human to be that comfortable with him and vice versa seemed impossible.

"Do you want me to carry you? You're welcome to ride on my back or shoulder if you want." Alex asked warmly.

Once again, Slime was taken completely off guard by the kindness and forwardness of Alex. He didn't treat him like a monster, nor did he try to coddle him like a small creature who needed caring. Alex simply treated him like an equal. Slime was very used to be treating harshly by humans and he couldn't help but feel a bit emotional by this kind gesture. His greatest goal in life was to make a human friend. A real friend that saw him just like this, as an equal. He was so overjoyed with emotion that it just overwhelmed him. Of course, Slime wasn't very good at showing appreciation.

"Do you think I'm incapable of moving around on my own?" Slime called back. "I'll have you know I can walk just fine thank you very much!"

Alex bent down and looked at Slime's body.

"Walk? But you don't have any feet?" Alex stated plainly.

Slime's eyes opened wide, his mouth frozen in an almost smirk like state as his eye began to twitch slightly.

This kid. I know he doesn't mean anything hurtful by what he says. Kids really say do say the craziest things. Slime thought to himself.

"Hop, roll, jump, pivot, bounce, WHATEVER!" Slime yelled back.