Fractured

5

Shining from his eyes was a look of wonder, the most powerful the resident had ever seen, and the boy seemed to expect light to burst from the door as it opened. When he was greeted by the old well-dressed man inside, however, his wonder vanished to immediately be replaced with surprise. Nathaniel knew now more than ever, he was not crazy, unless he was hallucinating. There was a man before him who was flesh and bones, a man who was real, a man who could see the house between houses 32 and 36 on Perance Street. The man Nathaniel lay his eyes upon was in the look of someone about 85 years old, he was wearing an old but recently ironed suit and a pair of dress shoes.

It was the eyes that fascinated them both. Nathaniel was locked in trance with the old tenant's deep blue, unwavering gaze. While the resident could not take his eyes from Nathaniel's, there was so much going on within those eyes, so many thoughts processing every second, so many ideas dreamt up and thrown away, so much activity. The resident loved eyes, they were the frames of people he once said. Nathaniel loved eyes, they were where all a man's secrets were stored, so he believed and so he was right. He saw something in the resident's eyes, something that broke him from the trance of which he was held. He knew not what he saw but expected it to come to him later. The man of the house on Perance Street broke away, he closed his eyes for just a second, and in that second Nathaniel chose to speak.

"Those are unnatural." was what he said.

"Excuse me?" replied the resident, slightly offended.

"Those deep circles around your eyes, they're unnatural."

The resident was slightly taken back by this statement. He knew he didn't get enough sleep these days, but still... could he be described as unnatural. He was not sure.

Rubbing his forehead, he said "Is that so?"

"Yes, it certainly is."

"Some people would take offence to being labelled as unnatural." the resident said with a slight smile.

"Well, you haven't done anything incredibly rash, so I assume you don't." retorted Nathaniel.

"You should not assume, you will often find yourself wrong."

On that note, the resident slammed his door closed. The resounding bang made as the oak fell into place within the frame was incredibly satisfying. His hand trailed down the door as he closed it; there were marks here as well. On the other side of this barrier Nathaniel stood, upon his face a mask of surprise was plastered. His glance turned to the window to his right; he could see the man sitting by the glass. Nathaniel moved, he walked over to the window and jumped, he flailed his arms about in attempt to get the man's attention.

The boy's flailing looked like a chicken with its head removed. He was becoming quite the distraction. The resident moved to look beyond the window, he looked at the boy, he saw his desperation, he noticed his determination was fading. He thought he might give the boy some incentive to leave; he reached out to the window, turned the latch and pushed.