When we arrivesed back home, Aaliyah showed Máiréad to one of the guest bedroomses, a large room next to mine. Then, she and I brought Máiréad's belongings into the house and up to her room.
"This is a really nice house," Máiréad said.
Aaliyah smiled. "Thank you."
She sat on the bed. "Wow, the bed's really soft."
"Comfy, isn't it?"
"Super comfy."
"You need help unpacking your stuff?"
"Nah, I'm good."
"Okay. Well, holler if you need anything."
"Thanks."
Máiréad began unpacking her things. She put all her clothes in the drawers, her computer, phone, and other technologieses on the desk, and her blankets and other random itemses on the bed. Then, she changed into a knitted nightdress.
Soon after she'd finished unpacking, Aaliyah knocked on her door. "Máiréad?" she called gently. "You want some snacks?"
Máiréad opened the door. "Yeah, that would be great. Thank you."
"Okay. What would you like?"
"What do you have?"
"Pretty much anything. You name it."
"Do you have Doritos?"
"I sure do. WHat kind do you want, Cool Ranch, Nacho, Blazin' Buffalo Ranch?"
"Darn, I can't choose between the Cool Ranch or the Blazin' Buffalo," Máiréad laughed awkwardly. "They're both my favorite."
Aaliyah giggled. "Well, you can have both."
"Are you sure?"
"Absolutely. I don't imagine you have very much food to eat at your house."
"Not really."
"Well, I'll get you two big bags of chips."
"Okay, but um... they might be gone really fast."
Aaliyah laughed. "That's okay. I don't eat them very often. I keep a stash just in case someone wants them. Do you want something to drink?"
"Do you have Dr. Pepper?"
"I sure do."
"May I also have some water please?"
"I have bottled water."
"Perfect."
"Okay. I'll be right back."
As Aaliyah hurried off to the kitchen to fetch Máiréad's snacks and beverages, I slowly tiptoed towards her room. "Máiréad?" I called gently, standing in the doorway. "May I comes in, Precious?"
"Yeah, sure, come in," Máiréad replied.
I slowly sauntered in, and smiled lovingly at her. "You looks adorable in that nightdress."
She grinned. "Thanks. It's a sweater dress."
"It's very lovely."
"Thanks. My mom knitted it for me. She knows how much I love soft sweaters."
I giggled. "Awwwww." Then, I caught a glimpse of what she'd put on the bed. "What's all this, Precious?" I asked out of curiosity.
"Oh, these are my favorite stuffed animals. I sleep with them every night." She held up a yellow toy creature. "This is Pikachu."
"Awwww, how adorable," I said.
"And, this is Ojo." She showed me an orange stuffed bear with a blue nose.
"Awwwwww, so precious it is!"
Then, she showed me three blanketses. "My mom crocheted these for me. I called them sweater blankets, because they feel like sweaters."
I giggled. "You loves sweaterses, don't you?"
"Oh, yeah, a lot. It's a sensory thing. Part of Autism." She explainsed what Sensory Processing is, how her brain responds to sensory imputses differently. Some smells, tastes, textureses, sounds, and other sensory input is too much for her to handles. Therefore, it is considered negative sensory input, and can causes her to have meltdowns. Other forms of sensory input are very pleasurable for her. Positive sensory input that was, and sweaterses were her favorite sensory input.
"I really loved when you hugged me," she said. "I mean, besides the fact that your hugs made me feel safe and loved and cared about, your onesie is so soft and sweatery. I felt like I was getting a hug from a giant teddy bear."
I giggled.
"Like, you're so cuddly and sweet, and your soft onesie made you even more cuddly."
"Awwwwwww!" I cried.
Then, the poor thing's face turned beet red with utter embarrassment. "Sorry," she stammered, "that was inappropriate. Oh, my god, my social skills suck. Sorry."
She turned away, but I hugged her reassuringly. "It's alright, Precious. Sméagol understands."
"Really?"
"Oh, yes, very bad social skills I have, too."
"Oh, I didn't notice. Yours are a lot better than mine." She laughed awkwardly.
"Yours are alright with me. You can be yourself with Sméagol. Sméagol doesn't judge at all, no."
She smiled. "Thanks." She sighed with relief. "I really need someone I can be my messed-up self around."
I smiled warmly.
"By the way, I really love the way you talk. Like, how you said 'sweaterses' instead of 'sweaters,' and how you sometimes talk in third person. It's really cute and... kind of refreshing."
I beamed and blushed. "Awwwww, Sméagol so happy nice Máiréad likes the way he talks."
Máiréad giggled, making me giggles, too.
Just then, Aaliyah returned with an armful of refreshments. "Here you go, Máiréad. Doritos and Dr. Pepper and water for you." She handed everything to Máiréad one by one. "And, goldfish crackers and water for you, Sméagol." She handed me my snack and drink.
"Thank you," Máiréad said graciously.
"Yes, thank you, Precious," I added.
"Aww, you're welcome. Well, you guys have fun. I'm gonna go check on the bird, and head off to bed."
"Alright. Good night, Sweetie."
"Good night, Sméagol. Good night, Máiréad."
"G'night," said Máiréad.
We placed our unopened refreshments on the bed, and sat down next to one another.
"Are you and Aaliyah an item?" Máiréad asked.
"Item?" I was confused.
"Like, is she your girlfriend?"
"Oh," I said, finally grasping what she meant, "no, just very good friends we are."
"That's really cool. I like her. She's really nice."
I smiled fondly. "Yes, very nice. Such a wonderful friend she is. Doesn't judges me at all. She accepts me, she does."
"Those kinds of friends are really hard to find."
"Yes, very hard indeed."
"So... you also struggle with being accepted?"
"I did, yes," I said sadly, remembering my life in Middle Earth. Then, I smiled. "Not anymore."
"What changed?"
"I meets Aaliyah. She takes me under her wing. She knows everything about me, but still does not judges me. She teaches me to opens my heart to people, be myself, love unconditionally."
"That's really awesome."
"It is, yes." I saw so much sadness appearing in Máiréad's eyes, and I knew what she wanted. "Come here, Precious." I wrapped my arms around her, and she nuzzled up against my chest. "I accepts you. I want you to knows that."
"But, you don't know everything about me yet."
"But, I knows a lot already, and I don't thinks any less of you."
"Not yet."
Those words broke my heart, as I knew exactly what she meant. So many have turned on her after getting to knows her. So harshly they judged her. All they saw was a broken mess, not a precious soul with the most beautiful voice. So much it happened that she had lost her faith in unconditional love, or at least receiving it. What hurt even more was knowing that exact feeling, and realizing something I never before knew about Gollum. Or, maybe I did knows it, but never wanted to thinks of it.
I held her tightly. "Oh, Sweetheart," I said sympathetically, holding back tears as I ran my fingers through her hair, "I knows how you feel. So afraid you are that I will turns on you after I get to knows you. I understands what that's like, but I wants you to know something, Precious." I looked her straight in the eye. "No matter what you do, no matter what I finds out about you, I promise, from the bottom of my heart, I will never, ever, ever turns my back on you."
"Even when I get upset, and have a complete meltdown over something stupid?"
"Never, and your feelingses are never stupid."
"Even if I get super attached to you, and I get really clingy and needy?"
"That won't bothers me, not at all, and I might gets just as clingy."
"Even if I act like an immature child?"
I giggled. "I acts very childlike myself, Precious."
"Even though I need help with some things I can't do on my own?"
I smiled lovingly. "Sméagol loves to help."
"Even if—"
"No, nothing you do or say will ever frightens me away. I will always be your friend, always. I won't leave you, Sweetie. I promise." I kissed her forehead. "Sméagol is here to stay forever."
"Okay."
Even from that one word, I could hears the uncertainty and fear in her voice, and it was still written all over her face. Not much I could say would lessen that fear. I knew I had to shows her I could be a true friend, and I didn't mind at all. She was worth it. But, in that moment, all I could do was hold her close, and gently caress her head and backside. She held onto me for dear life once again, and I responded by holding her tighter. Awww, bless her heart, I thought. My heart was aching heavily for her.
"Ow!" she grunted as she moved her head.
"Are you alright, Sweetie?" I asked.
"Yeah, I got my hair stuck in something."
I looked down to see if I could help her. "Oh!" I burst into giggles.
"What?" she asked, confused by my laughter. "What's so funny?"
I continued giggling uncontrollably as I tried to explain. "Your hair is... is caught in... in my zipper!" I squeaked as I grasped her hair very gently.
"Oh, shit!" she snickered.
I removed her hair very slowly, so I wouldn't hurts her. "It's alright," I said, still giggling. "It's out. It's out, Precious."
"Thanks," she laughed awkwardly.
"Oh, Sweetie, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hurts you. I'm so, so sorry." I swept her hair over her shoulder to keep it from getting caught again.
Máiréad smirked. "It's okay. It wasn't your fault, and besides, it didn't hurt that bad." She chuckled to herself. "It was actually kinda funny."
I giggled softly. "It was, Precious. Very funny it was, yes." I ran my fingers through her hair, and softly caressed it. "Awwww, you have beautiful hair, Sweetheart. So long and shiny and soft as silk. It glows. Oh, it's so lovely, the most beautiful hair I've ever seen."
"Thanks, Sméagol." She pressed her head against my chest. "You're literally the sweetest person I've ever met."
"Awwww, thank you, Sweetie. You're so precious; you knows that?"
"Thanks."
I could tell she did not believes it, but she accepted my compliment graciously. Then, she changed the subject.
"Hey, do you wanna watch a movie?" she asked.
"Oh, yes, I'd love to," I said happily. "What would you like to watch?"
"Have you seen The Fault in OUr Stars?"
"No," I replied, confused. "I thought that was a book."
"It is, but they also made a movie version. It's really good."
"Well, alright," I said. "We can eats our snackses while we watch."
"Awesome."
"So, how does we watch the movie?"
"I have it on my computer, and I know how to hook it to the TV."
"Oh." I watched Máiréad connects her computer to the television set. It was very fascinating to see, especially when everything on her computer screen appeared on the television screen as well. "Wow."
"Yeah, it's pretty cool, isn't it?"
"Very cool, yes. Sméagol loves technology."
She grinned. "Me, too. It's a pain in the ass sometimes, but it's also really useful and neat."
Once she finished connecting everything, she opened up a program on her laptop containing the movie, iTunes. Then, she clicked on the movie, and I watched in amazement as it began to play on the large television. She paused it for a moment as she hurried off to the bathroom for a moment. She quickly finished, and returned to continue the movie. We sat in the bed, side by side, eating our snacks, and enjoying this wonderful story. Oh, it was so sad, but also very beautiful. We both sobbed many times throughout the movie, hugging each other, and holding on tightly.
When it was all over, she put away the snack she did not finish, and placed her half-full water bottle on the bedside table. We stayed up for a little while longer, talking about the movie. We eventually got very sleepy, so she tiptoed back into the bathroom to prepare for bed. She came back out a few moments later, climbed under the covers, and snuggled with her blanketses and stuffed animalses.
"Hey, Sméagol?" she said in a soft, sleepy voice.
"WHat is it, Precious?" I asked as I sat next to her on the bed.
"I just wanted to thank you for being there for me tonight."
"Oh, of course. I'll always be there for you, Sweetheart."
"No one's ever been this nice to me. I really appreciate it."
I looked at her face, and I almost burst into tears seeing the gratitude and appreciation in her eyes. I understood that feeling of finding kindness for the first time. I smiled lovingly at her. "I appreciates you, too." Then, I realized what she wanted. "Do you want Sméagol to stays with you until you falls asleep?"
"Yes, please."
I nearly cried once again, seeing the relief in her eyes. Poor thing was afraid to fall asleep alone. After what she went through, I understood, and I also knew how it felt to be terrified to fall asleep. Night after night, I would be tormented with dreadful nightmares. Memories from my past always taunted me when I closed my eyes. It made sleeping quite terrifying for me. I could not begins to imagines the nightmares that haunted poor Máiréad, but I hoped my presence could bring her a little peace, as hers brought me much of it. I curled up next to her, and wrapped her in my arms. "It'll be alright, Precious," I said as soothingly as I possibly could.
"Sméagol?" she said in a weak voice.
"Hmm?"
"Would you mind... um... singing me to sleep... please?"
I giggled and smiled. "Not at all, Sweetie." I held her tightly as I sang her a lullaby, the same song I made up for our sweet little bird friend the other day. She fell asleep quickly with tears streaming down her face. Oh, poor thing, I thought as I gently wiped them away, and pressed my wet hands against my cheeks. Feeling her tears against my skin, it was as though I was feeling everything in her heart. So much of her pain came pouring out, and I felt it within my own heart. Oh, how she longed for true, unconditional love, acceptance, and joy. As did I. For centuries, it was all I truly longed for, and it finally happened for me. I was determined to give her what Frodo Baggins and Aaliyah gave me. I stayed with her for a few more minutes. Then, I kissed her forehead, and tucked her in with all her comfort itemses. "If you needs me, Sweetheart," I whispered in her ear, "I will be in the next room. Call out to me, and I'll be right here for you. Alright, Precious?"
She moaned quietly in her sleep in response.
I smiled at her as I tiptoed out of the room, and closed the door behind me. As I climbed into bed, I said a prayer for Máiréad, and I drifted off to sleep.