Elias had to leave just after. His father wanted him to go do his homeschooling. But, for the first time, he was excited. Instead of drawing out the work he had to do over a long period of time, he did it quickly. His Braille reading? Done. His audio history lessons? He actually listened. Everything that he needed to do was done in a matter of minutes, so quickly that he was done by one o' clock.
All of it was in excitement to talk to his new friend. Despite their differences, he hoped they could be friends. There was no way she'd try to do things for him, or help him when he was fully capable. She was intangible! And who would she talk behind his back with? She had just about as many friends as he did. Which was one. Maybe.
So, as soon as he was done with his work, he snagged an apple from the kitchen and raced upstairs.
Aerin was absolutely shocked. She'd talked to a human. Now they were going to be what, friends? She'd never had friends. She had no social skills! Not to mention, their friendship was a lie. She wasn't some crazy little voice thing living in his walls! She was a living, breathing person! And where did the stupid fib even come from? It was ludicrous, and even more so that he believed it. But what other explanation would he come up with?
No, he probably accepted it so quickly because he didn't care. He seemed so depressed, so alone and bitter; she was a welcome distraction. A new form of entertainment; friendship.
She heard his pounding footsteps long before she saw him. He munched on an apple, feeling for his desk chair and then bringing it over to the shelf. He sat in front of her, the shelf she lived on being at his eye level when he sat. Her heart beat loud and fast, still being afraid of the giant boy. She wasn't sure if that fear would ever go away completely.
"S-so." She started timidly, leaning against the "doorway" of her house. She wanted to speak before he could ask her anything. "You like loud music..?" It was all she could think of to talk about without maybe making him sad.
His face got red with embarrassment. "Oh! Yeah.. it's one thing that can distract me from everything." He smiled sheepishly. "Do you want to hear some?"
There was almost nothing she wanted to do less than that. But would he be mad? Was it a good idea to turn him down? And would it hurt his feelings..? Despite her fear of him, she really didn't want to drive away her only chance at having a friend.
"Sure.. but maybe something quieter..?" She said with a hopeful smile. He nodded, grinning, and fumbled for the remote on his nightstand. Once he found it, he was sure to turn it down before flipping through his playlist and settling on a song.
Small, electric-sounding noises hummed and danced around their ears in a dreamy way. The singer caught Aerin in a trance as she leaned, closed her eyes, and listened. It was a song about fireflies, and how they couldn't stay or something like that. It made her a little sad, but happy at the same time. She'd never listened to his music at a decent volume... It was nice.
After the song ended, he paused the stereo so it wouldn't continue.
"So, did you like it? It's an older song, I'll admit. But.. I still really like it. It's called Fireflies, from Owl City I think."
Aerin slowly opened her eyes, meeting them with his huge ones. He couldn't see her, but for some reason, making eye contact felt nice.
"Yeah." She said quietly. "I really liked it." She paused before continuing. "C-could we listen to more maybe..?"
He grinned wider than he had all day. "Yeah, of course." He chose another song quickly.
--
Hours had gone by, the two talking a little and listening to music. Elias had moved, leaning against the bookcase. It had startled Aerin at first, but she tried to ignore the fact that his giant mass of dark hair was just a few human inches in front of her. For a little bit, she'd gotten mesmerized by it, with the urge to touch it, but it was quickly suppressed as she realized what she was thinking.
He yawned, running his hand through his hair. Aerin yelped and jumped back before he could touch her, and he immediately shot forward and turned around. His eyes flicked about, despite being sightless.
"Sorry! I almost touched you, didn't I? I-I didn't realize you'd gotten so close.." He spoke quickly and nervously, waiting for her to respond.
She caught her breath. It was a close one. "Yeah, it's ok. I'm fine." She said breathlessly. His eyes were still crinkled in worry.
"Ok." He said, hesitating to turn back around. He wanted to see so badly, to know what the little voice looked like. She said she was untouchable. Did he really believe her? Maybe he didn't, but whatever she was, she clearly didn't want to be touched. He respected that.
Finally, after an uncomfortable passage of time, Aerin spoke up. "Should we.. finish the song?" She shifted awkwardly, pulling on her lavender dress. He snapped out on the daze, realizing he'd paused the music.
"Y-yeah, of course." He said. With that, he turned back around and played the music once more, resting his head on the bookcase, jut a little more to the side than he'd been before.
She felt bad she was lying to him. But how else could she protect herself? Of course, that's what she told herself.
After the song ended, Elias turned around again.
"Can I ask some questions?" He said, a small frown on his face. Aerin sighed, but decided it would be ok.
"Sure." She said, trying to keep an air of confidence.
"Are you, like, tiny?" He inquired.
This caught her off guard. Did he know she lied??
"What do you mean?" She asked carefully.
"Well, you seemed to dart into the hole behind the bookcase earlier. So, does that mean you're tiny? Or because you're 'intangible', you just sank back into the wall or something? I've just assumed, but I can't know for sure until you tell me."
"Oh." She felt relieved. "Yeah, I'm tiny." At least she could be honest about some things.
"Phew, good thing I assumed correctly." He smiled. Then a voice came from downstairs.
"Oh." The teenager said, looking disappointed. "I gotta go eat dinner. We've been hanging out up here for a while, huh?"
She laughed. "Yeah, I guess so."
"Would you.. like anything?" He said awkwardly. "I'm not sure if you eat.. but if you do, I could get you some food."
Aerin's eyes twinkled. Food. Fresh, beautiful food! But would it blow her cover? She'd basically claimed to not be organic..
"N-no, I, um, I don't eat." She said, hating her own words. But she didn't want to risk getting hurt.
He frowned, but nodded. "Ok, I'll be back soon."
With that, the teenager got up and left, hurrying down the stairs.
Aerin stood for a moment, almost wishing she could follow him. But instead, she slipped back into her home in the wall. The food she had gotten the previous day was in her makeshift cabinet, and she opened it to reveal small storage containers that she had made or taken to organize her food. The cabinet was mostly barren, though, despite being newly restocked. It was hard for her to go alone to get supplies. She was small, of course, and very thin, which made her pretty weak. She had some muscle, but it was just enough to make it there and back with the necessities. In turn, it made her diet pretty bleak, and definitely not very nutritious. Besides, if she ate too much, it didn't always even stay down.
She pulled some bread crumbs from one of the bins, and ate it as she went to her water bin; a large container that collected drops from a small leak in the clean water supply pipe. It was minuscule, but it was enough for her to live off of. She drank some water and decided to lay down for a bit.
Her eyes lifted to the ceiling of her home. She'd had to set up this home herself, using the base of other tiny people like her that had lived here. They'd left; she didn't know why. But she knew they weren't killed, because the place was cleaned out, like they'd packed up and moved away.
She only wished her family was with her.
But they were gone.
Tears stung her eyes, and she tried to rub them away; she hated crying. Her mother used to tell her to stay strong, so she would.
She needed to stop thinking about it, so she wandered back out onto the shelf. Elias's room was bathed in warm hues, the light of the fading sun shining through the window. She watched as the shadows moved slowly across the room. It was sad to her, sad that Elias wouldn't be able to see such a pretty scene in his very own room. She sighed and slid down against one of the Braille books.
She heard voices down the stairs, and soon enough there was yelling and angry shouting. Loud, angry footsteps pounded up the stairs clumsily, overstepping onto the landing and falling into the wall. Nonetheless, the person, who she now recognized as Elias, made it to his room. Just before he entered his room, he spun around.
"Don't even BOTHER coming up!!" He shouted at whoever had started to scramble up the stairs after him. Aerin had barely managed to get her hands over her ears. Then, he promptly slammed the door behind him.
Looking very distraught, Elias quite literally fell onto his bed. She slowly removed her hands from her head, watching him with a worried expression.
"Do you.. want to talk about it?" She said in a small voice, yet just loud enough to reach his massive ears.
"No." He grumbled shortly, turning roughly over in his bed.
She sighed quietly, turning heel and heading back into her home. I hope befriending this guy wasn't a mistake, she thought to herself silently as she lay down in her own bed. And I hope he isn't more trouble than he's worth..