"Is he the one?" It asked Itself. It nodded without hesitation. It looked on to the boy who slept with an unawareness of the world. Peaceful and unaffected by the problems that troubled him while he was awake. When It stopped to think, the boy sprung up ready to grab the baseball bat by his window and hit It. But he halted and looked up in amazement, Henry knew It had been coming to his room every night and Henry was ready to finally catch It while he pretended to be asleep. He looked up at this indescribable face and froze, not knowing what to do.
"He thinks we're gross."
"He'll never understand us, he's just a boy."
"Why'd we even come? It's pointless." Its brains chorused over each other, some out loud and some in Its head. But It just stopped listening and waited for the boy's reaction. Henry just smiled at him and took his hand as a way to say 'I accept what you are.' It smiled for the first time in forever. It wanted to find a way to communicate with the boy who couldn't speak, so It did it in the only way It knew how. It would travel into the boy's mind. It came over and touched the boy's forehead with three fingers, then everything went dark.
Being successful, It walked up to Henry in a dark room to find him asleep on the floor still. Henry then shot up and looked around, confused and scared.
"It's ok, boy, I'm not going to hurt you," It said.
"Where are we and who are you," Henry said. Then he stopped only to realize that he had spoken. He looked bewildered, but excited to be able to make sounds again.
"We're in your mind, it was the only way I could talk to you. You can tell a lot about a person from their mind, yours is cold and dark. You've been through tough times. I go by It, boy, and you're the only one who can help me."
"Help you do what? Plus, how do you know I have problems? You know nothing about my life."
"You're right, that I don't. But boy, it's not hard to see you're struggling when you can't talk, despite having perfectly healthy vocal cords. I can tell it's psychosomatic. But as for my story, that's a long one that I don't want to tell you right now. Now I'm taking you back to the castle." It then jumped out of Henry's brain without letting him ask any more questions.
When Henry woke back up in his room, he thought it was a dream. But when he looked over, that indescribable being was looking at his picture books.
"I'm sorry, we got bored waiting for you to wake up and the little girl loves to read picture books. She'll be seven this year, you know?" It noticed the look of confusion on the boy's face and went on to explain, "You see, my brains converse with each other. I have millions of them, but we're all wildly diverse. Mostly because we're all different ages and genders. The seven year old brain loves to read books." Henry nodded his head, waiting for It to finish when It put the book on the shelf and turned back to him. It grabbed the boy and transported them to the castle.
When they got there, Henry looked around in amazement. That quickly turned to excitement when he saw the giant feast, as he was starving.
"Sit, boy, eat and be merry. You deserve this, you've earned it," It exclaimed. Henry did just that, he stuffed his face until he couldn't anymore. All the while It was telling him to slow down, take his time, that he'll get his share. It knew that Henry didn't have a great home situation, It didn't know to what extent, but It was not stupid. You could tell by the way he ate and the way he looked, that he was starving. But It decided to bring this up later, so as not to pressure the boy.
When Henry was done he was brought to the room he'd be staying in. Much to his surprise, It read him a bedtime story and tucked him in. Henry wasn't used to going to bed feeling like he was safe and wanted. He really liked this change. Then It waited in Henry's room until he fell asleep, proceeding then to go to "sleep" Itself. In truth, It never fully slept because all of Its brains didn't shut down at the same time.
The next morning, It woke up early and went to get Henry up.
"Come on boy, it's time to make breakfast and you're helping me," It said as It pulled the curtains open, letting the light in. Henry yawned, groaned, and stretched. He then proceeded to go to the bathroom and came back to stand in front of It. It looked down at him then went to walk out of the room and lead him to the kitchen. But It stopped when Henry held Its hand, not ever expecting someone to do that.
"Kid, do you think I'm a monster? Because I do sometimes. I don't know what I am, I just exist without purpose," It said, looking down into Henry's eyes. Henry shook his head then proceeded to give It a hug, something It wasn't accustomed to. It was hesitant, but hugged back after a while.
"All right, enough of this, let's go make breakfast." Once they had been fed and finished cleaning up breakfast Henry wanted to go outside, so It took him to the garden. Then Henry blacked out, only to wake up in his "mind room" again.
"I thought I should tell you why you're here, boy, but I wanted you to be able to ask your questions too," It explained, "So you know about all my brains and their diversity. But what you don't know is how you relate to any of this. Every year I get a new brain and every year it gets harder to do anything with new thoughts in my head. So I sought out a way to stop this brain growth, or at least to learn to cope with it. Then I learned of you, the only one who can see me, the only one who could ever understand me."
"Why am I the only one?" Henry asked.
"You're the only one who can see me because being around you is supposed to stop my brain growth. I need you here now because tomorrow is the day that I'm supposed to get my new brain. I need to know if the book was right." Henry nodded at It, showing that he understood, "Boy, if you don't mind me asking, why don't you talk outside?"
"Because if you don't have anyone around to listen, why talk at all. My parents don't care about me, I take care of myself," Henry said sadly.
"I'll listen. If you ever need me, I'll listen. I'll be here for you." Then It jumped out of Henry's head again. Henry woke up after a couple of minutes and looked around to find himself laying on the ground.
The next day was rough. It got Its new brain anyways, a man who was in his thirties. Once It learned that the book was wrong, Henry thought he would be sent home. He went to pack for a place where he was not wanted. When It walked into his room, It looked surprised.
"What are you doing? Don't go home, if they did nothing to look for you then they don't notice you're gone. Do you really want to live there? Live here with me, I want you here, you help me cope with my problems. We can help each other, Henry," It rushed out, afraid he would leave. Henry looked up, amazed It actually said his name. That was the first time It'd ever done that.
"Ok," Henry said hesitantly. It hugged him while mentally vowing to protect him throughout Its life. Looking at him, It thought, "this is the only one who understands me, he's my first and only friend."