"You should fear me, human." His voice was a deliciously low rumble that reverberated through me.
"I know you won't hurt me. You couldn't bring yourself to kill me that night." I wanted to sound daring but the quiver in my voice game me away. I knew I was challenging him, pushing boundaries I shouldn't. I had no doubts he could very well hurt me if he truly wanted to.
Silence.
"What do you want from me?" I prodded tentatively. "Why are you here every night?"
He was quiet for a while. Just when the silence of my bedroom started feeling too loud and I thought I wasn't going to get an answer, he spoke. "Don't you humans have a saying that goes 'curiosity kills the cat'?"
"Stop answering my questions with questions," I complained.
"As you wish, human. I'll stop answering." I couldn't hear the smirk in voice despite it being in same, cold, condescending tone. Was he teasing me? It made me wonder if there was a warmer side of him, hidden behind that cold mask. Was he like me, was he lonely too? Did he put up all those walls and this icy front because he had no one else, because he could trust no one? And in that instant, something sparked in my mind. I wanted to make it my mission to befriend this strange, unfriendliest personality I'd ever met.
"That's not funny! Stop calling me that!" I tried to playfully hit him, but to my dismay, he glided a few steps back, just out of my reach. "Wait! Don't leave! I'm sorry." I didn't want him to vanish again.
He paused, and I snagged the chance. "Let's be friends." I said quickly. "I'm Avery."
"No." No hesitation whatsoever. I gritted my teeth.
"Why not? Everyone needs friends in their life. I'll be a good friend. I'm great company!" I declared. Then I paused, biting my lip. The words came out as the softest whisper, yearning. "I need a friend too."
I don't know if he heard me. I didn't have time to wonder, for in the next second, he raised an arm and I felt myself being lifted off the ground by a force I couldn't see. I was then flown to my bed and released, unceremoniously landing on my behind with my legs splayed, breath knocked out of me.
"Hey!" I couldn't keep the indignation out of my voice.
"Just sleep, human," he said. I saw the shadows move this time. Stretching, reaching out from the walls and nooks and crannies in my room, hundreds of little shadow hands flew over, pushing me gently but firmly into bed, tucking me in under the covers.
I watched, wide-eyed. "Are those your hands?"
He glided over to me in one fluid movement. "So many questions. Sleep." I don't know if I imagined it, but his tone felt slightly warmer.
"Are you going to leave?" I asked anxiously. "Will you stay?"
He hummed in acknowledgement. I felt the bed shift as he sat down next to me. I felt my heartbeat begin to quicken. He was less than an arm's length away. I wanted so badly to reach out, but he'd always shied away from my touch. So close yet to far, it was almost painful.
I watched him curiously, trying to make out facial features, but it was too dark. Was it just me or was the dark of the night darker with him around? Quelling my burning desires, I closed my eyes and let out a sigh, trying to calm my thoughts.
"I can't sleep. My mind won't shut down."
The sudden touch of his palm on my forehead made me flinch. "Dormi," he murmured. "Sleep." And a heavy weight sunk over my eyelids and my mind, the loud thoughts quietened to a murmur, my heartbeats slowed. A sense of peace and calm settled over me. Before I knew it, I had drifted off into the most peaceful sleep I'd had in months.
And that, marked the beginning of our peculiar friendship."
-
21 March 2016, Monday.
I hate Mondays. They mark the start of another week of hell, and today was the worst. They were at it again, teasing, criticizing me. Mostly Rachel. Amelia and Brooke usually just laugh along, chipping in on her unfunny jokes. How is it fair that you're all having fun at someone else's expense?
Today, as we were changing after Physical Ed class, Rachel kicked me in the shin. Hard. I glared at her and she laughed it off. "It was an accident," she said. "I'm so sorry - are you okay?"
I knew very well it wasn't an accident, but I didn't want to make a fuss, knowing nothing would come out of it. So I shrugged it off. But in the next moment, she kicked me again, with a condescending. "You're so dumb, Avery, falling for that." Amelia and Brooke just stood and giggled along on the side.
And in that moment, anger bubbled up inside me. I remember I had my fists clenched so hard my nails were digging into my skin. It wasn't fair. Why did they all get to treat me like scum?
In that moment, I wanted her dead.
One day, they might just push me to my limits. If I lose all hope, if I lose everything, I'll make sure she does too.
I wish life could make her as miserable as I am now. Put her in this dark lonely pit, see how long she can last.