I fell asleep shortly after. I truly felt sorry for Shadow. I didn't know just what he was dealing with back where he was from, wherever that was. I got a few hours of sleep but still, it wasn't quite enough.
When I woke up, I quietly got out of bed, careful not to wake up Shadow. I went downstairs and had waffles and coffee before walking through the forest to get to school.
It was getting much colder since it was late in November. I had to wear a jacket.
When I got to school, I threw my backpack into my locker before going to my first period class which was calculus.
My friend Julia was already in class. We had known each-other since 4th grade.
"Oh, hey there Axel, where we're you yesterday?"
Oh, I didn't know how to answer that question since it was well... complicated to say the least.
"O-oh yeah, I got a fever yesterday so I couldn't come to school, I'm feeling better now though."
"That's good, so anyway, I wanted to ask you, one of my friends invited me out to this party for tonight, since it's almost the end of the year, and none of my friends could go with me, and I don't want to look lonely and depressed like you always do so I was wondering if you could come with me."
"First of all, I am not lonely or depressed, I just have to stay home quite a lot because of homework. But I don't know about the party, I-I mean I've never gone to a party before, and I don't really know how I'd feel about it and...
"Axel please!" She was practically begging me at this point. "I never ask you for much, anyway I'll be with you the whole time, you'll be fine!"
I sighed. I guess I could go even though the thought of it still made me feel unsure.
"I-i guess... fine."
"Oh my gosh, thank you, I promise..."
"Okay, Axel and Julia please stop the talking, this is not a social gathering, the class will begin."
We quieted down. I supposed I was going.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After all my classes I walked home, damn a party?! I really didn't expect myself to ever go to one of those. From the television shows I have watched, it seemed to be really anxiety inducing.
After I got home, I noticed Shadow was sitting on the couch in the living room reading a book from the nearby bookshelf. "Misery" by Stephen King, one of my favorites. I guess he didn't really have anything else to be doing.
"Oh, hello Axel." Shadow said carefully.
"Hi, are you okay by the way, last night you seemed a bit..."
"I don't wish to talk about that." He said adding no farther comments.
"Oh, s-sorry. I didn't mean to pry."
"It's alright, additionally, you should consider more entertainment options in your house, I couldn't get the picture box device to work and could only use these binded papers."
"You mean books and the phone?" I asked.
"Yes, if that's what you call those."
"Well then, I'll be out of the house tonight, my friend wants me to go with her to this party that I didn't want to go to in the first place."
"Party?"
I sighed. "You know, where a group of people go somewhere, like to have fun."
He narrowed his eyes. "I did not think you would be the kind of person to attend to those events."
"Huh, what do you mean?"
He hesitated for a moment. "That sexual gathering you're attending."
What the fuck was he talking about?!
"W-wha?! I never said that," my cheeks were probably a bright shade of red right now. "you know... it's like where people like talk, and have music, and dance and stuff."
"I don't follow, people don't do those things you are describing where I'm from."
Of course they didn't.
"Well I need to go study, I have a test tomorrow, and put that book exactly where you found it!"
"Yes, yes. I understand." Shadow said clearly not paying much attention to what I was saying.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For the next two hours or so, I spent the time half-heartedly studying for my oncoming test.
But I couldn't take my mind off the fact that Shadow didn't seem to understand anything about normal human behavior. Well he wasn't a human after all, but I still didn't quite understand, where the hell had he come from?