Wander Boy

The rest of the day and a great many hours of the next flew by for the Wander Boy. As he had that first morning, he woke on the second with a troubling sense of urgency, but when his eyes had adjusted, he saw he still slept next to the girl. That scared him, the way one might forget themselves for a moment only to realize seconds later what they had been doing or where they had been. He had stayed in this world, for two sunrises and it ate away at his brain every waking moment.

However, the girl occupied most of his time. He spent his secluded hours up in her room with Iliana, both relaying stories and short words of interest. She explained all she could of this world to him, a little at a time. He listended and could only do his best to try and grasp certain concepts. For instance, he coul relay what she had said but he had no actually concept of the internet or television- though he found the candid lives of stranges within the box oddly enticing. With the worldly information, he was also there when she told him of her life.

What a woeful tale that had been. She'd been born and adored as a child but as she grew and matured, she shyed away from everyone, eveything. Oppurtunities, problems, love, loss, through all of it she hid in her shadow. She had said it was not that she was afraid of these things, but chose not to deal with them for they were often tedious or saddening. Although, she admitted, that had been the cause of it. He nearly wept for her when she told him of her feelings. She felt alone in this world. No one saw her, no one spoke to her, no one -as Iliana had promptly put it- gave a shit. She was alone in a sea of people and she often thought of taking her own life.

The Wander Boy sympathized with all of this. He understood her more than she thought anyone else could. She had a home, a life, a family but they never paid attention to her. He had no one in the world, and no world to call his own. They were but two souls, lonely and desperate, and have now been drawn together. Neither of them knew why, neither questioned it. They had found someone that made them feel important. Each filled a place inthe other's heart where nothing else would fit.

That Sunday night, Layne sighed and laid back against the girl's pillow. She had ventured downstairs nearly an hour ago to eat dinner with her parents. Layne hated that. He preferred when Iliana was holed up in her room with him. When her parents returned home each night, she left his side and he despised this. He had to be quiet when they were home, for if they found him, he'd be sent away. He had nowhere else to go, so he complied with this rule. Also, he found that he felt much hungrier in this deminsion. In our worlds he could go days, weeks without food but here he felt the need for sustanence forming every few hours. The same went for the need of sleep and releaving himself of waste.

Most of all, he was scared when she left his side. He knew it was silly but he felt that if she were to leave for two long, he'd shift from the this world and slither into the next. It was not even the traveling through the universe's wildly knit fabric that terrified him. It was that he could leave this place and never come back, never see Iliana again.

He sat up at the sound of feet padding up the stairs. Iliana rushed into the room, closing the door quickly behind her. She looked a bit flushed but she smiled nevertheless. Layne smiled back at her, not truly sure why. Nothing had been amusing, then again, he didn't understand the human need and concept of smiling. Smiling could be a greating, a farewell, an emotion, or any other number of things. But still, he smiled.

Perhaps it is her beauty, he thought. Surely that was it. She was much taller than him and had fire-like hair that ran over her shoulders and rested against her chest. Her skin was pale -not as pale as his of course- but her cheeks were as red as her hair. Mesmerizing green eyes met his. She moved toward him then, the same way a young fawn might approach another of its kind with a shy velocity. She sat on the end of the bed, falling backward. She tilted her head up and met his eyes again.

"Sorry that took so long," she blinked slowly, "I'll go down in a bit to find you some food."

"Thank you," Layne replied with a nod. He shifted his eyes away from hers.

She took notice of this immeadiately and rolled over onto her stomach. She searched his face with concern. "Is everything all right?"

He gave an aburt nod as his answer, and then when he felt that would not suffice, he added actual words. "I was thinking about tomorrow, how it'll be when you're at that place."

"School," she reminded him. He laughed slightly and a smiled tugged at the corners of his mouth. He tucked the word away for future knowledge.

"Yeah, school. I just don't want to sit here for hours on end wiaitng for you," he looked away once more, a huff of breath leaving his lips. He muttered his next words, "I don't want to be without you."

The words were harmless enough and innocent in the way that the Wander Boy was and the girl had heard them. He was not sure how that made her feel, nor did he care at that moment- though he would find himself wondering about it one day in the future. She smiled at him again but this smile was different. It was kinder and softer and her eyes seemed to smile along with her lips. They were glossy with slowly formed tears and they wavered ever so slightly. She extended her arm and place her hand on his knee. It was warm, something he'd long forgotten. He looked up at her with mild surprise.

"We'll figure something out," she assured him while searching his face. He finally allowed his gaze to rest upon her eyes once more. He felt his own heart skip a beat. They were a beautiful green upon a backdrop of snow. "I won't ever leave you alone."

"Do you promise me this?" He had meant to ask it jokingly, to seem aloof and more masculine, but it had come off much different. It conveyed his true feelings. Fear and admiration of the girl, the hurt he would feel if she didn't promise or if she were to break it. His voice had been hard and quick but it may as well have sounded like the tiny roar of a kitten to the girl.

"I promise."

He grinned at her. He knew her words to be true.